Good creative is so sexy

I mean it. I work with some amazing designers. It's one of the perks of my job. They're always pretty confident, very trendy, and for some reason... funny. What's cuter than that? I'll tell you. Their work. Good design = aphrodisiac. Test me, I dare you.

Sometimes it's not really the design. It's the delivery. These could possibly be the most fun and clever business cards I've seen in the last several years and I've seen a gazillion. You do things like this with your brand and you'll be remembered.

Don't get me wrong. Hand me a beautifully printed traditional card on paper that makes me know that you aren't a cheapskate and value your brand and I might swoon just a little bit.

Plenty of people believe that the relevance of the business card is long gone. Pretty sure a lot of those people also thought that barber shops died when trendy salons or stupid chains like Bikini Cuts started to pop up in their towns.

Guess what? Some of those barbershops have been there forever because they didn't forget about their brand and they learned how to deliver that brand in traditional and non-traditional ways. Fast Eddies in Allston, MA is one of those.

Tell me you don't like what they're doing? It's so unexpected for a barber shop to put branding first.

I love it!

I MARVEL. So will you.

I'm a packaging junkie. You are too right? You should be. Lovely Package is the first site I visit every day. I spend a huge amount of time each week thinking about, writing about, teaching about and pouring over brands, their products, their identities, and how those brands are taken to market. Packaging is fun and can be the difference between average and outstanding for a brand. Not every brand can move the market and cause a stir. Many will not. Honestly, most will not. But the lucky few will get the double-take and they will move the needle just enough to change things.

Like this....

HOXTON STREET MONSTER SUPPLIES

Fantastic right? Keep going.

It gets better. Here, in this shop that Roald Dahl would possibly wet himself to see, one can purchase things like Human Snot, Organ Marmalade, Fresh Nail Clippings, and Pickled Eyeballs.

This is the store all little boys dream of. Forget toys and candy. This is the stuff of their fairy tales. And, when they are done shopping, they can write and create and dream up those fairy tales by wandering down a secret passage in to the Ministry of Stories.

I want to go. I want to write and create with them. I want to hear their stories.

I work at an agency. I teach a branding course at a major university. And, I do a shit ton of freelance work for big brands all the time. And, I often wonder why some of these big brands don't pull the plug on half the shit they put out there and do something amazing with their resources. There is so much money spent on stupid campaigns all the time. The kind that don't net returns, improve market share, increase awareness, or anything of real value. So much that doesn't contribute to good things. But this one does. It's a keeper.

I love that one of our own, an agency, built this. This is genius. And, I marvel at their creativity, passion, and the fun happy smiles and the STORIES that they will help create.

It is so f-ing badass... I'm taking my kids to London. You coming?

To get the full details on Hoxton Street Monster Supplies visit the company behind the magic. We Made This Ltd.