Corporate and Limited Edition Moleskine

[molesk...@gmail.com]

The list of corporate and limited edition Moleskine notebooks start
here:)

1. ABC Cable Networks Group/Disney (mine)

Share your sightings and lucky acquisitions.

[alexw...@gmail.com]

I realise that these limited edition notebooks are exciting for
collectors and enthusiasts, but does anyone feel that
over-corporatisation might hurt the image of our favourite places to
write?

[Evan Edwards]

On Sunday 30 October 2005 01:26, alexw...@gmail.com wrote:
> I realise that these limited edition notebooks are exciting for
> collectors and enthusiasts, but does anyone feel that
> over-corporatisation might hurt the image of our favourite places to
> write?

Do you get excited when you make a tee-shirt for your butterfly hunting
group? This is pretty much the same thing. These aren't available to the
general public, they are for internal use and are just for fun. IBM has an
entire songbook of various songs about the company (in the same sense most
universities have a songbook), that hardly makes my songbook "more
corporate".

I remember the thrill in various startups and community theater projects
when we got the first shirt or button or sticker with the company or group's
logo on it. This is the exact same thing, only for more established
companies that have the funds to do a bit better than the corner silkscreen
place.

ABC/Disney doing it is pretty much the same thing as a University doing
it... it's for people who are proud to be there. I know people who collect
internal IBM memorabilia and people who collect stuff from their old
university.

Me? I've been buying Moleskines for years, ever since I tripped across
one around 2000/2001 when I was travelling across the country. I like the
book itself... the product. If you're worried about the "image" of the
product, doesn't that say something about how your "favourite [place] to
write" was *already* guided by corporate branding?


--
Evan "JabberWokky" Edwards
http://www.cheshirehall.org/

[alexw...@gmail.com]

A good response to an open question. I guess I have a little hope that
Moleskines remain a little more "special" by keeping it on the
down-low. I was drawn by the quirky small-town community spirit (such
as that experienced in the startups and community theatre projects)
that surrounds them, in addition to the quality of the notebooks
themselves. Just my thoughts - us Australians love the underdog and
detest the tall poppy.

[argonic]

Moleskines are good notebooks. I really don't care who or how many
other people use them.

[argonic]

How does the image of the company or of the notebook affect how you use
the notebook? As it is, I think they are great notebooks and I enjoy
using them, despite the fact that the whole Modo and Modo marketing
pitch is rather pretentious.

[Andy]

I have a friend who does not like music on the radio. Regardless if it
was from a band he was a huge fan of, before they made it, once it's on
the radio or "mainstream", he won't listen to it. This seems similar to
quite a few people on how Moleskines are equivalent to the "unknown,
unsigned band" and they don't want it to become commercialized.

Personally, they are great products and as long as the quality stays
the same, they can commercialize it all they want.

[Charlz]

The hatred of "corporatizing" is a fantasy of the neo-socialists. The
world is a corporation. Personally I am amused by the large
organizations that decry the "corporatization" of everything - ironic
indeed. Churches are corporations, PETA is a corporation, NOW is a
corporation, the NRA is a corporation. They simply have political or
religious agendas rather than a purely, overt goal of making money. I
am not knocking anyone's desire to hold on to something "clean" or
"pure", but the world is the world. Modo and Modo is a corporation and
they make a wonderful little notebook called a Moleskine. Peace to all.

[mikshir]

The nice thing about the commercialization is that I feel fairly
confident that I won't have any trouble finding and keeping stock of
these notebooks. I might consider it a greater crime if they remained
obscure curios for the elite in-the-know. Still, I understand the
desire to feel part of a special club of in-the-knows.

[Armand]

Somebody sent this link today:

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tigpan/e/fb29f889dd4818f39c3a860cb6b23d86