Alex Wipperfürth, this Thursday, May 21st

[David Goligorsky]

Hi everone,

Just sending out a note to remind you of the upcoming Liu Lecture on
Thursday, May 21st, 2009! Alex Wipperfürth will be giving a Liu
Lecture at 8:00pm in Braun Hall (Building 320) room 105. This should
be a fun talk.

Alex Wipperfürth wrote a book called Brand Hijack, which talks about
Doc Martens, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Mattel's Barbie, and other brands
whose customers "hijacked" the original meaning of the brand and
placed their own deep meaning in the product. It also talks about
companies like Harley-Davidson, whose customers co-create the brand
meaning.

Wipperfürth is presently a partner at Dialhouse in San Francisco.
Dialhouse is part think-tank and part creative hot shop. The client
list is diverse: from fringe (Napster, Doc Martens, Pabst Blue Ribbon,
Jones Soda, Red Stripe, Altoids) to cutting edge (Current TV, New
Yorker Magazine) to blue chip (Diageo, IBM, P&G/Clorox, Toyota, Coca-
Cola). Projects range from innovative strategy, innovative research,
meaningful creative expressions with DIY production to brand
innovation. In earlier work, Wipperfürth had interviewed actual cult
members and people in "consumer cults" (like Apple or Harley-Davidson
fanatics) and made fascinating insights about their similarities.

Check out the Liu Lecture Blog for the details: http://liulectures.blogspot.com/

Thanks! Hope to see you all there!
.david goligorsky