car brand inspiration from the inside

09/03/2003 02:08:00 PM
Dub magazine is a window directly into the aspirational core of urban car-modifying subcultures. Hip-hop artists, pro skaters, top athletes and Hollywood celebrities actually contact the magazine, asking to be featured in its articles and sought-after cover-spreads. Unlike most specialty magazines (staffed by people far outside of the subcultures they seek to showcase, who then, half-blind, hire designers and writers to provide content they think fits the bill,) Dub actually comes from the inside and it shows. Trendsetting athletes and artists can smell the authenticity and they further legitimize the mag by participating so eagerly in its content, and onward and onward in a feedback loop of street credibility.

Car brands should be closely watching the ways these subcultures choose and absorb certain models and then how they modify and then position the cars to make them closer to their ideal. What imagery, what language and what tone does each celebrity choose when voluntarily (and enthusiastically) showcasing his or her car and his or her interpretation of that car brand, to the world?

And don't fall into the trap of seeing Dub's content as purely aspirational: that the readership can't and won't be able to afford these luxury brands. Remember that many of the waves of 'cool' for teens and young adults from Boise to London to Hong Kong, start and incubate in American ghetto epicenters.

Dub is just one of many gems in the influx network, windows into the cores of influential urban subcultures. Free inspiration for innumerable creative and strategic directions from the inside, if you only have eyes to see them.
Dub Magazine
Article entitled, 'Urban Car Scene Comes Alive in Dub'
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