what you look like as a one eyed monster
Weren't you just saying to your friends that you wished you were a one-eyed freak?
Before you schedule the surgery, now you can see what you'll look like, thanks to Monoclops. Upload a photo and turn yourself into a monoclops.
It's all in the spirit of promoting Minneapolis agency Mono, who are one-eyed freak friendly.
Labels: adindustry, creativeinspiration, self promotion, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:46 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
what you can learn from jason fried
We could all learn a lot from the work habits of Jason Fried. Inc Magazine has a super nice profile on the web2.0 entrepreneur who founded 37 Signals.
Jason doesn't believe in alarm clocks, work schedules, or office time. He does believe in mixing work with reading, office vacations and virtual collaboration over meetings.
We're not only users of 37 Signals products, we also subscribe to many of the same work philosophies at the world's hottest agency - and can say for sure that they work. Send the Inc article to your boss and see if you can get her to adopt at least one of these philosophies in your joint. Happy people = maximum productivity.
Photo: Chris Strong for Inc Magazine.
Labels: plaid, smallagency, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:54 AM
2 comments
Friday, June 26, 2009
the story of a logo
Matchstic produced a gorgeous video about their exploration of a new logo for The Tabernacle. What a beautiful look into the process of identity design and an outstanding demonstration of the talent over at Matchstic. Pure awesomeness.
Labels: branding, creativeinspiration, design, identity, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:14 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
plaid takes over the denver egotist
This is big.
We're taking over. Like a gaggle of pirates and ninjas banding together for the creative workers of America, we've taken over the Denver Egotist.
In fact, we believe that the takeover will be so easy that we'd like to take it one step further: We're taking over Denver, too.
As of today, we declare that we are now the hottest creative agency in Denver. We've prepared a video message that alerts the Denver population of this development. We'll post it on the Denver Egotist first thing this morning.
Check the Egotist (soon known as the Danbury Egotist) all day for our fresh content.
(Keep in mind that if you're reading this in the AM on Eastern time, that people in Denver are lazy. They sleep two hours later than we do. We can't actually take over until they drag their lazy asses out of bed and get into their offices.)
Denver residents: We'll need to change your town's name to Danbury. And our Mayor will likely need to take charge, too. We have a feeling that you're really going to like this. Welcome to the PlaidNation.
** This may only be a 24 hour takeover, as we don't really have offices in Denver and would probably find it difficult to breath their weak air on a regular basis.
Labels: denver, plaid, self promotion, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:33 AM
0 comments
Friday, February 27, 2009
friday flakes episode eight
Today's Friday Flakes is hosted by David, Justus and Darryl. In this week's episode, we talk about:
+ Gummy week at Plaid
+ Sara's doctor says he hates Plaid
+ The opportunity of a lifetime: your potential job at plaid.
In this week at BrandFlakesForBreakfast, we chat about:
+ Darryl oddly defends Ashton Kutcher as Dave questions his existence
+ How guys look stupid on Facebook (make sure it doesn't happen to you!!)
+ Giving up Facebook for God.
In the World of Social Media, we chat about:
+ How people tweeted the Oscars
+ Obama's State of the Nation that was not a State of the Union but did include an awesome Facebook/CNN mashup.
Since we completely spaced on it last week, we offer two Tips O' the Week:
1. Google's new Google Calendar/iPhone integration
2. Don't say Backslash.
Note: we didn't realize until posting this video, that Justus pretty much just sat on the couch and hung out during the show. (Speak up, Justus!!)
Have a great weekend!
Labels: fridayflakes, plaid, self promotion, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:28 AM
10 comments
Thursday, February 19, 2009
sometimes you get what you pay for
If you've ever looked at your design firm and said "What???? For a logo??? I could get a logo designed on the internet for $50!!" well then you'll love this little logo design experiment.
Jim Walls, a creative director at 160over90, has published the details of his adventures with 50DollarLogo.com. $50 should have delivered six logo designs, unlimited revisions and a 1 - 3 day turnaround. It's been a year, and he's still going. Funny. From LogoDesignLove.
