Pictures of Monocle’s office that I mentioned previously.

Monocle is moving into a new office space and Tyler Brule describes it. This is pretty ideal to my mind.

A solid red-brick affair (…) At ground level there’s outdoor parking for 15 or so cars (soon to be turned into flower beds and shady reading areas) and plenty of room for a sturdy bicycle garage. Inside there’s a reception area for speed meetings (reserved for people selling printers, water coolers and IT systems) and a suite of radio studios and control rooms. There is also a large room that will function as dining room, speakers’ venue, dancefloor and exhibition space. On one floor will be the editorial offices of Monocle; on the second, the offices of my design agency Winkreative, and on the third will be conference rooms, finance, publishing, PR and my office. Perhaps the best feature of the lot is that all floors have terraces overlooking the park – the one off the first floor is ideal for hosting cocktails for 150 and the upper floors are perfect for a sneaky cigarette, animated phone conversation or grabbing a bit of morning sun.

Recently I made a list of dream clients and partners. I won’t share the list at this point (I may), but it’s filled with people and companies that I admire, have an idea for or respect the hell out of.

As I took a closer look at this list this morning it dawned on me that a few of these companies are masters of brand utility. There are a number of examples — and I’ll share a few – but let me get my optinions out of the way first:

1. In these (digital) days brands have to accept the fact that they need to constantly explore new offerings, secondary products and complementary services — even if it doesn’t offer an immediate profit — to compete.
2. All brands should have a way to share their “lifestyle” to their audience; this could be a blog, twitter, or print.

Two of the companies I really admire are Ace Hotel and Monocle. Both do an excellent job of brand utility by co-branding products, rethinking “traditional” business models and creating new distribution paths.

The Ace has worked with a number of clothing brands (i.e. Baron Wells, another company on the list) to create staff uniforms — also offered for general public purchase — as well as rooftop honey.

Monocle has also done similar things, by co-branding product offerings and branching off to TV and radio/podcasts. And, in my opinion, the most important “movement”: brand-fueled content.

And finally, my last example, which ties in brand-fueled content. The latest comes in the form of a magazine from The French Laundry. This is a great example (along with Reed Pages) of how a business can leverage its partners, clients and other to create brand utility.

The theme of the 64-page first issue is history, so Keller and co. have collected stories — and the expected gorgeous photography — all about the Laundry and every aspect of the restaurant: longtime staffers, former cooks, journalists.

Ruth Reichl and Michael Ruhlman pen articles. Chefs of all kinds make cameos. But it’s more than that — the magazine also highlights lesser known, yet essential parts of the French Laundry machine, like the wine producer who partners with the restaurant to create the Cuvee French Laundry.

Monocle follows its summer (vacation) newspaper, Monocle Mediterraneo, with a winter edition: Monocle Alpino.

Tyler Brule gets profiled in New York Magazine, so of course I’m going to read/write about it. Reading the part about Monocle TV got me excited — it’s being compared to my two favorite shows.

It’s a weekly hour of what Brûlé describes as “gentle, good, informative viewing” not unlike old episodes of 60 Minutes or even CBS’s retro Sunday Morning. The show will feature magazine-style reports from Monocle’s correspondents that are unhurried in tone.

As previously mentioned, the Monocle Mediterraneo. It’s as beautiful as I imagined it would be. Anyone want to grab me a copy?

An interesting blurb from the Monocle Bulletin this morning titled, Monocle on Med.

We’re launching a special summer newspaper edition of Monocle that will be on sale in all the best resorts, from the West Coast to the eastern Med (and the key airport hubs in between). Packed with leisurely reads, great reportage and plans for the second half of the year, it will be your handsome companion from sun lounger to sun downers.

As you know, I drink the Monocle kool-aid, so I’ll be on high alert as I’m passing through areas where I may be able to find one of their newspapers.

I love the view the Tyler Brule has taken with Monocle and sponsors.

Everything we do always has a sponsor attached, we took the view very early on that we were not going to expose ourselves by developing a ton of things online and then having this massive sink hole.

My favorite magazine is Monocle. In addition to the magazine, Monocle produces a great website, store – bricks and clicks - and podcasts (check out the Sunday ). One of the main draws to Monocle for me is the design. The lead designer went into great detail on his blog about the thinking and planning of the Monocle brand.

For those of you who are interested in the blurbs that stuck out to me (during this read of it), click the “more” link below. Otherwise, I HIGHLY recommend to head to the write-up and read the whole thing (warning: it’s a bit long, but SO worth it).

As I begin to tackle various projects of mine, I’ve already noticed myself re-reading this write-up for inspiration, tools and notes that I need to consider. This article touches on everything from company branding, web design and planning, workspace structure, video equipment and software, audio branding and strategy execution.

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