this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the greatest agency in all of the land:
Some costumes arrived for a production that's in house. Long story, but we're stoked to have another costume around the office for a couple of days.
We shot a screen test for something top secret for someone that we can't talk about. We're bursting at the seams wanting to share the details, but for now we'll have to tell you that it's been a load of fun hanging with someone in tv, and getting a unique perspective on that side of the entertainment industry.
Our skateboards arrived for the Bordobello event! This is an awesome fundraising art event where artists customize boards that are then auctioned for two worthy causes in Denver. We're stoked to be a part of it, and now Plaidsters will be getting busy customizing their boards.
I had a new piece published on Advertising Age's Small Agency Diary, discussing how to survive through tough times. While it's geared toward the agency business, this is advice that could apply to nearly any business in any industry.
Our client Segway hooked us up with a copy of WiiFitPlus, and we've been training like Wii-maniacs on the Segway Circuit game. So far, Steph has the office high score.
It's getting colder in New England, and the days are darker. Plaidsters are not adjusting well to the 3:30pm sunsets. Some already have their eyes set on spring, while others are counting down the days until the snowboards come out.
Have a great weekend!
Labels: plaid, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 4:12 PM
0 comments
Friday, October 16, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most scrumptious creative agency:
Conn Creatives, a new sweet resource for creative types stuck in CT published a print piece profiling agencies in the state. Naturally, Plaid was one of the shops featured. We're a little miffed that we weren't on the cover, back cover, and center spread, but we'll get over it.
I represented Plaid at the annual Housatonic Valley Cultural Arts fundraising breakfast, and shook hands with a bunch of really cool fine artists, and a couple of people in suits.
It snowed. Yes, that's ridiculous, and that's more proof than ever that Plaid should really be located on the west coast, where everything is perfect all of the time.
We completed our Yahoo Purple Pedals art initiative. Yahoo gave us a sweet purple bike equipped with a camera that auto shoots and uploads photos every 60 seconds. We used it to meet people in our community and ask them "what makes you happy?" See the results in this video, or take a browse through the bike's entire photo stream.
Chris got a haircut.
We were invaded by sickness. Both Steph and Chris were inflicted with a nasty cold that rendered them useless to the world. We blame our high school intern/job shadow, Shane. Because that's what high school kids are best at: spreading germs.
RJ cranked up our convection oven for the first time in a while to make hot, fresh chocolate chip cookies. These are the perfect end of week treat, and make the office smell delicious.
This weekend Plaidsters will mostly be hybernating indoors since it's cold, and planning on raining every second of every day. Hopefully your weekend will be nicer.
Labels: plaid, thisweekatPlaid, yummyfood
posted by darryl ohrt @ 4:34 PM
1 comments
Friday, October 09, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
We brought the Yahoo Purple Pedals bike to the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, to participate in their BikeFest event. The turnout was massive, and everyone fell in love with the purple bike. We also shot some new Purple Pedals photos at a grade school (always interesting), and at client RMI Direct.
I had the pleasure of speaking at a Direct Marketer's Association event, for the Hudson Valley Chapter. I was on a panel with Valorie at Creative Concepts, and Ken Crites at Green Mountain Coffee, and needless to say, we KILLED IT. That's how we roll.
I spill my guts on Plaid failures in a brilliant new piece on Advertising Age.
Ausra's bobble head got launched to our main site.
High school student Shane joined Plaid for to shadow supreme coding goddess Steph. He'll be scarred for life, we promise.
The AdLawGuy paid a visit to our world headquarters and schooled the crew on everything related to copyright, trademarks and how to not to get yourself sued while creating brilliant creative work.
Chris got a haircut.
This weekend, Chris and I will be running our first ever half marathon. You can track how slow we're going here live during the race, by entering our last names (Ohrt, and Spada.) Plaidsters will also be celebrating the marriage of former Plaidster Sara this weekend. Cupcakes will be devoured.
Have a great weekend!
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:24 PM
0 comments
Friday, September 25, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most incredible creative agency:
I gave the keynote at the American Advertising Federation in Savannah on Wednesday, to kick off their 2009 - 2010 season. I shared the details of what we call "the attraction engine" at Plaid, our industrial strength business generation machine. You can listen to the audio and see details of my presentation on the AAF Savannah website. What a cool city, with an awesome creative community. Special thanks to Melanie, Cathy and Hal for extra amazing southern hospitality.
We began the production of our Purple Pedals project. We were invited by Yahoo! to participate in this super cool, international creative initiative. They've crafted 20 custom Yahoo Purple Pedals bikes, each equipped with solar powered cameras that automatically take a photo every 60 seconds, and then it uploads to Flickr. Pretty amazing.
We're turning it into our own project of sorts, and have created What Makes You Happy? We're attempting to have the bike photograph as many people as possible holding the answer to the question "what make you happy?" in front of the camera. We hope that the end result will be a really sweet gallery of photos that reads like a melting pot of human happiness. We'll see how this unfolds over the next couple of weeks. Dave got to ride the bike behind a police escort, earlier in the week (pic, above.)
In the meantime, you can check out the live photo stream for our bike on Flickr, as well as the Plaid Flickr photostream for regular updates.
Our Parking Day event from last week was a huge hit, and landed us on the front page of the local paper. Always great to be in the local news, especially when it's not the police blotter.
Leaves have begun to fall, and this weekend Plaidsters will enjoy a rockabilly festival, cool local shows, and some rest and relaxation. You should do the same!
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:59 PM
0 comments
Friday, September 18, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
Whew! What a week! Lots of crazy, cool work in house, and fun events happening this week.
Earlier in the week, David art directed a two day photo and video shoot for client Sikorsky Financial Credit Union. We shot with the legendary Chip Simons for stills, and Renato Ghio for video. They made people beautious. Even in the rain.
My new post was published on Advertising Age. I've outlined Plaid's awesome open management philosophy, and how it could change the world as we know it. ;)
Our Purple Pedals bike has been shipped from California, and on its way to Plaid world headquarters. We have great plans for it over the next few weeks.
Future Darryl stopped by our office to deliver a most important message about an earth shattering event happening in Savannah, GA next week. If you live anywhere near the peach state, you should be making arrangements to get there.
Today our agency participated in PARKing Day, an an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. We've added a few photos and video clips to our Flickr photostream, and will update more next week.
This weekend, Plaidsters will be enjoying the last weekend of summer and sun, checking out a sweet local art show, and getting ready for another Plaidtastic week. Hope you're doing the same!
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:23 PM
0 comments
Saturday, September 12, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the greatest creative agency in all of the land:
We launched the Segway commercial compatibility test with Segway. The tool helps businesses determine how Segway could impact their operation. Generic product information or marketing messages can't speak to the countless variables that exist within different businesses. The compatibility test generates information that's true to the business person's actual need - based on their type of business, work environment and goals. Pretty cool. (Take the test and see if Segway could help your business!)
We also launched our official plan for Plaid's Purple Pedals project. We've been invited by Yahoo to take part in their Purple Pedals program, and we have some awesome plans. We're going to tour our community with the purple bike (which snaps and uploads photos every 60 seconds) and let people from all walks of life tell the camera what makes them happy. You can learn more about our plans on our Purple Pedals project page.
