Hello Viking

WikiScanner

Fascinating piece in today's New York Times on corporate editing of Wikipedia entries.

The crux is, "You will be found out." And it will likely be WikiScanner who finds you.

So be nice out there. (Here?)

pwc.tv launch

We just launched our first project, for agency Spring and client PricewaterhouseCoopers. Huge thanks to everyone at Spring for the opportunity and their fabulous collaboration. And thanks to the good people at PwC. (And special thanks to Bill for the initial phone call.)

pwc.tv is designed to aid college recruiting efforts for PwC, offering news, entertainment and advice on how to start your career with the firm. We're very excited to see how it evolves and grows.

biz cards from moo!

We just started to get our first business cards. The entire process of creating, ordering and receiving them has been fantastic. All because of MOO. They've got an outstanding website, customer service and the product kills.

We ordered 100 cards each. The back side is the same for all. But we ordered 10 different images for the fronts (so, 10 of each). Printing is tasty, on thick non-gloss stock. And they have a solid upload interface. You can use their Photoshop templates or images from your flickr, etc. accounts.

MOO is a definite gold standard in digital-enabled business. Order yours today.

Making The Broken EP

Caught this on YouTube over the weekend while doing research for a client project.

What caught our eye was the idea of value this video conveys. Because it's not just a music video. And it's not just a "making of" effort.

Essentially, you're watching the handmade production of a (limited) mass quantity item: a 4-track CD, by the New York "electronic-pop superhero" Jen Scaturro, who performs as iamjen. (CD Baby distributes the EP, which was sold out when we checked. But you can download it off iTunes.)

Before we saw the video, iamjen was just a musical effort, a band -- a listening experience. After the video, her music became more than music. Because we've come to realize she's also a clever storyteller and meticulous craftsperson.

Imagine if the people who made your car, your shirt, your desk chair, your courier bag, your shoes, etc. followed iamjen's lead? But with as much style, grace and attitude as the "Making The Broken EP" video. That's the challenge. iamjen's success here is in creating a video that does more than entertain, it provides insight into character and motivation -- part of any product anyone is buying.

Clarification from Dan

Our friend Dan at Typestereo clued us in today. He writes...

Not all Vikings are named Eric.

Some Vikings have regular names like Devonte, Rufus, Clatrick or Tarvaris.

A Viking can call himself Cedric, Howard or even Chad. Erasmus, Wendell, Mewelde, Martin, Artose and/or Tony -- All perfectly good names for a Viking.

Sidney, Visanthe, Khreem, Dontarrious, Tyler or Dwight.

Try Naufahu or Justin. Jimmy. Troy.

Even Heath.

Thank you, Dan.

Usefulness

We've come some distance from the mighty client who decried half his ad dollars were wasted; if only he could figure out which half.

Did Wanamaker desire a bigger soapbox, a louder bullhorn? Was he tilting at windmills? Or did he truly realize the failure of modern advertising to connect, even in its infancy? Hopefully the latter.

The more we participate in advertising circa 2007, the more we're convinced the "usefulness" of an ad (or even of an entire marketing program) is perhaps the critical measure. In other words, if it isn't useful in some manner -- you've wasted your ad dollars.

Don't make ads.
Make something people will use.

And maybe these efforts will look just like ads. Sound like ads. And maybe they'll be placed like ads.

But they will offer something more than just the visual and verbal language of advertising.

Coupons come to mind.
As do scent strips.

Thank goodness for technology, then, because it's just so much easier to create something useful in the digital space.

Nike+
MonkEMail
H-D Live at Sturgis

Creating something people will use, enjoy, keep, share and discuss is a much better goal for advertising than simply trying to tell.

You're afforded more opportunities to measure.
You're addressing need versus creating it.
You're establishing an interaction -- a relationship, a conversation.

All of these qualities provide a stronger platform for igniting sales, changing opinons and encouraging brand loyalty.

So when do we start?

Hmmmm.

Originally uploaded by helloviking

We used to enjoy the Typepad app for the Treo. It was nice to be able to create a post on the road, or while out for coffee. But those Treos got tossed on June 29.

Too bad the iPhone doesn't quite enable the instant blog thing -- or maybe we just haven't figured it out. But the workaround using Flickr is good enough.

Saw this truck parked outside Kruskopf Coontz the other day. (We were stopping in to chat them up, see if there was an opportunity to collaborate.) Should we call? From a marketing standpoint, it's not so much the words themselves, as the "medium" they're printed on that rubbed us the wrong way. Pardon that pun.

But who knows, maybe the guy gets a lot of work.

We are all Legos.

Some of us entities are massive, established Legos with HR departments and shareholders and fancy offices around the globe.

Some of us Legos have, say, just three partners and recently purchased desks from IKEA.

Some of us focus on creating ideas.

Some of us focus on producing them.

Some of us focus in one area or another, like search engine optimization or content management systems. Or account management.

Some of us distribute ideas.

Some of us create venues for distributing ideas.

Some of us do all of the above.

Every Lego has a purpose and a place. And the beautiful thing with Legos is, it doesn’t matter how you put them together.

Legos are open source.

We think the analogy can be true of advertising, marketing, design, product development, branding and all that.

We can all benefit from plugging into one another and collaborating—enhancing each other, making our common work better.

Our clients would most certainly benefit.

Consumers, too.

Our pocketbooks most definitely.

And if anyone’s feeling a bit squeamish, well, that’s what they invented the NDA for.

Thoughts?