Real food.

Aka, I will never eat in New Jersey again. Ryan’s standing next to the devices for barbecue nirvana, for me at least. (Yeah, I know, Texas bloggers are giving me the finger right now.) But you don’t understand. After several years of North Jersey cooking and now two and a half weeks of Applebee’s/Friday’s etc., this is my Graceland. Funny, but some of the best food on this trip has come from hole in the wall places with genuine people cooking it. You know how most summer grilling is basically a three-alarm inferno with your dad working the burgers into pucks, blinded by grease and flame? Not this place.

You could just stand there and bath in it smelled so good. (I actually took Plaid shirts and held them through the smoke so we could FedEx to anyone who wants them.) This back of the shack rig is from Jack and Vickey’s Mustang Barbecue in Hurricane Mills, TN. Little ironic twist that it appears from the photos there that Jack was apparently once a missionary, going from helping needy kids to feeding not-so-needy ad folk.

I swear I didn’t want to leave his church it was that good.

The joy of local advertising.

Most local ads suck, and we’ve seen more than enough three weeks into the tour. Here’s one from busyframes.com for smack clothing in Nashville which doesn’t. It’s actually trying to do something cool given a probably very limited budget from the client.

Tags: smack clothing

When “Independently owned and operated” sucks.

One of the things this tour shows you is how the level of service can vary greatly from state to state within the same brand. Most chains that rely on franchises are also at their mercy when it comes to making sure the brand is presented well, especially the food service industry. Travelers are also at their mercy. Tonight, I may be in one of the worst Super 8 motels I have ever stayed at. I’m not trying to be ungrateful since the tour is covering everything, and I am also currently doing unrelated work for Super 8 as well, but we all share horror stories the next morning usually starting off with, “Hey, did your room come with (insert creepy description here)?”

And we knew going in that we needed to keep the budget down, so encountering places like this was likely. (As an FYI, Super 8 is in no way sponsoring this tour, we just happened to pick them. I’ve also had great experiences with Super 8 across the midwest, so it’s certainly not the entire chain.) But that’s the point. Consistency. It’s one of those things you notice if you talk about brands all day. Little thing like, oh, the refridgerator doesn’t work eventually worked–at all. The ‘free’ wireless that we need and that they lure you in with hasn’t worked now in three different states.

In one, I literally had to keep the laptop in one corner of the bed or risk losing signal. The phone in our room says Ramada. I’m actually posting this with the help of the Sprint USB card from the van. The bathroom had about 1/8” left on the toilet paper roll and no spare in sight. (Ironically, I found myself wanting to see that little fancy Origami trick they do with the edge of the paper by folding it up into a triangle, just to complete the experience.) And the entire mount was coming out of the wall, almost as if Clint Eastwood was trying to dig his way out of this Alcaltraz.)

You know in movies how the bad guys will pretend to be good guys in order to fool the cops, like in Die Hard when officer Twinkie shows up to investigate possible gunshots at Nakatomi? It’s like that here. Nobody apparently knows how to run a motel. I think the people at the main desk are really a front for something far more sinister. Contrast that with another Super 8 nearby: they have an indoor pool, great landscaping, cucumber wraps, plasma TVs, Bono and the boys playing live out back and even someone to do your taxes.

It’s still puzzling how brands can let themselves be held hostage by the individual owners when it comes to offering a consistent level of service, all in the name of ‘Independently owned and operated.’ If I was the brand, I’d take back control until the worst offenders got their act together, because this just hurts them in the long run.

Little things.

Noticed something today as we were streaming from inside one Starbucks. They had the music going and the staff was on top of things. Contrast that with the other morning: a staff that was way too cheery, almost to the point of faking it, and no music playing. Now I’m not a Starbucks fan like the rest of the group. I just hang out while they get their fix. But having no music kills the experience. Little things make a big difference.

Tags: Starbucks

“Any body part piercing–$29”

The line is so great, I don’t even have to have a visual in order for you to appreciate it. Which is good. Because I don’t have one. This was a sandwich board some guy was wearing in Asheville, NC as we left. It’s stuck with me so much that even though I’m in Nashville tonight, I still want to go back and get a pic. The voice(s) in my head saying I might find something even better this week, so maybe I should just hold off on that for now.

We have two kinds of music, country and...

Nashville needs more country acts in the front windows of their bars. More Nash Vegas fun from today here.

Is this your CD?