Meanwhile, Plaidsters are knee deep in some really cool work on a multitude of projects for clients like HeadBlade, Aflac, Riunite, Rosa Regale, Nielsen, and the Sikorsky Financial Credit Union. (I know there's more, but I'm too lazy to review the details.)
We started our flex schedule this week! (See the article that I wrote about it on Advertising Age.) Employees can come in anytime before 10am and leave anytime after 4pm. Their actual work schedule is left entirely to what works best for them individually. Late sleepers can come in later, early birds come in early and skate out at 4pm. The first week was a pretty cool test, and we saw Plaidsters enjoying both ends of the schedule.
Next week is a crazy Plaid week, with photo shoots, (PARK)ing day and so much more - so Plaidsters are resting up this weekend to prepare for awesomeness.
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 4:45 PM
0 comments
Friday, September 04, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the nation's hottest creative agency, Plaid:
We've put together the plans for another art initiative for our city. We're taking advantage of being invited to participate in Yahoo's Purple Pedals program, and turning the event into something that anyone can participate in. We'll share details soon, once we receive our bike - but you can see a sneak peek at Matt's design work, above.
We started a super cool project for Aflac that we can't tell you about, but can't wait to show you. We're also working on something for Rosa Regale that you'll be able to join in on. Lots of announcements, soon.
We committed to participate in the upcoming (Park)ing Day, where citizens take over the parking spaces in their cities and turn them into something fun. You should do the same thing in your city!
Former Plaidster Sara Champion got married!! She's got the coolest wedding pics that you'll ever see.
Today was our last half day Friday of the season, and this weekend Plaidsters will be enjoying a three day weekend! Many will also be taking in the Safe to Swim Weekend 2 (S2SW2) festival that's taking place around town.
Have fun on the last weekend of summertime!
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:57 PM
0 comments
Saturday, August 29, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
I appeared on the Beancast podcast for the very first time! Needless to say, this was the best episode of the Beancast that ever was produced. Other guests included world famous Bill Green of Make the Logo Bigger and Kelly Eidson, a contributing writer for Advertising Age.
I also wrote another piece for Advertising Age Small Agency Diary. The post was featured in the AdAge email newsletter, and resulted in loads of comments, which means that it was the best post ever. (Technically, this happened the week before, but since we forgot to post last week, and it's important to brag about stuff like this, we're including it here. Stop getting all technical.)
Adrants posted about our G2G project for a division of the AFL-CIO that helps soldiers get great construction jobs when they return home. This is a really great effort for some really great men and women, so spread the word.
David launched a new site for Powderhouse Productions. This may have happened the week before as well, but we're too lazy to fact check stuff like that. Powderhouse produces some pretty awesome television, and now we're almost guaranteed a starring role in something. Someday.
Ausra's bobble head arrived! As you may already know, Plaid employees are bobbled and then featured on the Plaid website. Ausra's bobble features the thinnest body of all of the bobbles in our collection, so now we're putting the other bobbles on a training program.
This weekend, Plaidsters will be soaking in the best that hurricane Danny has to offer. Hopefully you won't be doing the same. Enjoy!
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:52 PM
0 comments
Friday, August 14, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
We've sorted out tour shirts, conducted post-tour meetings and are already setting up plans for next year's tour. (We have a handful of small and medium PlaidNation shirts left - if you know of anyone worthy, give us a shout.)
We're now working with Riunite and Rosa Regale, which means that many of our brainstorms have turned into wine tastings. Not that that's a bad thing. :) There were several brainstorms/tastings this week at Plaid, resulting in nothing but pure awesomeness. (If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and we'll poor you a glass.) In the meantime, be sure to follow Riunite & Rosa Regale on Twitter.
We just launched a Facebook application for soldiers who are nearing discharge. The Good to Go Countdown Clock lets soldiers share their discharge date with family and friends, so that everyone can be ready for their return home. Send it to anyone you know who's serving! (We'll be sharing more about G2G and a cool program that helps soldiers find jobs, soon.)
We inflated the tires on our office Segway PT. For the first time ever. We love this magic machine that takes us from place to place like a magic carpet. It's extra cool that this is the only maintenance required, because we really don't like to get our hands dirty.
This weekend, Plaidsters will be enjoying the first heatwave of the entire summer with Oyster Festivals, bike rides, runs (the athletic kind, not the kind caused by Oysters) and of course District 9 viewings.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:55 PM
2 comments
Friday, August 07, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's greatest creative agency:
We completed PlaidNation! This was the best tour yet, and if you haven't already watched the videos, you should head over now - and then catch up on the tour blog. Loads of great stuff. We met great people, large and small businesses, some amazing brands and inspiring non-profits. We have a feeling that you'll learn something from each of them.
We hired Ausra! She'll be maintaining awesomeness levels throughout the Plaid organization, and we're happy that she's here. Learn all about her background and Candian-ness on her welcome post.
We launched the Plaidtastic Ten! This will be a site devoted to profiling ten people, brands or companies that we believe will inspire you. So far, we've profiled Scott Monty, the 826 Organization, and the boys from BlueFuego. Even more awesome profiles are coming down the pike!
We learned that Chris loves beefcake. Actually, Chris is a vegetarian (who had quite a bit of trouble finding food while on tour in the south), so we decided to celebrate his special day with a cake decorated with beef.
We were featured in Advertising Age! They published a piece that details our philosophy around business development, and how our tour, this blog and other Plaid goodness generates Plaid love all around the world.
We launched AreYouG2G.com. This is the first component in a campaign that we're doing for a division of the ALCIO, that assists soldiers transitioning back to civilian life. AreYouG2G.com helps soldiers organize all of the things they need to do between now and their date of discharge - while promoting the job opportunities that exist with the Helmets to Hardhats organization. Send the link to anyone that you know who's about a year or less from coming home.
RJ got a haircut, and he wanted you to know.
Summer decided to follow the PlaidNation crew home from tour, so Plaidsters will be celebrating this weekend in style. Hopefully with BBQ. You should do the same.
Labels: plaid, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 1:44 PM
0 comments
Saturday, July 18, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most Plaidtastic creative agency:
PlaidNation, PlaidNation, PlaidNation, PlaidNation! The annual Plaid summer tour kicks off on Monday, and preparation is in full effect. I'm in Detroit transforming the Plaid Ford Flex into a social media juggernaut. The graphics have been installed, webcams installed, swag has arrived, and we are ready to kick off the most bitchin' Plaid tour that the nation has ever seen.
Bloggers are picking up on the tour and writing awesome things, and the press is beginning to get tuned in too. The Fairfield County Business Journal stopped by Plaid offices to shoot pics of the crew before they left for tour.
Back at the homefront, new client Banfi Vintners sent a few cases of Riunite and Rosa Regale for the crew to taste, taste again, and then taste once more. Needless to say there will be quite a few wine tastings in Plaid's near future. Stop by if you're in the hood and we'll poor you a glass of our best.
Meanwhile, we've hired a new Plaid recruit. She'll be starting when we return from tour, and we can't wait to introduce you. Plaid just continues to fill our office with awesome talent and you're going to love the newest member of the Plaid team.
Have a great weekend of rest and be watching Monday as the PlaidNation kicks into high gear!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:58 AM
1 comments
Saturday, July 11, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most Plaidtastic creative agency:
Final preparations are being made for the third annual Plaid tour, PlaidNation. Our vehicle prep crew leaves for the tour next week, and the tour kicks off in just EIGHT DAYS!
