Zero Advertising Brands — I’d only heard of skinnycorp and threadless a few hours before at the Cluetrain panel, and this one featured the dudes who started it up. I was really, really impressed by their philosophy and their actions. You know, in the game industry there’s a mentality that I’d describe as don’t suck, and until this morning I thought that was the adequate defining mantra that made it “better” than more “traditional” corporate environments. That I’m realizing is just stage 1: taking a stand. Stage 2 is what skinnycorp is doing: make stuff that rocks. Now, every game company will say that’s what they do, but where does the energy come from, and is it positive or negative? It’s a subtle shift in where you put your explicit emphasis. If you identify yourself by how you don’t suck, that’s actually pretty negative. If you identify yourself by rockin’, then that’s way cooler dude! What was awesome about skinnycorp was that these are the guys in charge because they’ve taken charge, and the attitude they set from the very top throughout their entire community, to the extent that their business model is dependent on pleasing them. Imagine that, basing the success of your company on your customer base’s loyalty… it seems so obviously right, but very insane from a risk/safety/control perspective. I wouldn’t even say that it’s a sign of courage that they do this. It’s their acceptance that if they aren’t pleasing their customers, that just means “it’s time to go” that I find so awe inspiring. They’re shipping a million shirts a year, and their business has grown so much that they’ve moved every year for the past four years.