Cover story
Detroit · 1993
A broken toy story
CYBERFUNK ’93 is about de-industrialization on an unprecedented scale. It’s about economic flight, and the loss of a middle class, Black and white. All of it working on each other to make a perfect storm for the city of Detroit.
Then the media puts its own spin on that story, one that pulls the analysis away from the long-term structural problems, and the city becomes a vehicle for talking about something else.
“What does it mean to be human? You already know. You experience it every day.”From the interview, commercial 06
The stories
The math
Move the sliders300 clicks a day
“300 clicks a day keeps the 9-to-5 job away.” Visitors to a sales page, times the rate that buys, times the price. The margin is an assumption; set it to what the product actually clears.
The varsity jacket
Sell at $199.93. Unit cost can’t pass $93.00. Made 100 at a time behind pre-orders, so nothing sits in a warehouse. The plan is 1,000 jackets.
Water, by the pallet
Custom-label 16.9 oz bottles through Crystal Beverage at $0.24 each, full-color waterproof label included. A pallet is 1,728 bottles and 2,190 lbs. Sell to gas stations, delis and local shops at cost or below; the label is the ad. Donate the rest to clean-water work in Flint.
Pitch builder
Fill it in, copy it outThe kids’ meal
A coloring book in place of a toy
A small, lite version of the coloring book as the prize in a kids’ meal. Tap a status to move a chain along: to contact, contacted, interested, pass. Tap a column head to sort. Location counts are from the planning notes; check them before outreach.
| Footprint | Status |
|---|
Merch drops
1,000 per design, then it’s goneThe categories
Scarcity creates value, even when it’s manufactured. Five designs per category, 1,000 of each, then production stops: 5,000 pieces a category.
| Category | Designs | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Crewnecks, John Deere | 5 | 5,000 |
| Crewnecks, NASA | 5 | 5,000 |
| Crewnecks, Loyola | 5 | 5,000 |
| T-shirts, NASA | 5 | 5,000 |
| T-shirts, Loyola | 5 | 5,000 |
| Notebooks, journals, foldersCYBERFUNK ’93, for school kids | 5 | 5,000 |
The styling brief: how does a girl creatively style our items?
Royalties on every resale
Each item carries a 10-digit tag that unlocks an NFT: proof of ownership that moves with the item when it’s resold, and a royalty paid out every time it changes hands. Mostly PR. This isn’t a business built on NFTs.
The websites
Two addressesThe launch sequence
- Phase 1 · until MayOnly a clock
The teaser ad tells people to Google “Cyberfunk ’93.” The site is nothing but a countdown. The original plan counted to September 3, 2022.
- Phase 2 · the second adBlack Future Month
Kids define “Cyberfunk.” The title card asks: WHEN IS BLACK FUTURE MONTH? Then: CYBERFUNK93.COM.
- Phase 3 · around JunePre-order
Pre-order the book of short stories, with product photos and customer photos up front. Links out to the soundtrack on Spotify and Apple Music, to Instagram, and to MaskedMonks.org.
Propaganda, in character
A quasi-real propaganda site, written and curated by fictional people from the CYBERFUNK ’93 universe who argue from real statistics about urban and rural America: posters, essays, news links, academic reading, video and graphs.
- A new Marshall PlanFederal action on infrastructure to rebuild middle America and its cities.
- Build more housingHousing reform and rezoning, expressly against rent control.
- A new Great MigrationLand ownership and a capital base as the premier agenda of the 21st century for Black America; small business, the internet marketplace and Friedman’s flat world as a pathway. The line of attack: what do the Democrats offer on globalization beyond bigger government?
- The manualPractical resources for entrepreneurs to use automation and globalization to build something of their own, down to the Small Business Administration.
The pizza box
Six things on one box
Trent was scheduled to start collecting data on this at the end of 11/5. Tap each item as it’s locked.
Billboards
No Detroit inventoryWhere the boards are
| Location | Price | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Culver City / LAX | $75,000 | 4 weeks |
| Spot near SonyCulver City | $6k–$12k | As quoted |
| Chicago, several areas | TBD | Available |
| Detroit | None | Not offered by this vendor |