Ideas We Love Issue no.9
13 acts of ‘Miscellaneous Mischief’
Hello there!
As the 29th of February is a little bit different, it felt appropriate that this week’s post is a little bit different too… Not an individual campaign this time, but a brand.
Not really a brand either in the conventional sense, but an art collective called MSCHF (pronounced ‘Mischief’ which is short for ‘Miscellaneous Mischief’) who make stuff that plays with the conventions of art, commerce, media and technology - often creating controversial products and projects that spark public debate and generate a lot of media attention in the process.
So how did MSCHF come about?
The founder & CEO of MSCHF is early thirtysomething Gabriel Whaley, who used to work for Buzzfeed, the content organisation that “got” social media from the start and built content formats with discussion, debate and algorithmic virality built in.
After the buzz died down and the original Buzzfeed shut down, Whaley started making his own projects on the internet.
The first was selling a bad piece of advice for 1 dollar on Twitter. It went viral.
The second, was Late Night Snap Hacks, a website that tricked your friends into thinking you were partying. The project also went viral. Much like Buzzfeed’s listicles (click here to reminisce) and quiz formats from back in the day, it seems noise and notoriety are sure-fire ways to win attention.
Shortly after, MSCHF was born.
Why we love this brand
#1 It’s integrated around Ideas
Traditionally, Brands wrap distinctive assets around their products and services and use consistent and coherent combinations of product, price, place and promotion to imbue them with meaning.
‘Artists’ typically cross-over to the mainstream off the back of a signature style, look, feel and output. Be it Warhol’s screenprints or Banksy’s street stencils.
There’s consistent elements, but no such matching luggage with MSCHF.
Miscellaneous Mischief is the idea, coming out of an approach Whaley’s called structured chaos, with each and every idea coming in the form of a numbered drop, with a newsworthy name, a specific URL/domain, a famous collaborator or a ‘target’ alongside associated comms, collateral and a manifesto to help spread the meaning and the message. Every idea has mischievous thread that unites everything they do: the aim is to poke the establishment of whichever form they’re spotlighting right in the eye.
A modern form of 'integration’ and as a result it is increasingly easy to recognise and recall a MSCHF production.
#2 Production Over Perfection
“You can’t score if you don’t shoot” Ice-Hockey Legend Wayne Gretzky
A well evidenced quirk of sports analytics shows that the strikers who score the most goals, also miss the most shots.
Therefore, Coaches and fans shouldn’t worry when their Strikers are missing lots of chances, they should worry when they stop shooting.
In our world many scaled, incumbent brands and businesses will only take a ‘punt’ on something more imaginative around cultural moments like Xmas or The Super Bowl. They wait to take the perfect shot. Every time. In a very crowded and cluttered window where cut through and conversation are hardest to realise.
By contrast, MSCHF aren’t just shooting a couple of times per year. They’re taking shots every couple of weeks, dropping new ideas into the world every 14 days.
Not every one is a success. But the ones that do, work to draw broader audiences in to the project and pull people towards the less famous or newsworthy activities.
#3 Creativity is the canvas
MSCHF don’t limit themselves to one form of expression - they’ve done everything from browser extensions, to sneaker collaborations, to a ‘cease and desist’ programme that’s deliberately designed to provoke big corporates…
#4 They’re equally funny and fearless; shielded by their humour
Unshackled from the typical checks and balances that many a mainstream marketer is constrained by, MSCHF do things that often leads to some serious legal action - the stuff they wouldn’t go anywhere near if they were a big corporate. This all works to build their notoriety.
The release that first brought them into the mainstream, their ‘Satan Shoes’ – a sneaker designed in collaboration with Lil’ Nas X which saw MSCHF release 666 pairs of altered Nike Air Max 97s.
Each contained a drop of blood from one of six MSCHF employees within the ink that filled the air-bubble, and the drop quickly went viral.
Unfortunately, Nike wasn’t having any of it – suing the collective and stating: “We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike did not design or release these shoes, and we do not endorse them.”
Ouch. However, because what they do comes with some serious tongue, firmly in cheek, they’ve almost created a protective shield around their actions.
Technically, brands can complain to the authorities and sue them, like Nike.
But snitches get stitches.
In this case viral ones, as an increasingly large and loud community online call out any ‘snitches’ for being the lame, beige and boring corporates that their lawyer-led actions suggest they’ve become.
Daniel Greenberg, head of the brand’s commerce, has said: “If we can make people a fan of the brand and not the product, we can do whatever the f*ck we want”.
The ideas by MSCHF that we love the most
There’s actually too many to share, but these are the ones that we remembered without having to Google them.
In no particular order…each name alongside the Drop # is a clickable link to the dedicated website for each drop.
Drop #59 Museum of Forgeries
One original Andy Warhol mixed at random into a stack of 999 exact MSCHF forgeries.
Creating a limited collection worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, out of the destruction of one, $20K Warhol.
Drop #88 Global Supply Chain Telephone
A luxury handbag, mashing up some of the hottest handbags from Hermes, Celine, Dior & Balenciaga; but designed entirely by cumulative factory labour.
Spotlighting the creative potential of hidden labour from four factories in sequence (in Peru, Portugal, India and China) as the design process for the handbag.
Drop #84 Key4All
Taking the sharing economy to an extreme, MSCHF dropped thousands of Key4All car key that can all unlock the same mystery car.
Whoever finds it first gets it. However, any player can take the car from anyone else using their own key.
Drop #5 Netflix Hangouts
Creating an app that lets you binge watch 9-5 whilst the boss is paying, by making it look like you’re all on a conference call.
Drop #20 Severed Spots
1 Original $30,000 Damien Hirst.
88 spots cut out and sold individually for $480 each.
1 spotless painting with 88 holes in it offered at auction, current bid $261,400.
1 serious mark-up.
Drop #26 AlexaGate
Amazon Echo units ordinarily record and save all audio that they hear in your house, effectively wiretapping your home 24/7.
Alexagate prevents this from happening by signal-jamming the microphone until you’re ready to use it.
Drop #27 MasterWiki
Masterclass is $180 per year. MasterWiki is free.
MasterClass is an exclusive online education platform that costs $180 annually to learn (relatively ordinary skills) from A-list celebrities.
MasterWiki is the direct adaptation of MasterClass' video courses translated into wikiHow-style how-to guides, made available at no cost to users.
Drop #30 Medical Bill Art
To spotlight the plight of those without sufficient medical insurance in the U.S. MSCHF made 3 Medical Bills made into paintings, sold to pay off the bills.
Spoof commercial below
Drop #50 Dead Start-Up Toys
Toy versions of iconic failed start-up products, like Juicero that claimed to disrupt ‘juicing’ but ended up destroying tens of millions of dollars failing to do so.
Drop #39 Birkinstocks by MSCHF
The $76K dollar sandal hand-cut from the leather of a deconstructed Birkin bag.
To finish it off, two-fingers up to our world!
Drop #31 Anti Advertising Advertising Club
Kill brands on social media; get paaaaaaaaid!!!
We hope you’ve enjoyed these examples as much as we’ve enjoyed re-calling them.
Until next time. Cheerio
Matt & Tom : )