Auto-Tune Cute Kids and Kanye

Yes, yes and yes.



Oh...you want to make the Kanye or Charlie Bit Me sections into your ringtone? Great. Go here: http://thegregorybrothers.com/

Don't thank me. Thank the Gregory Brothers.

Am I missing something?

Sooo...a few months ago the world went insane with the whole "swine flu" chaos. Twitter trending topics and Egypt's "Bacon Elimination" solution incited a mindset that H1N1 would bring about the apocalypse or Ragnarök or whatever other "end of the world" scenario you care to imagine.

Then, it wasn't that bad.

Cool. Awesome. Pigs won't kill us all. Life will go on.

But it's now Tuesday, October 20th, and I feel like I've read 2400 tweets in the last 2 weeks about H1N1. And nobody is panicking at all.

I'm seeing tweets about schools closing in Sioux Falls. I'm hearing about percentages of college students expected to come down with it in the next few weeks/months.

And we're basically just LOLing it off like it's not even happening.

I'm just curious as to what brought about the fairly drastic change of heart. I'm all about NOT getting worked up for things (mostly because forced panic is really off-putting). I just don't get how the entire world went crazy with swine flu fears a few months ago when almost NOTHING was happening, and now that way more people are coming down with H1N1, everyone's ho-hum about it like people are simply stubbing their toes or biting their cheeks.

To be clear, I'm all about making light of serious (or non-serious) issues whenever possible. Sometimes it's just necessary to maintain some sanity. As one of my favorite rappers, Gift of Gab, puts it, "life is insane, so insanity is a sane life." (I recognize that quote's not entirely fitting, but I think it's an awesome line and I wanted to include it.)

Regardless, I'm just looking for opinions on why this whole situation seems to be so trivial now when H1N1 actually does seem to be detrimentally affecting society at the moment. Is it simply because we now know people don't die instantly or turn into pigs and there's no reason to panic? Or is it just something people aren't taking seriously enough (and probably should)? I'm going with the former, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Image c/o bfishadow.

What Stan Lee's done for the comics industry...

Comic Vine is running a contest to win a signed Stan Lee iPod. I'm not sure why he signed an iPod rather than something way more awesome like a picture of one of his characters or something, but I guess (unfortunately) something like an iPod would get more people to sign up and submit than something not as (technically) valuable as a signed image of one of his characters (for that matter, I'd even take a signed picture of him). Needless to say, anything signed by Stan Lee is better than not anything signed by Stan Lee.

That said, the submission requires a text or video description of what Stan Lee has done for the comics industry. Although text is typically my forté (much more so than video), I felt passionate enough about this one to throw it in video form. Hopefully it's not completely awful.

Anyway, here's my opinion of what Stan Lee has done for the comics industry. It goes a bit deeper than his list of characters he created/co-created or the list of important issues he wrote or cartoons he helped develop. It's much more than that. Here goes something...



Those are my thoughts. Hopefully Comic Vine agrees with me and sees my point. Because it's more than characters and comics...it's passion and community shining through in ways that had never been seen. To me, that's a lot more valuable, and it's why the comic book industry is what it is today.

As Stan would say (much, much better than I ever could)... "EXCELSIOR!"

Pepsi To Cease All Advertising... Now What?

Did you hear the news? Pepsi is putting an end to all of its advertising and marketing forever. No more movie product placements, no more billboards and no more commercials. And with no mention of a social media budget, they are basically shattering not only the traditional media stigma, but every stigma known to the marketing and advertising industry.

Ok. So that’s not entirely accurate. Though a crazy concept, that idea simply comes from the ever-satirical (and never serious) online newspaper, The Onion. The “news” story can be found here and is worth reading in its entirety, but, for now, it has inspired a serious discussion in the Deep Bench office and we’d love to hear your take on it.

What WOULD happen if Pepsi pulled its entire, $1.3 billion (yes, BILLION) marketing budget and stopped running ads? Would their sales and profits plummet to depths not even Alvin could reach in search of the Titanic? Would Pepsi’s sales merely remain consistent or only slightly below where they were before? Or would sales, by some strange phenomenon, skyrocket (and steadily maintain that skyrocketed…ness)?

