The Lure of Argentum

If you are studiously following PopArt.com’s news feed, you probably saw that we’ve recently launched a new microsite for Leatherman Tool Group, one celebrating a new line of high-end tools called “Argentum.” You may have recently seen a link to this site from one of the many blogs that have covered this product launch (Thanks, bloggers!). We named the line, did the logo, did the site, and helped get the word out, and had a lot of fun doing it. So much fun, in fact, that we want to tell you about the process in a little more detail.

When Leatherman came to us with this product, they weren’t quite sure what to do with it, and on first glance, neither were we. It’s not every day someone hands you a product that fits in the palm of your hand, but costs anywhere from $240 to $40,000. Leatherman’s core products are utilitarian, functional, and beautiful in a way that only finely-tuned, highly-engineered items can be. But this was a new level of beauty, one that required deeper pockets, and a richer experience.

When we first thought about the audience for these products, a few personalities came up immediately that just didn’t feel right: Paris Hilton (unfortunately, neither the Charge^® nor Squirt^® models include a nail file), Lindsay Lohan (no spoon), and Sean “Puffy” Combs (he would probably dig the Espejo, actually). In short, we concluded: The audience isn’t Jay-Z. It’s J. R. As in J. R. from Dallas. So we worked up a mood board that we thought J.R. might dig. Something western-inspired. Something that harkened back to the brand’s utilitarian, outdoor roots, but that felt comfortable tucked in the velvet-lined top drawer of a mahogany credenza in an air-conditioned office. Next to the cigars, and to the left of the brandy. Something like this:

Since the silversmith was Argentine, we went a little south of the border (south of the Bolivian border, specifically) for our inspiration, drawing upon the cowboy culture of Argentina’s Pampas, with its tradition of ornate leather- and silver-work (fun fact: Argentum is both Latin for “silver” and the source of the place name “Argentina”) for brand elements. Burgues Script, the typeface used for the wordmark, in an odd case of kismet, was also designed by an Argentinean.

We applied this same thinking to the naming the individual products, working with Adrian Pallarols, the silversmith, to choose Spanish names that would resonate with Argentinians, but still sound nice to native English speakers.

All this focus on the details must have worked. We seeded the site with a few influential blogs like Luxist.com, BoingBoing Gadgets and Gizmodo, and the site has taken off, appearing on 50+ blogs and garnering a review in the print edition of a little magazine you might have heard of called Newsweek, and more importantly, in The Robb Report, the journal of high-class living.

Now, if only I could find something appropriate for the wrap party … anyone for Perrier-Jouet’s Belle Epoque?