FRIENDS AND FOES!

IT’S FRIDAY!

It’s raining outside but it is hot in the office. We are sharing our song of the day with you. Stand up. Get on your desk and dance. DAAYYYUUUUM.

Football Friday!!!

So this morning we suited up, and got seriously spoilt with a breakfast at Maze @ The One & Only. The IG team really came to the party, with Sibs taking best dressed (such a Jozi Girl) …loves a suit! Here some pics … Just to make you jealous

Special thanks Brad, Ian & Greg…

- Till next time…

Peace, Love & Good Vibrations

Location:One&Only

Because Monday is Gonna Be LEGEN..wait for it DAIRY

So on Friday afternoon we got this mail in our inbox from our MD, Brad…

“So Monday Status is well.. a little of a bug to bare on a Monday. So this Monday’s status is a suit up status. Dress nice ’cause we leaving the Foundry for a couple of hours…”

Hmmm, not sure where we will be going… but we will be tweeting bout our little excursion real time…

Anth’s new shirt from InstantGrass on Vimeo.

Hello y’all

So there’s two things we take pretty seriously here at the IG office. The first is fun and the second is fashion – we wanted to share these passions with you. Anth bought a fancy new Adidas 2010 hoodie and did a little show for us. We don’t want to ruin the surprise…

Enjoy & hopefully this puts a bit of a Monday smile on your face

So at long last… with less than 50 days to the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP   “The Thing We Cannot Mention”  we phoned our cronies at Adidas and tuned them straight for some tops! STRAIGHT! Big up to Sibs, Adidas and The Brad (our MD) for hooking us up with some GENUINE Bafana Bafana tops…

Feel free to pop in and try beat Priscilla at Fooseball… if you do, she’ll make you a cup of tea!

A Few weeks ago Mr Max Mogale @maxmantshane graced us with his ill photo skills on what turned out to be an awesome photo shoot… at IG HQ in Greenpoint, Cape Town. We thought we would put a face to the name, and give you a little background about each person…

…The Bosses…

Greg Potterton (Mr GQ)

Always rocking a new pair of designer jeans, Greg is our very own in house Mr GQ. One of the co-founders of Take That Instant Grass, Greg heads up all things Strategic. When not sitting in his office, strategizing and listening to any band started by David Grohl, Greg can be found trademarking his latest catch phrases ” I can tell you for free” and ” Are you driving the business forward? ” His new found love for Jack Russles has established him as The Leading Dog Whisperer in Cape Town. True Story.  When not taking long walks on the beach, Greg can be found rocking his Ray Ban shades in The V&A Waterfront. All seriousness aside, Greg is a brand consultant, marketer and strategist extraordinaire. With over 15 years of branding and experience, Greg is always on the forefront of all things cool. True Story.

Ian Calvert (The God Father)

Ian, aka ‘Bert’  co-founder of Instant Grass, began his EPIC career at Ogilvy in London, before moving to Ogilvy Cape Town, becoming the youngest ever Board Director at the age of 29 (no jokes) back in  nineteen fifty… something! Originally from Yorkshire, some say that he invented the words “Pub” , “Spud” and ” Grass “. Others say that back in the UK, Ian once posed to be the face and body of Strongbow Cider. When he is not managing the various clients Instant Grass have, he can be found sitting back, rocking a pair of newly polished cow boy boots and strumming his newest guitar whilst singing in Russian. Since Instant Grass opened in Russia, Ian has been working hard on his russian. He has since learnt the basics and can say things like “I like your furry hat” , ” Where can I catch some good swell this weekend?” and ” They don’t make them how they used to.” Apart from his many years experience at Ogilvy, starting Bull Calvert Pace in 2002 (now Lowe Bull) his strategic mindset and client service wisdom has put Instant Grass on the map both in Africa and Internationally, and 7 years later is heading up the worlds leading youth trendspotting and insight agency.

… stay tuned from more behind the scenes office stories… and the rest of the crew!…

Fashions come and go, but jeans are never out of style. This season, the overall look is dressy and elegant. Even President “Cool” got teased when he busted his “dad jeans” or as Jimmy Kimmel called them: “Barack O’Mama Jeans” at a recent All Star Game. He admitted hey “I’m a little frumpy, but those jeans are comfortable. For  those who want me to look good in tight jeans, sorry I’m not your guy!”