The Denver Egotist is a new blog focused on creativity out there with a look at the surefire signs your CD is either cheating on you, or just not very good.

Tags: The Denver Egotist

Notes from the road.

Sometimes it’s the little things on a trip you remember most. Like the AirKing™ light switch technology in your room at the Knoxville, TN EconoLodge. It’s almost like a Mission Control panel circa 1968. And to steal a paraphrase from Gene Krantz, switching rooms is not an option.

Tags: EconoLodge, Gene Krantz

The return of Vick.

Over the weekend I saw a segment about Vick on cable. Experts on the show were tearing into him for the dogfighting allegations. A few polls I saw even indicated that the jury in the court of public opinion had already reached their guilty verdict. There’s a lot of issues at play here though beyond dog fighting: athletes and violence, the cult of personality, the public and their ability to forgive, the actual legal issues, etc. I’m not here to pass judgement or play Devil’s advocate for him by any means, just trying to point out the inevitable:

He’ll be back next year playing ball for somebody.

Hear me out. First off, he’s too good not to. Despite the crime he’s accused of, he plays the game at a level few can match. Regardless of any current actions by the league, he’s done more good for the NFL than bad, even with this hanging over his head. Agree, disagree, right or wrong, doesn’t matter. Some coach out there faced with another losing season and needing a spark for his team, will take a chance after Atlanta cuts him.

If you’re an average player who can play and help your team win, who cares what you do off the field. But someone with Vick’s ability? No way he’s done. After a year of him doing the “I’m Really Sorry Tour 2007,” he’ll be snatched up by some forgive and forget team, just like that.

Secondly, the problem here isn’t the disproportionate level of violence found in pro sports and the culture of which young athletes are exposed to it leading to stories like this. It’s because America loves pets more than people. Beat the shit out of someone outside a club you weren’t supposed to be at around 3:00 am? Oops, your bad. Certainly not my problem. Kill or injure a dog though?

Timeout. Raise the DEFCON level.

Which highlights the issue: we crucify dog killers and abusers but let the spousal abusers take a pass. I hope all the people outraged at Vick for possibly taking part in this are also outraged when a player smacks his wife around time after time. Bottom line: as long as they can play, even drug users and team cancers in pro sports are given more than one chance at a fresh start. (Dennis Rodman. Randy Moss. Lawrence Philips. Ricky Williams.)

Now, I’m not equating dogfighting with some of the antics those guys pulled over the years, and there are certainly better and worse examples, but Philips had a history of violence against his girlfriend before joining the NFL and even after, yet how many teams kept giving him a shot? Apparently that’s ok just as long as you don’t kill someone?

Initial reports aside, assume for a sec that Vick is not responsible, but may have provided the house, etc. What if someone else takes the fall or is proven guilty though. Doesn’t Vick deserve a presumption of innocence now? A guy died in a fight Ray Lewis was involved in, yet today, he doesn’t seem to be any worse the wear in terms of fan popularity. I wonder if all the sponsors and fans abandoning Vick will suddenly flock back once this blows over as well.

If it blows over.

The cult of personality in this country is such that if you done wrong, just apologize, all will be forgiven. Something Pete Rose, Mark McGuire and Bill Clinton took too long to realize. Welcome to the new release of Forgiveness 3.0 where people will be willing to give their hero the benefit of the doubt, if not forgive them completely, as long they say those magic words: “I’m sorry.”

Like earlier today.

“He may be cheat, but he’s our cheat” said one SF fan after today’s Giants game when asked about Bonds and the record. (That fan is obviously still running 2.0.) Interesting comment, considering what Bonds is accused of, something that goes right to the heart of the game. Which is usually the line in the sand for my generation: Do what you want off the field but don’t fuck with the game itself.

Ever.

I bet there’s also more than just a few fans in Atlanta torn about Vick right now. The ones who already convicted him and the ones who say “He’s our quarterback no matter what.” If Michael Jackson and OJ still have delusional fans who think they’re both innocent, you don’t think Vick gets a pass over this from those same type of fans?

One other thing to remember. It’s a good thing to bring the issue of dog fighting to light across the board, not just with Vick. Given the violence surrounding the game and pro sports in general though, and if you really want to focus on the problem at hand, you need to realize Vick ain’t the only one involved in stuff like this.

Tags: Michael Vick

I love this video way more than I like the song.

Tags: The Spinto Band, Oh Mandy

Pick your nose’s scent.

