We have a lot of Mad Men fans here at CurrentMarketing.  I’m late to the party and I’ve just started watching the first season.  I’m in love already.  I’m also a lover of fashion and haute couture.  Never mind the fact that I’d never be able to afford it or that it’s not practical for life here in The ‘Ville. It’s all just pretty to look at.  I’ve noticed that some lines coming down the runway for Fall have a very Mad Men vibe to them. Louis Vuitton and Fendi both have lines this coming season that seem like they would be perfect for Betty Draper or Joan Holloway.

I’ve also noticed a new popularity in mid century designed furniture.  Well preserved pieces are hard to find and if you do, the sellers generally know what they have and have priced them accordingly.  Some EBay and Craigslist sellers will list their items as “mid century” just to get your attention.  You click on the item and it’s something straight out of the 80’s.  Let me just say there wasn’t much as far as fashion or design that I want to relive from the 80’s.

You can’t help but notice this coincidence between the shows popularity and the current trends in fashion and home furnishings.  I’m sure Don Draper would agree.

Like many other developers out there, I can't wait until the door has finally closed on Internet Explorer version 6.0. Since its birth in 2001, it has been a strong competitor in the browser market. It was the most widely used browser for 5 years straight, until Firefox finally started to catch up to it in 2007, according to the browser stats on W3Schools.com. But even now, three years later, along with two newer versions of the same browser, four competing browsers, and losing support on Google and many other sites across the web, it is not only still holing on, it is ahead of Safari and tied with its predecessor Internet Explorer 7.0. Will Internet Explorer 6.0 ever be obsolete?

I love data visualization.  Pie graphs, bar graphs, line graphs, spider graphs and more.  I wish I had more time to be obsessed with it.  I'm constantly thinking about the internal tools I could build with Flex and its insanely awesome data viz libraries.

Unlike Doug McCune, one of my one of my Flex heroes, I can't call myself a Data Visualization Engineer.  I'm more of a Data Visualization Tinkerer.  I can spend hours surfing around looking at the coolest tools (SpatialKey for instance), the most mind blowing ( just scroll through the examples ) and the funniest.

Without a doubt, data viz is on my mind lately, and CurrentMarketing is always trying to bring the best tools to bear in unconventional ways.  I'm juggling a few projects right now using internal and external tools to give our account, media and client people all the data they need at their fingertips.  Scrolling through Excel sheets is lame.

But .. those are our tools and I can't show you right now.  Maybe this whole blog post is just fluff so I can embed a couple of funny graphs.  I think I'll work on a pie graph to show the chances of that.

However, while you wait:

Well, how about a blog about blogs?
Here’s a list of blogs definitely worth checking out:

Apartment Therapy
A decorating and living how-to for apartment dwellers

Boing Boing
A snazzy site featuring all that is good and geeky

Cake Wrecks
Some of the ugliest cakes and baked goods you’ll ever lay eyes on!

The Consumerist
A cool blend of buyer-oriented content, much like Consumer Reports

The Daily Kitten
Pretty self-explanatory. Who doesn’t love kittens, honestly?

Deadline Hollywood
A semi-classy outlet for celebrity news and gossip

GeekDad
If you’re a dad, and you’re a geek, here’s a blog for you!

HiLobrow
Intellectual discussions of obscure music, artists, writings, etc.

The Oatmeal
A fun hodgepodge of hilarious visual aids

Pitchfork
A great place to find new, interesting music

The Sartorialist
The go-to blog for street fashion tips

Shorpy
Lots of great, old B&W photos that you can print directly from the site

Strobist
How to be a good photographer using your point and shoot camera

ZenHabits
Guides to help you live a more efficient life

We in advertising spend a fair amount of time dealing with what outsiders might call ethical choices, very few of ever fall into the black or white column.  Our job is to increase consumer awareness for our clients and, subsequently, increase sales.  This challenge often creates “gray” areas; how do we balance the need for greater sales with the desire to avoid the old bait and switch methods? I've seen many approaches (celebrity endorsements, product comparison, price comparison, selling a dream or lifestyle, selling with sex, selling sentiment), all of which present their own ethics considerations.