I recently wore a pair of light blue jeans to the office and Greg (aka The Boss) swiftly chirped, “Nice Obama Jeans…!” Hey at least me and my boy Barack have got something in common! So I decided to do some digging and find out what’s cool/not cool when it comes to denim for the remainder of summer and going into winter…

So who better to turn to for advise… no other than our Huis Genoot Best Dressed Man for Jan, Mr Greg Potterton:

“When it comes to jeans, a bit slimmer fit was big hit on catwalks for this season. Jeans are definitely getting leaner with a slightly higher waist than past years. It also seems that loudly faded jeans are slowly loosing ground. Unfortunately, it seems that embroidering and stitching on jeans is here to stay. ”

He went on to comment that “when mixing styles, it’s okay to combine dressy and casual, as long as you stay within certain limits. Heavy, durable jeans require a heavier weighted top, for example, but you can still use the dress shirt theme. At the moment I personally like checkered shirts. Aim for similar textures and you’ll be fine. But remember If you’re going for a layered or dressier look on top, pair with a slimmer pair of dark jeans. Knits are making a comeback, and there’s no better compliment to a sweater than a sleek pair of jeans. The bad boy look is also a continuing favorite, so compliment any pair of denims with a leather coat and you’re good to go. ”

Wear Designer Jeans With Everything and Anything, Smart Casual is BACK!

Through some more reading and chatting to some of our most coolest of cool grasses I picked up on some general themes, use don’t use it…Smart casual has made an enormous comeback in recent years as men across the globe suit up in a fitted pair of designer jeans accompanied by a textured shirt and or jacket. In the winter season, smart casual can still be worn. With winter around the corner, the guru’s say that a variation of shade must occur (for example, wearing light-blue “summer” denim is still out of order) though light gray and black remain acceptable. Black dyed denim jeans are somewhat bettered by pinstriped or patterned (say, in a slight chevron pattern) cotton flat-front casual pants.

I thought to ask our in house stylist Miss Anthea Poulos to get her thoughts, as she is just blunt and to the point (no harsh feelings folks). When asked what are some of the Do’s and Dont’s she said “the obvious one is that skinny jeans … are just sooo over, if you can see people’s crotches, well then its just a bad jean.  Oh and PLEASE NO DENIM SUITS EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. (Got it thanks). Coloured jeans are also so over. Just stick with the simple people, black, grey & blue. No bedazzling of studs & s#$t ! And lastly, white jeans should be left in summer for peeps who weigh less than 50kgs… ”

Well there you have it peeps, from the coolest of cool…don’t say we didn’t warn you, you don’t wanna see yourself featured on the next “Pants on the Ground” installment now do you…

Hey Guys & Gals,

GET EXCITED, because this is Seaon 1 Ep 1 of the coolest, craziest,cheesiest video blog to hit town! Once a week we will be doing a video blog about a trend / office life / cool shit / places to be / fashion tips / do’s and don’ts / and anything else we feel worth sharing with you…

Here is the 1st edition, and it is all about What People are TRYING to do to stay COOL for the rest of summer 2010. Enjoy and feel free to hit us back with comments / suggestions etc… we will be back next week for Episode 2!

The "New" Girl...

Some of you may have heard / seen someone new at IG HQ. Well yes, you heard / saw right.  Her name is Leigh-Anne Jenkins and she is the new face of The Venus Networks.  What is that you may ask… well read more about that tomorrow. This is about LA (Leigh-Anne). She joined us about 3 weeks ago and she was imported straight out of Guernsey. Where??P@#%?? We had no clue either!

It’s a tiny little island just south of the UK which you can read about by clicking: here.  A few interesting facts that Herman somehow knew about this place is that it only has 65 000 inhabitants, and is only 78 square km’s big! For those that are still puzzling, its the same place that Andrew Lawrence King came from. YOU DON’T KNOW who that is… he is only, like THE MOST famous baroque harpist of ALL TIME…

She studied at Stellenbosch University and so this is her first time in a big city! She is currently working on the very exciting Venus Networks, which you will be hearing a lot more about soon and so far she has been a great addition to the IG Famdamily.  Her latest quote is this:

“Everything you see happening is the consequence of that which you are.”

Goodbye 'Wu'

About a year ago we got 2 very cool fish called Wu & Tang and together they lived in The Gravel Pit. They were an awesome new office addition, but a couple months on Tang passed away and left Wu to fend for himself in The Gravel Pit. He was an awesome fish, always up for a big night out, good stories, helping out, and cracking jokes every now and then.

Then on monday we walked in and he had passed. He has gone to join his brother Tang in heaven, some say they both are dolphins now and living a better life… who knows… but they were cool… for 3 seconds.

Here’s a SHOUT OUT to the two fish that, as we like to say here at IG “Drove the Business Forward”