If you know anything about the living legend that is Lance Armstrong then you’ll know that he’s still alive because he is a legend, which is why the Live Strong adage makes sense. For those of you that need bringing up to speed, Armstrong is a record-holding seven-time winner of the Tour de France and cancer survivor.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation unites, inspires and empowers people affected by cancer and anyone with a pulse. When it comes to a story like Lance’s you don’t really need to sell it, you just need to tell it, courtesy of a minimalist booklet designed by Hort and co-signed by Nike.

The unwanted Xmas jumper used to be the stuff of nightmares, but thanks to Shoreditch sheek, Andrew Salomone and his genius of a hacked knitting machine those worries are thing of the past. I want me that Bill Cosby number.

Merry Xmas LBB Crew!

As a record label with a vision, Stones Throw know that to thrive they need to go live. The modern artist need to be able to cut the mustard on stage. Much like the old skool artist in fact, but these things have a way of coming full circle.

Throughout the year, Stones Throw have been producing a series of live shows in a recording studio facility in east L.A. The shows are being recorded directly to vinyl with no computers, tape, or digital accessories used in the recording process.

To go Direct To Disk like this speaks volumes of the quality one is likely to expect when catching any of the Stones Throw roster live, which bodes well for artist and label alike.

I’d never hear of OriginalFake, but I had heard of Snoopy. I can’t actually buy a limited edition Snoopy because they’re sold out, but because of Original Fake’s strategic merchandise tie-in with Kaws, I’m now looking at ties on the OriginalFake website. Ok, there are no ties but there are some rather fresh sleeveless puffa’s.

Extending into new markets by dangling familiar carrots is part of the marketing game. And if you can’t crack a nut with a hammer, use a chisel; or in this case a cartoon legend, who through some subtle reworking has lost his eyes.

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via This Is Collate

NTS: a new community radio station based in Dalston, launched in April this year. The community in this instance is the bubbling sub-culture of electronic music influenced by a staple of soul, funk and jazz amongst others.

Their recent short gives you a glimpse into the beginnings of the station, their developing culture and a five-a-side football team. Que Umbro’s involvement and the second reason for my musings.

Umbro having taken tips from Adidas and Puma, have been quietly repositioning the traditional football gear company as a lifestyle brand, producing content featuring musicians Chase & Status, Liam Gallagher and Murkage and other sports stars.

En route to embedding themselves in pop culture, the Umbro Industries campaign focuses on supporting fledgling creative entrepeneurs in Manchester with £10k bursaries.

The trend of courting creative communities looks like one that will last for a while for culture savvy brands, ensuring buy in from taste makers and all that goes with it. Thus giving creatives alternative forms of investment from financial to profile raising.

This was the first video uploaded on the YouTube account, wwwdotnet, apparently showing all round don Jehst in his day job as a postman. Forums like UKHH and Rap Worlds went nuts with terrified members questioning the future of UK Hip Hop if one of it’s chief exports had fallen to being a normal dude with an early start.

Two months later wwwdotnet uploaded this;

Concept / Direction: Ian Pons Jewell
DOP / Steadicam: Doug Walshe
Stylist: Miranda Florence Boucher
Editor: Gaia Borretti
Focus Puller: Max Mallen
Assistant Producers: Tamas Jakics / Bruno Travers

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Let’s Be Brief crew! Do we have a treat for you..

Finally, the dish we have been wanting to share with you for a while is out of the oven and ready to serve.

The Macaroni Cheese Mixtape has been a little labour of love, and we can’t wait for you to hear it. We’ve been working closely with The Insomniax to develop the brand and overall marketing strategy that will help introduce the world to The INX movement.

This mixtape is just a taste of their diverse sound, but what a tasty treat it is.

The world’s top players challenge you to take your game to the next level. I challenge you to do the same, no matter what it is you do.

Ignore the inclusion of Philippe Senderos. I’m guessing his involvement was just a massive mistake.

Well acted, well scripted and very very early. Despite the wedge Formula 1‘s journalistic vultures have attempted to drive between the two McLaren drivers – you know, the Brit vs. Brit, ‘there can be only one’ narrative – Lewis and Jenson appear to be getting on quite well.

I’ll save any further musings for my F1 blog, but in a time of flagging commercial support for this most expensive of sports, Vodafone continue to maximise their investment in the McLaren team with this comedic viral spot.

“Paper money will always return to its intrinsic value, zero” – Voltaire 1729

The word Versailles apparently derives from the Latin word versare, meaning “to keep turning, turn over and over”. Such esoteric [wiki derived] knowledge ties in nicely with the above quote, and even better still with the work of our new Junior Art Director Samuel Craven, who will be exhibiting at Versailles: a group show featuring 24 emerging artists.

Sam will be exhibiting an A5 piece titled ‘Eight Hundred Pounds’, ingeniously made entirely from the shredded remains of the amount he sold Thirty Thousand Pounds for. Yes, that really is £30,000 literally hanging on a wall.

Voltaire may have been spot on with his assessment, but while the paper returns to its intrinsic value, Sam proves that the idea – as always – remains priceless.

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The private view is today – February 10th – at The Gallery on Redchurch Street, London, E2 7DP.

Already struggling with those new years ‘resolutions’? Well here’s the Recovering Lazyholic with a few helpful reminders.

