In today's environmentally aware marketplace, becoming a green business is not only a moral choice—it's a strategic one. Consumers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability in their buying decisions, providing organizations that undertake green practices with a competitive edge while contributing to the planet's health.
🌍 The Evolution of Green Branding
Branding has evolved beyond traditional limitations, where environmental impact significantly influences customer choices. No longer are a snappy logo and catchy slogan sufficient. Modern consumers demand brands embody and communicate environmental responsibility. This shift towards "green marketing" reflects a public demand for brands to exhibit genuine environmental stewardship. Consumers eagerly align with businesses that champion sustainability, support local communities, and prioritize using eco-friendly materials.
🌍 EcoHubMap: Enhancing Visibility and Credibility
Platforms like EcoHubMap, an innovative online directory promoting sustainable companies, help consumers distinguish authentic green businesses from those merely capitalizing on the trend. Listing on EcoHubMap allows brands to tap into a targeted audience actively seeking green products and services. Here are some powerful strategies for green businesses to enhance their visibility and credibility:Implement Sustainable Business Practices: Authenticity in sustainable practices—like reducing waste, sourcing products responsibly, and minimizing carbon footprints—speaks volumes.
● Adopt Eco-Friendly Directories: Listing on eco-friendly directories like EcoHubMap connects environmentally conscious customers with agencies committed to sustainability, offering profiles, evaluations, and ratings to showcase values, offerings, and credibility.
● Optimize Business Profiles: A compelling business profile should communicate your offerings and dedication to sustainability. Including details about green practices, certifications, and sustainability goals can resonate with eco-conscious consumers.
● Embrace Green Marketing: Promote your products or services based on their environmental benefits. Highlight green features in campaigns, leverage social media to share sustainability efforts, and partner with environmental organizations or influencers.
● Engage in Community Outreach: Participate in local events, sponsor environmental initiatives, and collaborate with community organizations. This boosts visibility and demonstrates social responsibility.
● Prioritize Customer Experience: Foster loyalty by providing a seamless and eco-conscious customer experience. Use eco-friendly packaging, offer recycling options, and help customers make green choices.
● Partner with Other Green Brands: Collaborate with other green companies through sponsorships, co-branded products, or joint campaigns to reach new audiences who prioritize sustainability.
● Continuously Innovate and Improve: Commit to innovation by reducing your environmental footprint, enhancing product sustainability, and meeting evolving customer expectations.
● Use Storytelling to Share Your Green Journey: Share your sustainable efforts' stories to create emotional connections with your audience, humanize your brand, and demonstrate your commitment to sustainability.
● Monitor and Communicate Your Environmental Impact: Quantify and showcase your business's positive environmental impact to persuade consumers to choose your brand over less sustainable alternatives.
🌍 Why Green Companies Should List Their Brand on EcoHubMap
Green companies can significantly benefit from listing on EcoHubMap, which bridges the gap between eco-aware customers and sustainable firms. This platform provides visibility in a community actively seeking sustainable solutions, enhancing a brand's reach and credibility. Features like user reviews, ratings, and social media sharing amplify visibility and reputation. Additionally, EcoHubMap offers collaboration opportunities with other green brands and insights into consumer trends within the sustainability space, allowing companies to adapt and innovate effectively.
🌍 Bottom Line
Green businesses play a crucial role in driving environmental sustainability and capitalizing on the rising demand for eco-friendly products and services. By adopting green strategies, companies can enhance their reputation, gain competitive advantages, and positively impact the planet and their bottom line. Leveraging platforms like EcoHubMap and integrating sustainability into operations ensures long-term success and growth in the green marketplace.

From vaporwave aesthetics to the endless amount of action-movie reboots, we can see a building trend of remembering the 80s as the current form of nostalgia bait. Being about 40 years ago, the 80s are the catalyst for most, if not all, media we see now. The internet began back then, CGI was being tested, global reach started to take hold, electric keyboards became a music staple, and video games had their first crash due to so much home console production. The 80s were a time of massive change that we don’t notice as a difference from the 00s, especially when it comes to things like film and music. Trying to imagine the difference in the metamodernism of 1980-2020 is like trying to see a difference in the art nouveau of 1880-1920.
Previously, I talked about how hipsters change trends every 10 years because of the way public schools work, but the overall change of society goes from generation to generation. The halfway point of a human life is about 30 years, which is about how long it takes for a person in their childhood to enter a “production” age of media influence. Something like Stranger Things needed the Duffer Brothers to enter their late 30s in order for their pastiche and play to be worthy of directing, because they are not able to make these massive projects in their teens or even early 20s. Like any other trend, there was a trailing of its existence in video games of the 90s, as well as movie sequels like Terminator 2, that kept things alive after the decade. Our pop music continues to carry on the electronic sounds that sprouted from the 80s, with the tabloids focused on the singers and their sex lives more than the quality of their music. Most importantly, the inclusion of anime and adult cartoons from back then continues to spread into western fashion as production transitions into a digital form that is easier to maintain than pen & paper.
It's not that the 80s never ended, but rather we never leave the shadow of such a dramatic shift in culture. The sheer amount of consumerism, brought on by globalism and the end of the Vietnam War, caused propaganda to enter a more hippy form of anti-war rhetoric. Ironically, the vast amount of action movies from these times were done in order to say how bad war was, with movies like Rambo: First Blood and Platoon done as a way to make it look yucky. Due to the inability to critique the war during the war(or even shortly after), movies like Star Wars and Aliens would present the Vietnam War in a fictional sci-fi setting, allowing themselves to slip by censorship and inspire future projects. The big guns of the 80s, like the M202 Flash (a quadruple-tube rocket launcher) or the M60, were staples of movie posters and standees that lured us into seeing these action star achievements.
Big names like Arnold Schwarzenegger and John-Claude Van damme became global phenomena due to their action roots requiring zero dialogue. Their inability to speak well allowed their body language to do all the talking, with slasher movies rising up like Jason did from the dead in Friday the 13th, for the same reasons. And like the slasher villain, their franchises wouldn't die, allowing home media to turn box office failures into cult classics. Along with the exploitation of war, and the senseless murder of horny teens, came an abundance of gory practical effects, now that the censors were more lenient on sex and violence. The Hays Code prevented clear exploitation of sex, drugs, and violence up until the late 60s; quickly changed by the death of the head of the MPAA to then put the liberal Jack Valenti in his place.
After the Grindhouse era of the 70s, the 80s was all about showing drug use, naked women, and body organs flying all over the place. One of the main contributors of this exploitation, Roger Corman, was the main mentor for most of the big directors during this sudden spark of everything taboo. Deemed “The Pope of Pop Cinema” and “The Spiritual Godfather of New Hollywood”, his influence created a new form of movie production that would spit in the face of old Hollywood by resorting to everything the censors hated. Morals, culture, nationalism, conservatism, modesty, all of these were to be mocked and made into satire as the world became smaller and more global. Besides the advent of New Hollywood were the movies influenced by the Italian crime genre of Poliziotteschi and the Hong Kong action films of the 70s, further increasing the focus on casual urban violence.
Consumerism increased dramatically as fake industries rose to the top. Toylines and video games, as well as children's entertainment, exploded during this decade. The focus on the youth, by selling them the latest trend, was aided by easier access to commercials and even the infomercial that was freed from restrictions in 1984. Innovating technology meant there were new gadgets for people to buy, with nerds becoming more present through our fascination with these new inventions. Video games and movies were easier to gain an audience of collectors, thanks to the advent of the VHS and cartridge.
The ones who grew up during this generation are now the main contributors to what toy companies call “the kidult market”, the adults who still buy toys meant for kids.
Home movies became more popular because of the camcorder, with indie films growing in popularity from the ease of production. While the modernist slogan was “make it new”, the metamodernist slogan was “make it snappy”. It didn’t matter if things were dumb or absurd, because pastiche and play made sure we could simply recognize it and find it entertaining through intertextuality. Rather than focusing on quality or culture, the 80s was a time of focusing on simply making things exist, no matter how silly the premise was. The studios put the captain hats on the directors, with these directors of New Hollywood walking straight out of Woodstock, with plenty of acid still in their bloodstreams.
Music became a different beast once it shifted its platform from radio to TV. The introduction of visual music videos caused musicians to become performative artists, with their fashion sense mimicked by their fans at a wider scale. To attract the audience through a performance, crazy clothes and hairstyles became the latest craze, changing the clean hairstyle of prior into a mousse filled mullet. Punk, goth, heavy metal; all of these were mirrored by the new romantics, glam, and synthwave that shared the same spots on MTV. This was the time when being rebellious and “original” was no different from being any other person, because the fashion was just a difference between leather jackets with studs or jean jackets with rhinestones.
TV dramatically changed to what we know now as “daytime television for mom” and “primetime for dad”. In fact, the first talk show run by a woman was none-other than the Oprah Winfrey Show, started in the 80s. This was done because studios knew that moms were at home, available after the kids left for school, and they could watch a show made for them while they did their aerobics. For broken homes in this period, the latchkey kid generation was forced to stay home after school as a safety procedure by the increase of mothers in the workforce, with single motherhood increasing from the increased access of welfare. Staying home, with little parental supervision, had a strange result of Gen X being raised by the idiot tube, comic books, and home consoles.
In that regard, not much has changed other than the addition of streaming and other online-related activities.
Feminism changed in the 80s by sparking the dreadful sex wars: a debate between whether or not feminism is supposed to be pro-porn or anti-porn. Yes, this was the main issue for feminists during the 80s, until the transition to third wave feminism in the 90s. During this period, media depicted women as valiant prostitutes or brave business women, wearing shoulder pads either way. The demand for equality caused a confusion when feminists couldn’t decide on whether or not sucking dick for money was considered “feminist”. Freedom was questioned and the result became the third-wave feminism that began to question whether or not there was a difference between men and women at all.
Both debates are still going.
Video games were still primitive, barely entering a coherent bit quality, with violent games like Mortal Kombat making concerned parents worried about what their kids are getting into. The arcade was the new amusement hall, allowing kids to throw quarters into “entertainment vending machines” that occupied their time. The mall wasn’t started in this decade, but it began to flourish as the main hotspot for teenage activity, thanks to the arcades and food courts. During the 80s, paper cups of the food court had an orange flower design, which was replaced with the more iconic Jazz design in the 90s. Yes, I was shocked when I learned that as well.
When we view this newfound addiction to the 80s, we are viewing the catalyst of why we are the way we are today. The sex and violence in media started around the 80s, the performative art of musicians expanded thanks to music videos, and everything we see online was pioneered by Gen X nerds who were high on crystal Pepsi and cocaine. With how little has changed, it’s no wonder the 80s are much loved and seen as “a time we remember but didn’t grow up in”. I don’t want this to be seen as a nightmarish journey down memory lane, but rather a reminder that the 80s are when postmodernism first sprouted into metamodernism and started what we suffer through today. Like everything else in mainstream media, the nostalgia bait is fake and forced.
I am not surprised that Gen X will claim their time was better, because that’s all they know. But consider the bits and pieces that inspired the 80s itself, from what occurred 30 years before it. Shows like Happy Days tried to cling to the charm of the greasers during the 50s, or how quirky musicals like Grease and Little Shop of Horror used pastiche to remind us of how wonderful the 50s were. Creature features of the 80s were mostly inspired by the alien invasion movies of the 50s that were used to symbolically spread anti-communist propaganda, accidentally carrying this sentiment into the 80s as the Iron Curtain collapsed. Like any other era, the good seems to out weight the bad, because the good is a channeling of what came before and what lasts forever.
Next time someone demands the 80s, secretly give them the 50s. As good as people try to make the 80s out to be, it is hard to argue against the massive influence of the 50s that caused many of our much loved properties to exist. Sure, Woke Hollywood is now turning those classics into flaming piles of shit as a way to destroy the Four Olds, but we can always revive what was from before. But whatever we do, we must not treat the 80s as the be all, end all. We must treat it as what it is: the origin point of why our media today is totally bogus.

All i remember is that this channel is run by a black, pretty skinny guy who is (or was formerly) a personal trainer, and makes videos about fitness, diet and weight. Some of the specific videos I can remember were one on processed foods, and how “fresh” produce has been processed to a certain degree, another video analyzing a bunch of studies about intermittent fasting, incremented by shorter periods of fasting, and some other general health videos.
He has a merch line that has some kind of slogan with “ — lives matter” or something similar to that. the first word is some health buzzword i cant recall.
His editing is really snappy, i think he uses a progress bar during ad reads, he asks you to like the video in the middle (basically everyone does that but its all I can remember)
He often talks specifically about chemical processes in the body, and animates them. He might have a video about the stages of digestion, and talk about each stage?
I actually liked his channel, and im kicking myself for not subscribing 😬

Fellow Hikaru Fans,
Was anyone else inspired by GM Gordima's blog post on Hikaru's blitz repertoire? I took the ball and ran with it and put out a series covering his blitz openings via champion studies powered by LichessTools. Which is a project I've been working on as a hobby and kicked into full gear a couple weeks ago. The idea is to learn to crush like Hikaru in interactive studies with spaced-repetition (for free). It can be highly addictive and fun!
I believe you'll love "Play the Vienna Game like Hikaru" which is the most popular Hikaru one in my catalogue. There's others on Hikaru's White repertoire in the Closed Sicilian, French, and Caro-Kann Two Knights. It's a labor of love to create these studies but I enjoy it and believe they're highly instructive. If there's interest I can do one on Hikaru's Modern, Nimzo-Larsen etc. If you have any requests let me know!
Cheers, Dsoul
P.S. I'm pondering a forthcoming post cataloging "Hikaru-isms" and other snappy prompts and slogans like take the juicer, kebab, wooden shield, tickle tickle, the bishop can play later, etc. The context I have in mind is the value of snappy prompts to guide intuition in speed chess or something like that. Let me know in the comments if there are any other good ones I'm missing!