Consumer-generated aroma is all the rage. Pine-Sol needs you to help select their new scent. Go here to vote.

Tags: Pine-Sol

Motel life.

It’s a given that on a tour like this, you’ll be on the road for weeks at a time, staying somewhere like Super 8. Courtyard by Marriot, maybe next time. Four Seasons? Some day. But for now, continental breakfast, free wireless and a place to crash for the night are all we need. So it’s a little surreal after weeks of below average to pretty good Super 8 experiences that we hear the following line upon arriving in our Asheville, NC location:

“We’re really sorry, but it’ll just be another five minutes. We’re not done installing the 37” plasma TV in one of your rooms yet.”

Wearing it on your sleeve.

Or rear window. To each his own, but this is one of those special things ‘statements’ you come across while on the road.

Plaid aviation.

So, after one long week, at places like Swatch, Haynes and Moog, we take a day off, watching the kids of tomorrow skydive today. I also got to take in a lot of North Carolina Saturday take-it-easy culture. Barbecue, bluegrass and the LOUDEST crickets/locusts/bugs I’ve ever heard during the day.

Cavechicks.

According to this article, Geico has nothing to do with the series, but I think they’ll benefit from the association anyway.

Tags: Geico cavemen

Harry, er, Hairy says...

Just in case you’re extra hairy and needed to groom something.

Tags: Philips

Headless fashion meets boring tops.

Or something like that. I was trying real hard to match the classic NY Post headline HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR. but really, can anything? JC Penny wants zombies to start dressing better. Or something like that. (11+ days on the road has me losing my head.)

Tags: JC Penny

The only phone in the third person you’ll ever need.

So go ahead Jimmy, talk it up about yourself.

Tags: T-Mobile

Stunt dogs.

What else do you do when you’re in Asheville, NC? You go see dogs jump really far. There’s absolutely no way I’m missing this.

Tags: Bele Chere

Mmmmm. Donuts.

Damn. If there’s a more detailed review of the marketing push behind the Simpsons movie, I haven’t seen it.

Tags: The Simpsons movie

An idea for Hooters and Apple.

So we’re at Hooters^® last night, to kind of bookend the day so to speak, and the first thing we get is some wetnaps. Each one has a Snapple-like saying on the back like in the picture (front and back shown). The writing of most of them is on par with the posters you see behind the desk of a DMV worker: ‘It’s hard to soar with eagles,’ ‘Hang in there baby’ and so on. Not really racy fare for Hooters. Then there were the kids. Apparently Hooters is perfect for children now because they had everything from babies at one table to teens playing pool in the game room.

So since they obviously position themselves as family-friendly, I had an idea:

Why doesn’t Hooters^® just swap its approach to retail with Apple? Apple needs to loosen up a little and walk away from their cool-geek look and Hooters could benefit from a cleaner color scheme. Think about it. Instead of Hooter’s waitresses sitting close to you in the booth, trying to work up some good will on a low-ticket item like a plate of wings, why not have hot Apple Gals™ with low-cut solid orange genius shirts focus on bigger ticket items like MacBooks. Imagine how many guys would be duped into buying more MacBook than they really need: “Um, that’s got like dual..., um what again? Yeah, I’ll take it.”

Hooters in turn could get rid of all the sports memorabilia on the walls, go solid orange with clean white type. You have to make an appointment to be seated like at Apple, but now, Hooters Genius Bar would actually be a bar. With wings. After all, you don’t go there just for the staff, or do you.

Call Jobs. Let’s do this.

Tags: Apple, Hooters

Motel stuff I love.

Stickiest clock ever. (Click to enlarge the fun.) I swear it was this way when I found it. Rarely does a photo capture ‘the sticky.’ Not this time. It even stuck to the counter when I tried picking it up.

Tags: Super 8

CAUTION: MANATEES ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.

We came, we almost surfed, we left. We also saw jets. Sorry Goose, but it’s time to buzz the tower. After we see some pics.

Can I quote you on that?

Like Hammer said, can’t touch this ..... Some personal ads are just begging to be made fun of. That’s where they come in ..... And sometimes they just may have never said it in the first place.

Cavemen Mecca.

The tour is producing some interesting results along the way. We were able to take advantage of some free time and get over to The Martin Agency and meet with some creatives in the interactive space, throw some Twinkies and shirts at them, then show them the van. No, we did not see a caveman walking around either. I did though score a few cavemen bumper stickers though, one officially blended in with the van now. We also hit DC for some tourist action minus the fanny packs.