The questions are nearly mind-boggling. In the event that sales plummeted, would companies increase their marketing/advertising budgets after seeing how important marketing is? If Pepsi’s sales remained the same as they’ve been, would companies take note and cut off high budget media buys and traditional media efforts knowing the sales don’t drop?

Other questions could also be discussed. Would social media fall into the $1.3 billion budget cut or would Pepsi be able to aim an unprecedented and unparalleled focus at the social media space? What chaos would that incite? Would it finally be an opportunity for PR pros to earn their proper respect by demonstrating the true power of weapons like free media coverage and word-of-mouth efforts?

Or would Pepsi simply fall off the face of the earth entirely, left to suffer the fates of OK Soda and Pepsi’s gone-but-never-forgotten offspring, Crystal Pepsi?

What do you think? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion on our Facebook page. The topic is a fascinating one to us and we’d love to hear your insight on the concept.

Photo by laverrue.

This post was written by me and originally appeared on my work blog at www.thedeepbench.com.

Awesome look at AT&T's (accurate) predictions of the future...from 1993...

via core77.com

AT&T had some pretty solid foresight as to what the future would look like. Although, as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada worded it on Twitter, "ATT predicts the future with remarkable accuracy 16 years ago, doesn't predict lousy coverage." So they do still have that issue to overcome.

This also reminds us of a post we did back in March (http://j.mp/1bIh5i) on Microsoft's vision for what they can achieve by 2019. As accurate as AT&T was with these predictions, hopefully Microsoft can pull it off too. Because Microsoft's predicted future looks amazing.

This post was originally posted by me on my work Posterous account at http://www.deepbench.posterous.com/.

AMAZING Photos From the Hubble Space Telescope

These pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope (or whatever its proper name is) are stunning. Therefore, I recommend you take a look at them. I'll also post one of the many brilliant and gorgeous images that you can click to get to the rest of the photos. They're all worth viewing. Fo realz. Enjoy...

Good Morning...

Don't know how many haters I actually have, but I love the sound and general message of this one from Cham.

I'll take a tattoo of a Captain America's shield – just for a week...

The questions to this plink are as follows: If I could get any tattoo for just a week, what would it be? Where would it be? Would you consider getting it permanently?

It's a good question. And I'm happy with my answer.

It's funny this is brought up, mostly because I thought about a tattoo no less than half an hour ago. Fact is, I'd never get one. Not that I have ANY problem with those who do, I just have no desire to do so. At all.

However, if I HAD to get a tattoo for just a week (or permanently), I'd get a very small replica of Captain America's shield, similar to the one in the included image. Captain America has always been a long-standing hero of mine and the shield symbolizes so much more (both personally and pop culturally) than so many options I could choose to slap on my body.

As to where I'd place it...that's a good question. I'd probably want to go with one of my pectoral muscles. That way, I wouldn't see it all the time or all day, but when I did see it, I'd stop and think about why it's there.

In my head and my heart (and the heads and hearts of many others), Captain America's shield is a sign of strength, courage, bravery, pride, and a true adoration for this country and what those before us have have done to fight for our freedom.

It's powerful. And all of that symbolism can be encapsulated in one small, striped shield with a star in the middle.

That's what I'd go with.

Are You Making The Most Of Now?

A few months ago I came across a song that made me stop and think. It’s not the greatest song ever, and it’s not the deepest song ever, but it has some thought-provoking lines and an upbeat tune, and sometimes that’s all it takes to rock my world.

Watch (or just listen to) this video. After that, I’ve got a question for you.

SUCH A TIME

My question is this: Do you make the most of every day?

In the first verse, Adams states,

“Some make it happen and they make the most, and some get shot down, forced to close…as long as I’ve got this breath to breathe, I’ve gotta get to livin’ my legacy…”

When you get to work on a Friday, is the above thought your mindset? Or is it simply a matter of “only a few more hours until the weekend?” When Monday rolls around, do you walk in the door to “live your legacy,” or are you simply hoping to survive the week?