1912: Origins
The Miller family had been in the rainwear industry for many years before the founding of Baracuta. These years of experience in rainwear proved invaluable later on. Their original factory used to supply raincoats to brands like Burberry, Aquascutum and Marks & Spencer. They were manufacturers who strived to do more and to be more, so they started to plan for their future.
1937: The Birth of Baracuta
The Miller Brothers founded Baracuta in 1937 in the heart of Manchester - known as one of the rainiest cities in the UK. Their mission was to create an outerwear brand that would offer stylish protection from the rainy British weather. They chose an exotic name knowing their brand would eventually make it overseas. The gears were set in motion after John and Isaac Miller saw a gap in the market for a practical yet stylish golf jacket. They played regularly at Manchester Golfclub where they saw fellow golfers struggling to move around and stay comfortable in their coats and jackets while they played, especially when it rained. They put their thinking caps on and in 1937 they came up with the iconic G9 Jacket. The name was also clearly thought through as ‘G’ stands for Golf and ‘9’ stands for the 9 holes in the golf course. However, the Miller Brothers felt there was still something missing so they set out to find a key feature that would make their brand stand out, a so-called signature touch. They approached Lord Lovat - Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, the 25th clan chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat in Scotland and asked him if they could use his family tartan in their brand. Long story short, he agreed and in 1938, they finally produced one of the most famous jackets in the world, the first ever G9 Harrington Jacket. They operated out of a small garment factory in Manchester, it was the start of something very special.
1947: Expansion
The company grew both locally and internationally, exploding in popularity in the ‘40s and ‘50s. For many years, the iconic G9 was designed and crafted in the Chorlton Street factory in rainy Manchester. Back then Baracuta was viewed as a true British icon and still is to this day. The rainwear pieces were given nicknames like Topliner, The Convertible, Derry, Coronation and Classical. The products were designed to not only protect the wearer from the rain but to do so in style. The first international ad campaign was launched during this time period which caused an immense butterfly effect to happen. The Miller brothers came up with snappy advertising slogans like, “Perfection in rain protection”, “Step out in a Baracuta” and “Ready for the rain”. Baracuta was growing exponentially.
1950: USA Expansion
TThe 50’s saw Baracuta experience a major expansion. The brothers divided up their roles in the company and Isaac Miller headed off to the United States to open up a sales and marketing office in the world-famous Empire State Building. Soon after, the Paul Stuart store in New York began stocking Baracuta. This was a huge step into the American market for the brand. During this period, high-profile celebrities were also seen wearing the G9 Jacket in Hollywood movies, like James Dean and Elvis Presley, and on the cover of famous magazines. Baracuta was everywhere you looked and soon made its way to Ivy League campuses where students began to introduce Baracuta’s G9 Jacket to their daily wardrobe while also hanging posters of celebrities wearing G9 jackets on their fraternity walls. This was the precise moment when the jacket crossed over from being a golf jacket to being a lifestyle jacket.
1964: The Birth of the "Harrington" - Sitcoms / Shops / Concerts
In 1964, the famous actor Ryan O’Neal, who played the character Rodney Harrington in the sitcom Peyton Place, was known for wearing a Baracuta G9 in almost every episode. This caused a ripple effect and catapulted Baracuta into even greater stardom. Following this, a man named John Simmons, who was a huge fan of Peyton Place, opened up the Ivy Shop where he displayed Baracuta’s G9 Jacket in the window with the writing “Harrington Jacket” beside it. Since that moment, the G9 Jacket was simultaneously known as the Harrington Jacket. It is the one and only Harrington Jacket and it has since been copied time and time again by various brands, proving it to be an iconic garment. Shortly after, Eric Clapton was seen wearing a Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket on the rock/pop music TV show ‘Ready, Steady Go!’ with his band, The Yardbirds. Just like today, Baracuta was everywhere.
1966: The Influence of Football & Film
As Baracuta is well known in the football realm, they decided to supply the winning English World Cup squad with specially tailored coats known as “The Mexican” or the Ramsey Raincoat. The name comes from Sir Alfred Ramsey who was seen wearing a Baracuta G9 Jacket the evening before England’s win over West Germany. Baracuta’s momentum continued to grow with more high-profile celebrities sporting the G9 in various Hollywood films like Frank Sinatra in ‘Assault on a Queen’, Steve McQueen in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ and Christopher Reeve in ‘Superman 2’. Baracuta had officially made its mark on Hollywood, and it was only just the beginning. Baracuta’s constant recognition by celebrities and athletes solidified its continuous presence and growth in the world.
1968: Going Global
Baracuta started to export globally, gracing the shores of Europe and Australia, where the G9 Harrington Jacket officially made its way Down Under thanks to all the publicity it had been getting from celebrities, athletes, TV, films, newspapers and magazines. By receiving all of this exposure, Baracuta’s British values were able to spread throughout the world. The Miller Brothers’ hometown brand became a worldwide success.
1970: Arnold Palmer Collaboration
One of the most famous golfers in history, Arnold Palmer, launched his rainproof, windproof and highly comfortable Golf Jacket line with Baracuta. It was a limited-edition collection with very few pieces up for grabs, making it almost impossible to find and was sought after by everyone. The jackets featured Arnold Palmer’s signature on the inside making them a collector’s item. Today, those who are lucky enough to be in possession of these once-off jackets are said to hold rare golf heirlooms.
1972: Subcultures & Music (70s, 80s, 90s, & 00s)
The G9 and G4's international reputation was now crossing over from Ivy League and started to be picked up by various youth subcultures. Over these decades, the G9 and G4 were revolutionised in terms of who wore them and how they were worn. The first subculture to start wearing Baracuta’s G9 and G4 Jackets were the Mods, who came to prominence after the release of the albums by The Who and Small Faces. Mod culture saw the jackets as the symbol of a new modern style. They were known to wear them as their “go to piece” or as their signature subculture look. Soon after there was an explosion of various subcultures who also adopted Baracuta’s G9 and G4 Jackets as their favourite wardrobe staple, from Ska, Skinheads, Punks and British Rockers who contributed to their growing status with their own aspirations of freedom. Early Skinheads who worshipped reggae and the rude boy style started to wear Baracuta’s G9. To finish off their shaved head look, they wore boots, shirts with braces, topped off with the G9 Harrington Jacket.
Thanks to the UK Punk scene and bands like The Clash, Baracuta’s Harrington Jacket further cemented its hallmark status, ending up a sought-after coat of arms for pop culture. Each group had a visually different style and taste. However, the G9 Harrington and the G4 gave each group a sense of self, a sense of identity. These subcultures didn’t see the jackets just as a fashion piece. They wore them because they helped them to express themselves and also gave them the confidence to do so. Baracuta became a one stop shop for people of all genders and backgrounds. During these years many personalities and bands in the subculture scene were spotted sporting Baracuta’s G9 and G4 Jackets: The Clash at their iconic Times Square concerts, Razorlight for their meeting with Nelson Mandela, Franz Ferdinand on the cover of the Sunday Times Weekend Magazine and Noel and Liam Gallagher from Oasis to name but a few. In the 90’s and 00’s, Baracuta’s G9 and G4 Jackets remained a classic clothing piece for the Britpop music scene.
Baracuta’s G9 Harrington Jacket, along with the G4 Jacket are two classics which have adapted like no other garment before. Whether it’s because of the evolution of fashion, or the passage of time. They were always ready to adjust to different styles and subcultures, while defining trends of entire generations, from Mod to Punk, without ever changing its core look. They are constantly being reinvented through the wearer’s personality, experiences and style.
2007: Celebrity Collaborations
Baracuta celebrated 70 years in business and decide to celebrate the link between the iconic Harrington Jacket and the celebrities who have worn Baracuta over the years. This immense celebration resulted in three limited edition G9 Jackets to be designed in honour of Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra – three Baracuta icons, including their personal quotes printed on the inside. Only seventy pieces of each jacket were ever made making them a collector’s item. This anniversary project received global coverage as everyone wanted to get their hands on these limited edition Baracuta G9 Harrington Jackets.
Soon after Baracuta’s 70th year Anniversary, Daniel Craig was spotted wearing the iconic G9 Harington in the Blockbuster Film ‘Quantum of Solace’. Baracuta’s link to cinema was standing strong, so much so that in the years to follow there was an inundation of actors wearing Baracuta - like Tom Cruise in ‘Knight and Day’, Jason Statham in ‘Killer Elite’, Tom Hardy in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, Bradly Cooper in ‘The Hangover Part II’, Damian Lewis in ‘Stolen’, Bryan Cranston in ‘Why Him?’, Mark Wahlberg in ‘All the Money in the World’, Jamie Foxx in ‘Sleepless’ and Leonardo Di Caprio in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. This influx in popularity set Baracuta’s everlasting presence in stone forever.
2012: Changing Ownership
WP Lavori in Corso acquired Baracuta in 2012, an Italian company which holds very similar values to Baracuta. After having taken over as the mother company, they took the opportunity to hold its official launch at Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence. The party event went back through the previous 75 years of the brand and took the opportunity to talk about the close link between the legendary G9 Harrington Jacket and the world of cinema and music. Four highly skilled DJs and VJs showcased Baracuta’s success over the last 75 years. In attendance were DJs Norman Jay, Gilles Peterson, Eddie Piller, Dean Rudland, international and national VIP guests. Baracuta’s SS13 collection was also presented during the event – the first one since its new ownership.
2016: Opening of Flagship Store
Baracuta opened its flagship store in Milan on 24, Via de Amicis in 2016. After long consideration, the brand felt it was the most strategic location to open its doors. Milan is Italy’s multicultural capital and it’s an accessible meeting point for different cultures and backgrounds. Like many of Baracuta’s garments, the whole store is lined with the signature Fraser Tartan. They took inspiration from typical British architecture and decided to change up the exterior instead of going for a typical Italian shop front, Baracuta made it their mission to maintain their quintessential British charm by going with Georgian style architecture.
2017: G9 Celebration
In October 2017, Baracuta organised The Iconic Soul Night which was the first event to be held to celebrate the famous G9 Jacket in Base Milano. The place was transformed into a dancehall and was inspired by 60’s and 70’s British subcultures like the Mods. The dance contest had a special guest judge, Lauren Fitzpatrick, an actress and dancer who starred in Gucci’s Pre-Fall 2017 film as well as alongside Pharell Williams during one of his London performances. To keep the Mod theme alive, Eddie Piller was on the decks along with Enrico Lazzeri aka DJ Henry. It was most certainly an evening to remember.
2019: First Collaborations
2019 was a year to remember for Baracuta as it was the start of various impressive brand collaborations that were to continue to the present day. It all began with Magnum Photos, one the most important photo agencies in the world, founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David Seymour. The team set out to tell the story of the Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket which was the main attraction of an exclusive visual installation through photo and video instalments, some of which included a shot of James Dean in Times Square, as he was also known to wear Baracuta jackets. Baracuta has since had a long list of collaborations: M1992, Engineered Garments, Sebago, Vault by Vans, Byborre, Wacko Maria, Palace, Needles, Jaguar, Noah, Slowboy and many others. Since 1937, Baracuta has stayed relevant over time, remaining a go to brand for all age groups of different social backgrounds and subcultures.
2020: World Tour
Baracuta went on a round-the-world tour to visit various countries where consumers had the chance to customise their Baracuta Jackets live in store. These jackets were given a makeover by a creative London based painter C.J. Pidlaoan. The tour made its way to some of the most important cities in the world, visiting boutiques in Paris, London, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Madrid and Milan. These cities were carefully selected due to their accessibility and multicultural population - full of people of different backgrounds. C.J. Pidlaoan also painted on the back and chest of Baracuta’s most iconic jacket, which represented a symbol from each stop along the tour. For example, in London a Vespa in the colours of the Union Jack Flag was depicted on the G9 Harrington Jacket.
2021: Baracuta x Jaguar
Baracuta collaborated with Jaguar on The Next Classic Guide, starting in October 2021 and finishing eight months later in May 2022. The Next Classic Guide was a Fashion-Motive collaboration created by the two brands with the aim of finding what tomorrow we would call “a classic”. The partnership between Baracuta and Jaguar was finalised through the creation of a bespoke Baracuta inspired E-PACE car and a customised Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket featuring the Jaguar logo. These limited-edition pieces were the forefront of the collaboration. The Baracuta-esque Jaguar E-PACE travelled between eight European cities picking up highly talented creators along the way who helped in finding the next classic. The final stop on the European road trip was in San Paolo Converso Church in Milan where The Next Classic Experience was held. A visually immersive event featuring a creative installation by the young and talented creatives who had a free pass in giving a new personality to their G9 Jackets. The customised Jaguar E-PACE was also on display in the church. It was undoubtedly a roaring success.
Note: All info appears as listed on the Baracuta website (https://ca.baracuta.com/pages/about).

(OBLIGATORY "MUCHO TEXTO" WARNING)
Hello, and welcome back to The Maybe Mondays! Another late installment that’ll barely count as a Monday release, but here it is! In this series I have spent the previous four Mondays reviewing/analyzing AJR’s previous four albums, all in anticipation for this Monday and this album - The Maybe Man. Every word of The Maybe Mondays has been leading up to this. So let’s go. One. Two. Pandemonium. (Come on, I had to.)
Introduction/Context
There’s not much context needed for this – it’s AJR’s fifth studio album, freshly released on Friday. If you’re even remotely part of the AJR fan base, you’ve probably seen and heard a lot of it this week. And I have. I’ve listened to the songs multiple times, and I’m still feeling the “buzz” of having a whole new body of work from AJR.
All of this to say: I’m still trying to make sense of this album. It meets a lot of my expectations, and yet it’s so different than I thought it would be. It’s thrilling, intriguing, harrowing, raw, emotional to the extreme, and still somehow mysterious. So that means this review will be different - at least it’ll feel very different to me. While the other albums I’ve covered have had two and a half years worth of time to sit in my brain, this one has only had three days - which doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to dive into this album as meaningfully as it deserves. It’s an interesting task to write about something I don’t really understand yet. But I’m gonna try… and thankfully, I’ve got at least one other song to help me comprehend this new dozen.
The Catalyst Song: 3 O’Clock Things
For those who don't know this phenomenon, AJR has mentioned that every album has a song that inspires the writing of the next album. Ryan talks about it in this video from the release Zoom for The DJ is Crying for Help (almost a year ago - sheesh). And it was in this moment where the “catalyst song” for TMM was first revealed: 3 O’Clock Things.
What was an “ooooo we got some album scoop” moment at the time has now become, at least for me, crucial in making sense of this very extreme album. In the context of OK ORCHESTRA, it's a snapshot of all the thoughts that keep one up until 3:00 in the morning. In the context of The Maybe Man, it is a very reasonable genesis for the idea of “questioning everything about yourself in song form”. With lyrics that muse on college, YouTube, comparison to friends, hookup culture, the electoral college, Hamilton, and the notion of “getting political” – what better song to set the tone for a whole album about questioning one’s identity? (Side note: The production slaps in a similar way to TMM’s too. I don’t know how to elaborate on that, nor will I try.)
Characteristics
Before diving into the big ideas behind this album, let’s talk briefly from a purely musical standpoint. The production is so polished here; combinations that would sound extreme on previous records all seem to fit. You’ve got distorted vocals over acoustic guitars and drums (the intro to HITBOMB), a violin beat drop over horse percussion and wordless vocal harmony (The DJ is Crying for Help), soaring strings over bouncy handclaps (Touchy Feely Fool), and a folk ballad with a sung refrain that sounds like an old vinyl sample (2085). There’s not a lot of sonic exploration, nor does there need to be; the AJR “sound” has never been more cohesive or more consistently executed. Ryan has said the production purposefully veered more towards real instruments here, with the zenith of this being The Dumb Song. And it only makes sense that the production sound is so real on their most lyrically real album yet.
AJR have said this was the hardest album of theirs to write; they said in an Instagram story they made themselves feel all their emotions ten times as much so they could document them in their songs. And boy, are these emotions evident. The Maybe Man is AJR’s saddest album, their angriest album, their most jaded album, their most bitter album, their most desperate album, their most pensive album – by a long shot. As mentioned before, the theme of this album is questioning everything about one’s self, and they leave everything on the table. Fears about marriage (Turning Out Pt. iii). The mindlessness of common trends (I Won’t). Medicating feelings of emptiness with material things (Hole in the Bottom of My Brain). Lacking the courage or hardness to stand up to a family member (Touchy Feely Fool). They dive deep in so many aspects of identity.
With an album that draws from such a dense emotional place, the vocal performances on The Maybe Man are accordingly the most dynamic to date. The brothers use their vocal instruments in all of their capacities. That’s what makes “Maybe Man” so, so thrilling to me; Jack is singing quite literally at the top of his voice at the most manic point of his dreaming and wishing (“I wish I was God”, etc.). In my proverbial book, both Jack and Ryan have scored personal bests on this record with their respective vocal performances on “Maybe Man” and “Turning Out Pt. iii”. Even the background vocals which fill out this album feel real and lively, thanks in large part to the use of close friends and crew members throughout. (That’s one thing I haven’t commented on about AJR’s discography - their effective use of singers and non-singers alike for background vocals!) By all accounts, the singing is more full of life than ever. Also the melodies and harmonies of each song, despite largely existing to serve the lyrics, are still stellar, infectious, snappy, memorable, and singable (well, maybe not like they sing it).
An Attempt at a Narrative
If you’re still trying to comprehend the wider theme of this record like I am, perhaps this attempt at a narrative might help. For every new album I hear I listen for a thematic arc (regardless of whether there is one or not), and this one was obviously no exception. So here is my attempt at connecting the threads between these twelve songs:
We start with Maybe Man. In this episode of racing thoughts, Jack wishes he’s so many different things but thinks his way out of each one, eventually forfeiting that he doesn’t even know who he is. But this isn’t just a random list; AJR have confirmed that every stanza has to do with a song on the album. There are plenty of posts about this specifically which touch on this better than I can, so I will move on…
The rest of the album, in my eyes, is a series of bouts of overthinking and self-analysis that slowly grows progressively more desperate and jaded. I’ll try to describe the following eight songs (tracks 2-9) in five-word statements:

