A few months back I needed to have the oil changed for my car — a nearby auto shop happened to be the best reviewed so I drove over. The mechanics were polite and gingerly set to work on the request. A few minutes later one of them beckoned me back over to the car….
Welcome to the last decade of the last millennium. The Web isn’t just for spiders anymore, everyone’s pumping up “Pump Up the Jam,” and something called The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is about to debut. Now fast forward to 2020 (welcome, and sorry). All things ’90 are turning thirty this year, myself included. In the interest
I’ve never met an acronym I liked. They are normally a hodge-podge of letters trying to say too much but end up saying too little. So let’s take a quick look at the world of acronyms and see if we can rearrange those letters into something more useful. Most acronyms are the result of good
About a year and a half ago I discovered disc golf. For those who don’t know, disc golf is played like golf but instead of hitting a ball, disc golfers throw shallow plastic discs about the diameter of a pie pan at targets called baskets. For most of 2020 I’ve been playing a lot. A lot a
Understanding the mirage of doing creative work for big brands When I was just starting out in branding I had a big dream of one day working for big clients on big projects with big budgets. I could point to a billboard and say “Success! We made that.” I wanted our work to have an impact and
From bridges and post offices to libraries and military bases, from public parks and streets to landmarks and schools there are many names that populate our world and form the nominative fabric of our communities. It is important to employ names that reflect the cultures, values, and positive stories of our communities. In recent months,
I can’t explain why, but whenever I see a tugboat I want to be on it. I want to know what it’s doing that day and be a part of the action. Maybe it’s because all they do is help other boats and I like that selflessness. Maybe it’s because tugboats are the perfect blend
And why do I suck at marketing? Hi, my name is Eli Altman. I’m a branding expert with 20 years of experience working with some of the world’s biggest brands like Samsung, Apple, Lego, and Google. I also happen to be shit at marketing — like, really bad at it. Promotion, particularly self promotion, makes
It’s been ?? weeks of sheltering in place, and we’ve all spent a little more time with ourselves than we ever wanted. Some of that time has been spent in the bathroom, starting at the mirror, wondering — has that freckle always been there? Is it possible to over-tweeze? Is glittery eyeshadow still a thing?
I interview my dad, A Hundred Monkeys founder Danny Altman, on the early days of the company and the evolution of naming. We try not to dwell on the the past too much around here but every once in a while it’s nice to take a look around and ask, “how did we get here?”