Telling the truth always seems to be the best answer, but how to paint the comparison pictures or draw on human emotion without crossing that line of right and wrong is our challenge.  And, this challenge becomes even more monumental when our competitors use unethical methods. I recently came across a very good article here that explains these very issues, but have not, as of yet, found the true solution.  I tend to trust my “gut” and try to tell the truth. Anyone out there have a better approach?

I really love that our employees feel comfortable bringing their children to work. I remember growing up thinking that my dad’s place of employment was a big mystery. I never got to go with him to the office and my mom stayed at home.

I think bringing your children into the office allows them to understand where “mommy” or “daddy” goes everyday and perhaps a small glimpse into what he or she does for a living. Especially as they get a little older, they really start to think about what we do as professionals and even ask questions about the other people, their work and contribution. Who knows if they are actually “inspired” by the exposure. If nothing else, it lets them experience a healthy workplace and plants a seed for what they might someday prefer.

Having the flexibility to bring your child or children into the office takes the craziness out of trying to get them to doctor and dental visits, for example. It lessens the chaos of coordination (ping pong) that often goes like this: drop them off at daycare, then go back and pick them up, take them to an appointment and then take them back to daycare, and then come back to work. Whew!!!

Many kids come in with a backpack filled with entertainment so they can happily hang out in their parent’s office and even attend an internal meeting with them, without much interruption. And one of our resident mascots, Mona the Golden Doodle, LOVES children so it isn’t long before they are playing fetch with one of her many dog toys. And squealing in delight as Mona chases them around our offices.

I remember how crazy it was, raising a family with both parents working full-time and our three children in different schools and participating in extra-curricular activities. It was a Godsend to be able to bring them into the office and know that they were welcomed and treated as part of our CurrentMarketing family. And I’m proud to say that tradition continues in our company culture today.

A minor brouhaha erupted recently with the publishing of a piece of investigative journalism at AlterNet, covering a conservative Bury Brigade colluding in a Yahoo Group to bury non-conservative stories, block stories from specific, left-leaning websites, and any post from certain targeted users, regardless of the content. An anonymous poster claiming to be a part of the group, Digg Patriots, responded on the group's alleged blog The Rattington Post, saying essentially that as long as they were meeting outside Digg (meaning in a Yahoo group), they were not violating Digg's Terms of Use. Now, that person may want to re-read the TOU, particularly Article 5, section 9, but a much larger question in my mind arises: What is the sense in allowing every user the ability to promote or bury each story on the site?

The idea seems sound enough: allow the community to decide which story, blog post, image, or video is worth sharing and push that content to the front page. The way it works on Digg is each user has the opportunity to Digg the story (like it), or Bury it. The Bury button was enabled to allow the readership to identify spam. But the ability to sign up with just an email address and bury any story you want invites the sort of abuse alleged by AlterNet. What seems like democracy in action turns out to be a distributed sort of censorship that the mainstream media is widely suspected of instituting. In the new upcoming version of Digg, 4.0, the Bury button is replaced with the Report button, but what's to stop a gang of users from pulling the same trick with that button? On the other hand, if you remove the Report and Bury buttons, the site may well be overwritten with spam.

So what is the answer? Bennett Haselton proposes in a post on Slashdot a method of randomly selecting people to vote a hot story up or down, as a means to create a more representative sample of the community, and comparing those results to the wider community's take on that story. In this scenario, stories could still be squelched when initially submitted by a well organized content posse. So, take Haselton's idea one step further. Why not apply that method to all stories? That way, a story's rise is powered by the community, rather than a coordinated effort to cheat the system. Is it more important that everyone have a say on each story, or to more accurately reflect the will of the readership? Personally, I Digg the latter.

K Swiss shoes have always reminded me of the preppies back in high school. They seemed like serious tennis shoes - as in shoes worn for the tennis court as opposed to ones you’d wear hanging out with friends. Which is why when I was forwarded a link to a video of the fictional Kenny Power’s meeting with K Swiss execs, it seemed even funnier. (CAUTION: Not safe for work, around young children and possibly your parents).

The juxtaposition of a stogy brand with a modern-day redneck combo Archie Bunker & John Rocker was completely absurd. To me, K Swiss is a brand that is associated with more upper crust sports like tennis, not tractor pulls & demolition derbies. Then I saw the K Swiss banner ad.....DOH!

Kenny “Freakin’” Powers has now become the spokesperson for K Swiss’ latest, greatest training shoe...Tubes. Tubes? Really?

