Shop News, Trending Topics, Nostalgia, Lists and More — the x files

Hello Good Time Gang!

Kyle here from Totally Good Time and another issue of Totally Good News coming your way. We’ll get to shop talk shortly (or skip all text and scroll below ::sob, tears, cries::), but first I want to tell you a story about Marissa Cooper. You know, MC from The O.C., aka best friend of Summer Roberts and girlfriend of Ryan Atwood. This story is about Marissa Cooper's impact on Totally Good Time and how sometimes totally good time's take time. (This story is not about a girl named Lucky.)

I was recently reminded of Marissa and her fateful season 3 demise courtesy of Girlboss on Netflix. Girlboss talk another time, this is about Marissa and how her boyfriend, Ryan, carried her out of the car wreck replicating the season one Tijuana scene (google it for ultimate feels) only to have her not be revived this time for the following season. Marissa. Was. Dead. In 2006 this was a total pop culture loss and no fan could believe that part of the Core4 was not coming back for season 4. What was a fan to do? Save Marissa, of course.

Deep into the wee hours on that fateful night in 2006, Save Marissa T Shirt was born. The parents, two friends out of Orlando, Florida, one of them being yours truly. Eleven years ago, my friend Kristen and I started a petition and T-shirt line in hopes of, you guessed it, saving Marissa. We created a design, a little company and sold the t-shirts in white and pink. We garnered some press and sure enough they started to sell! It was very exciting and especially in 2006, it was very authentic. A few months later, sales cooled and it was clear Marissa was not coming back from the grave. Fast forward eleven years and here we are at Totally Good Time with a store full of…pop culture apparel. What is this story about? (Not about a girl named Lucky.) Eleven years were the indirect groundwork for Totally Good Time.

Every single day we are visually bombarded with imagery of people doing things, making things happen and having reasons to celebrate things. Maybe we see these images and feel really happy and joyful for those that are sharing them. Or maybe we’re not quite there yet and it gives us this feeling of failure and confusion. I’m here to tell you that if you fall into the latter, feeling that way that you're taught you shouldn't feel, it’ll all be okay.  It just takes time and you might not even know it yet.

Sam Smith said, "It wasn't until I started being myself that people started to listen." Bethenny Frankel wrote, “All roads lead to Rome means that as long as you are working hard and doing your best — when you are following your truth, acting on it, and making everything your business — then everything you do will eventually get you where you want to go — or someplace even better.” Gabrielle Union stood at a podium and proclaimed, “I had been pretending to be fierce and fearless for a long time.”

Sometimes, we just need that time to make our way there. To a place that we know fits like a glove and drives like a dream. We are growing into a place where we are better than who we were before, because we’re learning from small celebrations and more importantly from big mistakes.

I wanted to share this story (not about Lucky) that it took eleven years, countless failures and many, many mistakes to get to a place where I feel confident in what I am doing – creating a fun, pop culture-inspired brand that elicits nostalgia, emotion and a good time. Some people in my position would’ve taken the Save Marissa T Shirt and ran with it during those eleven years. There is no timetable. There are those that take many detours, but ultimately, we get there.

I hope this story gave you a little strength into a feeling of ease for whatever it is you want. If you're feeling pressure, listen to your gut and do what you love. We see quotes on Pinterest, clips on Instagram or even this newsletter letting you know that it will be okay. Sometimes the best inspiration (which I’m saving for next time) can be logging off every screen you have, clearing your head and going out IRL.

Yours in a good time,

Kyle, TGT Shop Owner

P.S. For kicks, until Friday midnight I have added the Save Marissa T Shirt (and sweatshirt) into the shop in its original white and pink. Marissa Cooper Forever <3

P.P.S. Coupon code TheOC15 will save 15% until Sunday!

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Accepting Photo Collabs, Written Pop Culture and Entrepreneurial Story Submissions For Newsletter, Blog and More: hello@totallygoodtime.com

Hello friends! Last weekend saw the annual arrival of Comic Con International here in sunny San Diego. Each year, a half a million people (or more) attend the annual conference and check out all things pop culture from meetings and interviews to panels and parties. Some dress up, some dress down and everyone dresses the city in a broad stroke of entertainment whimsy. This year, I wanted to do something for the shop during Comic Con, but couldn't think of what that "something" was going to be. Then, literally the day before the event kicked off, I had a moment of clarity and thought of a great idea.

In August of 2015 I created the Mulder It's Me (and other accompanying X-Files) top. I wanted a straightforward shirt with a simple collegiate type font. Something I could wear anywhere and was slightly subtle.

The shirt was so well received by fans and shoppers and is definitely one of the most popular in the shop. This was a blessing and a curse, because suddenly many other shops (on Etsy mainly) ripped off my design and started selling their own. No big deal, this is the original. Often imitated, never duplicated. Fast forward to last week and I knew that this was the shirt to promote during Comic Con. The idea was in front of me the entire time.

The simple call out of "Mulder It's Me" is based on Agent Scully and her opening phone communication with Agent Mulder. Lurve this YouTube clip explaining the phrase. The idea was to create a simple flyer with "Mulder It's Me" on it and fans would interpret the sign as Scully's voice. Accompanied by a simple alien image from the show on the flyer along with a call to action domain that could forward to the X-Files merch in the store and the visual would be complete. Next up was to to think of that call to action domain. Low and behold, scullyitsme.com was available. I snagged the domain and had it forward to the X-Files collection in the shop. I created the flyer and put no mention of the shop anywhere on the visual. I could imagine some SDCC attendees disappointed that David Duchovny (Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Scully) were not the ones behind scullyitsme.com, but the idea was to introduce them to apparel they may not have known existed and let them live their fandom out loud.

Another component was to integrate social media into the campaign, but without any mention of the shop being connected to the flyer, the attendee would have to organically discover the connection. This integration worked best on visual platforms like Instagram. I called out for anyone finding the flyer and tagging the shop that they would receive a free Mulder It's Me T-shirt. Guess who's sending a slew of free t-shirts? You guessed right, good 'ol Totally Good Time!

This marketing campaign was such an absolutely blast to execute. It felt great to get outdoors and guerrilla market this campaign whilst in a world of social media with absolutely everything online. Sometimes, it's easy to get one-sided and completely ignore IRL. All in all, the four day campaign was a great success and posts across Instagram and Twitter were discovered by delighted Xphilers. 

Get your own Mulder It's Me top here. 

Below are some more screen grabs from SDCC attendees!

See you next year Comic Con!

Kyle, TGT Shop Owner