Viva Viagra.

Hey, I know, let’s get the band together full of a hunka hunka burning love, meet in a roadhouse, sing the Viagra song, then ride off looking for some fun at a Heartbreak Hotel.

Day 8, aka, Swatch loses its cool.

(Note: This is a continuation of the day’s wrap over at Plaid.) Our visit to Swatch proves how people reflect the DNA of the brand they work for, both good and bad. We got thrown out of the Swatch offices. Now, to set the stage lest people think we just show up out of the blue, well, we do. Kind of. But, we send out mass mailings to perspective brands we want to visit ahead of time and follow up with calls.

Sure this is a guerilla kind of tour in some ways, but we do notify people, and in some instances have actual appointments scheduled. So after security let us through to ‘marketing,’ we were able to secure a little time with someone really nice in ‘marketing.’ (Name withheld to prevent lawsuit.)

More on that in a sec.

After giving the general pitch we do, there seemed to be some interest expressed. Granted, we know at times we see people when they literally have two minutes. No problem. It sharpens how you pitch things as you tend to cut out the extra 90 ppt. pages agencies tend to present. Plus, we had an interest in the brand as we felt it could use some life.

And then Brandzilla appeared. Like his 20-story counterpart, you hear the voice before actually seeing it. “Who’s here? Who are they?” He rounds the corner making a beeline for Darryl and repeating his soon to be famous mantra “Who are you? What are you doing here. Who invited you?” He didn’t stop to listen. As he turns his attention to shirt-of-the-day ace camera guy Ryan, the threats pour out. “And if I see any footage I didn’t authorize of this on, online, well,...” wait for it, “...I’ll see you in court.”

PLEASE. We’d welcome the traffic on the blog. The reaction was unlike anything we received using the exact same approach. Almost every brand has seen the value of what we’re doing and are really into it. It's too bad, because when BZ came out, the people who obviously worked under him became afraid. Nice way to run a brand. Scare the crap out of your people.

And they didn’t even take a Twinkie. Wonder why Swatch has lost its cool? We blame Brandzilla.

Funky Wendy’s.

While some of the other ads in the campaign seem to be taking a hit, I like this Baconator, or at least the look of it. Maybe I’m out of my hate phase, who knows, but the funky animated cut paper heads over different bodies got my attention. Go here and click on the B&W square thumbnail.

Tags: Baconater, Wendy’s

I love this camera.

Been shooting on tour with the Nikon D70 and damn if they’re not right–anybody can take a great decent picture with this thing. (That’s Ryan taping me shooting him.)

Tags: Nikon D70

Weekly What The...?

DIY professional shadow puppets, sorta.
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Seeed - Ding - Wtf?
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What the kids are wearing.
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Commission a LEGO model.
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Terror cop dog. (via cityrag)
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eBay item of the week.
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“Make money in your spare time with blogging!”

Jetpacks brought up an issue I’ve been reading about more and more lately: making money off blogs. JP has it right: content, content, content. If you got into blogging to make money, cool, have at it. But like Guy Kawasaki said, there are two types of bloggers: the famous who blog–and people famous for blogging. (And unless your name ends in Hilton, good luck with the former, you’ll need it.)

Famous people who start blogs can hit the ground running day one and have mad traffic. Basically, people want to be part of the life of someone famous, so they comment on their blog hoping to be noticed, much like a fan in the crowd seeking that elusive autograph. This is why people flock to Mark Cuban’s blog.

This is why 600 people tell Alec Baldwin every post what an asshole he is over on Huffington. Take anyone you despise in life, on TV, in sports. Give them a blog and I guarantee they have a page rank of 9 their first week and almost as many hits as Drudge gets in an hour.

This is also why the people who become famous for blogging take way longer to do it, and have to incorporate more tricks in their arsenal to get good traffic. But you can do it. Be original. Have your own voice.

Don’t start off your blog day one reviewing products or other stuff unless you’re Gene Shalit and it’s your job. Nobody cares what you think of the new slippers you just got. P&G already pays an army of mommy bloggers to do this shit anyway. Please. Try the University of Phoenix instead. I hear they’re looking for students for their law program.

Build traffic through unique content.