Labels: design, identity, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:40 AM
5 comments
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
how to end the depressicession
Duct Tape Marketing is sponsoring what looks to be a really cool marketing program. Make a Referral Week asks you to commit to making a referral to a small business during the week of March 9 - 13. That's it.
Their goal is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the fact that this simple action can blossom into millions of dollars in new business.
They've also lined up some nice speakers for webinars during the week - and anyone who makes a pledge can get FREE audio recordings of these events!
So, go ahead. Create some stimulus. Let's declare an end to the depressicession.
Labels: marketing, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:33 AM
2 comments
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
a grand idea
This is an awesome gesture, a cool self-promotional tool and a wonderful prize for a lucky non-profit.
On The House is a collaboration with a branding agency, web development group, design firm, and everything else a non-profit might need to get a whole new lease on life.
Non-profits can apply online for a chance to win over $83,000 in creative services. What a sweet way to call attention to Atlanta's coolest talent, while doing good at the same time. Everyone wins!
Labels: adindustry, self promotion, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:11 AM
2 comments
Friday, January 16, 2009
friday flakes episode two
Here's episode two of Friday Flakes! Today's Friday Flakes is hosted by RJ and Darryl.
In this week's episode, we talk about:
+ A crazified, cold and gummi-less week at Plaid.
+ Darryl's zombie thumbnail
We highlight two posts from BrandFlakes:
+ A pirate store helps a non-profit
+ Yet another social media network that Caff and Dirk turned us onto
In the world of social media, we chat about:
+ The Facebook vs Burger King faceoff
+ How Twitter broke the plane crash story
We're still troubled with audio issues, but refuse to use any of our pro equipment. We're attempting to produce these episodes with Flip cameras - virtually eliminating all setup, digitizing and editing. Our goal is to produce an entire show from start to finish within 30 minutes, and zero editing. This is something we'll consider to discuss and experiment with - and your ideas are welcome!
Labels: facebook, fridayflakes, pirates, plaid, podcasting, self promotion, smallagency, social media, twitter, yummyfood, zombies
posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:22 PM
0 comments
Monday, January 05, 2009
be ready to fail
Eric Karjaluoto from SmashLab, and creator of MakeFive, has some very realistic but depressing advice for you. If you're considering a startup this year, you should expect to fail.
Eric shares in Why your web startup will fail the things that you can expect to happen in a typical year of a startup. He details the stuff that the retired dude from the Small Business Administration might not be able to tell you over coffee at the community center. And he speaks from experience.
This is a great reality check for anyone planning a new startup this year. Do it because you love it. Because you believe in it. Not because you think you're going to get bought by Google and sit on the beach. Get ready to fail!
(Failed cake image from the yummiest fail blog in the land, Cake Wrecks.)
Labels: productivity, smallagency, web2.0, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:45 AM
1 comments
Monday, September 22, 2008
entrepreneurs: start your brand here
One of the most difficult things for a startup (other than getting cash) is building a brand identity. Coming up with a good name, a strong identity and finding a url that's available.
Greg Verdino points to a pretty cool tool that makes it a lot easier. IncSpring is a site that sells brands. Pre-created, pre-designed, and some even come with the url ready to go. At reasonable rates, too - most are a couple of thousand dollars - which is less than many design firms would charge for the same quality work. That's affordable for a small business.
Even better - the public can vote on their favorite brands. So you can get a sense of what's good before you commit. I like HotCocktail. That would be a sweet name for an agency, an apparel company, or of course a bar. Or an identity. You should just rename yourself HotCocktail right now, and insist that all of your friends refer to you as such.
Labels: branding, design, identity, smallagency, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:55 AM
3 comments
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
2008 Plaid tour: experience it all.
Phew. Another year on the road has screamed past faster than a Plaid van at 85MPH.
If you haven't had a chance to check in, or missed some key moments, now's a great time to catch up on the most glorious tour ever to hit the highways. PlaidNation 2008.
See all of the daily wrap up videos here. It's the next best thing to being there.
See the interviews and extra footage here. The interviews with Robert Scoble, Biz Stone and Cathy Brooks (coming later this week) are extra remarkable.
Read the Twitter stream. If you're new to Twitter (or just bored at work), this is a great way to see it's value. An entire tour has been documented (and archived) moment by moment, as it was happening. Reading the stream is like re-living the tour.