• Touchy Feely Fool: I care way too much
• Yes I’m A Mess: I want a new life
• The Dumb Song: You think I’m dumb? Okay!
• Inertia: Why am I going nowhere?
• Turning Out Pt. iii: Am I ready for marriage?
• HITBOMB: Material things help me cope
• TDJICFH: What do I do now?
• I Won’t: I’m so over following trends

More and more jaded, less and less hopeful, always overthinking. By I Won’t, they’re starting to give up and tune out. But that’s just the beginning…
The last three songs on this record are such a compelling combination to me that I’ve got to give them a separate section. In Steve’s Going to London, nothing matters - not even the attempts to write a song that matters. Then comes God is Really Real, where the brothers are confronted with their dad’s illness - something that deeply matters more than anything they’ve written about in their whole catalog, let alone this album. And finally 2085 is the brothers thinking of their own mortality and how their struggles up to this point measure up to the rest of their life.
So Where Does It Fit?
It goes without saying that these are not the same brothers that made Living Room. Sure, this applies to their popularity; they’re about to do an arena tour, for crying out loud. And yes, this certainly applies to their production; they have not only found a sound but paved new ground within it again and again. Of course, their performance skills has grown too; their voices have truly blossomed. But that’s not what matters the most here on this album. What matters is the brothers’ life experiences.
These brothers have experienced euphoric highs and dizzying lows. They’ve carved out a place in pop culture while not quite feeling they belong in it. Their lives have greatly changed not just professionally but personally: an OCD diagnosis, a divorce, an engagement, a terminal illness. (I say this not to pry, but to give context with things they’ve already shared in their music.) They’ve grown up a lot, and some of that growing up life has made them do. We can hear it on this album, especially in the last two tracks. They’ve become very well aware of their place in their lives and careers, and 2085 is the clearest proof of that yet.
Probably the most telling, self-aware verse of this whole band’s history is 2085’s first: “If somebody told me I’d die at forty / I wouldn’t have spent my time in bed / Writing my dumb songs and my growing up songs / I should’ve just grown up instead”. AJR have learned from experience that life is too short to worry as much as they have been doing. If you spend all your time singing about growing up, that’s not equivalent to growing up; it may be a part of it, but that won’t get you there.
So what use is there for all of their music? Are all of their “growing up songs” really as meaningless as they sang about two tracks before? And even after all this singing and dancing, how can they still not know who they are? As Jack sings towards the end of the album, “If I could be me, I would’ve been it by now”. So why are they still struggling to make sense of life, to find who they are?
Why not?
I said at the beginning I’m still not sure what this album is. But maybe that’s the point! This, my friends, brings me to my takeaway from this album and my final “Maybe” statement of this series:
Maybe we shouldn’t wait to know who we are before choosing to be who we are.
On the day AJR released I Won’t, the first single of the TMM era, AJR posted a new slogan of sorts on social media: “We overthink so you don’t have to.” And now that the album’s out, I don’t think that timing was an accident. Let me point you to the climactic closing “Maybe stanza” of 2085:
“So if this is me, then I’ll do my best / I’ll take all the s**t so you never have to / You can be you, and I’ll be the rest / Yeah, maybe that’s who the hell I am” (Is it a martyr complex, as one person on this sub has commented? Sure. But is it moving and a perfect capper to the album? No doubt.)
Identity is a funny thing - both ever-constant and ever-changing. And life is the same way. Life is big and scary, and it’s easy to get caught up in that and lost in the waves of it all. It can be easy for us to doubt, to overthink, to wonder who we really are. But we don’t have to know everything about who we are. There's always going to be a Maybe Man/Woman/Person inside of us. We don’t have to think so hard about those things - not when we’ve got songs that do the heavy work for us.
Art is a beautiful way for anyone to express their doubts and insecurities, and once they’re captured in art and shared anyone can latch onto them and relate. AJR knows this so deeply, with years of making songs that have grown more deep and more honest. They use that knowledge to give their listeners permission to not know the answers, to lighten the weight of their insecurities, and to not overthink so much. And thanks to music like AJR’s and albums like The Maybe Man, each listener has the ability to walk through life a little more bravely and be themselves, whoever that is. No matter how long and hard life is, music can provide us some of the help we need to go out there, live boldly, and get better at it. We’ve gotta get better - we’re all that we’ve got.
Favorite Lyrics

1. Maybe Man
2. Steve’s Going to London
3. Inertia
4. 2085
5. The DJ is Crying for Help

Favorite Composition

1. Hole in the Bottom of My Brain
2. Inertia
3. Touchy Feely Fool
4. Maybe Man
5. Turning Out Pt. iii

Favorite Performance

1. Maybe Man
2. Turning Out Pt. iii
3. 2085
4. God is Really Real
5. Inertia

Favorite Production

1. Steve’s Going to London
2. 2085
3. Maybe Man
4. Hole in the Bottom of My Brain
5. The Dumb Song

Favorites Overall (for now)

1. Maybe Man
2. Steve’s Going to London
3. 2085
4. Hole in the Bottom of My Brain
5. Turning Out Pt. iii

Feel free to leave your comments and observations on The Maybe Man below (in case you haven’t done that enough this week)! I know there are tons of Easter eggs (*cough cough TURNING OUT 1 AND 2*) and sweet nuggets of information that I didn’t touch on, so consider this your invitation to tell me what I missed! I still don’t know everything about this album, but you can help me know more!
And… that does it for The Maybe Mondays. This experience has been equally challenging and rewarding. I have greatly enjoyed playing the role of music analyst these past few weeks; I feel my writing skills have increased, as has my appreciation for music reviewers. This was probably the hardest of the reviews to write, but I wanted to do my best to put a bow on this series. Thank you everyone for tuning in and leaving your feedback! Seeing your comments, of all kinds, have made this experience so much more gratifying - truly.
Okay, my speech is over. Goodnight everyone. I’ll see you for whatever I post next.
“For two or three minutes, then I’m… gone.”

Does anyone else think that Asura should just follow the TL of Woopread for the novel in the Manwha adaptation?
It's really jarring as a novel reader going thru the arcs with so much being different. Names, titles, even ass dialogues and text.
For a recent example, when Raviel is teaching Gongja about love, the rules were changed very noticably.
From:
Lesson 1 (Love starts like a bitch)
Lesson 2 (You are also a bitch)
Lesson 2 + and ++
(If you can't avoid the bitch, enjoy what you can)
(Become a bigger bitch than the other)
Today's Motto (Don't be kind to a bitch)
Into:
Lesson 1 Basic (Love starts at the place where you experience a mean bitch).
Lesson 1 Advanced (You're also a mean bastard)
Lesson 2 Basic (If you can't avoid meeting a mean person, learn to enjoy it)
Lesson 2 Advanced (You must become a meaner person than the one you'll meet)
Today's Slogan (Don't be nice to a mean person)
Like. The difference is palpable. It's not horrible TL, and the meaning is roughly there, but they have for some reason changed completely useable, snappy, and flavorful text into more drawn out copies, with definitively less memorability.
Like, "Bitch" works so well here, but they changed it into "Bastard" and then "mean person"? It's just odd.
Even looking at it just as a Manwha reader, the novel wording works so much better for most of the things they change.

Ok so I make elaborate fairy gardens. Every time I change my one out front for all the neighbors to see, when I leave it empty during the swap out people freak out thinking I am not doing them anymore . So I came up with an idea for when I am swapping out from one to the next in my neighborhood garden to put up a mini moving truck, and some fairy sized boxes to alert people there is one fairy family moving out, and another one coming in. I need a name for the moving company (fairy related) and a snappy slogan (also fairy related) so far all I can come up with is...Fairytown Movers....don't hire the rest, hire the FAIRY best....or Fairyland Movers...a move in the SPRITE direction. But I am not loving them. Any ideas?

Ok so I make elaborate fairy gardens. Every time I change my one out front for all the neighbors to see, when I leave it empty during the swap out people freak out thinking I am not doing them anymore . So I came up with an idea for when I am swapping out from one to the next in my neighborhood garden to put up a mini moving truck, and some fairy sized boxes to alert people there is one fairy family moving out, and another one coming in. I need a name for the moving company (fairy related) and a snappy slogan (also fairy related) so far all I can come up with is...Fairytown Movers....don't hire the rest, hire the FAIRY best....or Fairyland Movers...a move in the SPRITE direction. But I am not loving them. Any ideas?

Old razor ads can be worth looking into. New ones can be… odd. And ones from back when I grew up can be pretty bland. Recently I found a Gillette Contour ad from when I was still in elementary school. Back then shaving was, for me at least, something grownups did before I even got out of bed.
Gillette Contour advertisment from 1982
Disregarding my strongly held opinions on wibbly-wobbly razor heads – even if some of them are funny looking – the whole ad is kinda… underwhelming. At least from fourty years down the line.
A tiny bit of text. A big picture of the plastic razor. A line drawing. A murky photo of a pack of carts and some canned goo. And a less-than-snappy slogan to round it of.
Yeah… I’m not going out of my way to buy one of these, based on the advertisment.
And for those who don’t speak Danish (or Norwegian, or Swedish), let me give you a full translation of the ad copy:

The Contour method
Gillette Contour.
With self-adjusting tilting head, that follows the shape of the face, no matter how you hold the hand. Switch to the Contour method. And let the platinium covered double blade give you a perfect, precise, and comfertable shave.
Become better shaved with Gillette Contour.

As I said, kinda underwhelming. No wild claims on how many shaves you can get. No info-dump in a tight space. No twee drawings. Just… meh.
I’m glad we’re not living in the 80’s no more.

How Radio Jingles Influence Listener Behaviour?
Radio advertisement jingles are highly flexible and feasible for business owners as they create a buzz for their business and relevant products in a few seconds. The duration of radio jingles is mostly 20 or 30 seconds. So getting more attention from listeners depends on the power of the Radio Jingle. Radio jingle producers always try their best to create a radio jingle that sounds repetitive but not monotonous. So they write a powerful jingle and custom ad that can catch the listeners' attention even if they are busy with other work. This capability of the jingle amazes a listener and remains active for a long time in one’s mind, like an ear worm. Here's what you need to know about radio jingles;
What are Jingles in Advertising?
Few things can drive a promoting message, like an appealing jingle. Whether the audience love or hate it, a good jingle will relay the brand name with an idea, concept, or promotion. Listeners might not notice a chirpy techno beat in the background. However, they will notice your snappy jingle hook. Listeners' choices are influenced by catchy jingles making a subconscious relationship that increases the probability they will pick that business next time they need a product. Egoboo is also a voiceover recording studio that helps to create a bespoke sonic identity for your brand with its customised Radio Jingles service. Previous music compositions by Egoboo like the Insure My Van Jingle, The Quote Devil Jingle, and Lidl TV Commercials have been hugely beneficial to the success of these businesses so that some are still being used daily even ten years later!
Reasons Why Jingles are Powerful in Advertising
Jingles get stuck in peoples heads and keep playing. Once you hear them, you cannot help but sing along. They are extremely effective. Below is a look at the reasons why jingle marketing is a powerful tool for advertising.
A Jingle Could Become a Main Brand Element
Some brands have become famous with their jingles. The moment the jingle starts to play, listeners think of the brand. Or, while they hear about that brand, they think of the jingle.
Some of the most famous jingles are for McDonald’s (Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa ... I'm lovin' it)), Huggies, State Farm, Kit Kat, and Toys R Us. The moment the attractive tunes start playing, listeners immediately identify the brand.
One of the main aims of branding is to improve brand recognition. Jingles do a brilliant job of creating awareness and enhancing brand identity.
You can also use them to improve the recognition of your other brand elements. For instance, when used on TV advertisements, make sure that the video content features your name, logo, colours, and phone number. You can also include your brand's taglines and slogans in the jingle.
Clients can quickly identify your brand when they see your other brand elements in several advertising and marketing materials. If you are planning on promoting your brand, contact Egoboo, a jingle composer in Ireland. You can hire them to create a radio jingle for your business.
A Good Catchy Jingle Will Stick In Your Head
Jingles are earworms so once they are heard they are hard to forget! Even if a jingle is irritating and annoying to some people, it is still memorable to listeners. Jingles are also written to be hooky and easy to remember, like a nursery rhyme. Chances are most customers can recall a few famous jingles off the top of their heads instantly. Imagine State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbour” or Folger’s “Best Part of Waking Up.” Jingles are viral, and chances are most people can distinguish these and other famous jingles almost instantly.
For business owners and marketers, your brand or company will be at the top of consumers' minds now and in the future. Whether you are a restaurant, law firm, or Electrical company, customers will remember your jingle, even if they may not be in the market for your services at that moment. It might be six months since they first heard your jingle, but when their air conditioner breaks or they need a tax lawyer, they’ll remember you, as that jingle has been playing in their head throughout that period of time.
Drive Brand Recognition and Recall
The aim of radio advertising is for your brand to be the first one that comes to mind when somebody needs your service or product. Jingles created by Egoboo are catchy and memorable, get trapped in your clients' heads, and keep you at the top of their minds. When it is time to make a purchase, they will promptly recall your brand, which will increase your sales and lead to repeat purchases.
Set Your Brand Apart from the Competition
Your market is a crowded place. Several other businesses offer what you do or something similar. Moreover, they are all competing for the same clients. You need techniques to stand out. A jingle is one of them.
Your jingle is branded to your business's mission, messaging, values, and personality. This makes it exclusively yours and serves as a differentiator between you and your competition. With an attractive jingle, you entice your audience and increase the chance that your message is the one they will recall, driving memorability and brand recognition.
Create an even more memorable and effective Jingle by using sounds to do with your business. For example, children singing in a huggies nappy advert.
Versatile Way to Promote Your Business
Radio jingles can be used in many ways to promote your business. They can be played on the radio but also used in TV commercials, online advertising or even as holding music for your phone system. That means you can get lots of mileage out of a single jingle, which is an economical way to get your message out there.
Cost-effective
In the long run, jingles prove their value. Instead of paying huge sums of money every month for a new commercial, your jingle continues to amaze months and even years after it first hits the airwaves. With a simple modernization of the original copy, you can keep it fresh constantly, keeping your listeners updated on what your business is promoting that specific week or month.
How to Select a Reliable Jingle Composer?
Whether you are a well-known brand or a small business owner, radio ads are effective for both. Thus, grab the audience's attention by generating a successful radio jingle. Influence and drive the listeners to take action for your brand with attractive radio advertisements. Incorporate the web address into the jingle. Here are the best tips to help you select a reliable jingle composer for your brand!
Good Understanding of Products or Services
The foremost tip to consider while selecting a radio jingle composer is that they should have a good knowledge of your product and service. It is essential to know about your product's unique selling points (USPs) and other vital features and advantages you must focus on in your jingle. Therefore, the jingle composers of Egoboo always concentrate on understanding the services and products to provide the right message to the right audience.
Identify the Demographic Audience
Knowing your customers is essential for creating a jingle. You want to create a sound that appeals to a certain age group e.g. you don’t want to make a country music jingle to appeal to young Dublin city dwellers. Know your audience and compose a jingle they will like.
Use a Core Message
When creating a radio jingle, it is significant to include a core message that resonates with your target audience. Consider highlighting your product or service's unique selling proposition (USP), a unique factor distinguishing it from its competitors. This can be the lowest cost, highest quality, or first service or product. The main point is to include a core message in your jingle that catches the listener's attention.
The Message Must Be Clear
The radio jingle you create should carry your brand's core message, and it must be clear to your audience. The jingle script must keep a core message connecting listeners to your services or product. Your message should have the right tone, voice, and language, which aids the listener in connecting with your brand. The risk of losing the customer becomes low if your message is tuned to the jingle. Remember that your message must be delivered in the first few seconds as the audience changes the channel if they listen to a program. Therefore, always try to convey your message at the start. Focus on Lyrics
Lyrics are vital when composing a radio jingle. They must be clear, simple, and easy to understand, making it easy for your listener to remember and sing along. The lyrics must have continuity, so your audience recalls the words while they listen. Repeat your brand name and product in the lyrics, and ensure that the consumer connects with it. Also include your website address if that is important to your business. When writing the lyrics, refer to the qualities of your service or product that create a visual image of your brand in the audience’s mind. At Egoboo, the composer always focuses on the lyrics of jingles to keep them simple yet catchy.
Relate to Target Audience
It does not matter how prominent your advertisement is and how much money you spend if your audience cannot relate to it. The audience’s connection with the brand is more acute while composing a jingle. All your efforts and expertise will go to waste if the listeners cannot visualise your brand after listening to your radio jingle. A good jingle paints a brand picture in the listener’s mind, and the audience relates to it. Egoboo’s radio jingles always connect your audience with the product or brand.
Choosing the Best Genre and Voice-over Talent
Good music can make or break a radio advertisement. Choosing the right music entices the listener’s attention and ties them to the jingle. When you select attractive and powerful music, it generates a long-term impression on the listener’s mind. Also, ensure that the music is unique and not a fusion or copy of famous music or lyrics. You might face copyright issues in such a case. A good Jingle Voice-over studio like Egoboo can help create exceptional and original music.
Hiring a professional voiceover artist online through Egoboo will deliver the best voice for your jingle. Ensure that the voiceover matches the tone of the message you wish to provide. If your statement is robust and bold, your voice should be compelling. Alternatively, the voice must be polite and soft if your message tone is respectful and gentle.
Keeping Brand Name
Stating the company's name in the jingle is vital to writing an effective advertisement jingle. You must provide a tag to the jingle by stating the brand. This is so that the client can establish an instant connection between the jingle and the brand.
Product Benefits
Effective content in a jingle makes it more striking and memorable. If your ad jingle contains the benefits of your product, it will maximise the productivity of your brand. For instance, Vico's jingle "Vico Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream" uses the words "Ayurvedic" and "Turmeric" to indicate the cream's connection with natural elements.
Deliver a Clear Call To Action
While short catchphrases can be effective for brand awareness, using longer call-to-action jingles is highly effective at driving action. For example, GEICO's instruction to their audience that "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance" communicates the brand's selling point and exactly what the audience needs to do to reap the benefits. In addition, hearing the word fifteen will remind some people of the brand.
Easy to Remember
When a potential client sings about your brand all day long, it's like having a song stuck in their head. Visualise the impact of this on your brand’s awareness!
We hope these tips help you create a good radio jingle for your brand. A good jingle adds value to radio advertisements. If you are looking for a jingle production company, Egoboo is ready to serve you. Egoboo works with the best singers and voiceover agencies in Ireland, where you can browse thousands of skilled voice actors and hire them immediately.
Conclusion
Jingle marketing has stood the test of time. Although media consumption patterns have changed over the years, jingles are still highly effective marketing and advertising tools. Jingles are attractive and memorable, and can be used to achieve various marketing objectives, including brand recognition and recall, building awareness, and increasing sales. They can be used on both traditional electronic media and various online platforms.
The primary key to success in jingle promotion is to work with a professional to create a high-scoring jingle. Follow the principles of consistency, frequency, and repetition to optimise marketing effectiveness.

