The Fall of Digg: Kevin Rose and the Internet’s Circle of Life

From Internet darling to digital drama

Ladies and gentlemen, when you think “D-Day” you probably think of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 right? There appears to be another D-Day and nobody is storming beaches, but rather Internet users are storming off to reddit.com (a popular Digg clone) and declaring war on the site and its founder. Before we get into the war of the geek kind, let’s start with how this all started. On August 25, 2010, when people started flooding to the Digg site to preview the release of the newly redesigned site, they were angered to find many features its hardcore fans loved had been removed. The front page no longer had sites from individual users, but rather from large mainstream publishers.

A week ago today Digg 4 launched and what a week this has been for Kevin Rose, the Founder and Chief Architect (and at the time of launch, acting CEO) of Digg.com. Kevin has been a popular Internet celebrity and someone I follow very closely and blog about often. The longer I’ve lived, the more I’m finding everything tends to be cyclical. Disney calls it the “circle of life” and I think they are onto something. In 1990, when Apple was being bailed out by Microsoft, who would have ever thought that in 2010 Apple would be the company everyone talks about and have $40 billion cash in the bank?

I would never have believed that Kevin Rose would become one of the most despised people to his previously loyal Digg followers? Just look at the picture below, which is a line for a Diggnation live taping which features Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht where they talk each week about stories they have “dugg” on the “social news website digg.com.”

A long line of fans waiting for Diggnation live taping
Diggnation Line: Crowds of fans used to wait hours to see Kevin Rose at live tapings

One week you are one of the most popular people on the web, and the next what seems like a legion of geeks now hate you. Easy come, and easy go, but can Digg and Kevin Rose come back from this enormous backlash? Digg users are voting up, or digging stories from Reddit.com and the homepage is littered with stories from its competing site. The circle of life happens everywhere around you, so enjoy the highs and do everything you can to survive the lows.

A few months ago, LeBron James announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat. When he announced his decision, many of his fans in Cleveland turned on him, and some were so angry they went in the streets to burn his jersey. Let’s stop and think about this for a second. Want to know who your real friends and fans are? They are the ones who stay by your side when everyone else is turning against you.

People tend to like you as long as you do what they want you to. They like you when you have something they can benefit from. They like you when you do something outside the box, but when it fails, they will be the first to berate you over it. Kevin created Digg and at that time the site was something revolutionary. I like Digg’s new design, and I can understand user’s outrage over having mainstream content appear directly from the sites as opposed to being submitted by users. When Facebook did its latest redesign, many users also got very vocal. If nothing else, I respect people with an opinion, but give people feedback with as much grace as possible.

“To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard

What Kevin and lots of other Internet entrepreneurs have now hopefully learned is to do everything you can do to make your users happy. I think Digg is trying to resolve the issues being brought up to the best of their abilities, so good luck Kevin and the Digg team. Hang in there, Kevin…

The Art of Brand Storytelling: How Stanley Hainsworth Creates Iconic Brands

The master storyteller behind Nike, Lego, and Starbucks reveals his approach to building unforgettable brands

Creating a loved brand by telling a story: Tether

Stanley Hainsworth has been the creative force behind some of the world’s most recognizable brands. As creative director at Nike, Lego, and Starbucks—all brands that have become iconic through exceptional design—he’s mastered the art of brand storytelling. Most recently, he completed the redesign of the Gatorade bottle, adding another major brand transformation to his impressive portfolio.

Now at the helm of Tether, his own design studio and retail space in Seattle, Hainsworth continues to shape how companies connect with consumers. His approach goes beyond logos and color palettes to something deeper: uncovering and communicating the authentic story at the heart of each brand.

In this exclusive interview, Hainsworth shares his insights on what makes a brand truly resonate with people and why storytelling is the key to creating brands that people don’t just recognize, but genuinely love.

Creating Brand Personas That Connect

According to Hainsworth, the most powerful brands develop distinct personalities that consumers can relate to on a human level. “Companies like Apple have a persona,” he explains. “You could describe what Apple is as a person, because of the personality they’ve created.”

This personification is what transforms a mere product or service into a brand that people feel emotionally connected to. It’s why Apple isn’t just a tech company—it’s the creative, innovative friend who thinks differently. It’s why Starbucks isn’t just coffee—it’s the sophisticated yet approachable “third place” between work and home.

When working with tech startups and other emerging companies, Hainsworth’s first priority is uncovering their unique story. “The first thing we have to figure out is their story—what sets them apart in the marketplace,” he says. Without this narrative foundation, even the most visually stunning design work will lack the substance needed to create lasting connections with consumers.

The most effective brand storytelling isn’t fabricated—it excavates the authentic truth about a company’s origins, values, and purpose, then presents it in a way that resonates emotionally with its audience.

Three Iconic Brand Journeys

Hainsworth’s experiences at Nike, Lego, and Starbucks provided him with unique insights into how different types of brands connect with consumers. Each company required a distinct approach to storytelling:

Nike: The Power of Attitude

“Nike is an attitude,” Hainsworth observes. Unlike brands that can be defined by a specific visual style, Nike’s identity is built around a mindset—the determination and excellence embodied in their iconic “Just Do It” ethos. This attitude-first approach allows Nike to evolve visually while maintaining a consistent emotional connection with consumers.

Lego: Product as Hero

At Lego, Hainsworth took a different approach. “For Lego, the brick was everything,” he explains. Even when the company faced challenges and experimented with product extensions, its success always returned to a focus on their iconic building brick. Hainsworth’s experience at Lego taught him the importance of knowing a brand’s core strength and remaining true to it.

