Hasta La Creative!

Beyond Madison Avenue: The site’s title could double as our mission statement, as it’s not just the headlines we look for, but that which lies beyond. Or, better yet, it’s the news that the others missed.

Talent Zoo is the only site of its kind on the Internet. It’s unique and yet friendly. It carries an air of superiority, but is humble. Why? Talent Zoo plays a part in an important decision: where will you find a great job? Or, where will you learn the most and contribute to the team? (Realize though, that when applying, it’s all about them, but secretly, in your deepest heart, you know it’s about you. And they do too.)

If you’re familiar with Talent Zoo, then you know they have some fantastic writers that present factual, timely, and helpful articles to aid you during your career. Talent Zoo also owns Offset Media, a site consisting of four blogs from industry professionals (Beyond Madison Avenue, Digital Pivot, Beneath the Brand, and 12pt Type).

My main gig with Talent Zoo is writing for Beyond Madison Avenue (BMA). After looking at what I was writing in comparison with every other marketing blogger, I decided that I needed to take a new direction with my part of BMA. That, or sink into mediocrity, which is never the best positioning these days. After mulling it over for a week or so, I decided on “the new endeavor.”

My own mission statement is: separate the wheat from the chaff, the hot shops from the not shops, and the blusterers from the listeners. This will take me some time – to find and verify everything –  but in the end, I think it will be worth it.

Here’s The Deal

So, has your agency, your company, or shop stepped beyond the advertising-creative field to become an inspiration?Do you do it differently? How?

If you, your company, your shop, etc, has a unique business concept, outstanding campaign, or an innovative idea to share with the readers at Talent Zoo and Beyond Madison Avenue, send it my way. The only thing I ask is that you are prudent with your selection. If your idea is ho-hum, one day it may get written. It it’s good, probably next week. Earthshattering will be written tomorrow if everything works out. It’s all going to depend on volume.

First, PLEASE review the idea so that you can provide three or four salient points that you’d be proud to show other industry professionals. What was the challenge? Why did you/your agency go down this road? Why was it successful? What made it unique?

For instance, Right Brain Design was built on an innovative business model: instead of a brick and mortar agency, they were actually a network of at-home professionals that combined, as needed, to meet a client’s needs.

Lisa P Maxwell offered clients complete and total access to their employees, and understood that to promote social media to their clients, first they had to be social media consumers. Thus, all of their employees are connected to the outside world via personal web cam.

Boone Oakley went an entirely different route: their whole website is comprised of a series of YouTube videos. The videos are interactive: and viewers can navigate through the entire video site. Here is an example that ran in the original post:

A New York City purse designer, Rachel Nasvik, stashed hand-made bags throughout NYC at various locations and then sent clues to their followers (fans, mailing list, interested parties) about how to find the bags. Not only was this a great example of  gaining followers by giving away free merchandise (nice free merchandise), but it also showed that a campaign could consist of nothing more than a great idea, merchandise, and a clever advertising plan.

The bene: Not only will your company be mentioned on the site, but it will also go to my Facebook page (read by 6 adoring fans), my mother (not kidding), and  will be sent to my Twitter followers 2x/day. Additionally, the blog will be sent to LinkedIn groups for which it is appropriate (ie, a TV campaign would not go to Social Media 2.0). Plus, there is what ever you decide to do with it…send it to clients, block the site, etc.

Thus, this small effort on Beyond Madison Avenue will cross a lot of eyeballs.

Although there’s no official name for this effort, my working title’s been “SHOW me, don’t TELL me.”

Or, in playground terms, “I double-dog dare you…”

So, this is a chance to shine. A chance to promote your efforts above the rest. We’ll even use your quotes if you want.

And there ain’t nuttin’ better than free publicity on a scorching summer day, ‘cept maybe a Popsicle…

What, you may ask, do I get out of this? Hopefully a “good job” or a “thanks” or a “great job, but you misspelled dinosaur.” All of that, and the fact that it makes me feel good. Plus, if content is king, I don’t want the same content as all of the other bloggers….

And there you have it.

Please pass this on.

Jeff Louis Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Account Coordinator. His passion is writing. If you would like to get in touch with Jeff, please leave a reply or follow the links: www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com.