There are ideas that change the way man people think, spend, and live. Some people ride these waves of ideas and are carried forward, while others tread water and let the waves pass through them. A few harness these waves and channel them in new and more powerful directions that impact everyone. Each of these powerful waves is an IMPRINT. The 2007 Imprint conference takes a deeper dive into urban and Asian popular culture: the Streetwear imprint dictating what the largest brands do for their next season, the imprint of bloggers who can bring multi-billion dollar companies to their knees, the biggest on-deman entertainment imprint that's leveling the playing field for Asians. Visit the 2007 Imprint Website.
2007 speakers
Danny Choo
Mirai Inc.
President
Joey Guila
FURIOUS FOUR
Comedian
Rob Heppler
Weekly Drop
Founder
David Horvath
Uglydoll
Co-Creator
Julia Huang
interTrend
CEO
Bobby Hundreds
The Hundreds
Creative Director
John C. Jay
Wieden + Kennedy
Partner
jeffstaple
Staple Design
Founder/Owner
Justin Kan
Justin.tv
President
Dan Nakamura
Hip-Hop and
Rap Producer
Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot
Publisher/Editor
Martin Wong
Giant Robot
Co-Editor
Jon Yokogawa
interTrend
V.P. Managing Dir.
Christine Gambito
Happy Slip
Creator
XIN Sarith Wuku
Evolved Monkey Combat Martial Arts Team, Creator
2007 videos
Vidoecast #2Pushers of Fabric
Danny Choo
dannychoo.com
I think one of the reasons we have succeeded as bloggers is because we’re the voice of the consumer. When I started my blog I found it odd to put products and ads in my personal blog. I didn’t think anyone would want to buy stuff from my blog, or click on the ads. But I just tried it out one day, and the revenue started coming in, mostly from the Amazon Associates program. I thought it would be cool to make enough money to pay for the phone bill. My wife’s going to kill me for saying this, but before I knew it, the money that came in particularly through Amazon, I made enough to buy a house in Tokyo.
Rob Heppler
The Weekly Drop
If you posted (something about a store), the store would say “wow, good job!” and send you a jacket, a mug, a pen, and they sold a hundred thousand dollars worth of product.
Bobby Hundreds
Owner/Designer of The Hundreds
We skated but we listened to hip-hop. We were heshers and we hung out at the punk shows. We did everything. And when we started the clothing company we wanted something that reflected all of that. Something that was’t going to be pigeon-holed.
Brian Lam
Gizmodo, Editor
A lot of old blog philosophy was about linking to other people’s work and that spirit’s still there, but it’s undeniable that the reason we’ve gotten recognition is that we’ve all done original content. We’re not just linking to other people’s work. I prefer to do my own work; to do it faster than anyone else, better than anyone else.
Dan The Automator
Hip-Hop and Rap Producer
A lot of groups have a record or two where the musical element becomes a bigger component than it was before, making truer musical stars. Over the years a groups of people started to recognize a kind of sound that they were into, it was a very small group of people, though it got bigger ang bigger. (Following producers) allows them to get into something new, because they know there’ll be something they like, or at least pique their interest. The difference between us and the mainstream is money. I don’t mean making money. If a record gets big, it doesn’t mean I make more money, but it gets pushed further and further out to a different demographic.
Alyasha Owerka-Moore
Urban Fashion Designer
Streetwear now is the antithesis of what it was. It’s the last vanguard of what it was considered to be before, as far as I’m concerned.
Andy Wang
MMA Fighter
There are obviously a lot of smart Asians, but I wanted to show that we are integrated in sports too. There’s never been an Asian guy in ultimate fighting before, so I took a lot of pride and gratification in opening doors.
Daniel Wu
Actor/Director
If you’re good at what you do it don’t matter what color you are.
David Choi
Songwriter Warner/Chapel Hill
I’m not really trying to be an artist. I’m more focused on writing.
Christine Gambito
"Happy Slip"
Of course it’s every actress’s dream to have a creative outlet and venue to share your full potentital. All along when I was pursuing conventional route of acting, it was hard to find an opportunity to say well here are my weird things, if you wanna see them. People have their own projects and they want to see how you fit into their boxes. I was born for this era where you can do everything yourself and not have to go through anyone else to do your thing. People were like, “hey you should go to Hollywood or New York,” but that was so daunting when I knew I could do this from home. It’s fun doing it all yourself.
XIN Sarith Wuku
Guerilla Stunt-Man
I’m banned from most malls and now The Kodak Theater. I’m trying to make that list bigger.