The theme song to PlaidNation '09 was released on iTunes! The song was produced for us by the greatest band that ever existed, Pop Heroes. We had offers from Cold Play, MGMT, U2 and Lady Gaga, but turned them all down.
Bloggers are starting to pick up on the tour, too. You can see what the blogging superstars are writing about PlaidNation, on the tour dashboard.
If you have a blog (and if you don't, why not start one?) and you write a post about PlaidNation, we'll send you some sweet Plaid swag!
We started working with a couple of new exciting clients - Banfi Vintners and Sikorsky Financial Credit Union. Expect that we'll be drunk on Riunite and giving out financial advice real soon.
We've completed interviews for an open position that we'd like to call the boss of everything. Sara had to leave this position due to illness, and it's been a tough road without her. We'll be making a cool announcement in this department real soon.
This weekend Plaidsters will be attempting to enjoy a summer weekend, even though the northeast has traded weather with Seattle. Maybe next week, we'll actually see summer.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:21 PM
0 comments
Sunday, July 05, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's greatest creative agency:
We launched our first video for the PlaidNation tour. This is our pre-tour video, where you get to meet some of the Plaid tour, and otherwise get pumped up for the most delicious and nutritious rolling media and creativity demonstration that ever hit the highway. Sign up for a reminder that the tour has started on the tour's dashboard, if you're worried that you'll miss it.
Some of the crew have been working like crazy on the last components of pre-tour production. Hotels and motels have mostly been secured. We're finalizing our tour stops (if you're on the route, we still have room in some markets for a stop/visit. Give us a shout if you'd like to see the Plaid Flex.) The cameras that will be installed in the Flex have been tested for broadcast. Camera mounts and all tech equipment are being packed up.
Follow Plaid on Twitter, if you want to keep up with the lastest and greatest about the tour. We've been tweeting the behind the scenes action for a while now, and will be tweeting non-stop come July 20!
We're sending out blogger packages of Plaid love. If you write for a blog, just write a post on the most spectacular thing to happen all summer, and we'll send you a package, too.
Work-wise, the week was filled to the gills with brainstorms, conceptual strategy building and production work. We've got a couple of cool things that are close to launching that we'll share real soon.
Plaidsters celebrated a three day weekend, with the Fourth of July. Some will spend this time resting and relaxing, others will blow things up. Hope that you're doing the same.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 1:42 PM
0 comments
Saturday, June 20, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
Lots of new client meetings and meeting-calls, which is totally terrific. There's some pretty awesome things in discussion and we can't wait to share the details.
Everyone's got at least one heavy deadline that they're working on, so pretty much we're all in nose to the keyboards and ignoring the phone mode.
Our PlaidNation tour t-shirts and cubicle/car air fresheners arrived! The air fresheners smell just like cupcakes. And the t-shirts smell like new t-shirts. If you have a blog, you'll have the opportunity to get a sweet package of PlaidNation love just by writing a post about the tour. If you don't have a blog, what are you waiting for?? Clearly, you have too much free time on your hands, and you should launch a new blog this afternoon.
We launched the 2009 version of our PlaidNation tour dashboard! Check it out, and be sure to sign up for an email reminder so that you don't forget that the tour started. When the tour kicks off (in 29 days!) you'll be able to watch live Flex cams, videos and tons of content that we'll be generating from the road. We guarantee to suck the productivity right out of your day.
There was no cake, cupcake or gummy goodness at Plaid headquarters this week. Hmmm. We'll need to do something about that soon.
This weekend the Plaidsters will be enjoying another two days of rain. We haven't seen the sun in weeks (months?) and we're all looking just a little bit pasty. Especially RJ. Have a great weekend, and we hope that you're in a part of the world where they actually still celebrate summer, and have a sun. We've given up on those frivolities.
Labels: plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:14 PM
0 comments
Friday, June 12, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most futuristic creative agency:
We've pre-launched the Plaidtastic Ten. We really think you're going to dig this. We've been told by a messenger from the future that this will be a pretty spectacular group of people that you'll learn and gain inspiration from. There's a ton of awesomeness going on out there, and we intend to share it with the world.
PlaidNation buttons arrived! If you're on the tour route, this is just one of the fabulous pieces of treasurous swag that we'll be laying down on you and your friends.
Pop Heroes, the most awesome band ever, recorded the new theme song to the PlaidNation tour. The song will be available for download on iTunes and the tour dashboard in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please enjoy last year's theme song.
BrandFlakes was featured in a new book about design blogs! We just received our advance copy of the book, and it's stunningly beautiful. We're not sure where you can purchase your own copy - but will post a link as soon as we get details, and we're certain that you'll agree this is the best book ever written.
Several new projects kicked off this week, and we can't wait to tell you about them. We'll be launching components from a few campaigns in the oncoming weeks.
Missy from iiiDesign and her friend Tracy from HelloMello came for a visit to NYC, and we had a blast catching up. Missy was instrumental in welcoming the PlaidNation tour to the west coast, so it was pretty awesome to hang with her on the cold, grey coast.
Plaidsters are praying that they'll see the big orange ball of fire in the sky this weekend, as it's been a long, grey week. Hope you experience the same.
Labels: self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:31 PM
0 comments
Saturday, June 06, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
Over the weekend, we produced the first of what will be multiple Plaid art initiatives for the community where we work. Chalk Walk brought together professional artists, families and other cool people to color the sidewalks of our city. We commissioned two internationally known artists, Ellis Gallagher and Curtis Goldstein to add to the mix. The result was a bunch of fun for everyone. Renato graciously produced a video documenting the event!
The CT Film Festival started on Tuesday, and the event was kicked off with a private VIP party at Plaid's world headquarters. Plaid employees were treated to the finest catered food, loads of beer and wine, and a bunch of people in dresses and sport jackets. Even the Mayor (above) stopped by to declare that "Plaid is officially the greatest agency in all of the land."
We've been doing work, too. We've launched a few things recently that we keep forgetting to share:
A new site for a Marc Ecko line of watches. Chris' design work sets the perfect stage for these bitchin' time pieces.
We've launched some awesome stuff for Segway recently. You've probably already seen Project P.U.M.A., and now David just completed work on the new Segway Patrol site. All the Segway goodness packed into a kickass device meant for layin' down the law.
A new site for Interstudy, the hottest study abroad program ever. There's still work being completed behind the scenes, but this will be an incredible experience for students. Soon, there will be live video webinars that allow you to chat with an Interstudy advisor and loads of other cool tools. (Nice work, Chris and Koombea!)
On Friday, we celebrated National Doughnut Day. This is our favorite day of the year. We opted not to decorate the office or get a Doughnut tree this year, but enjoyed plenty of frosted delights. With sprinkles.
PlaidNation tour planning is in full effect. This week, we were happy to find out that The Q Hotel, (voted best hotel in Kansas City!) signed on as an official sponsor. We can't wait to hit Kansas City, and staying at the Q is going to make it even more awesome. The Q joins Ford Motors and Sprint as official sponsors.
Plaidsters Chris and I ended the week with a Moonlight 5K race, a local running race that takes place after the sun sets. If it weren't raining, I am certain that we would have come in within the top ten. ;) Even still, we kicked the ass of hundreds and hundreds of the over 750 registered runners!
The sun is scheduled to come out over the weekend - something that doesn't happen frequently in our part of New England. Enjoy and have fun.