Starbucks: Experience Above All

Starbucks presented yet another model of brand development. “When I started there, the idea was that we weren’t a coffee company—we were a people company serving coffee,” Hainsworth recalls. This subtle but powerful distinction positioned Starbucks as an experience-driven brand rather than a product-driven one, informing everything from store design to packaging to marketing.

Each brand requires its own unique storytelling approach. The key is identifying whether a brand’s strength lies in its attitude (like Nike), its product (like Lego), or its experience (like Starbucks)—then building the narrative from that foundation.

The Gatorade Transformation

One of Hainsworth’s more recent high-profile projects was redesigning the iconic Gatorade bottle. This wasn’t merely a cosmetic update but a comprehensive rethinking of the brand’s physical touchpoint with consumers.

The Tether team approached the redesign with three key elements in mind:

  1. Create an athletic stance with broad shoulders and a narrow waist that would be easier to grip during athletic activity
  2. Incorporate the Gatorade bolt both aesthetically and functionally as a transparent window showcasing the beverage
  3. Highlight the iconic orange cap that has become a signature brand element

The redesign resolved practical issues with the previous bottle—such as loose labels collecting condensation, a wide mouth that led to spills, and an oversized body that was difficult to grip with one hand—while simultaneously strengthening the brand’s visual identity.

The results were so successful that Gatorade accelerated the bottle’s rollout from a three-year plan to a one-year plan, bringing the new design to athletes nationwide much sooner than originally scheduled.

The Gatorade project exemplifies how effective brand design addresses both functional needs and emotional connections. The new bottle not only performs better for athletes but also strengthens the brand’s visual identity and storytelling.

The Untapped Potential of Untold Stories

When Hainsworth left Starbucks, many expected him to pursue opportunities with cutting-edge, highly visual brands. Instead, he expressed interest in working with established but story-deficient companies like Microsoft and Walmart.

“I wanted to work with Microsoft and Walmart—two great American brands that have never told their story well,” Hainsworth explains. “They both have incredible stories, if you think about the startups that they were at the time—it’s unbelievable. Bill Gates, what he went through, and his story: it’s never been told well. They’ve never used it to their advantage. They’ve become a product company with no soul.”

This perspective reveals Hainsworth’s belief that even the most successful companies can reach new heights by effectively telling their authentic stories. It’s not about fabricating a narrative but about uncovering the genuine human elements that already exist within the company’s history and bringing them to the forefront.

Every company has a story worth telling. The brands that consistently miss opportunities for emotional connection are often sitting on powerful narratives that they’ve simply failed to unearth and communicate effectively.

Building Tether: A New Kind of Creative Agency

In 2008, Hainsworth founded Tether, bringing together his experiences from Nike, Lego, and Starbucks to create a different kind of creative agency. Located in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square, Tether combines a creative gallery space with a full-service agency that works across disciplines.

What makes Tether unique is its emphasis on creating “emotional brand connections” rather than simply designing attractive visuals. The agency works across brand identity, product design, advertising, digital design, packaging, branded entertainment, and retail design—always with the goal of telling compelling brand stories.

Since its founding, Tether has grown to approximately 75 employees with a second studio in Portland, Oregon. The company has worked with an impressive roster of clients including BMW, Red Bull, Gatorade, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others.

Hainsworth describes Tether’s work environment as “casual intensity”—a place that’s fun but maintains high expectations for creative output. This culture reflects his belief that the best creative work emerges from diverse, collaborative teams working in an environment that encourages both passion and precision.

Tether’s success demonstrates that Hainsworth’s storytelling approach to branding isn’t just philosophical—it delivers concrete results for clients across industries and scales, from startups to global corporations.

The Philosophy of Anticipatory Design

Perhaps the most profound insight from Hainsworth is his observation about what truly great companies do: “Great companies read your soul. They give you something you didn’t even know that you needed.”

This statement captures the essence of what Hainsworth strives for in his work—creating brands that don’t just meet expressed needs but anticipate unexpressed ones. It’s the difference between responding to what consumers say they want and intuiting what will genuinely delight them before they’ve even conceptualized it themselves.

This approach explains why the most beloved brands often seem to be reading our minds, offering products and experiences that feel simultaneously surprising and inevitable. They’re not simply reacting to market research; they’re proactively shaping desires and expectations through intuitive understanding of human nature.

For designers and brand strategists, this philosophy suggests looking beyond immediate consumer feedback to deeper human truths. It means asking not just “What do people want now?” but “What might people love that they haven’t yet imagined?”

The ability to anticipate unspoken needs and desires—to “read the soul” of consumers—is what separates truly iconic brands from merely successful ones. It’s design thinking at its most intuitive and human-centered.

The Future of Brand Storytelling

As brands navigate an increasingly complex and digitally-driven marketplace, Hainsworth’s emphasis on authentic storytelling feels more relevant than ever. In a world where consumers are bombarded with marketing messages, the brands that rise above the noise will be those with genuine narratives that resonate on a human level.

The lessons from Hainsworth’s career offer valuable guidance for any company seeking to strengthen its connection with consumers:

  • Know your core strength—whether it’s an attitude, a product, or an experience—and build your brand story around it.
  • Uncover authentic narratives from your company’s history, values, and purpose rather than manufacturing artificial stories.
  • Address both functional needs and emotional connections in every consumer touchpoint, from packaging to digital experiences.
  • Anticipate unexpressed needs by looking beyond market research to deeper human truths and desires.
  • Create a distinct brand persona that consumers can relate to on a human level.

By embracing these principles, brands can move beyond mere recognition to achieve what every company truly desires: a place in consumers’ hearts that transcends transactions and creates lasting loyalty.

Join the Conversation

What brands do you feel have told their stories most effectively? Which ones seem to “read your soul” and anticipate needs you didn’t know you had? Share your thoughts in the comments below!