Is Folded and Hung barking up the wrong tree, then? Are Silver Age Marvel heroes hipstery and socialite-y enough for their crowd? Or are they trying to attract the pop culture-minded market? If so, then why in the world did they have this seemingly kick ass bag modeled by a guy like Tim Yap?
Pic by Jayvee Fernandez
I would buy that bag in a heartbeat, just because of Geek Acquisition Syndrome. When Jayvee texted me about it, it piqued my interest enough for me to go find out more. And then I saw this. Now, I don't think I'll be buying this bag anymore simply because Tim Yap is modeling it. It's a Captain America bag, that's what I want, that's why I want it. I don't want to look like Tim Yap. I have nothing against Mr. Yap, but there is discomfort hindering me from buying it. To whom are they selling this merchandise, exactly? Pretentious fashionistas who think it's cool to be a geek? The geek chic, so to speak? That's not me; I'm not the market.
Tim Yap being the model is totally understandable from a branding perspective. Folded and Hung seems to have a certain look among their ads, and they want to maintain uniformity for a strong brand identity. Sure, I get that. I work with enough brilliant marketing professionals to understand that. Even their website looks the same way, even though it is a HUGE flash site that keeps buffering every half second (and this is a connection I use to play MW2 and Black Ops online.)
Folded and Hung's endorsers fall under a category that marketing professionals would refer to as "aspirational," which means they're people who the brand thinks the public looks up to, like the mass market would want to be like them. To that end, marketers believe the masses would acquire merchandise or services that would help the latter achieve it. So do you see where the disconnection is? Geeky shit being endorsed by a social being is kind of off. Us geeks, we enjoy pouring over every detail in a comic book or video game over heading out to a place like Kyss or Republiq. I'm generalizing, of course, but you get the idea. I don't want to buy that bag because I don't want to seem like I'm the type of guy who wants to go to Kyss or Republiq. I don't aspire to be Tim Yap, regardless of how valid that type of aspiration is. He is, after all, highly successful in his chosen field.
With that little rant behind me, I just want to point out that a bunch of their Marvel products are just phenomenal. Here are a few pictures taken from their official Facebook page. I hope they don't mind.
Marvel's big three get their own caps. You only get geek cred if you can name the artist, though.
I was looking to change my wallet anyway.
If you're so inclined, I do encourage you check them out for yourself. They look really nice. So, I guess all I'm saying here is that their products look fantastic but it's just their marketing that kinda got to me.