Get Barreled #2

#Cavotuesday

Daily blogging is damn impossible in these shoes (I am actually barefoot) but I am the story teller here so let's pretend I am wearing shoes, not just any shoes but fancy dress shoes, that you only wear on special occasions. Fancy shoes are never comfortable because you never wear them enough to break them in. Shoes are meant to be broken in. I am clearly not a shoe person but I really need some new shoes. Obviously the shoes are a metaphor por mi vida. No I don't speak Spanish (lies) but yes I have quite a few stories in this bag, not a purse, just a bag. I will go easy on the tangents (never).

In 2012, Billabong began using the tagline "Life's Better in Boardshorts!" in their major ad campaigns. Every Sunday while I sold mushrooms at the Santa Monica farmers market, I would stare at the tagline prominently displayed in the surf shop window directly across the street. I fell in love with this tagline. Life is what we make it and if we can make it better, yes please do so. I associate boardshorts with warm weather, sand beneath my toes, ocean mist in the air, scantly clad females, less responsibility, the list goes on. Yes life IS better in boardshorts (truth spoken). I might add life is also better barefoot. Barefoot is the business.

Last Cavotuesday I was spitting fire about my barrels. I added the possessive on purpose. I am taking ownership here because no one was talking barrels in 2006. After I wrote the blog, I thought ok you talked about the Nolan tee, cool, nice little summary piece now let's go back to our regularly scheduled program then I saw this today...

Jack O'Neill is a legend. In 1952 Jack invented the wetsuit and changed the world of surfing forever. The dude is clearly an icon and yes he also rocks a pretty sweet eye patch on the daily!

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a dinosaur in the game of beer but has proven itself lately to be quite the popular kid on the block. PBR can thank the good old fashion American public for bringing their brand back from the dead. Great read right here.

So the two icons got together and created a collection for Spring 2013 release. First off, as I mentioned before I played with the idea of a single keg barrel and my tagline (get barreled) for quite some time but it never looked right. It was hard for me to visualize a person wearing a tee shirt with a huge keg barrel on it. Then I saw this chick on the Internet and I thought well thats um creative...

I guess I still find humor in all this. I appreciate branding collaborations. Sure they don't always make sense but I like the idea of merging two different target audiences and taking a chance. It sort of comes off as one brand piggy backing on another or maybe just one brand looking for new life from the other. One could argue that surfing and beer go great together. But then not all surfers party and not all beer drinkers are alcoholics...you can see where this is going. Personally I am not a fan of PBR in the surfing world but hey that is just me. Me as in the guy who coined "get barreled" in 2006. Hype or not, bottom line is that I am happy that the barrel is finally getting its time to shine.

Call it a coincidence or not but this just popped up in my News Feed on FB. This proud father and his happy FAM BAM live in Sydney, Australia. A little international love is all good. What can I say? I am sucker for Dads, kids, babies and people who support my project. Thanks Kyra! Much love.