Watch the 11:40 shows. These vidcasts were recorded live at 11:40, wherever the van happened to be at that moment. You'll see additional discussion about what happened on tour, with extra detail brought to the show by the people on the tour. The most popular episode: Plaid gets kicked out of a popular celebrity cemetery in Hollywood, California.
Check out the Flickr photo stream. Better than your Aunt Lucie's vacation to the Galapagos Islands, you'll see other workplaces, cool locations and Plaid employees mostly avoiding trouble.
We've put all of this and more together for you, on the tour dashboard at PlaidNation.com
Thanks to everyone who wrote about it, talked about it, or became a part of it. We're already in planning mode for next year's tour, and have some incredible surprises. Just wait until 2009!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:55 AM
2 comments
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
how to get on the cover of rolling stone magazine
37 Signals has a sweet primer on how to get ink. Some of their tips are just good plain business practices, too.
Labels: self promotion, smallagency, strategy
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:56 AM
1 comments
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Lynn Elliott Marketing sucks ass.
We see these counterfeit sites from time to time. And every time I hear about them, it's infuriating. Our media buying friends over at MediAssociates point to another vendor who completely copied their site.
The original is above. The plagiarized version is here:
Just one more reason to hire a reputable design firm to produce your collateral materials. MediAssociates is taking the high road, and enjoying the flattery. I'll take comfort knowing that eventually, Google will pick up on the headline to this blog post. :)
Labels: adindustry, design, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:39 AM
1 comments
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
just say yes.
SwissMiss has found some outstanding advice for anyone with a customer. Which I guess would include just about everyone. And everyone in our business should read the original post from Ideas on Ideas. Awesome outlook on our business.
Labels: adindustry, marketing, smallagency, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:26 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
the big plaid video experiment
We just purchased the Plaid design and brand crew these really sweet video cameras. Flip video cameras that record 640 x 480 digital video (60 minutes of video, without tape!) with built-in usb plugs. They fit in your pocket. Basically, a video camera designed for the YouTube generation. AWESOME IDEA.
Anyway - we're embarking on an experiment of sorts. Everyone's now armed with these cameras. So we're going to try video blogging. Not the vidcast-shot-from-the-laptop that everyone else is doing - but sharing our experiences, as they happen. (You can't carry your laptop camera into the Bodega, can you?) Funny, stupid, creatively inspiring, or people falling asleep at their desks. Low production, no edits, no soundtracks, just video clips. Whatever happens when we're recording.
The experiment kicks off tomorrow morning, as a bunch of us leave for Mexico. Should make for some fun video. We're traveling tech-lite (only ONE laptop!!), so we won't be uploading every hour, but I promise some good regular video. If we like the results of the experiment, we'll get cameras for the extended Plaid team, across the country. This could really be a cool, creative group video blog. Or a complete waste of time.
So as not to bog down BrandFlakes, we won't post here - but instead on our 'behind the scenes' agency blog - http://blog.thinkplaid.com/. Stay tuned.
Labels: blogging, plaid, smallagency, video, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:17 PM
3 comments
Friday, June 15, 2007
plaid not the only summer tour
Because we're an agency, we of course believe that the sun orbits around our very being, and that everything we do is original and filled with awesomeness. So naturally, as we're about to embark on the Plaid BrandAid 2007 Summer Tour, we believe that it's the only tour in all of the land.
Turns out other people are hitting the highways too. Just got an email from Jay, who's about to tour the country with a ton of fat. Really. It's one part of their overall campaign "to inspire, motivate and educate men, women, young adults, teens, children and families about the latest and greatest tips, tricks, tools and "thinking" for weight loss, exercise and wellness."
Like Plaid, MyPetFat is also looking for tour sponsors. Although I'd be willing to guess that their burrito and Slurpee budget isn't as big as ours.
Regardless, looks like there's going to be a lot of fun on the roads this summer!
Labels: adindustry, smallagency, streetteams, yummyfood
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:21 AM
0 comments
Thursday, June 14, 2007
what a cool help wanted ad looks like.