Labels: art, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:40 AM
0 comments
Friday, May 29, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most bitchin' creative agency:
This week was a short week thanks to the holiday, which left everyone scrambling to make up for the lost time. LOTS of work happening, and everyone is pushing hard to keep up.
We celebrated Dave's birthday with a Richard Simmons cake. Our office has had a long time fascination with the Richard, and none of us can even remember how it started. (But he tastes great as cake.)
There was plenty of behind the scenes work going on for the upcoming Plaid tour. Sprint officially announced their sponsorship. We added a stop at FedEx, while we're in Memphis, Threadless while in Chicago, and are finalizing other tour stops along the way. (If you're somewhere between Detroit and New Orleans, you may want to give us a shout.) The tour dashboard should launch next week, and you'll be able to keep up on all of the pre-tour action.
Tomorrow, Plaid is sponsoring our first ever art initiative - ChalkWalk. This will be one of a handful of Plaid art initiatives intended to bring art to the city where we're headquartered. We've also commissioned two amazing internationally known artists for the event - Curtis Golstein and Ellis Gallager who will be producing some awesome inspirational work.
After about 600 days of grey, the sun is supposed to arrive tomorrow, too. Plaidsters will be enjoying that. Hope you do, too!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:49 PM
0 comments
Friday, May 22, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
The Plaid roofdeck is officially open! Warm weather finally arrived to the blustery northeast, and we enjoyed quite a few outdoor lunches, brainstorms and other activities.
The PlaidNation tour is only 58 days away, and the Plaid crew is in the process of finalizing the hundreds of items that need to be done before the tour kicks off in Detroit. We're also scheduling tour stops - so if we're coming to your market and you'd like a visit from the Plaid crew, give us a shout.
We were stoked to find out that Sprint has joined Ford Motors as an official sponsor of the tour! People often ask "How do you broadcast your every move while driving through the country?" - and Sprint is a large part of what makes that possible. Do you represent a brand that would benefit from a PlaidNation sponsorship? It's not too late. Reach out!
Our agency has donated an art initiative to the downtown area where Plaid lives. We've created ChalkWalk, commissioned two of the nation's hottest street artists to create work, and invited the citizens of our city to join in the fun. The event is only a week away, so planning is in full effect.
A couple of the smarter dudes from Crayon joined Plaid for a fun brainstorm event. Joseph Jaffe and Greg Verdino stopped by for a day of Plaid/crayon think-magic. Details are top secret.
We started a Plaid running team. Well, that is if two people running with @BenKunz from an agency across town can count as a running team. That's what we're calling it. We're kicking ass.
Plaidsters are heading out of the office to enjoy a three day weekend, and kicking off the summer season of half day Fridays!! BBQ in the future. Have a great weekend!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:16 PM
0 comments
Saturday, May 16, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
We're committing to posting regular weekly updates with what's happening at the agency again. Look for "this week at" posts each and every week now. This week was particularly awesome. Loads and loads of cool stuff:
SARA IS BACK! Technically, this happened a week and a half ago - but we've been so buried that we haven't officially announced it. After a quick battle with her replacement "Jim", Sara came out victorious. It's seriously awesome to see her kick a most scary case of Chronic Lyme Disease, and show it who's boss. We're all pretty stoked.
We ate chocolate covered grasshoppers. Really.
David and I had a really nice trip to New Hampshire, with a visit to Segway. This was the first time that David had seen the factory, which is a pretty amazing place.
I also gave a "Blogger School" class at Westport Country Playhouse. Hanging with theater people and talking about blogging was an absolute GAS.
We completed some great work this week too. One cool piece that we can share with you: Chris launched a new site for Marc Ecko Watches. It totally rocks.
As part of our continuing education at Plaid, most of the team attended a development/coder school led by Paul, who schooled us with all kinds of new tricks.
The Plaid summer tour is only EIGHT WEEKS away. There's a ton of planning going on, and everyone's pretty excited about where it's going. Sprint has joined Ford Motors as an official tour sponsor, which has us completely and totally stoked. It's not too late for your brand to get involved, too.
In other pre-tour news, Matt completed the design on the graphics that will be installed on the Plaid Ford Flex. Awesomeness at full speed. We also confirmed the markets that we'll be visiting on tour this year.
We ended the week with a Wiffle Ball showdown against the media strategy and planning all stars at Mediassociates. They're an agency of planning dorks a few blocks away, and we needed to show them that creative is boss. Truth be told, the game ended in a tie and everyone agreed to a re-match in the coming weeks. And there was beer.
I'm sure I forgot tons of stuff in an action-packed week...but there will be more next week!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:08 PM
0 comments
Friday, January 09, 2009
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
This was our first full week back after the holiday vacation. The week flew by, and we're all pretty swamped with work.
One cool thing about coming back to to the office....Sara's returned! After battling a horrific case of Lyme Disease for the last few months, she's back in action at Plaid. She'll be working a little from home and a little at the office for the next couple of weeks.
We recorded the first ever BrandFlakes podcast, called Friday Flakes. It's an experiment. We hope to give this a shot each week, and see how it works. It's about 10 minutes of video featuring two Plaidsters talking about stuff at the agency, stuff in the industry and just stuff.
Haircuts this week: Chris, David, Justus.
We're in the process of launching a bunch of new plans for the agency for 2009. Back in November we put together some amazing ideas for the year, and this week we're actually getting them on the calendar. Lots of fun, cool and creative hotness coming your way!
This weekend, Plaidonians will be enjoying another snowstorm which will of course allow for some sweet snowboarding and skiing conditions. Either that, or they'll be locked indoors, watching the internet.
Labels: self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:31 PM
0 comments
Saturday, December 27, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week, at the world's most santalicious creative agency:
We marked the TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY for both Justus and David at Plaid. We can't even believe the agency has been around that long. These are two outstanding individuals who have contributed greatly to Plaid's success. Without either of them, Plaid wouldn't be what it is today. We celebrated with a nice lunch, and then gifted them with some sweet Nikon D80 kits.
Plaid employees got a nice surprise before leaving for the holiday, too. They all received new Flip HD cameras! Steph, Matt and Justus show that they're prepared to shoot holiday goodness, above. Expect loads of embarrassing video to be posted on a regular basis.
If that wasn't enough love, Chris received a $100 cash reward for having the most posts on the Plaid Holiday Gift Guide. We're pretty sure that he'll just give it all to charity. ;)
Our holiday card received an unexpected response. Both positive and negative. We were overjoyed with calls, emails and comments on our greeting - and appreciate every one of them. And then we were totally blown away by a letter from a lawyer(!!) representing an employee who received the card, who was offended. Yikes. Definitely didn't intend to offend people while spreading Plaid holiday love. Anyway, enjoy some brilliant discussion going on over the matter at Adrants, MakeTheLogoBigger and ThoughtGadgets.
We started holiday vacation!!! Regardless of what Plaid employees may celebrate individually, we'll all be doing it with loads of time off. We close Plaid offices until January 2nd. Some of us may peek in from time to time, but mostly - it's enjoying Christmas and Hanukkah gifts, spending time with family, and snowboarding.
Blogging may be a little bit lighter over the holidays - or at least a little bit later, as I'm quite sure that there will be some sleeping past 5:30am for a few days. :)
Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from all of your awesome friends at Plaid!