How Radio Jingles Influence Listener Behaviour?
Radio advertisement jingles are highly flexible and feasible for business owners as they create a buzz for their business and relevant products in a few seconds. The duration of radio jingles is mostly 20 or 30 seconds. So getting more attention from listeners depends on the power of the Radio Jingle. Radio jingle producers always try their best to create a radio jingle that sounds repetitive but not monotonous. So they write a powerful jingle and custom ad that can catch the listeners' attention even if they are busy with other work. This capability of the jingle amazes a listener and remains active for a long time in one’s mind, like an ear worm. Here's what you need to know about radio jingles;
What are Jingles in Advertising?
Few things can drive a promoting message, like an appealing jingle. Whether the audience love or hate it, a good jingle will relay the brand name with an idea, concept, or promotion. Listeners might not notice a chirpy techno beat in the background. However, they will notice your snappy jingle hook. Listeners' choices are influenced by catchy jingles making a subconscious relationship that increases the probability they will pick that business next time they need a product. Egoboo is also a voiceover recording studio that helps to create a bespoke sonic identity for your brand with its customised Radio Jingles service. Previous music compositions by Egoboo like the Insure My Van Jingle, The Quote Devil Jingle, and Lidl TV Commercials have been hugely beneficial to the success of these businesses so that some are still being used daily even ten years later!
Reasons Why Jingles are Powerful in Advertising
Jingles get stuck in peoples heads and keep playing. Once you hear them, you cannot help but sing along. They are extremely effective. Below is a look at the reasons why jingle marketing is a powerful tool for advertising.
A Jingle Could Become a Main Brand Element
Some brands have become famous with their jingles. The moment the jingle starts to play, listeners think of the brand. Or, while they hear about that brand, they think of the jingle.
Some of the most famous jingles are for McDonald’s (Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa ... I'm lovin' it)), Huggies, State Farm, Kit Kat, and Toys R Us. The moment the attractive tunes start playing, listeners immediately identify the brand.
One of the main aims of branding is to improve brand recognition. Jingles do a brilliant job of creating awareness and enhancing brand identity.
You can also use them to improve the recognition of your other brand elements. For instance, when used on TV advertisements, make sure that the video content features your name, logo, colours, and phone number. You can also include your brand's taglines and slogans in the jingle.
Clients can quickly identify your brand when they see your other brand elements in several advertising and marketing materials. If you are planning on promoting your brand, contact Egoboo, a jingle composer in Ireland. You can hire them to create a radio jingle for your business.
A Good Catchy Jingle Will Stick In Your Head
Jingles are earworms so once they are heard they are hard to forget! Even if a jingle is irritating and annoying to some people, it is still memorable to listeners. Jingles are also written to be hooky and easy to remember, like a nursery rhyme. Chances are most customers can recall a few famous jingles off the top of their heads instantly. Imagine State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbour” or Folger’s “Best Part of Waking Up.” Jingles are viral, and chances are most people can distinguish these and other famous jingles almost instantly.
For business owners and marketers, your brand or company will be at the top of consumers' minds now and in the future. Whether you are a restaurant, law firm, or Electrical company, customers will remember your jingle, even if they may not be in the market for your services at that moment. It might be six months since they first heard your jingle, but when their air conditioner breaks or they need a tax lawyer, they’ll remember you, as that jingle has been playing in their head throughout that period of time.
Drive Brand Recognition and Recall
The aim of radio advertising is for your brand to be the first one that comes to mind when somebody needs your service or product. Jingles created by Egoboo are catchy and memorable, get trapped in your clients' heads, and keep you at the top of their minds. When it is time to make a purchase, they will promptly recall your brand, which will increase your sales and lead to repeat purchases.
Set Your Brand Apart from the Competition
Your market is a crowded place. Several other businesses offer what you do or something similar. Moreover, they are all competing for the same clients. You need techniques to stand out. A jingle is one of them.
Your jingle is branded to your business's mission, messaging, values, and personality. This makes it exclusively yours and serves as a differentiator between you and your competition. With an attractive jingle, you entice your audience and increase the chance that your message is the one they will recall, driving memorability and brand recognition.
Create an even more memorable and effective Jingle by using sounds to do with your business. For example, children singing in a huggies nappy advert.
Versatile Way to Promote Your Business
Radio jingles can be used in many ways to promote your business. They can be played on the radio but also used in TV commercials, online advertising or even as holding music for your phone system. That means you can get lots of mileage out of a single jingle, which is an economical way to get your message out there.
Cost-effective
In the long run, jingles prove their value. Instead of paying huge sums of money every month for a new commercial, your jingle continues to amaze months and even years after it first hits the airwaves. With a simple modernization of the original copy, you can keep it fresh constantly, keeping your listeners updated on what your business is promoting that specific week or month.
How to Select a Reliable Jingle Composer?
Whether you are a well-known brand or a small business owner, radio ads are effective for both. Thus, grab the audience's attention by generating a successful radio jingle. Influence and drive the listeners to take action for your brand with attractive radio advertisements. Incorporate the web address into the jingle. Here are the best tips to help you select a reliable jingle composer for your brand!
Good Understanding of Products or Services
The foremost tip to consider while selecting a radio jingle composer is that they should have a good knowledge of your product and service. It is essential to know about your product's unique selling points (USPs) and other vital features and advantages you must focus on in your jingle. Therefore, the jingle composers of Egoboo always concentrate on understanding the services and products to provide the right message to the right audience.
Identify the Demographic Audience
Knowing your customers is essential for creating a jingle. You want to create a sound that appeals to a certain age group e.g. you don’t want to make a country music jingle to appeal to young Dublin city dwellers. Know your audience and compose a jingle they will like.
Use a Core Message
When creating a radio jingle, it is significant to include a core message that resonates with your target audience. Consider highlighting your product or service's unique selling proposition (USP), a unique factor distinguishing it from its competitors. This can be the lowest cost, highest quality, or first service or product. The main point is to include a core message in your jingle that catches the listener's attention.
The Message Must Be Clear
The radio jingle you create should carry your brand's core message, and it must be clear to your audience. The jingle script must keep a core message connecting listeners to your services or product. Your message should have the right tone, voice, and language, which aids the listener in connecting with your brand. The risk of losing the customer becomes low if your message is tuned to the jingle. Remember that your message must be delivered in the first few seconds as the audience changes the channel if they listen to a program. Therefore, always try to convey your message at the start. Focus on Lyrics
Lyrics are vital when composing a radio jingle. They must be clear, simple, and easy to understand, making it easy for your listener to remember and sing along. The lyrics must have continuity, so your audience recalls the words while they listen. Repeat your brand name and product in the lyrics, and ensure that the consumer connects with it. Also include your website address if that is important to your business. When writing the lyrics, refer to the qualities of your service or product that create a visual image of your brand in the audience’s mind. At Egoboo, the composer always focuses on the lyrics of jingles to keep them simple yet catchy.
Relate to Target Audience
It does not matter how prominent your advertisement is and how much money you spend if your audience cannot relate to it. The audience’s connection with the brand is more acute while composing a jingle. All your efforts and expertise will go to waste if the listeners cannot visualise your brand after listening to your radio jingle. A good jingle paints a brand picture in the listener’s mind, and the audience relates to it. Egoboo’s radio jingles always connect your audience with the product or brand.
Choosing the Best Genre and Voice-over Talent
Good music can make or break a radio advertisement. Choosing the right music entices the listener’s attention and ties them to the jingle. When you select attractive and powerful music, it generates a long-term impression on the listener’s mind. Also, ensure that the music is unique and not a fusion or copy of famous music or lyrics. You might face copyright issues in such a case. A good Jingle Voice-over studio like Egoboo can help create exceptional and original music.
Hiring a professional voiceover artist online through Egoboo will deliver the best voice for your jingle. Ensure that the voiceover matches the tone of the message you wish to provide. If your statement is robust and bold, your voice should be compelling. Alternatively, the voice must be polite and soft if your message tone is respectful and gentle.
Keeping Brand Name
Stating the company's name in the jingle is vital to writing an effective advertisement jingle. You must provide a tag to the jingle by stating the brand. This is so that the client can establish an instant connection between the jingle and the brand.
Product Benefits
Effective content in a jingle makes it more striking and memorable. If your ad jingle contains the benefits of your product, it will maximise the productivity of your brand. For instance, Vico's jingle "Vico Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream" uses the words "Ayurvedic" and "Turmeric" to indicate the cream's connection with natural elements.
Deliver a Clear Call To Action
While short catchphrases can be effective for brand awareness, using longer call-to-action jingles is highly effective at driving action. For example, GEICO's instruction to their audience that "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance" communicates the brand's selling point and exactly what the audience needs to do to reap the benefits. In addition, hearing the word fifteen will remind some people of the brand.
Easy to Remember
When a potential client sings about your brand all day long, it's like having a song stuck in their head. Visualise the impact of this on your brand’s awareness!
We hope these tips help you create a good radio jingle for your brand. A good jingle adds value to radio advertisements. If you are looking for a jingle production company, Egoboo is ready to serve you. Egoboo works with the best singers and voiceover agencies in Ireland, where you can browse thousands of skilled voice actors and hire them immediately.
Conclusion
Jingle marketing has stood the test of time. Although media consumption patterns have changed over the years, jingles are still highly effective marketing and advertising tools. Jingles are attractive and memorable, and can be used to achieve various marketing objectives, including brand recognition and recall, building awareness, and increasing sales. They can be used on both traditional electronic media and various online platforms.
The primary key to success in jingle promotion is to work with a professional to create a high-scoring jingle. Follow the principles of consistency, frequency, and repetition to optimise marketing effectiveness.

The point of this post is understanding propoganda and how you can use propoganda to destroy the other side's messaging. Dems aren't bad at messaging. Republicans (and Russians) are amazing at distorting messaging. When you read this you are going to learn something awesome that you aren't going to be able to effectively share because of counter messaging poisoning social media that will kill it.
One of the many progressive accomplishments of Barak Obama was to massively increase funding to TEACH grants that provide money to teachers working for schools so impoverished that they can't pay their teachers a living wage. He called this initiative the Race To The Top and it was a 4.35 **billion** dollar program aimed at helping underprivileged schools of which over 200 million went to TEACH grants. These help folks who want to become teachers get their teaching degrees in return for their pledge to work for underserved communities teaching topics that there are teacher shortages for.
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/01/13/500421608/obamas-impact-on-americas-schools
In 2016 some GOP Primary candidates were in favor of eliminating the Department of Education entirely (https://kappanonline.org/does-rick-perry-still-want-to-eliminate-the-education-department/), and Donald Trump sought to cut the departments budget by between 8 and 12% every year he was in office.
However, (and this is the first part of the propaganda that will keep you from talking about this on the internet) he was unable to get most of his cuts through Congress. Not even when he held a trifecta.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/trump-administration-would-cut-education-budget-again/584599/
"On Monday, Donald Trump’s administration released ...requests a roughly $7.1 billion cut in funding for the department compared with 2019, which represents a 10 percent decrease in its budget. The proposed cut is unlikely to go anywhere; like years past, Congress is expected to disregard it for the most part."
This is an uncomfortable narrative because you either have to thank Republican legislators or the filibuster for stopping Trump from slashing education funding. And we don't want to do that. So oh look my dog needs a walk and this kitten needs petting and are there any good movies on? But thats just bog standard denying the humanity of the other side - and this post is about counter-propaganda. So it goes past that. But part of seeing reality instead of narrative is facing the uncomfortable truths that don't make good copy pasta.
While Trump could not pass legislation, he was still the chief executive. Which meant, he had complete control over the discretionary part of the budget. And you know what Trump likes? Private. School. Vouchers.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-advances-school-vouchers-despite-scant-evidence/
"President Donald Trump's secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, is preparing to give [vouchers] its first national rollout in the U.S. She has made voucher programs the centerpiece of her efforts to enhance educational outcomes for students, saying they offer parents freedom to select institutions outside their designated school zone."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/06/16/trump-school-choice-is-the-civil-rights-statement-of-the-yea?sh=106c98323f46
"We’re fighting for school choice, which really is the civil rights of all time in this country,” Trump said at the conference. "
Now in order to put 20 billion into his voucher program from the discretionary budget he had to stop funding other things that the discretionary budget was funding. Wave bye bye to Race to the Top. All pell grants for summer school vanished and the normal pell grand fund was reduced (in addition to the 4 billion from the Pell grant fund he tried to redirect to offset cuts he made to NASA). No new grants were issued and he tried to claw back old grants.
Grants are multi-year commitments made by Obama that technically Trump needed to honor even with Obama gone. He wanted those funds for his home/parochial school vouchers. But if you try to end a grant early that was given to a state the state sics lawyers on you. Which gets us back to the TEACH grants. The recipients of TEACH grants were not powerful like states. They had no legal way to force the Trump administration to keep Obama's promises. They were individual teachers teaching in low income schools. Vulnerable.
So he had lawyer comb through the legalese of the TEACH grants and they found a loophole that let them convert the grants into loans. That the teachers were now expected to pay back. Freeing up discretionary funds for Trump's voucher program.