Eventually, you’ll have enough readers to make it worth it to potential sponsors–if that’s the way you want to go. It’s the recipe social media sites like Facebook and the rest use. Give away something cool and people will reward you with loyalty and traffic.

Hit me up with 1,000 ads day from one though and you just undermine all your effortsAdiós.

Besides, that whole pay-per-post market will likely become flooded as everyone doing it will end up only being read by other PPP bloggers. In that case, I can only hope that some crazy readership cannibalism thing takes over and Darwin is proven correct once again.

The Thick of It.

Most readers know the disdain I share/hold/spew for the clunky American version of The Office, preferring the original UK version instead. So from Nerd Litter comes The Thick of It, a show that picks up on that same dry Ricky Gervais-like tone, only taking place in the world of politics and government. There may be a little too much handheld feel to the camera work, but it’s a small complaint. Speaking of, with all the complaints about Mad Men, I wonder how it would’ve been received had it taken this type of mocumentary approach with its off-the-cuff shooting style, similar to The Larry Sanders Show, (still the funniest show HBO ever did).

Tags: The Thick of It

A moment of surreality.

You know if you have children, they hate your music. It gets worse as they get older. You grow more nostalgic, they grow more annoyed.

So much so that when you point out to them that the song they’re listening to is actually a remake, and that the “original was much better,” they go into denial on the order of Tom Sizemore prior to his (__nth) stint in rehab.

“That’s not a remake” is the all-too familiar response. You think there’s no way their generation will be into the old stuff you listened to.

So as I’m out watering the plants in the forest by the lake where I live, I hear two bikes approaching in the distance. We have no sidewalks, so there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic in the road. The sound of bike tires being very easy to pick out after three years of living here.

And I kinda make out a kid singing something. I hear it a little more clearly as he gets closer. He’s riding with his friend who’s laughing at him, both gliding down the hill like kids do. And as he rolls into view past the front of the house, they’re both maybe 10 years old, he looks at me laughing with this ‘happy to be a kid’ grin as he’s singing. No harm, no foul. But the cadence of the song is confusing to me because the lyrics are different than what I expect them to be.

So as you hear ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’ by Yes sung to the tune of the Oscar Meyer classic “My bologna has a first name...” in a rap beat no less, you think maybe your music does get through after all. Just not like you expected.

Here’s something you don’t often see.

From Thailand come this :90 spot for Gold gas, or something. It’s got flames, mock terror and Godzilla. What’s not to love.

Interesting take on glob about seeing the graf movement become part of the art history vocabulary.

Discussions on tour.

One of the joys of sharing a van for three weeks with essentially the same crew is, you guessed it Lee Harvey: the stories you tell. Like the time your friend took tonic water and wrote a message on the bed so that it would show up under black light like in that 20-20 special on hotel cleanliness. The four of us together? Forget it.

I wanna party with you cowboy.

Joined by Justus. Week one of the tour wraps up.

Part of the tour thing is that some people will swap in and out along the way. Giuli leaves and Justus picks up where she left off for the upcoming week. For a look at the week that was, Darryl jotted down a few things.

Left, Duval-Guillaume in Brussels for Médecins Sans Frontières. Right, Fallon for Travelers.

Tags: Emmys for commercials, Travelers, Duval-Guillaume, Fallon

Day 4.

Where I blame the bedspread, meet some new old people, and shoot more stuff.

Mad Men.

“I pulled it out of thin air.”

“The burgeoning field of research.”

“Advertising is based on one thing—happiness.”

These and other phrases from advertising’s Golden Age are on display in Mad Men, a Smithsonian exhibit of the way things were–or are? I borrowed that image from Jetpacks because I couldn’t tell much difference between the show and his ongoing blog series.

It’s a period docudrama depicting how agencies sold clients on not only things consumers didn’t need, but things that were also unhealthy like cigarettes. Old and new school will both go, yeah, dead on. But what’s changed? Consider also that you’re viewing societal behaviour that was anything but PC, but through today’s PC eyes. Not to mention the lack of humor. This thing feels so full of dread I had to watch Six Feet Under just to cheer up. Think thirtysomething with Buddy Holly glasses. Ok for a feature, but a steady diet of this? Thank You For Smoking nails the world of PR and marketing but does it with more bite and definitely more humor. But don’t take my word for it. Take it from George over at AdScam, one who lived it.

Tags: Mad Men

Usually, I hate avatars with the moving eyes thing, but this kinda works in a tease your dog kinda way.

