OK, so I went on my social networking safari and thank goodness I didn't adopt someone else's opinion as my own. I chose to join only the social networks from "Top 10 Most Beautiful Social Networks" that suited me.

I joined Pownce, Beautiful Society and Virb; all the while still a member of MySpace and Facebook. So I joined, signed on and got to searching.

Pownce was my first victim. This so-called "beautiful" social network, although neatly organized, doesn't strike me as "pretty." Rather, it's just pretty plain.

The only beauty in Beautiful Society is its name. It's easy to sign-up but the concept falls short at keeping people entertained. The all-forum-style setup of favorites, articles and "stuff" sections are outdated.

Virb was much like MySpace without the hassle of html coding. Like MySpace, you can customize your profile's colors; but that's all you can change. After browsing a bit I came to the conclusion that Virb had the user friendliness and components of Facebook with a MySpace look and feel. Virb is still lacking components that keep Facebook addicts coming back for more.

It's the "Beautiful Mess" state of mind I'm in when I'm on Facebook: scoping out friends, poking, messaging, writing on walls, looking through photos, reading my news feed, playing a game.... And well, you get the point!

Facebook is ever-evolving, keeping its addicts in a constant state of curiosity and interest. Even though it didn't make the Mashable beautiful list, I think it's beautiful- a "Beautiful Mess!" What good is a beautiful and user friendly social network if there are no users to socialize???

I don't know about you, but there are few things I love more than a good old-fashioned clash of cultures. And the culture I find myself most fascinated with/confused by is Japanese pop culture. I don't really understand Hello Kitty or PokeMon, Anime cartoons confuse me and Japanese horror movies give me nightmares. (I'm not proud.) But what I love most is the appropriation of our western culture by the Japanese, often with hilarious results.

Take for example celebrity endorsements. In the age of instant access and unlimited information, most celebrities go to great lengths to protect their image. They hire consultants and spin-doctors. They train their bodies rigorously and diet religiously. But one image concession even the biggest stars in Hollywood are willing to make is the big money grab of overseas commercials. Stars who would never consider "selling out" by doing strange commercials where they look ridiculous, (at least by Western standards) have been throwing caution into the wind for years and selling everything from cosmetics and alcohol to fizzy drinks and yogurt. Most involve a celebrity standing around looking beautiful and holding/pointing to/eating/drinking the product. But my favorites are the ones that get lost in the translation. Like watching a pre-Food Network episode of Iron Chef (sub-titles, please, no voiceover) or a black and white Godzilla movie, I often don't know what is going on, but I don't really care. But with my all-time favorite Japanese celebrity shill, I think very little is lost in the translation, mostly because I can't really understand this guy when he is speaking English. That's just bad acting, in any language.

arigato

Every year for the past 4 summers we have instituted Partner Days.
It made sense to me to control those desires that come about when one wakes up and decides today is too beautiful to go to work.
What if we planned for hooky?
What if every other week half the staff had Fridays off?
How would the work get done?

We went with each person having a partner in case something came in and had to be done. It took a lot of persuasion with my own partners. They were skeptical. And rightly so. Our assets are our people. If they are not here, how do create great solutions and meet all the deadlines?

Well, it has been an amazing program. We don't miss a beat. And the folks working at the office on partner Fridays say they get so much done! Our billings remain steady all summer and we have some very happy people. They can plan for short getaways and enjoy this wonderful time of year with family and friends. Or sleep in and get the list of errands run. When I have Fridays off I really feel like I had a weekend. That I turned things off and rested. Because it takes one day to wind down, one to relax and one to wind back up.

If it were up to me we would work a 4 day work week. And with gas prices at $4.00 per gallon, some companies are going to 4 10-hour days, cutting back the 5th day commute.
The challenge becomes having the right people here, on the right day, because we never know when a client will call and want to get together. And we're responsive. And known for our ability to makes things happen quickly. Our service is superior.

Working from home one day per week is another option. Creating a floating day for each person to choose to work from home if they can. Most of our creative staff have systems at home with the same software. Media and Account Service have laptops and internet access to the systems they use daily. Teleconferencing is so easy and GreenYour.com reports from The Business Travel Coalition that, "73 percent of companies have increased the use of video conferencing and other teleconferencing methods." It takes a small amount of money to set this up and most say it is as if the person is actually there in the room. And with GoToMeeting, everyone can see the same presentation and you can even record the meeting to save and review later or share with interested parties. We use this tool with clients out of town or traveling.