• https://www.uc.edu/about/financial-aid/aid/grants/teach/conversion.html : Failure to complete the teaching obligation, respond to requests for information, or properly document your teaching service will cause your TEACH Grant to be permanently converted to a loan with interest. Once a grant is converted to a loan, it cannot be converted back to a grant.
• https://thecollegeinvestor.com/13735/prevent-teach-grants-becoming-loans/ : Even though the Department of Education handles TEACH Grants, they typically outsource the servicing of them ... these companies want your grants to become loans — they will make more money as a result.

Oh and guess what, the conversions were retroactive to the entire amount of the grant.
https://www.forbes.com/advisostudent-loans/teach-grant/
"However, if for any reason you’re unable or unwilling to complete your teaching service obligation, the grant amount is converted into a federal unsubsidized direct loan. This debt will then need to be repaid with interest, like a normal student loan."
So if the Trump administration loses your FAFSA long enough for the deadline to pass even though you are in compliance with the terms of the grant program your entire grant is converted to a loan. One you now must pay back on a below living wage salary at an under privileged school.
Well Fuck.
Now Biden swept in and put an end to these practices going forward. But what is to stop the next Republican president from doing it again?
Enter The Consider Teachers Act (https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-117publ49.) which "improve[s] the service obligation verification process for TEACH Grant recipients," to prevent a future asshole executive from sticking impoverished teachers with surprise loans for more than their annual salary.
And you, my dear readers, are not going to post, share, or in some cases like Senate Bill 848 because of counter-propoganda. You can't point out this wonderful great thing Democrats have done for teachers because in order to beat the filibuster you have to let moderates lead. Far left wingnuts can't even talk to Republicans, forget about negotiating bills.
And the moderate who pulled this one together? The most effective moderate in the Senate? The Senator who has repeatedly cracked the GOP monolith to wrangle enough republican votes to defeat the filibuster? The most attacked Senator on the internet? She's named Kristin Sinema.
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/breaking-sinema-bill-protecting-arizona-teachers-surprise-loan-charges-signed-law
"Sinema heard from Arizona teachers whose grants were erroneously converted to a loan through no fault of their own. Since the TEACH grant program was created, the Department of Education reports that there have been 35,593 TEACH grant awards made—totaling $107,740,051—to students in Arizona. Sinema’s bill was endorsed by the Arizona Education Association."
We all know that we can't effectively talk about good things done by she who must not be named. Just like how in 2016 when you tried to educate the screaming Bernie bros about the good things Hillary Clinton has done not only would they not listen, it actively made them worse. The hate for Hillary they were incubating effectively turned off their brains and was a much. more important principle for them than any of their stated political goals.
I mean seriously, if you really care about health care you should, logically, have been delighted that Hillary Clinton has been pushing it for decades. That she made it her signature issue as First Lady and got CHIP passed (which Sanders voted against ...). Then based her campaign around it in 2008 stating that this would force every candidate to talk about it so no matter who won they'd have to pass something (and even McCain had a plan he would have worked on if he'd one as a result). But if you told a bro about her record wrt UHC were they happy? No! They became enraged. That Woman isn't allowed to do good things because hating her lights up all the dopamine producers in my brain and feels good! How can I be good if she isn't evil!?!?! Lie! Establishment! It can't be true it can't be true ARRGGGHHHH!
Human nature. Yay.
Kristin Sinema is a bipartisan, filibuster defeating, progressive workhorse. Making it impossible to praise her online through incubating unhinged hatred of her is amazing counter-propaganda. She is involved in so much and we can't talk about any of it without setting the haters off. So to avoid dealing with them we just .. don't talk about it. And then nobody knows about all this amazing stuff. And then we wonder why nobody seems to know ... but if we are to intimidated to talk about it then of course nobody knows.
And thats the problem.
You are not going to share her Consider Teachers bill because you don't want to deal with the haters. those posters who despise her so much that they would rather a good thing not happen that that she be the one to do it. Nor will you share how she restored lost water rights to AZ Indian tribes (https://www.sinema.senate.gov/over-120-million-fulfill-indian-water-rights-settlements-coming-tribes-across-arizona-bipartisan) while if a brogressive tweets about how stealing their water is bad and why aren't democrats doing something about it that will get plastered over Reddit. We passed a historic, record shattering, $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure act - dwarfing anything of its kind in history - but we can't talk about it because the moment you mention it the alt-reality posters turn up pretending 1.2 trillion is nothing and we could totally have gotten a 3 trillion dollar one if not for Sinema. When in reality it was her tireless negotiations that got us BBB. And $1.2 trillion is fucking amazing. Esp the $270 billion aimed at clean energy (/swoon).
And if not for the Bernie set we could get even more! Sinema had Republicans on board for an $11 federal min wage (economist recommended amount btw - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-proposal-mitt-romney-kyrsten-sinema/). But the far left attacks anyone who supports anything less than $15. The Gang of 20 has 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats so if they support something it beats the filibuster - unless one party has defections and Sanders/Warren refused to support $11 (https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-manchins-11-minimum-wage-proposal-15-hour-not-radical-idea-1571422 - https://www.yahoo.com/video/minimum-wage-warren-143549362.html).
But will we see Reddit posts about how Faux-gressives prevented the federal in wage from increasing from $7.25 to $11? No we will not! Even though the votes were there to pass $11 and won't be there for $15 until decades of inflation make that the number economists recommend ($15 is pants on head stupid as a federal min wage btw https://minimumwage.com/2022/04/survey-majority-of-economists-believe-15-wage-is-too-high). Instead the alt-reality posters will pretend that we were this close to getting $15 (we weren't) but Sinema single handedly stopped it (don't you hate Sinema?) because dems are to weak to get things done so why bother voting. This ignores that economists oppose $15, eight democrats openly voted against it so we didn't have anywhere near 50 votes, and min wage isn't a topic eligible for reconciliation anyway. But we could have had 60 votes for $11 if not for Berniecrats.
We will never get them to stop attacking $11 (or real progressives who deliver results) as long as they believe this populist mind rot of their inherent complete correctness with the only reason to oppose them being corrupt/evilness.
We have to take away the simplistic hero/villain narratives that allow them to not actually think about politics.
Which is very hard because smug superiority driven hate is fun. And as they say - if you are explaining, you are losing. =(
I know I know - (looks at all the words above). The only snappy slogan level stuff I've got is shutting people down by observing that they sound crazy and untrustworthy when they ooze hate. Why should I listen to your takes? You are clearly emotionally motivated and will believe anything bad you hear because you want to. The goal is not to change their minds, just to shut them up so they don't mute good news.

Write a compelling headline for a sales page for a [product/service]
Create an email subject line to increase open rates
Generate a list of benefits for [product/service]
Write a short and snappy introduction for a landing page
Provide a list of potential slogans for a company
Write a list of power words to use in a call-to-action
Create a catchy lead for a news article about [recent event]
Write a script for a 30-second commercial
Create a list of effective calls-to-action for a sales letter
Write a list of keywords related to [topic] for Adwords optimization