Labels: holiday, plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 4:40 PM
1 comments
Saturday, December 20, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most sugarlicious creative agency:
We consumed calories. Not just empty, unnecessary calories, but the kind covered with chocolate, pecans, caramel, powdered sugar and gravy. (Well, maybe not gravy.) Thursday kicked off what's become a holiday tradition at Plaid. Eliza's Sugarfest. Coworker Eliza, whose last name just happens to be Sweet (swear, that's the truth) bakes enough sugary goodness to feed all of the hungry people on earth. Only she brings them to us to consume, instead.
This year's Sugarfestival started with a welcome surprise by client Tally Maffucci, who stopped by with her own platter of sugary goodness. It turns out that Tally is also a master bakestress (yes, we really know how to pick clients) and has spent the last 12 weeks or so baking about 43 kabillion varieties of cookies.
We ate our way into a sugar coma on Thursday, and then came back for more on Friday. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by on Monday - there's still some sugary goodness left for you.
Brina celebrated the last day of her internship on Thursday. Usually, we mark last days with cake, but that would have been ridiculous. We loaded her with some Plaid goodness and sent her off filled with Christmas sugar. She's also finishing school (for good!) this weekend, so she's pretty stoked to get onto a wonderful life without teachers or final projects.
Oh yeah - our holiday card turned out to be a pretty big success, with people (on average) sending it to at least four friends. That's a pass-a-long rate that's officially viral!
We've also got a sugarload of projects that are "just this close" to completion, so we're still working feverishly to get some closure before the end of the season.
The week ended with a massive snowblast that all of our Twitter friends were calling Snowmaggeddon. Our area got hit with more than half of a foot of snow, which led to a pretty nice close to the week. Lots of shopping and holiday preparingness this weekend for the Plaid team, as we get ready to dive into the last work week of 2008. Woot!
Labels: holiday, plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:25 PM
0 comments
Saturday, December 13, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most lame creative agency:
Lame? What you say? Isn't Plaid the most awesome creative agency ever to grace the earth with ideas? Well yes - but this week we made a stupid mistake: we forgot Steph's birthday.
Birthday's at Plaid are important, because it's a time to have cake. And everyone at Plaid loves sugary goodness. So it wouldn't seem possible that we could overlook someone's birthday. But we did. A stupid mistake, and a paper calendar were involved. Further proof that everything should be interactive.
We made up for our blunder with a cake and some Hawaiian looking flowers. (Steph's a surfing tiki goddess, so her heart is in Hawaii.)
This has been a massively out of our heads crazy week. Only days are left in 2008, and we're working feverishly to make the best of them.
Reuters picked up on a story about a site that we produced for Umphrey's McGee! More proof of our awesomeness by people who should know.
Justus and I got to got to attend a special surprise birthday celebration for a client and friend, Martin Stein. This was a pretty special birthday, as he's now cancer free. Woohoo Martin. Way to kick cancer's ass!
Separately - if you'd like to see Martin and his team, check out their holiday video (more on this later): RMI Extreme Caroling.
We've mailed our holiday greeting cards to clients and friends (we'll publish a link to the interactive portion next week). Let's just say that it's naughty.
This weekend Plaidsters will be doing a little bit of catch up, and a little bit of rest for a wonderously crazified week. You should spend it shopping, or browsing through the BrandFlakes Gift Guide.
Labels: self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:34 PM
2 comments
Friday, December 05, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most sugartastic creative agency:
The December sugarfestival has begun. It officially kicks off with my birthday, continues with client and vendor gifts, and culminates on the most important day of the entire year - ElizaFest (more on that, in a later post).
This week saw my birthday cake delivered by a special bunny who turned out to be coworker Sara, making a special appearance from sick leave. We were more stoked to see Sara than we were about getting yummy cake, which says a LOT in our office.
We officially launched the Brand Flakes for Breakfast Gift Guide. This has become an annual tradition where we share creative and fun gift ideas for the most difficult people to shop for: snotty, snarky, creative types. (Actually, we just post a bunch of stuff that we'd all really like to get for Xmas, and it works out great for everyone.) Now in its third year!
We had several video shoots this week - some for clients, and one that will end up being used for our agency holiday greeting card. We'll share all, when it's live.
Haircuts this week: Darryl, Chris, David.
There are now only about 12 work days left in the year, so we're all scrambling to get projects completed, meet deadlines and prepare for a long winter nap at the end of it all. We're busier than we've ever been, which is pretty awesome.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:19 PM
0 comments
Friday, November 21, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the greatest agency in all of the land:
We started the week in Orlando, where Plaidsters from the CT office met to discuss our plans for 2009. Loads and loads of really great ideas and schemes to change the world.
While engrossed in a meeting at a park in Orlando, (no, really - we did work there), we were absolutely totally punk'd by none other than JetPacks Dave. Keep in mind that while we've worked with Dave, and read his blog religiously, we had no idea what he looked like. He got us good. See the entire episode unfold in the video above. Hilarious.
Later in the same day we made way to the Magic Kingdom, where we met up with long time internet friend Casey Paquet and his girlie girl Summer. After showing us all of the Disney secrets and treating us to the best fireworks show from the roof of the Contemporary hotel, Casey introduced us to a super fun brain game (he'll be launching a site soon that explains it all). A game so good that it completely kills all conversation. Here's a video clip of Plaidsters trying their best to think hard.
We jumped into the week with loads of work, a couple of photo shoots, a couple of video shoots, and plenty of creative goodness.
This weekend will bring some long sleeping nights and loads of rest as Plaid employees prepare for the hellacious project finishing 2.5 work day week ahead. (It's too cold here to do anything else.)
Labels: plaid, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:54 PM
0 comments
Friday, October 31, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most hellacious creative agency:
In the bummer department, Sara's taking a short leave of absence to battle Lyme Disease. It sucks to see such a horrible thing kicking the ass of someone who just a few weeks ago was kicking ours. Send your good vibes through the intertubes so she'll get well sooner. We can't wait to celebrate her return with loads of cupcakes and goodies.
Haircuts this week: Justus, Chris
Today was a well deserved fun day, after a week of hard work. We have a load of costumes in our office at all times - left over from old photo shoots, promotions and things. There's nothing like sharing the workday with two hot dogs, a giant ice cream cone and a bunny rabbit, among other things.
RJ - dressed as an ice cream cone - took to the downtown streets on our Segway PT, to greet the citizens of our fair town. (Video clip above) If the image of a 6 foot ice cream cone rolling down the street on a Segway isn't interesting...well you have to watch the last 60 seconds of his experience. Hilarious. Let's just say that not everyone likes ice cream.
After lunch today, we created a pumpkin slingshot, setup a target on one of our roof decks, and let the pumpkins fly. This was fun, but we found that nothing smashes pumpkins like a baseball bat. Kind of funny to see the art school kids attempting to hit things with a baseball bat. Big things. Safe to say there won't be a Plaid corporate softball team.
Have a great Halloween weekend! Plaid staffers will be wearing costumes, beating up kids for candy, and toilet papering your neighborhood. Cuz that's how we roll.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:02 PM
0 comments
Friday, October 24, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most delicious creative agency:
Sara made it back to the office...in a wheel chair! Everyone wanted to race her, put her through obstacle courses and such - but it turns out that she's still tough enough to kick any of our asses. We did learn about the age old mystery of why people in wheelchairs always have a blanket on their legs. Send your anti-Lyme Disease vibes her way, for a speedy recovery.
