Building a media brand (where trust lies) is difficult at the best of times, but even more difficult when the media brand itself is a sub-brand, and where the umbrella brand is so strong itself. Is the reader loyalty to publication or the larger brand? And if there is so much "other" content housed within the larger brand do the sub-brands have a chance (hope?) of building the kind of loyalty that leads to true engagement? This is a problem, too, with custom publishing (a larger one) but the problem created here is unique. One could say that the Medium umbrella is more powerful than, say, Condé Nast's (for example), and the push-pull of where to build is ingrained within Medium. And, probably, part of its own attraction. DNA is hard to change. Gravity harder yet.
Because it can’t and it never will
It is March and that means, here at least, that winter refuses to leave, though the sun may feel warm(er) and the length of the days creep longer, but it’s Montreal in March and that does not mean it’s spring it just means some days the snow on the ground melts and then freezes overnight to render the sidewalks sheets of ice. In some parts of the world, March heralds nice things. In Montreal, it means you can start to see all the dogshit slowly being exposed by the slowly melting snow. April…
Product labelling. Just like all packaged food comes with nutritional labelling, all products should come with a full list of products used in manufacture and the footprint of the whole lot. Minus shipping because that will depend on too many factors. A lot of people won't care (we're still eating fast food, after all) but some people will and that's good enough.
Random thoughts on thoughtlessness.
It’s been a year. Read that with any intonation you want and that’s how I meant it. The year has been a dreamscape, a random series of interconnected randomness. Of snippets. Memory and memories. The relentlessness of time and also its absence. A year of lack and, if you’re one of the lucky ones, of great love. Though I don’t assume anyone’s luck or good health or happiness. It’s not the right time for that. Not yet.
Last year, around this time, the world started to figure out what was up and how vast it was…
This is Peak Geek. Or something.
It’s 2021, we’re still stuck in the plague and I’m still going to have thoughts. And then some of those thoughts will find their way here. So this is a series. Of thoughts. Published randomly. For no reason. Thank you for coming.
For the past few years, my brother and his family have come over to our place to watch the Super Bowl. I make a lot of chicken wings (his kids can go through their weight in wings in one sitting), my brother picks up some smoked meat and rye bread, some cole slaw and potato salad, and we…
It’s 2021, we’re still stuck in the plague and I’m still going to have thoughts. And then some of those thoughts will find their way here. So this is a series. Of thoughts. Published randomly. For no reason. Thank you for coming.
How did February happen? We have spent the past month in lockdown which means we can’t go out after 8 PM, restaurants are closed except for pick up and delivery, non-essential stores are closed (and, really, outside of food and toilet paper, what really is essential?). So that was January. And, zoom, it went. We’re in February. …
It’s 2021, we’re still stuck in the plague and I’m still going to have thoughts. And then some of those thoughts will find their way here. So this is a series. Of thoughts. Published randomly. For no reason. Thank you for coming.
Today, I learned the Chinese have started testing for Covid with an… anal swab. So yes, things can get worse. They almost always do before they get better.
I spent Monday watching (listening?) to a global climate conference. A lot of world leaders blah blahing about what they’re doing or not doing or trying to do to solve…
It’s 2021 (!) and I’m still going to have thoughts. And then some of those thoughts will find their way here. So this is a series. Of thoughts. Published randomly. For no reason. Thank you for coming.
I have hit a wall. A large metaphorical wall. Of understanding, or wanting to understand, or the ability to understand. I have hit a wall in my limits. I have run into the thing like some cartoon character. It has flattened my face and dulled my senses.
It’s not the plague though I’m sure there’s that. Here in Montreal, we are under a…
There is something about the problem in Colombia that feels very symbolic
In March, stories about the ecological benefits of Pablo Escobar’s hippos received good play in the world’s media. Someone is on their way to the PR Hall of Fame — there is one, for those asking, but there isn’t an actual building, which is too bad, because if there were, it would be the gaudiest piece of architecture imaginable — for managing to plant that story absolutely everywhere. So, ok, hippos in Colombia good. Check.
But now, suddenly, they are not so good. Now, they are “invasive,” and…
Arjun Basu
Writer. Complainer. I drink bourbon. I have edited media, worked in content and branding and strategy, and chances are I’ll do those things again. @arjunbasu