(Part 1)
(Part 2)
(Part 3)
Hello everyone, and welcome to the FINAL part of Every Ad Created in Mad Men, Ranked by a Copywriter! We're here at last. After 62 ad reviews, a few (questionable) recommendations on how they could be improved, and many incredible comments from all of you, we are at the pointy end at last. This is the cream of the crop. The top 30. The best god damn ads that the creatives at Sterling Cooper, Cutler Gleason & Chaough, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and Sterling Cooper & Partners whipped up throughout the whole series.
There is very little negative to say about these ads. They are all clever, and powerful, and memorable.
I'm very keen for some discussion on this part in particular - I'm fairly sure my #1 pick is not what you would expect, and I'd love to hear what everyone else saw as the best ad in the whole series.
That's enough rambling from me. Let's get to the top 30 ads created in Mad Men.
#30: "Gentlemen, Start Your Sunday Afternoons." Client: Filmore Auto Parts Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E9
Our first entry in the top 30 is this nifty line from Ginsberg. It's another of the quick print ads we see when Don is getting jealous about Ginsberg's prolific output. Knowing that the strategy for Filmore was to empower the mechanic in every man, this is a really clever headline. With a nod to racing terminology, it inspires men to get the parts they need from Filmore, and spend their well earned Sunday afternoon working on the things they love - their cars. It's a really nice message that speaks to the benefit beautifully. Take back your Sunday afternoon in the garage with your car - with the expertise and great service at Filmore, they'll give you the parts and advice you need without the fuss.
#29: "Search For Your Prince. Until You Find a Butler." Client: Butler Shoes Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E9
Wouldn't you know it - it's another of Ginsberg's ads that makes Don realise he's not creating as much as he used to. We see this splayed out on the table, and I'm assuming that this is the print headline for the rogue Cinderella pitch that Ginsberg let loose after the Butler client bought the original pitch. I know they already sold the "You'll Never Tell, They'll Never Be Able To" campaign, but I've got to say - I'm glad this was the one they went with in the end. Sure, it's a bit of cliche. But it's a clever, fun and empowering story. You don't need a prince to sweep you off your feet with something dainty and perfect. You can find your own perfect pair of shoes at Butler for a fraction of the cost. I love the wordplay in the headline, and the allusions to the fairy tale world give you a lot of space to play in. As we saw later in the series, Butler then went on to do a Beauty and the Beast spot. From this original Cinderella spot, the team have created a platform that subverts normal expectations within the tired, cliched world of fairy tales to give women a practical alternative to the fancy footwear brands. You could keep mining this territory for a long time, and it positions Butler as a fun, clever, and modern brand.
#28: "At Last. Something Beautiful You Can Truly Own." Client: Jaguar Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E11
This is probably one of the most iconic pitches they deliver in Mad Men. It feels like everything is on the line, that this single piece of creative could make or break the agency. Luckily, they had Ginsberg on board to crystallise this really insightful strategy. It touches on the intangible nature of beautiful things - they always seem just out of reach, and like you can never truly grasp them before they slip away into the aether. But Jaguar? Jaguar is that truly beautiful, wondrous thing that has become tangible. That has become something you can tame. Something you can own. It's a powerful sentiment, and would certainly appeal to the type of person who can indulge in a car like this. The reason this didn't end up higher on the list is the line itself. Yes, the sentiment is good. But it just feels so...unwieldy. It's written in passive voice, has two sentences, an adverb, and it just starts to feel quite long. It almost feels like the strategy statement rather than the tagline. The strategy statement is the line that the planning team gives the creative team that crystallises what you are trying to say about the product, and it's then on the creative team to take that and create a more snappy, powerful headline. This feels like it never got past that strategy layer. I feel like if the team started really digging down on this and rewriting in a few different, more concise ways, they could have found something REALLY good.
#27: "You Don't Need Anyone's Help But St Joseph's." Client: St Joseph's Creative: Peggy Olsen S6E12
This was the Rosemary's Baby referencing TV spot that ended up going waaaay over budget. Ted insisted on making it happen because Peggy could "smell the Clio." I don't know if it's THAT good, but I do think the insight here is really nice. The premise was to shoot from the perspective of a baby, with a bunch of different relatives all putting in their two cents for what the baby should do to feel better, finally resolving by saying you don't need anyone's help but St Joseph's. It's a really lovely, true human insight that we all search for when we're coming up with ads. I bet you know someone, whether it's a family member or a friend, who swears they have the best remedy for a particular ailment. I myself jump down anybody's throat the minute I see them hiccup because I want them to try my hiccup remedy that I've used my whole life. But that's just the thing - every body thinks they know what's best, but the people who really do are the scientists and professionals who make real medicine. Exaggerating the mayhem of medical opinions with a well known horror scene is a super fun way to heighten this insight, and is one of the best examples of "borrowed interest" on this list. It references the movie, but you don't have to have seen it for it to make sense, and it actually builds on the premise with an insight of its own.
#26: "Family Supper at Burgerchef." Client: Burgerchef Creative: Peggy Olsen S7E7
This is positioned in the show as Peggy's masterpiece. The apex of her creative journey. I myself don't think it's her best work, but I can't deny it's very bloody good. The idea here is that these days, with the TV ruling the dining room, people are hungry for more than dinner. They're hungry for conversation. For family. For connection. To position Burgerchef as a place you can all truly one together to sit down and have a delicious meal, and bond as a family is really lovely. You can imagine this being a beautiful spot where you show different families all having touching moments. You could show the classic nuclear family, and some less conventional families all binding over their supper. This would establish a powerful nostalgia for Burgerchef, which is the dream for a marketer. People don't just see your restaurant as a place to get food, they see it and they think of the love and connection they have with their family.
#25/#24: "Our Hams Are Worth Fighting For." Client: Sugarberry Hams Creative: Peggy Olsen S4E1
Here we have a joint entry - there was a PR stunt, with a linked print ad campaign, so I initially counted them as two separate entries on the list. However when all is said and done, they're the same idea, so they're coming in together. This was Peggy's devious scheme to get two women to fight over a ham in a supermarket in order to get some juicy media coverage. She then created a print ad with two people fighting over a ham with the headline "Our Hams are Worth Fighting For." I got my start in a PR agency, so I have a bit of a soft spot for ideas like this. Getting media coverage is what we called "Earned Media." The product got covered in the media of its own accord purely due to word of mouth, without us having to buy space in the newspaper. This is what a lot of my clients ask for these days. A stunt or "act" that is deigned to put the product in the public consciousness and be interesting enough to get people talking about it. Though Peggy's idea here was a bit dishonest, she had a keen nose for what would be covered by the press and was able to execute it flawlessly. Then, once the media coverage was secured, she swooped in with the print ad which made it seem as if the brand was merely reacting to the news. Very smart indeed.
#23: "Nothing Fits Both Sides of a Woman Better Than Playtex." Client: Playtex Creative: Paul Kinsey S2E6
This was Paul Kinsey's most famous piece of creative (but in my opinion, not his best). While boozing with the boys after work, he comes across the insight that every woman believes she is either a Jackie or a Marilyn. Two polar opposites. But with this piece of creative, he proposed that all woman have both sides within - you just need the right bra to unleash them. This is definitely the best Playtex ad we see in the show. It sells a clear emotional and aspirational benefit: by wearing the new Harlequin bra, you can unlock different sides of yourself - a more suave, elegant Jackie, or a bubbly and vivacious Marilyn. The creative cleverly used a single model to portray both sides of the woman, and played with blacks and whites to show the contrast between these two polarities. It definitely would have been an eye catching and appealing ad, and it's unfortunate the client ended up not wanting to make it. I'm all too familiar with that struggle. Getting yourself all excited and amped up for an awesome idea and then some red tape from the client stopping it in its tracks is all just part of the job.
#22: "It's More Trouble Than It's Worth." Client: Chevalier Blanc Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E8
In this ad, a helpless man runs down the street, as hordes of ravenous women chase after him, much like in "A Hard Day's Night." He rounds corner after corner, but to no avail. The women are on his tail, and they just won't let up. At the end, we learn that you need to be careful when using Chevalier Blanc, because "it's more trouble than it's worth." I love this. It's is one of my absolute favourite techniques - where the positive of the product is turned into an absurd, comical, negative. For instance, consider this more recent ad campaign for Fox Sports. Each spot would start with someone operating a machine, like a jet ski. The jet ski then starts to dismantle pice by piece as the person riding it helplessly tries to salvage it, but to no avail. We then cut to the factory line where the jet ski was assembled. The factory workers all have their eyes glued to the TV and are doing an absolutely terrible job of putting the jet ski together. The voice over says "Beware things made in October." The message? The sports lineup on Fox in October is so damn good people literally can't take their eyes off the TV, to disastrous results. In the case of Chevalier Blanc, the cologne is so attractive to women, you literally won't be able to keep them away from you. There's something just so fun and sticky about this approach. It's cocky, but a bit self deprecating at the same time, and always makes for some super lateral and fun spots.
#21: "I Hate My Samsonite Because It's Empty." Client: Samonsite Creative: Freddy Rumsen S2E9
We never see the full creative for this - we just hear Freddy Rumen, advertising whiz, run through the creative in a rehearsal...before he gets absolutely sloshed and soaks his socks with urine. But what a pitch it would have been. The idea is for the spokesperson to list off all the reasons they love their Samsonite - the durability, the appearance, the spaciousness - and then finally close off with saying they actually hate their Samonsite. Because it's empty. What a beautiful way to get all the product benefits out and then inspire a sense of wanderlust and an itch to get a suitcase and go somewhere new. It's easy to get bogged down in the practical features, but Freddy didn't forget what it is about a suitcase that makes it so exciting - the fact that it always means you're going somewhere. And with this line he inspires people to not only get a suitcase, but to fill it up with luggage and beautiful travel memories. This is hands down the best Samsonite ad we see. Even Don's "The Champ" ad (which I covered in a previous version) wasn't as nice as this. Sure, it got across the toughenss. But it didn't give you that wistful nostalgia that comes from packing your suitcase for a big trip.
#20: "What Did you Bring Me Daddy?" Client: Mohawk Airlines Creative: Peggy Olsen S2E1
Here we have another stellar travel based ad. As Don says when Peggy finally lands on this gem - "you can put that in your book." He's right. It's definitely a portfolio worthy piece. It's a clear, simple human truth - that travelling for business may not always be exciting, but when you have someone you love to come home to, it's always an adventure. The heartstring tugging line would make even the coldest businessman feel a soft spot for the airline that creates that feeling. And in this case that airline is Mohawk.
#19: "Billy The Kid." Client: Glo Coat Creative: Don Draper / Peggy Olsen S4E1
In this Clio winning spot, we see a young cowboy stuck behind bars, longing to be free again. Soon, his reverie is interrupted by his mother lifting the dining chair off the table and letting her son free to roam about the house again now that the floor is clean. Don's goal here was to make the ad indistinguishable from the cinema, and he definitely achieved that here with some really strong film craft. In fact, it's one of the few times we ever see an actual finished TV spot from any of the agencies in the show. As well as being well put together, it's a really cute human moment that is quite hard to find when you're looking at a fairly clinical product like floor cleaner.
#18: "Manischewitz Bus Ad." Client: Manischewitz Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E9
This is the most clever use of a media placement in the whole show. Michael whipped up this quick and dirty idea for a dinner that Roger had with the client, and it rightfully impressed everyone at the table. The idea was to buy an ad on the side of the bus. The ad, running along the entire length of the bus, would be just beneath the row of windows, and make it appear as if you're seeing the bottom half of all the people sitting above - each with a bottle of the client's wine at their feet. Smart media placement ads are always awesome, and this is a very clever one. There's no headline needed, because the message is clear. Everyone, from all walks of live, loves Manischewitz.
#17: "Open a Can On a Rainy Day." Client: Play Doh (spec) Creative: Don Draper S4E6
This is a spec ad we see in the portfolio that Don sneakily ads into Roger's fur box when he's trying to get a jabot Sterling Cooper. It's actually quite a well drawn spec ad considering Don's a copywriter! It shows a bunch of Play Doh animals walking into Noah's ark, with the tagline "Open a Can on a Rainy Day." That's just clever stuff. Speaks both literally to Play Doh being an amazing rainy day activity, and the imagined scenario that the child has created with their Play Doh. It reminds me of all the awesome work from Lego where you see a very crude shape made from two Lego blocks, but the shadow shows that the child imagines - a roaring T Rex. I love this ad. It's just a cute, sweet and clever execution.
#16: "Take it from a Nut. Utz Are Better Than Nuts!" Client: Utz Creative: Freddy Rumsen S2E3
This one's just a bit silly. Which is why I love it. With a product like a potato chip, you don't want to forget that it's just...a potato chip. It doesn't have a more noble purpose than to be a fun, delicious snack. So the creative should be bold, silly, and above all, fun. I love Jimmy Barret's debonair delivery here, even though it turns out that he's the insane one in the story. Capped off with a memorable image of Jimmy stuffing his whole face into the bag of chips, this would be a completely unexpected and really stick in your mind.
#15: "Why I'm Quitting Tobacco." Client: SCDP Creative: Don Draper S4E12
I love a long form copy ad like this. Kicking off wth the brilliant wordplay in the title (Don's agency is quitting tobacco, much as an actual smoker would), the ad then delves into a deeply personal and genuine confession about how advertising doesn't really even matter for a consumer base that's addicted to the product anyway. Then, actually naming the competitors who do tobacco advertising well is a stroke of genius. It firmly plants a stake in the ground that SCDP is so off tobacco accounts now that they're happy to throw business to anyone who still believes in selling it. It may have been controversial at the time, but in the universe of Mad Men I'm sure this would have been looked at as a defining moment in the history of advertising in a few decades' time.
#14: "Right There On the Bigelow. I Don't Know What Came Over Us." Client: Bigelow Carpet Creative: Michael Ginsberg S5E3
I'll admit I've been critical of some of Ginsberg's portfolio pieces that he submitted when applying to SCDP. But this one is a home run, and is Ginsberg's highest ad on the list. It appears to be a simple ad for nice, soft carpet. But then when you read the headline (a beautiful example of the incomplete circle I talked about in the last edition), you realise that the carpet is so soft, the couple actually ended up feeling compelled to have sex on it. Somehow, Ginsberg made carpet sexy, and for that he's earned a spot firmly in the top 15.
#13: "Some Things Never Change." Client: Heinz Beanz Creative: Megan Draper S5E7
Sometimes I envy Megan's career. Joins the agency, creates one genius piece of creative for a brief nobody has been able to crack, wins an award, then quietly dips out. A 100% success rate. In this ad, we travel through time as we see a mother serving her son beans in every time period. Cave man times, the medieval period, the current day, and then into the future. It's a really nice sentiment that links to the true benefit of the product - it's a delicious, reliable meal that always delivers. It's not my favourite Heinz ad as it feels a bit one note. It's a great note to play, but I can't imagine being able to repeat this premise or revisit this world in another way. So it's not super "campaignable," but in the end not everything has to be.
#12: "The Carousel." Client: Kodak Creative: Don Draper S1E13
Another of the most iconic pitches in Mad Men. A truly beautiful and moving speech from Don that digs down into the true benefit of being able to revisit your photos in a slideshow: you can travel through time, forwards and backwards, to places that you ache to go again. And wow, what an incredible piece of pitch theatre Don did here. Putting his actual family photos into the Carousel to show how much a product like this would mean too him personally is amazing. It's absolutely no wonder he won. We don't see much of what the actual ad for the product would be, but the language used throughout this pitch was gorgeous, and the name "Carousel" gives the product this magical whimsy that makes you feel excited to use it. Truly marvellous.
#11: "Home is Where the Heinz Is." Client: Heinz Beanz Creative: Peggy Olsen S5E6
This is it for me - the best Heinz Beanz spot the team ever pitched. In this spot, we see a bunch of college kids having fun at a a beach campfire. Laughing, talking, sharing memories and creating new ones. As they do all this, they eat Heinz Beanz - that comforting, delicious, easy meal that is the perfect accompaniment to a night like this. I think if they shot this correctly it could have been a really beautiful way to link Heinz to these sentimental moments. But the best part for me is the line. It perfectly hammers home the fact that Heinz is something that you can always rely on and will always feel comfortable. The line is broad enough to allow you to create a series. You could write millions of spots of beautiful, human moments featuring the beans and the line would work across them all. While "Some Things Never Change" would be a great one-off, this line gives you potential to keep working into this platform for years and years.
#10: "So Well Built, We Can't Show You The Second Floor." Client: Jantzen Creative: Don Draper S4E1
Here we are folks. The top ten. If you've stuck with me this far, thank you. We're on the home stretch. I'm sure we all remember this ad - the saucy bikini ad that prompts Don to kick the client out on their "family company" asses. And honestly, fair play to Don here. The ad was brilliant. It featured a woman on the beach, wearing a Jantzen bikini, but the top part of the bikini had a black "censored" bar over the top of it. The ad cleverly teased just how well made and sexy the Jantzen bikini is by showing that you can't actually print it because of all the skin it shows. Men who wanted one for their partners, and women who wanted to get a bit more daring on the beach alike would have seen this and would have had to go into a store to see what all the fuss was about. It must have been juicy if they couldn't even show it in the ad. Then the headline has that brilliant wordplay that is just the cherry on top of a great idea.
#9: "Brought to You By Bethlehem Steel." Client: Bethlehem Steel Creative: Don Draper S1E4
The original, and the best, Bethlehem Steel pitch. In this campaign, there would be beautiful illustrations of different cities around America, each with the caption "Brough To You By Bethlehem Steel." It's just a really smart, infinitely campaignable platform that gives people a sense of patriotism and pride in the steel that built their nation's best cities. You could extend this to monuments and famous buildings as well, by putting a billboard with the slogan right in front of the building in question. It's a really smart line that positions Bethlehem as part of the foundations of America, without hitting you over the head with that idea (I'm looking at your line, Pete.)
#8: "It's Not a Time Piece. It's a Conversation Piece." Client: Accutron Creative: Don Draper S7E1
Peggy said it best when she heard this masterful pitch: "Wow." That's almost all there is to say about this incredible piece of storytelling. The ad starts with that haunting piece of sound design where at first we just hear the hum of the watch, and then the conversation around the room becomes more clear and suddenly we're there in the meeting, where our protagonist is able to spark a conversation about the features and beauty of his new Accutron watch. Unlike "Accutron is Accurate," which speaks to the literal benefit of being accurate, this goes to the real human and emotional benefit. With this amazing, powerful, and gorgeous watch, you become the most confident and interesting person in the room. The ad would have been cinematic, moving, and memorable, with a clever line that ties it all together. Amazing.
#7: "Mark Your Man." Client: Bell Jolie Creative: Peggy Olsen S1E8
I'm not here to tell you about Jesus. But I am here to tell you about how bloody great this idea is. It's incredible that this is actually Peggy's first idea, considering how nuanced and lateral it is. Instead of focusing on being able to alternate between a huge range of colours, the ad focuses on being able to pick a colour from the range that becomes your signature identity, and when you kiss your man on the cheek, everyone around will know that he must be yours. It's a great example of the way I like to think about briefs, where you ask "If this is true, then what else is true?" We have the truth that you can forge an identity for yourself based on your preferred colour. So if this is true, then you can also surmise that by extension your man will also be linked to you when you plant a kiss on him, branding him with your colour. Overall it creates a really nice bit of lateral thinking, and the line is just so clean and concise.
#6: "Sound So Sharp and Clear You Can Actually See It." Client: Koss Headphones Creative: Peggy Olsen S6E2
Peggy's crisis solution for Koss Headphones actually ended up being a far superior ad to what she originally had in mind. As you may recall, they had to ditch "Lend Me Your Ears" after an unfortunate news piece where soldiers were cutting off ears and wearing them as necklaces. So Peggy remembers that there are a lot of outtakes of the talent just bopping his head around and jamming to the great sound of the headphones. Then, the new spot becomes a silent ad where you purely just see the guy rocking out with his headphones on. We then hear a VO saying the above headline. First of all, in a noisy, cluttered Super Bowl environment, where this aired, an ad that starts completely silently would grab everyone's attention. Job #1 done. Then, it builds intrigue and holds that attention as we see the weird closeup of this guy just fucking around and dancing. Job #2 done. Then, the line comes in and ties it all together. We can actually SEE how good this sound is just by looking at the movements of the guy as he listens. And the line stands out incredibly cleverly, because "sound" and "see" are just two things that don't seem to go together. But in this context it perfectly makes sense. Job #3 done.
#5: "You Can't Frame A Phone Call." Client: Western Union Telegrams Creative: Peggy Olsen / Paul Kinsey S3E10
Here we are. The top five. That number one spot is so close I can taste it. But first, we have to talk abut this gem. After some brutal all nighters, a forgotten genius idea, and a very questionable pitch from Peggy ("If you care, send one there"), Peggy and Paul spontaneously and unequivocally cracked this brief. With such a simple headline, they evoke so much emotion, and such a true human insight. You always want to remember the moments you heard that big news, and a phone call can't be immortalised. But what's the next most immediate away to deliver important news? The telegram. Something you can hang onto forever and frame. You can imagine this beautiful line paired with an image of a framed telegram with an amazing news about your daughter getting engaged, or your wife being pregnant, and it would be such a poignant, touching image. It's campaignable, touching, clever, and gets to the heart of what makes a telegram so important. As a side note, I'm crediting Paul with this creative too - he should have definitely given himself more credit for this one. If it wasn't for the Chinese proverb he mentioned, it never would have sparked something in Peggy. And that's how it works when you're coming up with ideas as a partnership. One person says something interesting, the next might have that click with something in their brain to form the idea. Creativity is all about making mental connections, and Paul and Peggy did that gorgeously here.
#4: "It's the Same in Every Language." Client: Hilton Creative: Don Draper S3E9
Hilton was a mad man for rejecting this. It's modern, smart, and would have been damn effective. The print campaign featured a number of lush looking hotel services - fresh towels, room service, new linen - and had a simple headline: "How do you say 'fresh towels' in German/French/Spanish/[insert any language here]? Hilton." This fresh and fun call-and-response headline combines the key benefit of Hilton expertly: You can enjoy all of the indulgent creature comforts of a high class hotel from any location in the world, wherever your wanderlust takes you. Hilton isn't shown as the glamorous location, it's shown as the service that allows you to be wherever you want in the world in style and comfort. I love this campaign, and again it's infinitely campaignable - you can can out a bunch of these ads for a bunch of different services and a bunch of different languages. I think you could have even taken it to the moon.
#3: "Pass the Heinz." Client: Heinz Ketchup Creative: Don Draper / Stan Rizzo S6E4
The fact that this was actually used by the brand in real life should be enough to tell you - this ad campaign is fantastic, and works just as well today as it would have in the 60s. I'm a huge sucker for an ad that doesn't actually feature the product. It just proves how smart and powerful the insight is. In this case, showing the blank canvases of a burger, a plate of French fries or a hot dog just shows how much this food absolutely aches for ketchup. Your mind almost becomes outraged as you wonder where the ketchup is - the final missing piece that would take these meals from good to mouthwatering. The fact that the client asked for the bottle to be in the ad shows he never really understood this idea. Add the bottle and the whole idea is literally ruined. The absence of the ketchup is what makes this ad tick - you realise that all foods are incomplete without it, and from now on whenever you see a plate of golden, crispy, uncoated French Fries, you won't have any choice but to tell someone to Pass the Heinz.
#2: "Limit Your Exposure." Client: London Fog Creative: Don Draper S3E1
Ginsberg may have been able to make carpet sexy. But Don Draper was able to make a practical, bulky raincoat sexy, and I think that's an even more incredible feat. In this print ad, we see a woman on a subway platform opening her raincoat to reveal her naked body to a man across the tracks. Underneath that, we see the masterfully simple copy: "Limit Your Exposure." The first reason why this is amazing is the image itself. This would stand out in the raincoat category like nothing else. It's saucy, provocative, and makes you wonder what the story is here. Does this woman know the man? Is it a partner she wanted to surprise? Is it a woman who has always noticed this attractive man on her train and decided to go for a Hail Mary? Is it a woman walking home deciding to spontaneously flash a man she's never seen before? Whatever the story is, you're going to look harder to see if you can figure out what exactly is going on here. The second reason it's outstanding is the line that ties it all together. Oh, this beautiful, clever, witty, saucy, genius line. It works on the product benefit level, where a raincoat can practically help you limit your exposure to the elements. And then it works on this more salacious, scandalous level, where a raincoat allows you to limit the exposure of your naked body to the one person who really deserves to see it. The goal here was to get more people to buy raincoats. And this does so by opening up a whole new reason to own one. It would inspire people to show up to their partner's apartment in nothing but a raincoat and reveal everything when they open the door - a sexy surprise made possible by London Fog. It gives raincoats a reason to exist beyond the practical. And this isn't part of what I'm evaluating, as it's outside the purpose of the ad, but the fact that the line also works as Don's warning to Sal is literally god-like writing. I am in awe. I am so god damn jealous of this piece of creative and hope to have something like this in my book one day.
And now, here we are folks...Number 1. This one might spark a bit of debate. Here goes.
#1: "Works in My Suit, Or Yours." Client: Right Guard Deodorant Creative: Paul Kinsey S1E2
Yep. That's right. I'm putting good ol' Paul Kinsey at number one. I know he's pretentious. I know he's lazy. But by god, this is my favourite ad in the show. And it emerged in just episode 2 of the entire series. This was Kinsey's response to the Right Guard brief, which asked them to promote the brand new patented aerosol technology. And you may remember in the first part of this series that I ripped Don's version to absolute shreds because it wasn't ownable for the brand and neglected to reference the hero feature of the product. Well, Paul Kinsey's did. And it did it excellently.
The ad features a handsome astronaut in his spacesuit, next to the space-age can. He tells you that the can is good enough to work in his suit, or yours. First of all, the ad references the new technology incredibly well by playing with the rocketship-like design to imagine that an astronaut would use this deodorant. Then, it brings it back down to Earth by saying that yes this aerosol works in my spacesuit, but it also works in your business suit. And with that incredible headline, the reader's imagination is sparked. "Wow. So if I use this space age deodorant, I can be as cool, as handsome, as admired, and as confident as the literal coolest people on the planet - astronauts." When marketing deodorant to men, you want to make them think that the deodorant will make them sexy - just look at any Lynx ad from the past 20 years. And in the 60s, there would have been nobody cooler or sexier than an astronaut.
If you've read my posts so far, you know I love ads that establish a platform - a world that your product can now live in and you can create a bunch of different episodic pieces of content that all ladder up to the same tagline. This platform reminds of the best piece of feedback I ever received in portfolio school that makes a platform great. "You could write it down on a post-it note. But the you could fill an entire room with executions that emerge from that single idea." This idea absolutely does that for me. Imagine a radio spot where it sounds like mission control speaking to an astronaut to guide them through tough spot - but then we learn that it's a guy getting advice from his wingman on how to best approach a girl in the bar. Imagine a TV spot where spraying the deodorant transforms your suit into a spacesuit and you start to get swarmed by people all over the street. Imagine a PR stunt where you launch the deodorant into space to make it literally the first space age deodorant.
That one line and premise from Paul sparks so much excitement, and even with all that imagination and lateral thinking, it's still true to what was briefed - get people excited about the new aerosol design. The brief was never about "what do woman want." It was about "what will make people excited about this cool new design."
When Don rejected this idea, Paul looks absolutely devastated, and says "I thought we had something here."
You did Paul. You did.
And that's it! Thank you so much to everyone who read and contributed to the discussion. I hope you had as much fun taking a trip down memory lane as I did. There are some truly phenomenal ads in this show, which is one of the reasons I adore it. This one was probably a bit long, but I thought it would be best to have the top 30 all in one post rather than give you a mediocre #30-#15 post.
And now...let the debate begin in the comments!