I used to think we all had to be on-premise between the hours of 8:30 and 5:00 to be productive. And through the years I have discovered I get more done when I work from home and during the hours that I choose. My most creative moments are very early in the morning when I am up and all is quiet. I am sure it is different for everyone. The "night owls" would probably start work at 7pm. Who cares when? If our creative product remains on target, meets the criteria and gets results. Something to consider as we digitally evolve.

The annual Run for the Roses came and went last weekend and with it went the Kentucky Derby Festival chaos that we always welcome in our shop. I'm sure we'd all like to say we are cooling down after the Race, but no such luck! We are in full gallop on a ton of new business and current client organic growth...and it ROCKS!

This is what we live for in the agency world, right?!? The thrill of the chase, the exhilaration of the gate opening, and then laying down $1,000 across the board on your creative idea - YEAH! But, sometimes you gotta relax the reins a bit and have some fun in the paddock, which is what we did at the Run for the Rose last week!

In case you were stalled in the stable last week, the Run for the Rose has a corporate division in which company teams compete against each other through an obstacle course with a tray of plastic glasses full of wine. The team with the most wine in their glasses and the shortest time through the course wins. We put up three teams for the race and kicked some major hind end, as you can see from the photos below.

I'm baaaaaaack!

Miss me? Miss me? Huh? Huh?

What's on the floor?

It's cool & slippery. A slip & slide?

For me? For me?

Ooooops! I watered it.

Y not?

Y banner.

Uh-oh. My bad. Mom's mad.

It looked like grass.

The kid was cute & splashing

Y not?

I decided a long time ago that if I were ever in charge of a group of people, I would not treat them the way that many of my bosses treated me. The early days of my career as a graphic artist were spent chained to an art table cranking out production work-as fast as my fingers could cut and paste it together. My bosses were notorious for over promising delivery dates so they could get the project. "Sure, we can have that four-color brochure for you by week's end" and it was Monday and it had to be designed, written, type spec'd and pasted together. Then proofed and corrections made before it could go to a printer. It made for some very long days and even longer nights. I would go home at 11pm and be back at 7am, pizza for lunch and dinner and no exercise or life outside of my job. I was lucky to have a 2-day weekend. And I was rarely thanked or told that I was doing a good job. The 2am press approvals didn't buy me any "trade" time either. I was expected to suck it up and come in no matter how long I had worked the day and night before. It resembled what it must have felt like to work in a sweat factory, without the heat.

Today, I get to care for the creative team here at Current and I know the time I make to say "thank you" and "great work" goes a long way. You see in the ad business, people tend to move from shop to shop. They often live in a combative environment and get fed up and move on. There's an enormous cost associated with turnover and as a business owner it is much easier to retain a great employee than train a new one. And each creative is assigned a book of business so they gather and retain quite a bit of knowledge for the clients and industries they work on. It takes a long time to get a newbie up to speed and producing work that's on target and consistent with the brand strategy.

And it's more than just expressing our appreciation. We have company lunches a few times per month, we play volleyball together, we have fun employee meetings where we play games and openly share our operating numbers so that everyone in our company knows how we are doing. We send people to seminars and classes, we pay for them to be members of clubs and networks. We participate in several Kentucky Derby Festival events like the Run for the Rosé and The Bed Races. We have "partner days" every summer where everyone is given every other Friday off so they can enjoy some 3-day weekends with their friends and families. We have fabulous prizes at our kickass Christmas party each year. We play hard-- when time allows -- because we work hard.

And how do we manage all of this and have fun too? We have a full-time traffic person and the best ad agency software system, CurrentTrack, that allows us to plan our work so people can go home at a decent hour every night and have a life balance that keeps them and their families very happy.

And when you have happy, healthy employees, the work they produce is better.

I'm in a haze as I sit down in Colleen Doyle's office. The weather outside is beautiful, but pollen or something in the air is clouding my ability to hold a thought for more than a few moments. Colleen is very gracious as I ramble on, and we talk a bit about our backgrounds. Suddenly, I realize who she is. She is my doppelganger; we have both lived in Dallas, we have both lived on the west coast, we both have brown hair.

Colleen: We're both totally awesome! (laughs)
CM: (laughs) Yeah.

Colleen: OK, I got to go soon, so...
CM: Yeah, OK. First question: What is your favorite website?
Colleen: I don't know...I mean I got rid of my computer. It was a crappy computer, so I got rid of it and I haven't gotten another one. It's been really nice. I mostly listen to records now.