Loads and loads and loads of wire frames, strategies, concepts and coding going on. Lots of keyboard typing and mouse clicking and not as much goofing around this week. (We assume that clients will be pleased about this.)
Wisdom teeth removed this week: Matt
We haven't yet figured out what our Halloween office activity will be for next week. Last year, we had a pumpkin carving contest, and threw some off the roof. Your ideas are welcome.
This weekend Plaid staffers will be sleeping late, staying warm, and working on Halloween costumes.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:18 PM
1 comments
Friday, October 17, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
We're knee deep into some ground breaking interactive work for Umphrey's McGee. The band played three shows in NYC, so David and I checked out one of their nights at the Blender Theater. You can see David hugging their drummer, above. Lots of backstage love all around.
Sara is battling a horrific case of Lyme Disease. This is something that many of us have been touched by in our personal lives, but none have experienced at the level that Sara's dealing with. She's currently rockin' a wheelchair like no wheelchair has ever been rocked.
In the process, we discovered what looks to be an amazing independent film on the subject - Under Our Skin. Watch the trailer and you'll get a picture of what Sara's dealing with. Send your best get well vibes.
Haircuts this week: Justus & Matt
We're in holiday preparation mode. Lots of brainstorms (for clients and ourselves) for upcoming holiday greeting "card" concepts.
This weekend will have the crew raking, going to homecomings, and other New Englandy fall-like treats. (Like sleeping late and eating donuts.)
Labels: self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:03 PM
3 comments
Saturday, October 11, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the greatest creative agency in all of the land:
We're buried in a bunch of really awesome work. We're creating 2009 season branding for the Westport Playhouse, working on package design and some truly innovative marketing for Umphrey's McGee, rebranding a line of product for Timex, making SegwaySocial even more awesome, doing some video work for Ustream, and we've just begun work for an inspirational non-profit, Christel House.
And there's other stuff that I've either forgotten about for now, or that's top secret. Needless to say, there's not a lot of downtime, and we're seriously stoked on the brands that we get to work with.
Some virus hit our office, and knocked us down. Not the computer kind - but the human kind. Brina, Chris and Steph all got knocked out a bit. David, who is known for his addiction to anti-bacterial handwash, remains un-infected. Justus could kick virus ass, so it stays away from him. Sara is battling a brutal case of Lyme Disease. We'll be looking forward to some good health in coming weeks. :)
Haircuts this week: RJ and Darryl.
I had the pleasure of speaking to a Connecticut chapter of the American Marketing Association, about social media. (See some of the crowd, above.) Always a blast to share the love and the tools for what fuels us.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 12:44 PM
0 comments
Saturday, October 04, 2008
this week at Plaid
Been a while since we've done a weekly update about what's happening inside our office. We've all been super busy. Here's a first attempt at getting a weekly post going again.
We have a new intern that you haven't met yet, and we'll introduce you to her next week. Her name is Brina. More later.
This was the week of doughnuts. We had a shoot for something that we're working on - one of our creative experiments - that involved a lot of doughnuts. Really a lot. And munchkins. We're all plump and ready for the winter now. If the experiment comes out to our satisfaction, we'll share it with you.
The wild economy has us feeling really weird. Friends are losing jobs, other industries are hurting bad, but things are heading in the right direction at Plaid. New business is through the roof. Social media and internet projects are hot, hot, hot, so we assume that people buy two things in a down economy: booze & internet. We're not complaining, but being cautious, at the same time.
We've scheduled our annual planning meeting, where we take a long weekend, go somewhere fun, and reinvent our agency. We reexamine every aspect of our business, every process, every success and failure - so that we can be even better. Oh - and there's usually a few martinis involved, too. This year's trip will take us to Washington DC. We leave in a couple of weeks. This will be the first year with a larger crew. Fun times ahead!
Next week, I'll be speaking at an AMA event in CT. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by!
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:35 PM
1 comments
Friday, August 29, 2008
this week at Plaid:
Parker, the super cool intern is heading back to school. Which means that she worked her last day at Plaid. We celebrated like we celebrate everything at Plaid...with baked goods. Parker got a cute rainbow cake. Because little girls love rainbows.
We met our Twitter buddy GScratch in person! GScratch (Greg) is on a pretty cool (and super geeky) geocaching adventure with friends Barry and David, and they came all the way from the frosty regions of Canada to visit the northeastern states. @BenKunz even stopped by to say howdy.
We lent the design from the Plaid tour dashboard to their tour, because we're really sweet like that. Follow them on Twitter too. Always great to meet your online friends in person. GScratch: you'll be happy to know that you've inspired some new geocachers in the Plaid office!
We discovered that our holiday card from about 5 years ago is now the #2 recut video on Ebaum's World. (Thanks Brian!)
We celebrated Justus' birthday today. Yep - cake. Justus got a princess cake. Because big manly men love little princesses.
The Plaid crew enjoyed their very last half-day Friday of the summer season, coupled with a glorious well-earned three day weekend. Lots of fun for everyone. Have a great Labor day - and hope you're not spending it - laboring.
Labels: plaid, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:37 PM
0 comments
Friday, August 15, 2008
this week at Plaid:
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome design and branding firm:
This was the first full week of having everyone back from tour, and getting things back to 'normal' state. We announced that our 2009 tour will take place in the midwest. Think the midwest is flat and filled with cornfields? Just wait. We've got a load of surprises planned, and we've barely started the planning process.
We edited a "best of" our Plaid tour - taking key moments from each of the daily wrap up videos. You can still view all of the individual daily wrapups on the tour dashboard, and on Vimeo.
We hired a new designer! His name is Chris, and we'll formally introduce him in the next couple of weeks.
Lots of new clients this week. Maybe it's the tour, maybe it's Plaid fever spreading across the nation. Whatever it is, we're liking where this is going, and love meeting new people. Even when it starts with an NDA.
We're featured in the September issue of HOW Design Magazine! There's apparently a sweet two page spread devoted to Plaid love. We don't have our copy yet (mail is slow here, I guess), and it's not on news stand yet either. Checking the mailbox daily.
Plaidsters will be spending this weekend hunting bigfoot, or doing whatever Plaidsters do at the end of summertime on a weekend. Enjoy.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:08 PM
0 comments
Sunday, July 20, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most incredible design and branding firm:
We finished our first round of interviews for the design position that's open at the agency. Some really awesome talent out there, and we're beginning to narrow it down.
Outside of emergency deadlines, most of the Plaid team was busy getting ready for the upcoming Plaid tour. There's a massive amount of production work necessary prior to sending the team to the west coast. We produced the first tour video. (Guess you could say it's a "pre-tour" video.)
We kicked off pre-tour operations. The pre-production team headed to Seattle to secure the Plaid van and get it wrapped, wired and ready for next week's tour. You can watch it all live on the PlaidNation dashboard starting Monday.
Our local paper did a nice spread on the tour, and even included a callout to the story on the front page. Always cool to make the front page of your local paper, without getting arrested.
If you're not already - be sure to follow the Plaid van on Twitter, too!
