I’m a big fan of the Significant Objects project. Several months ago it seemed a clever way to explore the relationship between stories and monetary value. As someone involved with advertising it seemed evidence of the value of branding. What strikes me lately, though, is the object as evidence of a story: souvenir, momento, reminder. The object itself – a snow globe, empty box, a pebble – has little material value. As a symbol it’s immensely valuable. There are still products we buy and sell because of their material worth. The predictions of branding’s death are greatly exaggerated. This box of Boston Harbor Tea arrived at the agency this morning as part of a gift basket. Are you meant to make the tea and re-experience the patriot taxation rage?

Boston Harbor Tea

So this got me thinking about how online marketers (All the people involved with buying, marketing, and selling products) go about differentiating themselves from the likes of Amazon, Costco, and Walmart. Curation and the curator seem to be the new editorial. Someone has the very serious responsibility of deciding how to create value for, not just one product, but a whole bunch of products. Curation, curation, curation. As a word it has the cultural weight of a museum. It’s benevolent – taking in all information and focusing it into a theme. It’s inherently human. For all its humanity, curation still represents an individual’s point of view. Someone makes or does not make a decision to include a product, information, or idea in a curated presentation.

Goot Dings is reminiscent of product descriptions in the J. Peterman catalog. Daily Grommet makes products more valuable by curating the best products and presenting just one a day. Tales of Things brings stories to every object. What Did You Buy Today focuses on how one individual memorializes the products she buys. I love this concept because her illustrations of products and their actual price symbolize both the product and a uniquely personal experience with otherwise common products.

If only I had the ability to fly. Not superhero flight. Just the common ability to fly. I want the proverbial bird’s eye view. It’s difficult to escape the compact, dynamic, and textured urban environment to find a new perspective on how one is living and how it may have changed. The environment is never completely static. It slowly evolves. Stores close and new ones open. Neighborhoods are gentrified or begin to erode. There are people whose jobs are to watch for the signs of community life; growth and decline. Those people are typically outsiders. As someone who lives in a particular neighborhood, it’s desirable to get a different perspective. Most people would call it a vacation; a time when you leave your home to visit another place. But that kind of vacation is often a reprieve from the people and work that one does. I wonder how many of us understand and accept the classification of our neighborhood.

There are thoughts, words, pictures, documentaries; all intended to reveal and illuminate both the aspirations and contradictions of suburban living.The outcome of several long-term studies were recently interpreted and packaged.

Cul-de-Sacs. Suburban Dream or Dead End