CM: Really?
Colleen: Yeah, it's been nice. Hmm... I'd probably say allmusic.com. You can get info on artists and albums.

CM: Did your old computer die?
Colleen: No it was just really crappy. I got all my information off of it, but never got another one. It's in the trunk of my car (laughs). I'm probably going to get a laptop, but I just haven't done it yet. But allmusic.com, it's great if you want information on a band.

CM: OK, left, bottom or side? What's your favorite dock location?
Colleen: Dock location? As in boats?? (laughs incredulously).

CM: (laughing) No. You know, the dock. On your computer. Where your applications are?
Colleen: Oh (laughs). Uh, the bottom? I mean, I'd be happy to have access to a dock! (laughs) Yeah, the bottom. it's what I've always known.

CM: (still laughing) Ok. Ok. What dock icon do you click on the most?
Colleen: The Dashboard. God, I hope I don't sound stupid!

CM: No, no. I'm not being very clear. Wait, did you say the Dashboard?
Colleen: Yeah. I use the calculator, check the time, date, the temperature...

CM: Oh. What about CurrentTrack?
Colleen: Oh, I'm in the system all the time. And email.

CM: OK. Do you have a profile on Myspace, Facebook, Plaxo, etc.?
Colleen: MySpace and Facebook.

CM: Which do you use the most?
Colleen: MySpace. for the 'What's going on this weekend' aspect.

CM: What do you think about Facebook?
Colleen: I like it. It's a little more grown up. I have a foot in each camp. I have friends that are like "Hey, I have $10, let's go to Cahoots,"  and I have friends that are like "Hey, let's go to Jack Fry's."

CM: OK. Here's the last question. What's your problem?
Colleen: (laughs) Ha! Oh God...what's my problem!? Let's see... gotta think... my problem is with people who are not in touch with reality.

CM: NOT in touch?
Colleen: Yeah, you know, the ones who walk around like...zombies. The zombie nation, not present, in the moment? Not aware of what they do with their time? I just try to be present.

CM: Oh yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Let me tell you another boring story...

My doppelganger gently shoos me out of her office. Our recorded conversation is short, but the actual conversation has taken much longer. She is remarkably present and prepares to finish her day here, as I trudge back into the haze of another clear and beautiful spring day.

I know it's total self-promotion, but we are so enormously proud of our work with the Kentucky Derby Festival that I have to get in a plug for Velocity's coverage of our esteemed Allison Gibson, the Queen of all things KDF!

She and her husband are the top 2 Derby Heroes under 40 in this week's edition of the pub - way to go, Matt and Allison!

As you can tell from Alli's blog entry last week, our shop gets pretty consumed with wrapping up all of the ins and outs of marketing KDF so that Kentuckiana can party hardy before Derby! So, to have our company and one of our shining stars recognized like this is fantastic!

We have a unique culture at CurrentMarketing. It can be rather difficult to communicate the specifics of this culture to potential, and new, employees.

That's why we're creating an internal wiki.

Our website illustrates the personality of our work, our relationship with our clients and the professional side of our people to the outside world. Our traffic system is the 1's and 0's behind the smooth operation of the agency.

The wiki is a totally different animal - accessible only to those in the CM club. It's the headquarters of information more along the lines of stories from our past company trips (the wiki doesn't observe the cone of silence, unfortunately), who's who in CM lore and the unabashed history of how CM rose to its position as the Leading Interactive Agency in Louisville.

Of course, the wiki is entirely composed by CurrentMarketing employees, which is what makes it such a special body of work. We have to be careful about our blog lest any innocent ears stumble upon it. But, if you have access to the wiki, your innocence is virtually lost anyhow because you've already come into contact with the likes of Dennis Bonifer, Rob Womack and Kati Parrish. Once you've seen that Nam-style action, you're done. You may as well succumb and read the wiki ... but only if you're in the club.

Is it here? Is it? Is It?
Isit? I sit? What? I sit?
Treat? Good Dog.

It smelled like my kind of diaper.
It was small and wiggled a lot.
I didn't know what all the fuss was about…
And then I saw it.
They called it "baby."
They said, "Wyaaaaaaatt" and then "baby" and well, I just wanted to see it.
To smell it closer.
Everyone held it and I kept asking but they told me "down."

And then it left.

Please bring it back!

I ask Dennis every day to please bring it back!
I want to lick it's fingers and toes.
And clean up the slobber.

Please bring it back!