See you Monday, live from Vancouver!!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 5:41 AM
0 comments
Friday, July 11, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most tour-ready design and branding firm:
Lots of stuff happening in the Plaid house this week. Sadly, coworker Rob is leaving us, for North Carolina. We decided to outfit him with the latest NC gear. A southern suitcase (pictured above), a NASCAR beach towel, hat and car stickers. And a DVD copy of Joe Dirt. And Skoal. We're sure we've officially offended everyone south of the Mason Dixon line. (Which, btw we just discovered is really close to NEW JERSEY.)
There's loads of preparation taking place for the upcoming Plaid Summer Tour. The tour dashboard is nearly complete, where you'll be able to check in and see what's up on the tour at any point in the day. Or all day.
Sara crafted a special foil helmet for RJ, so that he could properly test the tour van's GPS system. We think it worked. And RJ will probably be wearing that helmet at the bars in Block Island this weekend. Cuz that's how he rolls.
Matt completed an intense stop motion show intro for the tour videos. He set up an incredible series of scenes and shot hundreds of stills to animate. Parker prepared our Ustream channels with graphics.
We've begun the interview process for a new designer. Lots of great talent and fun people. Difficult decisions ahead.
There were quite a few new client meetings and phone meetings this week. Definitely something in the air. Really excited about some of the people and brands that we've chatted with.
This weekend will be spent enjoying wonderful summer weather in the northeast, and a few last minute tour preparations. If you haven't already, please follow the Plaid van on Twitter, and become our fan on Facebook. Bookmark the tour dashboard and tell all of your friends. Only about a week till lift off!
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:30 PM
0 comments
Friday, July 04, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most independent design and branding firm:
A new intern! Parker started her internship at Plaid. We'll get you formally introduced on Monday. Currently, she's working on some of the final items on the PlaidNation tour dashboard.
The new Plaid tour shirts arrived, and they're hot. People on the west coast will be freaking out to get one of these. If they're not too busy hosing down their houses.
We're weeding our way through mega piles of resumes in an attempt to fill a design position. Will be interviewing soon, and hopefully fill the position after the Plaid tour. Lots of great talent out there, and it's going to be tough to narrow it down to the perfect Plaid fit.
Oh yeah - we managed to cram five days of work into a three and a half day work week.
Today, Justus Rob and I formed the Plaid Running Team, and took over a local "Firecracker 8K" race. We kicked ass. We decided to apply new race rules, where you can knock down little kids and seniors if they try and pass you. Little kids usually drop out after a skinned knee - but seniors you typically have to knock down two or three times, to take them out.
Actually - this was an awesome race - first race ever for Justus and Rob, and Plaid indeed kicked ass. The universally known Plaid gang sign is demonstrated above.
Plaidsters are off for a long weekend of barbecuing hot dogs, hamburgers and blowing things up. Cuz that's how we roll.
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:08 PM
0 comments
Saturday, June 28, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most unicorn-friendly creative agency:
David the Intern completed his sentence at Plaid. He's given up the life of an intern and will be studying in SPAIN for the second half of his summer. Yeah, Spain. Why do crappy work for low wages when you can do things in the rain in Spain? We celebrated the same way we celebrate all great events. With delicious cake. Because he's an intern, we couldn't give his cake a minute more of attention than it deserved. So David the Intern gets "an intern cake."
The week was filled with loads of brainstorms, some nice rooftop patio meetings, and of course work. And there were a lot of donuts this week. No particular reason. (Nor should there ever need to be.)
I filled in as one of five genius guest bloggers on the world famous ToddAnd blog. You should check out my post, and watch the video. It's really inspiring, I promise.
Steph and Sara organized an awesome party in honor of Rob, since he's leaving us. Our first Plaid luau. Summer brew, mango drinks, voodoo juice and tiki mugs. Just the right recipe for Plaid action.
And there was a pinata, too. Nothing is more fun than giving employees of Plaid a big lead pipe, and telling them to bash the crap out of a cute unicorn. That would have been entertaining enough for most of us. But the baby unicorn was filled to the gills with candy, too.
And then Rob and Justus discovered that dead unicorn legs make for perfect beer cozies. Never underestimate the fun of a good unicorn killing.
Here's to a great summer weekend, cool interns and dead unicorns. Enjoy.
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:49 PM
0 comments
Friday, June 20, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most famous design and branding firm:
Sara was featured on CNN! She's the star of a piece about tattoos in the workplace. Turns out we're one of a few rare places that welcomes body art. There are at least four Plaidsters well decorated with ink. Do you know who they are? Matt's also planning an awesome tattoo, that we're going to have to talk him into while we're on tour. San Fran is the place, Matt.
We're hiring a designer! See all of the details here. Send us a link to your work, and maybe we could hang with you.
I'm guest blogging on the world famous Todd And blog. Look for my spectacular, world changing post on Wednesday. In the meantime, you can enjoy some really great guest blogging from:
+ Yesterday: Leo Bottary of Client Service Insights
+ Today: Kami Huyse of Communication Overtones
+ Monday: Gavin Heaton of Servant of Chaos
+ Tuesday: Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute
+ Wednesday: Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Brand Flakes for Breakfast
The Plaid tour is exactly 30 DAYS AWAY. So many preparations are being made. We've scheduled Tweetups in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Sign up on the tour dashboard. First five to register (it's free - just do it) get a free PlaidNation tour t-shirt!
You're going to want to completely avoid work from July 21 through August 2nd - so start delegating jobs now. In preparation, you'll want to:
+ Follow the Plaid van on Twitter.
+ Join the Facebook fan page.
+ Tell the world you're going on the tour (virtually, of course) on Facebook.
+ Tell the entire world about PlaidNation - where you'll see us sharing Plaid love from Vancouver to Vegas.
Plaidsters are off for a summer weekend of fun. Surfing, sun, bbq's and fun. Or something like that. Have a great weekend.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, self promotion, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:48 PM
0 comments
Saturday, May 24, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week, at the world's most awesome design and branding firm:
Sara got bobbled. Her official Plaid bobblehead arrived, so now she's committed to Plaid forever. The bobble version of Sara will get photographed next week, and then added to the "Meet the Staff" section of our website.
If that wasn't enough Sara love, she was also interviewed by CNN! We're not allowed to talk about the story, but stoked, and can't wait to see it.
Rob, Paul and Matt completed an awesome presentation for Timex. We all learned a lot about technology and innovation, and some stuff that Timex is doing, that we can't tell you about. Or they'll send the black helicopters, and have us erased.
We completed a ton of planning for our upcoming tour. Getting more and more excited about the west coast, and some of the things we have planned.
Rob's off to enjoy a vacation on some secret island next week, Steph is enjoying an extra extended weekend, and the rest of us will be BBQing our asses off for three days of Memorial Day fun. See ya Tuesday.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:41 PM
2 comments
Saturday, May 10, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week, at the world's most sweet-as-chocolate-frosting design and branding firm:
Rob, Sara and I enjoyed a really long drive to New Hampshire. The only state with a slogan that you might consider wearing on a t-shirt. Admit it - "Live Free or Die" just rocks. We participated in a worldwide brand summit for Segway. This is a really good idea, for any brand. Pulling together all of the players from across the globe, to learn, discuss, share and brainstorm. Always a pleasure to share the room with other creative and marketing people. And this time - we even met the product engineers/designers for Segway. (More on that, soon.)
Plaid pre-tour shirts arrived. We'll be sharing pics and details over on the Plaid tour blog, momentarily. We also launched the Plaid tour dashboard, PlaidNation. Still very much a work in progress, but if you take a peek, you'll get an idea of some of our plans for this summer's tour.