The spots play like one giant spoof, from an out of shape Kenny pitching them to the name (although I have to admit, I do find them funny.)  Clearly they are trying to hip themselves up with Millennia & gen Y males, but the big question is: Will it work? Selling Tubes as a legit, high tech trainer with comedy the best route? Or is it too big of a leap? Maybe Kenny Powers will become the Mars Blackmon of K Swiss and we’ll witness the transformation of a brand. Or in the words of Kenny Powers, we’ll “hear the sounds of (K Swiss’s) muscles gettin’ really big.”

“Hey, Amazon.ca, that’s the online bookstore or whatever, right?”
“Yep.”
“What’s the website for that?”
“...Amazon.ca.”
- Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life

If you follow CurrentMarketing’s Facebook or Twitter feeds (and if you’re not, just why don’t you?), you probably noticed the amazing pillows that showed up here in the Geek Suite yesterday. For those of you out of the loop, bask for the first time in their downy glory:

Besides being totally sweet, these really show how much digital culture has meshed with every day life. Every one of these icons is tied so deeply to its brand, they’re easily recognized, even from a distance, on all sorts of forms.

I remember as the 90’s progressed, and web addresses began to propagate on billboards, business cards and napkins at an exponential pace, the whole concept seemed unbelievable. The world of computing was private and poorly-understood. One did not simply announce to the public that they were on the internet, because no one would know what you were talking about. They would ask you where the “internet” button was on their keyboard. Was it on a CD-ROM or a floppy disk? These were valid questions.

A decade or so later, who doesn’t prominently advertise their web presence? The idea is ludicrous. One might as well attempt to attract customers through the tried and true methods of smoke signals and semaphore for all the success you'll have. Your website is the point of first contact for near-on any human with a curiosity about your business. Whole advertising campaigns are created and disseminated through the web. It needs to be your best face. Do it well, and you might just be on a pillow here in the Geek Suite someday.

Our account executives at CurrentMarketing make everything run smoothly and they never skip a beat. How do they do it and never break a sweat? I have uncovered some new information on how they balance their day and do the best work for our clients.

To protect the privacy of all individuals involved, names have been replaced.

Our Interactive Team leads a monthly spotlight to keep everyone abreast of the latest media campaigns and technology advances. What have our AE’s have found most fascinating to date?

Party Gal says:
The innovative, creative, and easy on the eyes Old Spice YouTube campaign is credited with pushing sales up 107%.

Margarita Mixer says:
The Despicable Me website and all the branded interactive areas, Gruggle, GruTube to name a few.

Southern Belle says:
The in-house capabilities of our digital department of being able to add sweat to a person’s brow all in post after effects.

Dog Lover says:
Foursquare is growing faster than Twitter. Holy check-in, Batman!

Funny Gal says:
Wordles – It’s so interesting to see what dominates in a wordle...

German Lover says:
How most leading brands are incorporating social media to their media schedules.

SUMMARY: Old Spice and social media are the wordles of the day!

Our clients tend to RAVE about our services. This is a HUGE driver for all our AE’s and our company.

So, you may wonder what our clients have said about us lately? Here you go!

“Thank You”
“You always have a positive attitude.”
“You guys did exactly what we asked and more!”
“SUPER JOB!”
"You’re the greatest!  Thank you for always taking care of things for us!"

SUMMARY: We Love and Value our clients!

Our clients are amazing and so is our staff. We often say that we do the work of three agencies combined. These are a few great things we have witnessed within our four walls.

Party Gal says: Unbelievable camaraderie!

Southern Belle says: Teamwork.  As I was working hard to get something out for a client on a deadline, three co-workers stepped up and helped get it together to out the door. THANK YOU!

German lover says: As far as culture, everyone is willing to lend a hand whenever needed. As far as creative, the Derby Festival theme presentation was AMAZING.

Dog Lover says: A client brought beer to Current! How awesome is that!? Needless to say our staff was super appreciative!

Funny Gal says: The dedication to all our staff to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Margarita Mixer says: How our team comes together and comes up with the most brilliant ideas and does a great job presenting to our clients.

SUMMARY: Our Team Rocks!

Our internal teams are a huge factor in assisting our AE’s in the strategic and creative processes for our clients. Partnering with businesses that match our culture make for a winning combination!