David Vujanić got his first taste of comedy videos in the early days of YouTube, through watching the likes of Lonely Island, Sacha Baron Cohen and Shadrack and the Mandem. “Those were the guys that made me go like, “wow”, and then I started making funny videos online, expressing myself on YouTube and that was it,” he told us. ‘Have A Nice’ (not to be confused with Borat’s ‘Is Nice’) quickly became his slogan, after he picked it up from a drunk man on a train – “I found it really funny, I just loved that there was no ending.” With four Everpress drops now under his belt (or 11 campaigns in total), he’s shown there’s plenty of mileage in his merchandise. For his insights into why he runs his campaigns, read on.
ON WHY HE STARTED SELLING T-SHIRTS
I like clothes and have always liked buying clothes and putting an outfit together. I’d say I have quite extroverted taste (shout out to my mother!) and I’ve always liked going to charity shops and trying to get a good deal; mixing vintage shopping with sportswear. I’d describe the way I dress as trying to make it work with the money you have, and then with merchandise it becomes a part of your profile once you build something.
Merchandise becomes part of your profile once you build something
ON SEEING PEOPLE IN HIS T-SHIRTS:
People have sent me photos from around the world, or they’ve seen someone on the bus or in the street. For me, I was on the tube once and I looked across the platform and there was someone across the platform wearing my hoodie – I was mad excited, proper gassed. Like a proper kid, so happy to see it.
A guy recently broke his hand, I think, and he sent over a photo of him wearing the T-shirt and said, “I’m having a nice – got a lot of morphine in my body.” And there was this other dude actually in hospital and I don’t even know what he broke, I think both hands? But he was in hospital bed wearing the ‘Have a Nice’ T-shirt and that was pretty lovely. Not that he was in hospital, but the fact that he was getting light from the merch and the situation.
ON THE PRESSURES OF FREELANCING
It works best when I don’t overthink it. I can at times find it anxiety driven: there’s a lot of self-doubt, there’s a lot of questioning everything. It’s quite a unique position but it’s something that I’ve gotten into. I’m a bit of a perfectionist as well which can make the process even longer when I create something (hence why the merchandise comes out like once every 6 years!). But when my stuff does come out I like to think it comes out in the right way.
Trust your intuition
SOME WORDS OF ADVICE…
I think everyone’s story is their own and everyone has their own path, but I guess I’d say trust your intuition and try to be as true to yourself as you can. Those are the things that will be challenged – we live in a challenging world and those two things can be very powerful. Also, watch The Matrix. All three. And get outside of yourself, try not to stress too much.
Read More: Our series has seen us speak to Joey Yu, Kyle Platts and Murkage Dave, so be sure to check out the other interviews.