I was profiled in a regional business paper, the Fairfield County Business Journal. Somehow they saw fit to include me in their series "Profits and Passions", featuring entrepeneurs, and their passions outside of the office. You can learn all about my infatuation with pop culture. And sneakers.
Lots of props coming into the office, for a couple of photo/video shoots. Everyone's really having fun with the night-stick. RJ can actually twirl it around in his hands, without hitting himself in the head. (Can't say the same for other Plaid-workers.)
Steph got a new, cool haircut. And then bought a surfboard. Maybe not in that exact order. Something really fun and crazy happening, over in Steph-land.
We welcomed a new intern, David, who we'll formally introduce on BrandFlakes, next week. Safe to say there's a whole lot of sh*t-work just waiting for his attention.
We welcomed a couple of new clients to the Plaid roster this week - and we can't wait to show you what we're working on. Lots of fun stuff, in the works.
Have a great weekend, and say hi to your mommy.
Labels: plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:01 AM
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Friday, May 02, 2008
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome design and branding firm:
Sara started! We'll formerly introduce her to you in a post next week. She's in the role of "producer", and basically keeps things moving, keeps people happy, and keeps our agency profitable. So we like her a lot.
Sara, Steph and RJ ordered business cards. We don't believe in titles at Plaid - so employees make up their own, when it comes to business cards. We've got some good ones in this batch:
Sara: Duchess of Awesome
Steph: Evil Genius
RJ: Assistant to the Director of Miscellaneous
I've also updated my title, to Internetologist.
Dave and I enjoyed a fun casting session for an upcoming video shoot. We met some pretty talented actors, and pushed them to their limits.
RJ went prop shopping, for a couple of shoots that are coming up. Which prompted a call from Citibank, about his new company credit card. "We've received a few suspicious charges on your card, that we'd like to confirm"
"A cupcake mousepad?"
"Security guard uniform?"
"Something from Woopass Enterprises?"
"A police radio?"
"Hotel room keychains?"
"Puma sneakers?"
We laughed as RJ confirmed the purchases to Citibank, and realized that wasn't even an unusual day of shopping at Plaid...just wait RJ.
David and Steph launched the first stage of the PlaidNation tour dashboard. This is where we'll broadcast every aspect of our upcoming Plaid summer tour.
Matt and Renato launched a video that we produced for crayon, and oovoo, to commemorate the MyooVooDay event that took place a few weeks ago.
Spring means the end of school - which brings happy and sad news. Katie has completed her internship at Plaid, and we'll be sad to see her leave. Although we did enjoy some vanillicious 'last day' cake (pic above). Katie doesn't do well with chocolate - so we baked a vanilla cake, with vanilla frosting, with a chocolate graphic. (And by "baking" we mean ordered it at a bakery.)
End of the school year also means graduation for former intern Brian Garofalo. Brian has done a plaid-load of cool things while at our agency, and even served as technical producer for last year's Plaid summer tour. We attended his portfolio show, earlier in the week. He'll be a real score, for any agency looking for new talent!
The weekend brings lots of grey skies. Just like every other day in New England. See ya next week!
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:15 PM
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Saturday, April 26, 2008
this week at Plaid
We had a proper send-off party for Giuli, who's leaving us, and moving to Ohio. Eliza invited everyone over to her house (on a lake!!). Yeah - pretty bold thing to do. Not only could we have burnt the place down, but everyone knows where she lives now. Trouble.
Eliza: don't be surprised when Rob knocks on your door one night at 3AM, in a drunken stupor, looking for a ride home. Or when you see flyers downtown, promoting a show for Matt's band..."live at Eliza's."
We got some good press and blog coverage. The Fairfield County Business Journal is doing a profile on me, and my obsession with sneakers. Should be pretty pathetic. The social site that we launched for Segway got a nice piece in AdWeek, and some sweet blog coverage.
Plans for the summer Plaid tour are well underway. The tour dashboard will launch (first stage) next week at PlaidNation.com. The tour's blog is live. We're already scheduling a handful of meetings, and even arranged to meet a certain very well known internet blogebrity who will be profiling us. His name might rhyme with "roble". More soon.
If you're from Ohio, please, please, please reach out to Giuli. Show her and her almost-cool husband the town. Let her turn your agency around, into a profit rocket. You can still contact her through her email here: Giuli (at) thinkplaid DOT com.
Labels: plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:12 AM
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Friday, April 18, 2008
this week at Plaid:
Here's what happened this week at the world's most happy-it's-like-summer design and branding firm:
We launched Segway Social. This is a pretty amazing social site - that allows Segway owners to connect with each other, across the globe. They can find other owners in their area, create groups with owners they have things in common with, share photos, map their "glides," and so much more Segway goodness.
RJ and Steph, the newest members of Plaid, received their bobble heads. Once they're photographed, they'll get installed onto our agency's site.
A few of us went to check out Matt's band, Pop Heroes, last night. He rocks. Buy his music here.
I met the other Darryl Ohrt. Only he spells his name with one "r" instead of two. Twitter buddy Doug Meacham alerted me to his existence - and I still can't believe there's ANOTHER Darryl Ohrt. If that's not enough, we work in the same industry! He's a User Experience Lead at Avenue A/Razorfish. Hmmm. If I start acting like a zombie, be suspicious. I'm pretty sure he's a body snatcher, here to replace me.
Springtime finally came to the northeast. We celebrated with a good round of gumbdrop baseball. Basically, we hit gumdrops off the roof of our building, with a wiffle ballbat. (Don't worry - they're just gumdrops. It's not like they can break windows or kill people, or anything.)
We hired Sara! She'll replace Giuli, who's moving to Ohio. Who knows what Giuli will do in the middle part of the country. I think she's going to turn Amish, or something. More details about Sara are coming in about a week. We have a feeling that you're really going to dig her. We already do. (Giuli is sooo last week.)
The grey skies are gone, and Plaidsters are set for a fun weekend of mountain biking, drinking and Comic Con.
Labels: thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:54 AM
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Monday, April 14, 2008
last week at Plaid:
Damn. Two weeks in a row where we forgot to post happenings at the greatest agency in all of the land. Here's what's happened in past days:
I attended Blogger Social '08, and met a few of my favorite bloggers from across the world. A truly inspirational event that took place in meatspace, not internet space, so I was a little uncomfortable.
We normally have a strict policy that says khaki wearing geeks aren't allowed in our studio. But the marketing and brand people from Duracell were so nice, that we made an exception. They included Plaid on their scavenger hunt field trip, that had multiple teams of marketing geeks traversing the area to complete challenges. (Winning team of Mark, Mark, Greg and Dan, pictured above.) We had them navigate a Mac, in our conference room. Hilarity ensued.
RJ is in the midst of making hotel arrangements for our summer tour, which has us totally stoked. Matt's designed the first batch of tour t-shirts. Can't wait to hit the west coast.
We interviewed for some of the open positions here. Interviewed, and interviewed, and interviewed. Almost there. We've met some really awesome, talented people, and it's going to be tough to narrow it down.
We're casting for a part in a video we're shooting, and having a tough time finding just the right person. David, Giuli and RJ continue to work through demo reel after demo reel.
This is going to be a busy week, so stay tuned for more awesome fun.
Labels: plaid, plaidsummertour, thisweekatPlaid
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:09 AM
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