I give you moon ashes.

The gems on tour keep getting better people.

“And also starring John Travolta as Mussolini.”

Tags: Tom Cruise

Always Be Smoking.

Mmmmmm. Make mine menthol please.

Or, it just has to be stupid.

To get attention on YouTube, that is.

Tags: Falcor

Eh, throw ‘short’ in there too.

Great sign in Weymouth, MA from the tour. Where do I start? The apostrophe? The amazingly large ampersands? Or is it my personal favorite, the addition of the ‘& short’ on the bottom. Identity crisis perhaps. “We’re tall, no, wait, we’re short. We’re tall and short.” So, what, Danny DeVito and Ah-nuld shop here?

Here comes the sun.

I love the energy behind this idea. This group is trying to put together 24 webcam views of the sun rising from around the world in a project called Never Ending Sun. Even though they’ve basically spammed blogs to get the word out, I don’t mind because the idea is cool. Maybe email the blogs directly and ask to spread the idea next time.

Having said that, one more thing I expected was a section for people to be able to upload still pics of the sun as it rises, or even throughout the day. This is also the kind of thing that happens with brands. No matter what the original intention was for a promotion or product, the community takes over, basically wikis the idea and morphs it into another direction the brand has no control over. (Mentos and Diet Coke for example.) And you either roll with that or resist. Sometimes good things can result, sometimes not. Mostly though, it’s out of the brand’s hands.

Tags: Never Ending Sun

Day 2 - more fun.

We got a video compilation put together, some more pics and for the geeks, a laundry list of our gear. For the bean counters, a laundry listof our expenses too.

What happened to A&E ?

Reality TV can go no lower. First, to preface things a little, Court TV is rebranding as TruTV. (This reflects the amount of original reality shows they have as compared to the actual trial coverage that launched it.) ‘Tru’ though doesn’t accurately describe their programming the way the name ‘Court TV’ does. If anything, A&E is the one that needs to change. Not for the reality programming it carries now, but because of the better quality shows it was once known for. ‘Arts’ is the last thing you think of with shows like The Two Coreys however.

Although I love the masthead with Photoshop filter effect.

Tags: The Two Coreys

“You mean an informercial that’s almost real?”

Here’s a clip from the recent informercial gem for Extenze. Paid actors. An absolutely daffy hostess asking questions ineptly. This one’s got it all. It’s also suffering from major just-come-out-and-say-itness. (There are other clips on YouTube.) I know it’s hard to watch this, but if I showed you the extended version of all these clips, you wouldn’t be satisfied.

Tags: Extenze

Stairway to Miller.

Miller is producing a series of artist interviews and performances for the web. Rock on.

Interesting interactive self-promo from mono in Minneapolis.

Day 1 - The tour

Ok, as promised, all the glorious fun. Some photos here, a daily wrap-up here and a little extra here. The video will be uploaded shortly. Some thoughts from the first day to fill in the gaps. These will be shorter as we go but for now...

- No matter how hard you try, you will always forget something. Like the white t-shirts you thought you grabbed from the laundry pile but which turned out to be pillow cases. Shit.

- Being 6’3” becomes an issue when the roof AC vent is right above your head.

- The two best investments are turning out to be the cheapest. Zebra striped pilows for the van and this laptop drawing stabilizer platform thing I’m using right now.

- Blogging while driving over the Long Island Expressway can be done—but if they could just maybe pave it the next time we come through.

- You stop caring about whether the webcam is on or how many people are staring at the van.

- We review video footage, and apart from me hating myself on camera, we like the way it’s turning out. We also start to not care what anyone outside of our group thinks of it. All the negative comments I ever made about other agency promo efforts flash through my mind. I ready my responses to any comments on this whole tour thing and they all start with F. I feel good about that.

- This is one of the coolest wtf shirts I’ve seen in some time.

- Four people can move around the inside of a tight van fairly well. They are cool to be with.

- Even though strippers would probably get us major YouTube traffic, we need to keep focused on the fact that the focus of the video is for brand people.

- The Bagaboo bag needs just one more little pocket on the outside for my cell.

- Darryl is beyond enthusiastic. Something you need to make it through all this. This is very good. He is also trying to get me to use the phrase ‘rock star.’ This, I struggle with however.

- You meet a lot of everyday people every day. Don’t be a dick to them. I have been in too many agencies where this is an unfortuante occurrence.