A very simple, well executed idea leads to some effective self promotion for Erin Hanson and his photographic / creative ambitions.

Just got an email / video reminder from Ronzo about this evenings exhibition at the StolenSpace Gallery, so it’s only right I pass it on.

As for you? Well…pass it on…

This short feature by Marques Toliver made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It may not work for you, but in which case you really need to stop shaving the back of your neck.

We might not know how good the new Tron movie will be, but with Daft Punk’s help we know what it will sound like. Roll on December 7.

Under 30? A Virgin Media Pioneer? Sign up for our Young Entrepreneur Special on the 14th October at the British Library.

Oh yeah did we say it’s FREE? Visit www.lets-be-brief-business.eventbrite.com to sign up.

Simply put, this is one of the strongest, most poignant music videos you’ll ever watch.

In fact to call it just a music video does it a disservice, but if you want something to do with 9mins 40seconds of your time, you could do no better than watching this.

Carpe diem.

Traffic Wardens: We can’t stand them. The Insomniax: If you don’t know them, by the time we’re finished you will do.

Crystle Clear Cinema presents A Bad Day For Benny trailor for the impending short film, featuring Insomniax band member and fully paid up theatre performer Mark Anderson. Benny’s the Warden who can never catch a break, though we can probably agree that he doesn’t deserve one.

With soundtrack by The Insomniax and a cameo by INX’s very own Doctor Sydney Velvet (that’s right), what this video hints at is a) the versatility required by the modern performer and b) the analytical / creative spontaneity of American Director Crystle Clear who discovered a phenomenon we despise and turned it into a short film we can warm to.

Sometimes if you want to create extra footfall for your brand, you’ve got to take it to the streets. Literally.

Brand Mystro has certainly figured that out, so follow him and his tape-deck roadshow, as he travels the tube from markets to the Millennium Bridge getting more than a smile or two along the way.

Genuine human to human interactivity begets viral / trailer, begets complementary blog piece. See how this marketing thing works? I know what it’s like around my way, turns out Mystro’s way is pretty similar.

Picture the swanky but slightly chaotic scene. It’s the screenwriters strike of 2007. There’s no new product and no scriptwriters to make it. What to do? Dip into the archives of course, for a brand that was crying out for a remake.

So what next when you need the hard cash of major investors in order to bring the project to life? Well if you’ve got the iconic visual references of the original Tron to drawn on, you for-go the script and cut straight to the trailer.

Post production juggernauts Digital Domain did the honours, which in turn brought on the necessary brands and distributors to make things happen. Most tellingly from a marketing perspective was the simultaneous development of a Tron Legacy computer game, which if modern marketing trends count for anything, will probably outstrip the ridiculous revenue already promised by the film itself.

Not every brand will be able to try this at home, but it won’t be the last time we see this potential means of production.

Mars Blackmon was a Spike Lee alter-ego who starred in his seminal She’s Gotta Have It ’86 movie.

The character gained cult status as iconic front man for Nike’s Air Jordan commercials in the late 80′s early 90′s, and they’ve given life to Mars once more through designer / art director Markus Eriksonn’s website and iPhone app work for Nike.

Go to the site (or customary iPhone app), choose your best body double, upload your pic and you an excellent way of bringing two iconic brands to you, the new ‘Mega-drive Generation’.

Do y’know? Do y’know? Do y’know? Well you do now.

It was only a matter of time: the return of the tape cassette. I’ve been waffling on about its return for some time now though I’m not one to blow my own trend-setting trumpet.

The tape release of Goldfrapp’s latest album Head First could well see the floodgates open in the near future, as other tastemaker artists / labels are do whatever it takes to create commercial viability / visibility for their physical products.

The albums is of course available in the traditional formats, but I’m sure though that Goldfrapp’s longstanding relationship with Big Active will have no doubt forced the creative issue.

What to do in an age of ever-decreasing record sales and the impending death of analogue?

Well if you’re Stones Throw, whose founding father Peanut Butter Wolf has a more than vested interest in vinyl culture, you teamed up with Serato and J Dilla Estate for the ultimate analogue digital combo.

For the uninitiated, Serato Scratch Live is a DJ software that allows DJs to use their ever growing MP3 collection while utilising the ancient art of Turntabalism ( or good old fashioned record spinning). J Dilla was a prolific Hip-Hop producer who passed away 2 years ago from Lupus, leaving a legacy of music longer than all our arms put together.

He was also a Momma’s Boy, and this set of 2 discs with six J Dilla tracks (2 sides with Serato Control Tone) and 2 donut slipmats in a package designed by Studio No.1. will be released May 10th, the day after Mother’s day.

Self deprecating humour doesn’t normally come high on the young alpha males’ CV, but that could be about to change. Let me introduce you to Shadrack and the Mandem, courtesy of Clickreplay.tv

It’s high time that ‘urban’ male posturing got a full satirical send-up and Shadrack’s series of video treats send the whole culture up through the roof. Coupled with a twitter campaign that takes the concept onto new 140 letter highs and what you’ve got is comedy for a new age with a level of wisdom and insight that is ageless.

In their own words, Clickreplay.tv want to ‘simply be the back bone of, online home grown UK comedy entertainment.’ And anything is possible, as this is what I call true cultural ownership of the good, the bad, the ugly & the absolutely hilarious.