ESPN has an interesting little article on the Jordan: 2nd Generation spot by Wieden + Kennedy. I think it’s interesting to see that Air Jordan’s shoes stay true to his winning colors of Chicago red, white, and black rather than his twilight days as a Wizard. I suppose it only reinforces the myth.

We’ve seen Kobe, and now we’ve seen King James, but will there ever be another Michael Jordan? I doubt it. I don’t think it was solely Jordan’s talent on the court, but also the infancy of what has become an industry of athlete endorsement. It’s difficult to create an icon, regardless of the talen, when the public is now so familiar with the term.

I took some time off of my Harry Potter marathon to read Rushkoff‘s latest book, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out. I found it a little slow to start, probably because I’m familiar with the material after spending two semesters in Rushkoff’s classes (or because it wasn’t set at Hogwart’s).

Fortunately, the later chapters of the book flew by, and I hope this book dispells that all-too-common phrase used by advertisers and marketers (Oh, how sick I am of requests for another Subservient Chicken!). Apparently, more of them need to read this book, as it points out how looking at the competition almost always makes for unoriginal ideas, not to mention that those new ideas are now confined by the inspiration’s limitations.

Rushkoff also focuses on how play is more important than killing off the competition. I suppose this chapter was particularly funny to me because I know of two companies in Harrisburg that exemplify these different philosophies–one based on play and another on defeating the competition. While I’m still working on the perfect business formulat, I know that back home the players are still winning this game.

A few days ago Ford Motor Co. announced that its employees would be required to drive Fords in order to park in a particular parking lot. Drive a competitor’s car? Park across the street. What a disgusting rule!

Obviously, this is an attempt on Ford’s part to show that their employees endorse what they help build and combat the image that Japan has taken the top spots in America’s car market. There’s nothing wrong with wanting factory workers to practice what they preach; one would hope that their employees are proud and passionate of their work. The problem, however, is that it simply isn’t smart or economical to buy a Ford. When you look at reliability, quality, and cost, there’s a reason that Toyota and Honda are on top.

While President Bush declares a need to lower oil consumption and Andy Rooney criticizes automakers valuing unique model names over the car’s actual quality, the American auto industry has failed to innovate in the past few years and it’s showing in their losses. No marketing ploy’s going to make up for that.

I popped into The Hershey Store in Times Square to take care of a chocolate fix (after an unofficial ITP outing to the Pixar exhibit at the MoMA) and was happy try out their acquisition’s product, a Scharffen Berger dark chocolate bar. Hershey’s purchased the Berkley, CA-based gourmet chocolate maker last summer to join the growing market of gourmet chocolate makers.

Hershey’s will naturally maintain the Scharffen Berger name since brand identity is notoriously impossible to modify. It makes me wonder, though, if Hershey’s is really selling chocolate or a sample of luxury to the everyday person. After all, Milton Hershey’s original vision was to make something available to those who couldn’t normally afford it. If the chocolate maker is lucky, they won’t find themselves behind their competitors and suffering from an identity crisis like Kodak did during the “digital revolution.”