Timestamp
Hey friends! I was in a self-imposed exile for a month and I really missed you guys. In the mean time, I took the opportunity to live a healthier life where I wasn’t buying… at least 50 knives per month. Taking the time to cook for myself again, work out, and got a job. It’s nice to be back but I definitely don’t really have the time to be an absolute swap degenerate like I used to. Besides, this year, I’m going to the Spyderco 2nds sale so I will be in a semi-retired state for a while to save money for then. Already bought my plane tickets!
I am open to trades but I am pretty picky at this point. Trade interests are listed near the bottom. I might be able to get some packages out tomorrow, but I think most will be going out on Monday (it takes way longer than expected to confirm, pick, pack, label, and ship orders!). Anyway, let’s get back into the swing of things with a blowout at a scale I’ve never done before.
If you’re new, welcome to the swap! If you’re feeling lost, check out the buyer’s guide I put together here :) and if you’re not so new, check out part 2, featuring a purchasing logging template and other great tips I wish I was told earlier! Oh, and if you don’t know anything about the steels I’m talking about here, check this out!
Boilerplate Policies/Rules: “Yolo” is king, Prices are OBRO PP F&F (I can accept G&S + small fee upon request), CONUS USPS shipping is included in prices and minimum purchase is $35 or it’s not worth shipping out. I usually ship same or next day and try to package as sustainably as possible. I do my best to assess the condition of the knives and describe them but I am not perfect. I usually tune knives to have smooth actions so there may be some small blade play that I don’t notice. I am open to bundling deals and trades (but would prefer to sell). Show me whatchu got! Questions, Trades, or Haggling? I prefer Chat, but I can do PM as well. Know your local knife laws. Welcome to Costco I luv u, and let’s get on with it!
(C&R stands for catch & release, meaning it is as I got it - not disassembled, modded, or sharpened under my ownership.)

Table of Contents

Spydercos

1. Stonewashed Ti PM2s (S30V, S45VN) - SV: 145, 155 respectively
   
2. Dialex Battlestation (VG-10) - SV: 165
   
3. Cenofante Vesuvius (aka Cenofante 1 C66PSBK, Combo Edge ATS-34) - SV: 130
   
4. McBee Acid Washed w/Black Micarta Scale (XHP) - SV: 145
   
5. Blurple Para 3 (S110V) - SV: 140
   
6. Amalgam w/Blue Hardware and MXG clip (S30V) - SV: 175
   
7. Dragonfly 2 WC scale swap to Orange (VG-10) - SV: 55
   
8. Canis (S30V) - SV: 180
   
9. Myrtle user (S30V) - SV: 222
   

Posters!!
Not Spydercos

1. Drop x Dew Hara Kabuto (S35VN)- SV: 125
   
2. Skaha II Blue G10 (S35VN) - SV: 169.69
   

Spydie Scales and Clips -see other post!
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Spydercos (sale and trade)

• 6. Stonewashed Ti PM2s (S30V, ~S45VN~) - SV: 145, ~155~ respectively S45VN sold

Hey modders! want a fun project? I’ve got 2 great basic PM2s ready to get anodized, lasered, or otherwise tricked out! They both have sharp factory edges and only have the slightest signs of wear. The scales fit well, good actions on both. However, on the S30V one the lanyard tube rattles a bit and I put an extra clip screw on the show side to mitigate that and keep everything nice and tight. I can’t find the original boxes but I might be able to provide a mismatched box upon request.

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• 7. Dialex Battlestation (VG-10) - SV: 165

C&R. The battlestation is a quirky one. Tanto with lots of belly to it, very pronounced finger guard (2nd choil?) and an upswept design. The ergos to it are great and feels very natural when choking up on the front choil or just holding it on the handle alone. “FFIB” - practically unused but fondled a fair amount. It just looks so cool! I wish I had room to keep this thing but I never used or carried it so out it goes. Comes in original box.

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• 8. Cenofante Vesuvius (aka Cenofante 1 C66PSBK, Combo Edge ATS-34) - SV: 130

C&R. Absolutely gorgeous Golden, CO made Centofante design with the compression lock. These things are pretty hard to find nowadays and I’m very glad I have! This was made between 2001 and 2003 as one of the earliest compression locks and you can tell the lock has evolved a fair amount over time. If you’ve heard of the Cenofante 3 or Cenofante 4, this is actually the Cenofante 1 (C66). Same black FRN body with the elegant palladium inlay and grooves. The combo edge one is even more rare! The history is somewhat complicated but in short because of some kind of QC or design flaws they had to switch this model from compression lock down to a back lock. I wish they improved the compression lock access instead though since the lack of a choil means if you try to close with 1 hand on a back lock you’re likely to cut yourself (which is why I sold my previous Cenofante). Check out the spydiewiki for more detail. This particular one was said to have some up and down play but honestly I didn’t notice in the time I’ve handled it but there is a little bit of wear near pivot from being flicked around for 20 years. See video. Nevertheless, it has a smooth action with a hint of lock stick and a sharp factory edge! Every single Vesuvius I’ve heard of or seen has been borked in some way or another (sometimes majorly) and all things considered, this one is pretty good.

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• 9. McBee Acid Washed w/Black Micarta Scale (XHP) - SV: 145

C&R. This is such a cool lil one. The McBee is my favorite ever 2-finger knife and I’m not planning on selling my other one, not for a long while. I see why they’re popular. The wharnie blade makes it really practical for utility / indoor tasks (e.g. cutting paper on a mat, opening boxes, and some very precise tasks). This one in particular has definitely been made special with a black micarta scale and hardworking acid wash finish. I think it really changes the look from “baby knife” to “miniaturized tool” if that makes any sense. Give it a try!

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• 10. Blurple Para 3 (S110V) - SV: 140

The classic S110V Para 3. S110V is one of Larrin Thomas’ (magnacut inventor) favorite high edge retention stainless steels for a good reason. Super high wear resistance and super stainless at the cost of toughness and it’s hard to sharpen. What’s interesting is that usually stainlessness and wear resistance are directly at odds and it’s hard to balance the two. In this case, Crucible managed to create an innovative formula, which you can read about here. It seems like S110V is really well suited for kitchen tasks since it’s super stainless and as hard/harder than many nice japanese kitchen knives. It’ll also hold a working edge for friggin’ ever so ideally you won’t need to take the time to sharpen it often. This is the kind of knife that lives up to Spyderco’s “Reliable High Performance” slogan - great steel, great ergonomics, great lock. Plus, the translucent blurple scales look great but they do show some wear but that could be fixed with a good cleaning. Comes with OG box.

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• 15. Amalgam w/Blue Hardware and MXG clip (S30V) - SV: 175

C&R. The amalgam is one of those knives that I just can’t imagine any other brand making. They took a mechanical engineering student’s design and dream and turned it into a unique mass production item for us all to enjoy. What’s cool about the amalgam is that it has a lot of non-spydie things integrated with what Spyderco is known for. It has a drop point blade, flipper tab, and unguarded finger choil. However, it also has the compression lock, spydie hole, and 4 way pocket clip. She’s pretty large too so that’s extra fun. This particular one has blue hardware (didn’t come with og hardware) and a mini MXG deep carry clip. Comes with og box.

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• 19. Dragonfly 2 WC scale swap to Orange (VG-10) - SV: 55

Yup, exactly what it sounds like. Never used or carried this thing but it came super dulled from the previous owner cutting steel wire with it (i don’t get it either… was factory new before that) so i had it sharpened by a buddy. Clip is still mounted for left side carry but that’s an easy swap.

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• 23. Canis (S30V) - SV: 180

I really liked this thing too. I was lusting after one for about 6 weeks before I got this and I held onto it for a really long time for my standards. However, I ended up preferring to carry my yojimbo more often so this had to go. That said, many folks prefer the canis over the yojimbo/yojumbo. It comes from a similar self-defense niche but takes a different angle. The blade size is right between the two but is far more efficient in terms of the blade to handle ratio. You’ll be surprised when you see how long that blade actually is compared to the handle. Also, it just looks cooler than the yojimbo with the lightening swedge in the middle of the spine to shed weight, plus the thumb ramp jimping is lacking on the jimbo/jumbo. I kind of like how thicc the yojimbo can be, but the canis definitely gives me more of an elegant vibe and it’s got way smoother of an action because of the pivot bushing. Typical taichung greatness. This really is a massively underrated Spydie! Comes with box.

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• 26. Myrtle user (S30V) - SV: 222

I keep forgetting I’m not a huge fan of carbon fiber or frame locks. This is such a unique knife, I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. The C194 Myrtle has a special modified leaf blade shape that is reminiscent of a turtle’s beak. I love it when designs are inspired by, or evolved to look like, nature. It’s got a semi-reverse S blade with a flat-ish edge closer to the handle. Check out the wiki for more info! This one has definitely been used and has scratches. Came to me with a dull af factory edge so I had it sharpened by a skilled swapper and immediately decided to sell it when I got it back because I kind of forgot I even had it. My buddy also took the liberty of polishing and lubing the washers so the action is a bit smoother. Now that I think about it, this knife is actually in better condition than when I got it! Solid frame lock action and firm detent. This thing was only made for about a year (2016-17) so don’t waste this opportunity to try a unique design! Comes with og box.

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Posters

For some reason a few weeks ago I missed knives so much I just wanted to look at some on my walls and made some posters and when making this post, I thought I would offer y’all some too.
Here’s a link to all the posters I’ve printed, though most of them are for music. Each poster is $7.50 and shipping is $5 if bundled with a knife and $10 if just posters. If you buy 4 posters, I’ll print a 5th for free!

Not Spydercos

• 31. Drop x Dew Hara Kabuto (S35VN)- SV: 125

This is one of the most bizarre knives I’ve ever handled and I’m a spydie guy! Manufactured by WE and designed by legendary Seki-City native Dew Hara, this button lock folder is inspired by its namesake, the samurai helmet, in the stepped g10 handle design. A strange thing about this design is that it is not a front flipper despite the appearance - it’s truly locked until the button is depressed. I have yet to see another button lock implemented in the same way. I didn’t notice any signs of wear and the action is as smooth as a lubed up baby going down a water slide. Comes with og box and taco!

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• 32. Skaha II Blue G10 (S35VN) - SV: 169.69

C&R. I like this quote by HJ Heinz (of ketchup fame): "To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success" and I think the folks at North Arm took that to heart. The Skaha II really doesn't look like much but holy crap is it nice. The beautifully contoured G10 feels great to hold and the S35VN blade is beautiful with its dull polish. S35VN may not be the most exotic steel but it's still damn good! The best part about this thing is the action - it's crisp and smooth and though it's a liner lock, closing it is almost one smooth motion. This thing is a fidget monster for a liner lock, especailly with that perfectly snappy detent. God it's so dang good, and I love this blue. So yeah, sure it's basic, but it's the best damn basic knife I've ever had. No wonder the wait to get one of these new is like 1.5 years. Sadly, I never carried or used it so it must go.

