Born Rich

In between attending conferences, Piers Fawkes, founder and chief editor of PSFK, finally managed to pen down his answers. Check out how this Cool Geek handled the crown, his work and parenthood all very nicely and inspire with his answers.

1). Nicole: All your web sites (PSFK, IF!, Marktd, The Purple List, fashion.psfk) aim at trendspotting. What other web sites in your niche area do you like the most? How do you think they differ from what you are doing?

Piers: There are lots of very good sites out there and I monitor over 700 on my RSS feed. It’s important to read the classic design sites like Coolhunting, Josh Spear, Core77 and also designer’s sites like SwissMiss and The Die Line. I monitor a lot of the marketing press - and rate Influx Insights among the top. Ideas sites like BoingBoing and We Make Money Not Art are essential. It’s good to keep an eye on the old school media too - Wired, the New York Times, the Guardian (UK), the BBC all do great new media type content. Technology sites like Engadget and GadgetMadness are essential too. Local news sites in innovative cities are important too - Gothamist, LAist, Londonist. There are also very good sites highlighting new companies and website applications - they give early warnings about the next big thing.

2). Josh: You manage so many things at-the-same-time and recently you have published psfk book. What do you most enjoy doing?

Piers: Our job is to inspire folks to make things better. There are a lot of problems with the trends and innovation industry. Too much knowledge is not shared. Our job is to disrupt, to be an agitator.

3). Mike: PSFK is known for trend spotting. Tell us about the Top 10 market trends?

Piers: I can’t tell you. A client asks us what’s happening in healthcare for Baby Boomers we can find 10 top trends in a month, another client asks us for mobile tech trends for young adults in Europe and we can find 20 every 2 months. Trends is a funny word - we use it, but what we’re really talking about is patterns and change.

4). Ness: Is your website The Purple List inspired from The Purple Cow?

Piers: Ha! It’s inspired by the color of luxury. And that’s another story.

5). Krug: Your views on Eco-consciousness?

Piers: It’s about trying to be good. Trying to be better. Eco-consciousness is part of the equation. I do like the word conscious though. We can’t always be good - but we can be conscious of our decisions - good or bad. We all try to recycle but we all have to drive from time to time. Jumping in the car without any consideration is what’s bad for the planet, buying fashion without consideration is what’s bad for the planet.

There’s a great interview in Rob Walker’s new book Buying In with Dov Charney which explores why Charney moved from an ethical message to a raunchy message. American Apparel still have the ‘good’ principles that they always had - but this only appeals to a small audience - to be a big company they needed to be attractive to the mainstream.

6). James: There’s this continuous speculation in blogosphere as to the future of the mainstream media. Steve Ballmer says so too, “Print is Dead within 10 Years”. Your views?

Piers: See the blog post I wrote about (http://www.psfk.com/2008/06/the-death-of-newspapers-or-the-birth-of-10000-nichepapers.html) - basically, I wonder if we’ll actually see 10,000 newspapers (or nichepapers) - not the death of newspapers.

7). Anny: PSFK is an inspiration to a whole lot of people out there. Where does Piers draws his inspiration from?

Piers: It’s not that I consciously set out with a mission. After a couple of years I stopped myself and said - why am I waking up and starting work at 6.30 each morning then working to the late night every day? It’s because I want to get a reaction, to make you think. I don’t even want you to agree with me - just react. That would be job done.

Oh, the fact that people are listening, attending, hiring us gives me ever reason to keep going.

8). Luke: What does PSFK stands for? How you coined-upon the term? Shouldn’t you have opted for something that reflects Trendspotting in the title itself?

Piers: So, every 6 months we wonder for a moment whether we should have a name on the label that describes what’s inside. But I think 4 years in, it’s too late now. There’s a story behind the name and we like the fact there are stories through our history.

9). Maggie: Traditional advertisers have suffered major setback due to blogs. How would you define power of blogs as a marketing tool?

Piers: I don’t agree. However, I think there’s a great opportunity to go find a relationship with a brand that’s a win for the reader, win for the blog and win for the brand. There’s so much we’d like to do but we don’t have the funds for - I wish Converse would come along and say - ‘hey, can you just go and make a series of video podcasts around a theme we both hold dear that you’ll show in a co-branded section.’ But ad agencies still want to own the creativity and they make all this crap viral stuff and then try to seed us with it. It’s tiring. They should just get us to make good stuff we all want to watch.

Kelly: 10). You are a proud father of one. How has your newly acquired parenthood changed you?

Piers: I decided to only do projects where there is some sort of dollar sign attached - direct or indirect
I delegated to my wonderful team - to amazing results
I stopped working at 6.30pm.

11). Team: What are your future plans for PSFK?

Piers: We have a conference in San Francisco on July 17 (http://www.psfk.com/psfk-conference-san-francisco) - and I think we might have a conference in Asia in October and London some time in the autumn. We also have a couple of books coming out - PSFK Snapshot London, PSFK Snapshot Singapore - and At Play.

12). Rex: Top 5 trends that Piers Fawkes reports and follows as well?

Piers: It’s not about following trends - it’s about having a set of values and trying your best to stick to them.

13). Kurt: You have varied interests from buzz-marketing to fashion, music and film. Tell us about your 2 different projects ‘Set Loose’ and ‘It’s OK To Drink Whiskey’ that were screened at the Sundance Film Festival?

Piers: For a while I was a partner at a production company - we made films, music videos and viral videos. This was one of our most successful attempts : (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392171/)

14. Team: Your views on BornRich & Instablogs?

Piers: Born Rich is on my everyday read - and Instablogs is a fantastic community enriching the web.

RAPIDFIRE ROUND:-

1). Microsoft or Apple.. who do you think will rule the roost in the days to come?

Piers: Apple. But we’re paid to say that.

2.) The clothing/fashion trends you have always hated.
a.) Wearing Your Clothes Backwards
b.) Shoulder Pads
c.) Crocs
d.) Men showing their Boxers
e.) Other

Piers: I recommend that everyone tries each of these once.

3.) Terms/Jargons you have coined like (Urban spam)

Piers: Sorry. I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I was a little carried away: WiLife, IDividualism, Wedia - I’m sure there are others. They have all been taken out back and shot.

4.) Future of Yahoo in one word.

Piers: Sponsor

5.) Your favourite Brutalist Architect
a.) Basil Spence
b.) Gillespie, Kidd & Coia
c.) Alison and Peter Smithson
d.) Denys Lasdun
e.) Other

Piers: Bennett

6.) Things you thought are unbeatable one year ago, but seems overdone/overused now
a.) Facebook
b.) Branded Widgets
c.) Getting links from A-listers
d.) Top 10 lists
e.) Others

Piers: I love them all.

7.) The Most Annoying Singer Award should go to
a.) Sting
b.) James Brown
c.) Mariah Carey
d.) Ethel Merman
e.) Other

Piers: Can’t do this one. Not my cuppa.

Finally, we thank Piers for making this interview happen desspite his ultra-busy schedule! And, wish him and his team “Best of Luck” for their future endeavors!