I'm sooo inspired to produce about ten of these right now. How about a collection of favorite agency songs? Or how about just a collection of Journey songs? Or the ten best punk songs of all time? Or anything from Giuli's playlist? I could go on and on. Videolicious self promo for a firm that's now hiring. All in one take. LOVE it. Watching it over and over right now.
Labels: pop culture, smallagency, video, viral, workplace, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:13 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
good creative kicks big budget's ass
Isn't it totally awesome when something really creative and simple just kicks the ass of everything else?
Two sites came to my attention recently, that just totally rocked. Small budgets, smaller brands - and yet they capture your attention like nothing else.
Author Miranda July needed a website to promote her new book, and book tour. So...rather than have her design firm build a deep site with RSS feeds and a complex PHP back end, she produced a website. On her fridge. And it delivers a message in a supremely unique and effective way that you want to show your friends.
The second is from an agency, West Wayne. What at first looks like an error message, you'll quickly realize is something entirely different. Brazen? Totally. But that's a good thing for an agency. Wanna learn more about their services? Schedule a meeting. That's a pretty cool tactic.
Sweet.
Labels: creativeinspiration, design, marketing, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:48 AM
3 comments
Thursday, June 07, 2007
clients want multiple partners
This article in Adweek is about three weeks old, but a really good read about where the industry is headed. Great news for smaller firms like ours. And outstanding news for brand managers, who are getting the best of the best for each and every one of their projects.
The skinny:
+ Brands are more comfortable working with multiple agencies.
+ Bigger agencies are more comfortable working with smaller agencies
+ The consumer is more fragmented than ever. The age old "18 - 22" demo is a joke. There are now multi dimensional audiences within each demo. And you'll need to speak to them all, if they need your product. No one agency can be great at absolutely everything.
Partnerships rock.
Labels: adindustry, branding, marketing, smallagency, strategy
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:02 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
killer creative workspaces
This is porn for creatives, architects and interior designers. This Ain’t No Disco has assembled a blog-style collection of wonderous creative workspaces. Be inspired, get ideas, or get jealous. Agencies can submit their photos, and users can comment or vote on their favorite interiors. We've GOT to submit photos of our space. From How Design.
Labels: architecture, creativeinspiration, design, smallagency, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:12 AM
2 comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
advertising 2.0 doesn't exist
Smartass, cartoonist and super industry genius Hugh Macleod has a wonderful rant/post about the ad industry, behemoth clueless agencies, and more. Very funny and for the most part, right on.
Labels: adindustry, marketing, smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:27 AM
0 comments
Thursday, January 04, 2007
time to cut the bloat
I'm pretty sick of everyone attempting to predict what's going to happen with whatever in 2007 - but I thoroughly enjoyed this post from Marc Brownstein in Adage.
Marc
I say, bring it on. Clients should be expecting more for less. Because the landscape has changed, and so much more is possible. Time to cut the bloated, over-staffed, twice-as-many-people-as-necessary-on-a-project agencies out of the mix.
This thinking should be a BOON to the small agencies - because we're all setup to produce great creative without the bureaucracy, without the PowerPoint decks, without superstar directors, without a roomful of suits. And we're not alone. Agencies like ours our chomping at the bit to show Marc's clients what can be done for less. 2007. The year of the small agency, indeed. Hooray.
I'm not sure why I placed the image of Donny Deutsch in a swimsuit on this post. I couldn't think of anything appropriate for agency fatcats, and overspending. It's the best I could do. Sorry.
Labels: smallagency
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:15 AM
1 comments
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
we love xeni
Xeni Jardin, of BoingBoing fame, appeared on CNN last night with host Kristie LuStout, to talk about fun, holiday themed videos online. Apparently, one of the clips she covered was a production of ours from last year, that we did as a part of our agency holiday card. A Christmas Gory. You can see the YouTube version above, or go to the official A Christmas Gory website, and see more (be sure to check out "behind the scenes".)
This was our most successful holiday greeting card ever. We sent the original card to just over 200 recipients. A Christmas Gory has now been seen by well over 100,000 viewers worldwide. Thanks Xeni!!!!
Labels: self promotion, smallagency, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:08 AM
0 comments