Spydie Accessories

see my other post!

FOR TRADE ONLY

I am looking for a burnt orange Military, PM2, and Dragonfly 2. Honestly just looking for the scales but it’s probably easier to take the whole knife. Pls help me finish out my collection! I have these two burnt orange beauties with og boxes available for trade (willing to add cash depending on deal) for another burnt orange knife that I don’t have yet.
**Hap40/SUS410 Endura - TV: 105*\*
**Hap40/SUS410 Wharnie Delica - TV: 105*\*
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Trade Interests

• burnt orange Military, PM2, and Dragonfly 2
• Tatanka
• UrbanEDC Seigaiha motif Techno 2
• blue scaled Spydercos
• Pakkawood Delica
• Pakkawood Manbug
• Blue Olights
• Blue XM-18
• Blue S35VN Resilience LW

also keep an eye out for an upcoming sales post where i put my whole P3LW Collection up for sale…
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Good god this is a real mother of a sales post. And to think originally I had even more to write...

GONE

• Gayle Bradley Air (M4) - SOLD in preview
• C28 Wooden Dragonfly Kit (wood with working back lock) - GONE
• **~~Ti Chaparral (XHP) - SOLD in preview~~**
• Mantra 3 (S30V) - SV: SOLD in preview

There aren’t many comp lock flippers, probably because flipper tab tends to bump your finger out of the way when closing, but in this case, that’s not really a problem through some geometric miracle. Along the thread of things Spyderco doesn’t really do - the Mantra 3 doesn’t have a choil (the edge goes all the way to the handle) so there’s a great blade to handle ratio. Sharp factory edge! As you may expect from Taichung, this thing is finished well and feels great with a smooth action running on bearings. Check it out!

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• LNIB Yojimbo 2 (S30V) - SV: SOLD in preview

C&R. Got this as a spare and never cut or carried it but flicked it around a little. I think my two jimbos plus other knives is plenty so off this goes. It’s got a beautiful acute tip and sharp factory edge. I think the last owner disassembled it to lube it since the factory action is not quite drop shut and the action on this is much smoother. The yojimbo is a really special knife to me because it’s what got me interested in knives as tools rather than collectible toys. I can’t recommend this video enough - his explanation of how blade shapes are suited for tasks really stuck with me and it’s why I bring a yojimbo 2 (not this one) with me to work (at a print shop). I use it to cut paper on a cutting mat like a big-ass utility knife but also as a box opener when I choke up on the blade so I don’t cut anything inside the box. Michael Janich is an absolute icon to me and I’ll always be grateful for his educational videos and highly effective purpose-built knives.

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• Kershaw Skyline - SV: SOLD in preview
• 4. Red Cerakoted Tanto PM2 w/Red Cerakote Lynch Clip & DLT Red Scales (S30V) - SV: 255

OK this is a fun one. This is a cerakoted red tanto PM2 (pretty sure in S30V) done by REC (you can actually find photos of this on their IG) and I put some red G10 scales on it off of the DLT sprint PM2. It also has a deliciously red cerakote LNW clip mounted (which are pretty dang hard to get from my experience) so this thing is red to the gills! This is truly one of a kind, was a bit sad to commit to sell it but I just don't have any need for this. There are some minor signs of wear on the blade but the clip and scales are very clean. It took me months to get a pair of these scales! Comes with original box.

• 30. Berg Blades Bottle Butcher - SV: 30 (add-on only)

C&R. Never used. Cute little fixie with a bottle opener on the top of it (and a cutout for it in the sheath). Wouldn’t mind keeping it, but it just never got used after months so I thought I’d pass it on.

* 17. Modded Yojumbo: has jimping, ricasso-delete, and with “scotch brite” finish (S30V) - SV: 115

C&R. I barely handled this thing. I left it in a drawer for three or four months and only just found it a couple weeks ago, oops! This one looks worse than it actually is. The dremel’d mods to it make a lot of sense. The jumbo was so close to being a great fidget knife except that the ricasso would bump into your finger, kind of like how the shaman is. With this one, the ricasso turns into a sharpening choil and you’re able to fidget freely. Additionally, the spine jimping was something I felt was missing from the factory so I kinda liked it there. However, I don’t care much for the hand-satin scotch-brite look but honestly on the few times I carried it I didn’t really pay it much mind and it’s not really noticable unless you’re just staring at the knife rather than using it. One thing is for sure, this is a yojumbo unlike any other and it needs a loving home. Will you adopt this sweet child into your collection.

• 14. “Currents” Aramis Purple Wave G10 Shaman w/slim MXG clip (Satin S90V - Knifecenter exclusive) - SV: 325

Oh man this is a sad moment. This is one of my favorite ever knives and it took a few weeks to finagle and negotiate the scales and hardware from a buddy. Unfortunately, I simply don’t have room for it anymore. These aramis scales and hardware went onto a like new S90V shaman and I only carried it twice, used maybe once or twice. Man you’ve just gotta look at the video… isn’t it gorgeous? The purple g10 is a deep and powerful shade and the hardware matches it well. Plus, the wavy texturing feels fantastic in the hand and Aramis ergos once again impress with the “skinny” profile. It’s especially awesome to have Aramis stuff since shipments stopped going out 8 months ago. He is working on getting a visa to work in the US but that means it’ll still be a good while before he starts shipping again, plus he still has a huge backlog to fulfill before new orders. Comes with og box!

• 12. Unique Harpooned Acid Washed Para 3 LW w/bronzed hardware & LNW Clip (Rex 45) - SV: 135

Yeah this one is heavily customized but I think it’s pretty cool! Mods are in the title - I think they were done quite tastefully, especially the subtle yet effective harpooning. Rex 45 steel makes it great as a user and with the acid washing, corrosion isn’t as much of an issue! Great action on this one and it comes in a spyderco box.

• 29. Chaves C.H.U.B. Flipper UrbanEDC WRKMN SEIGAIHA Exclusive - SV: 169.69

C&R. My first and only chaves. I wanted to see what the hype was all about and I definitely see it. The action is delectably smooth, detent is crisp, and it just feels good. The WRKMN seigaiha edition is especially cool with the subtle milling and the ice blue ano looks lovely. I carried it twice and used it maybe twice. The thing about this one is that both the basic and skull clips have been sanded down to make it easier to put in and take out of pocket (since apparently before they clamped too hard). Pretty minor difference from my short experience with it. These were 225 new and of course are OOS. Another cool thing about the CHUB is that it takes standard utility blade refills so I’ve heard these are great knives to travel with since you could fly without a blade then buy cheap refills wherever you land. Haven’t tried it myself but that seems like a valid hypothesis. Comes with utility blade refill and skull clip (basic clip is mounted).

• 20. Reinhold Rhino (S30V) - SV: 128

C&R. A smol discontinued Spyderco cutie with a lot of belly to it, which I think makes it an amazing box opener. What’s strange is that it has a compression lock, which is not too common on these smaller knives. Action has some resistance, which is normal on these. It is possible to swing shut with the right technique. Comes in og box.

• 22. Techno 2 (XHP)- SV: 190

C&R, never cut or carried. The Techno 2 is another great Slycz design that made me question if I actually disliked framelocks. Turns out, I only like a few framelocks and this is one of them. The action on this techno is glassy smooth and has very satisfying lockup. The ergos are pretty good too

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• 16. LNIB Manix XL (S30V) - SV: 135

According to Michael Janich, the original Manix 1 was about 10% larger than the Manix 2 and was well loved by users with large hands or for gloved use and for those people, they made the Manix XL. The really cool thing about this to me is that it retains the EXACT SAME ergos as the Manix 2 - the extra length wasn’t distributed proportionally but instead just added to the end (i.e. this is a manix 2 with a lil more booty). Thus, if you like the manix 2 but need more heft/junk in the trunk you gotta get this thing. Like the regular Manix 2, it’s easy to open and close with one hand with the strong & snappy ball-bearing lock and this thing is ready for hard use. Honestly, I think it’s better than a shaman because it fills the same niche but at a far lower cost and you don’t have that “nub bump” problem. I haven’t noticed any problems with this thing but it has been disassembled and lubed. Comes with box and has sharp factory edge.

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• 24. Harpy C08 (VG-10) - SV: 65

One of Spyderco’s earliest models that is so good it’s still made today! Of course, the police (C07) is also made today but with lots of revisions to the design. Like the police it has gone through a few steel updates but the core design is almost the exact same. I’ve resisted the temptation to copypasta the spyderco catalog but I think they talk about it much better than I can: “Like the claw of the Harpy eagle the C08 is shaped for controlled pulling cuts. The hawkbill blade shape originated in the marine/fishing industry where severing rope, line, webbing and netting is done at arm's length quickly and efficiently. The curving arc holds what you're cutting against the sharpened edge keeping it from slipping off the tip. Cut out of the handle is a drying vent allowing air to circulate around the blade when closed wet. Metal clip is positioned for tip down carry.” This one has a nice smooth action but definitely has seen a lot of use. I think mine is from the mid-2000s since it has the older clip design. Despite it being a relic, it’s still got VG-10 steel which is still perfectly good even today and it’s ready to be a user. Get yourself a living piece of Spyderco history!

• 1. K390 PM2 Acid Washed and Re-Tipped - SV: 140

Obviously used and modified (reground, acid washed) K390 PM2 blade swapped into a pretty new black G10 body. Nice and sharp as hell, this is a great chance to check out K390 steel on the most popular folding knife platform. Make this your user! Comes in a PM2 box.

PM2 Ultra - SV: 225

Ever wish a Smock and a PM2 had a few too many drinks and a free night in a motel? Well, Blades We Love wished the same and made it a reality with their PM2 Ultra, which is a lefty PM2 with custom milled scales and a button added. This one comes with seafoam green translucent scales and a sharp factory edge. It came to me with an overtightened button and thus there was a small bit of blade play. I loosened the button screw just a tad and now it works as intended, no more play. Didn’t notice anything wrong with since and it seems dang close to new. Hot dang it’s cool and I can’t believe I got lucky enough to have one. For the longest time they were unobtanium so it took months to even find one. Unfortunately I keep finding cooler and cooler PM2 variants so a 2018 forum knife bumped this one out.

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• 18. Ark (H1) - SV: 45

C&R. Cute lil neck knife (2.56” blade), perfect for slicing limes with no staining. It’s a little strange to me these are $82.6+tax new but I guess that’s the spyder tax. FRN scales for a non-slip grip and comes with a sheath on a breakaway ball chain necklace. 2 oz total with knife, sheath, and necklace! Carried (wore?) once but never used.

• 3. “Heavyweight Champ” Flytanium Copper Lotus PM2 w/mated RGT clip (S45VN) - SV: 185

This thing is heavy as hell - as you might expect from copper. However, beyond the additional bludgeoning abilities afforded by the weight, the ergos of Lotus scales make the knife feel right at home in your hands. The subtle but highly effective contouring is something you either love or haven’t experienced yet! Plus, the patina adds lots of character to the knife and it comes with a specially mated RGT sunburst Ti clip, which looks great with the satin blade. Comes in original box.

​- * 13. Teal Para 3 LW (BD1N) - SV: 110

The teal color is really nice isn’t it? Looks great by itself but you could also rit dye it another color (or have u/kangello do it, been really happy with his work!). Solid action with a hint of lock stick. Predictably favors clip side in terms of centering. Bladeswapped to basic BD1N but comes with all the original papers and box.

• 21. LNIB Gayle Bradley Nightstick (S30V) - SV: 215

C&R, never cut or carried. This might be the scariest and coolest knife I have. Ground symmetrically but only sharpened on one side. Retails for 242 and is sold out almost everywhere! It features smooth black g10 scales on a full tang design with integral double guard and has tubular rivets for 3x the holeyness! Comes with box and boltaron sheath (which has this awesome G-clip so you don’t need a belt to mount it on!). These are pretty hard to find!!

​ * 25. Reground Damascus Endura w/bootleg deep carry clip (VG10 Damascus) - SV: 80

Not gonna lie I kinda lost this one for a while and found it again recently. It kinda reminds me of a kahr arms delica's shape with that regrind and I’m honestly not sure why the acid etch was removed and I kind of lost the motivation to try etching it again myself. I do admit it looks pretty cool to see the subtle look of raw damascus as is, but now it’s not my problem to decide how the knife is best enjoyed. Not really much else to note aside from the big differences. Solid endura action and lockup. Comes with a bootleg black deep carry clip that has already been tweaked and has original navy blue scales.

• 27. Pattada (N690Co) - SV: 120

C&R. I’ve been on a bit of a quest to experience as many Ethnic series Spydercos as I could, especially the discontinued ones, and this was a good one to cross off my list. The Pattada (and the smaller version, the Pattadese) is inspired by the resolza traditional folding knife from Sardinia yet retains that same Spyderco look and feel. It’s another Sal Glesser design that comes in at 3.92” (100mm) of blade and is made of N690Co steel in their Italy factory. This particular one is in good shape. Has a good action (slightly more resistance during first half of opening and is smoother in the 2nd half) and the liner lock has a very satisfying lockup. These aren’t very easy to find (the smaller pattadese is easier) and I’ve only seen one for sale across Facebook and KS (this one!). Once again I’ve got no room but I enjoyed flicking it open and closed for the 20 minutes I actively handled it.

• 2. “Stealth Squatch” AWT Squatch Green Agent PM2 (DLC S30V) - SV: 190

I’ve been wanting to try out the Agent series of AWT scales and they did not disappoint. Rigid yet lightweight aluminum with a subtle precision-milled pattern and a premium cerakote made me feel things about a PM2 that I haven’t in a long time. It fits perfectly and the action is deliciously crisp and smooth as it should be. Plus, it’s a semi-linerless design because the alu is so strong so there’s significant weight savings there (extra liner is included). God I love this thing but I have no room for it anymore. Of course, the blade is the classic S30V w/DLC coating looks friggin great on that green. Gives me beast boy vibes for some reason. The scales alone retail for $80+shipping+tax so I’ll be passing thing thing on with some solid savings for you. Please give this beautiful boy a loving home when I cannot. Comes in a PM2 box!

• 5. “Stormtrooper Raptor” Aramis White G10 Raptor LNIB PM2 (DLC S45VN) - SV: 215

God isn’t this thing hot as hell? The white scales with precision-milled patterns gave me a new understanding of what G10 is and what it’s capable of as an art medium. Aramis stuff is the real deal!! No wonder his stuff is so hard to find. With the practically new blacked out blade and black liners… it really hurts to put up for sale. Comes with original box.

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• 11. LNIB CSI Exclusive Orange Para 3 LW (XHP) - 135

C&R. Another banger edition of a fantastic model! XHP is a very well rounded steel (think 440 and D2 had a baby - way better than the basic BD1N) so it’s great for EDC. I got this in a trade and since I already have one, gonna let this one go. Great action and decent centering. Never used or carried! Comes with og box.

​ * 28. LNIB Boker Plus FR Cocobolo (titanium liners and clip, VG-10) - SV: 90

Ever wished your urban trapper was an obese trapper? Well, Brad Zinker and Boker deliver with the FR. It’s simply a much taller (not much thicker) urban trapper. I like it a lot better, especially since the wood inlays are big enough to really appreciate and man, the cocobolo here looks incredible! I got this thing in a trade and of course don’t have the space to keep it… but dang ain’t she a looker?