The song’s title is “Such A Time.” The chorus simply states, “For such a time as this…right here, for such a time…”

This is a time when anybody with a blog or a Twitter account can change the world. So…will you take advantage of such a time as this, or simply spend your life “surviving each week?”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m doomed, I wanna give up, wanna go home soon… I lose my faith and jump off the track, don’t wanna wait I’d rather overreact now… Think ‘bout the next man and his joys and prize, and lose my voice and forfeit my pride…render me useless in a world of wax, but deep down I know I’m not all about that, no.”

I'm not really all about that either. How about you?

What do you do to keep your excitement and passion high? Is it the clients you work with, the projects you undertake, or simply the people you interact with on a daily basis? I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter.

NOTE: This post was originally posted on my work blog at www.thedeepbench.com.

-Mike

Via Plinky: What I just found in my backyard that I'm so excited about...(though 'tis only a dream...)

My latest plink on a prompt that took me about 1.2 seconds to answer and needed no revisions whatsoever. My happiness and joy in its purest form, with no hesitation.

Marvel comic books. Old ones. From the 60s and 70s. A whole stash of them, buried in some kids 7th grade time capsule and clearly long-since forgotten. It's filled with various copies of early Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Avengers comics from a time when comics were pure and characters were being shaped and molded into the eternally-living icons they have now become. Heroes at a time when the world needed heroes, and humans at a time when heroes needed a touch of humanity. The wonder and awe of my childhood wrapped into the yellowing pages of modern mythology.



They may not be metal themselves, but I'm glad that kid left them in a metal container. Good work, little metal detector...

Fascinating Story: "The Amazing! Incredible! Uncanny Oral History of Marvel Comics"

It should be no surprise whatsoever that I love Marvel Comics. I do. Very much. I believe I've made that apparent over the past two or three years, both on this blog and on Twitter.

That said, this story/article/oral history of Marvel Comics is fascinating to me. I first came across it via Ryan Penagos (@Agent_M on Twitter), but it's certainly worth the read if you A) like comic books or B) enjoy reading the history of a company that rose to greatness, fell into bankruptcy and internal strife and disruption and rose from the ashes (like it's own Phoenix character), as told by the creators and editors that lived it themselves.

Tons of great quotes, but two of my favorites are here (from article writer Sean T. Collins)...

"While artists like Kirby and Steve Ditko added personal style and psychedelic flourishes to Lee’s soap-operatic stories, Lee became an in-demand speaker on campuses and a fixture in the comics’ letters column, painting Marvel as one big, happy family fans were welcome to join."

...and this (not necessarily good quote) from Executive Editor Tom Brevoort about Marvel at its peak...

"Everyone had expense accounts. Christmas parties became decadent affairs—the
hotel in Grand Central Station, big ice sculptures of Spider-Man, crazy DJs in a
control room like Professor X. It was an insane spectacle of excess."

The story does a great job of reflecting both the good and the bad, and it's seriously worth reading.

Here's the link one more time. Enjoy: http://www.maxim.com/humor/stupid-fun/83588/amazing-incredible-uncanny-oral-history-marvel-comics.html?p=1

On a final note, here's my favorite recent comic book image. It's a cover from an upcoming Captain America comic by Leinil Yu...

Do you find solutions (or just complain about problems)?

I used to live in College Station, Texas. I now live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Consequently, I don’t often run into old friends up here in Sioux Falls. So when my friend from College Station said his roommate’s band was playing in Sioux Falls and he was going to travel up with them, my excitement grew.

As a result, I ended up at Nutty’s North on Wednesday night to hang out with my long-lost friend and hear his roommate’s band (Flawless Escape…which was awesome) and a more nationally-renowned band called Flyleaf (which also rocked).

And then I realized something. I’m a hypocrite.

I often find myself complaining that I don’t particularly feel like there’s a “lot of stuff to do” in Sioux Falls. That, after having lived in larger “college towns,” the Sioux Falls landscape isn’t really aimed at engaging the 18-24 year old demographic in which I currently fall. That I wish I were in a city like Minneapolis or another place full of ways to have fun.

Here’s the hypocrisy: I’m not trying to change things. I’m not trying to make a difference. I’m simply complaining about a situation I’m fully capable of changing/adjusting. It’s just easier not to.

How often do we as marketing and social media strategists fall into that trap? How often do we complain that “We could do that campaign so much better!” or ask ourselves “What were they thinking when they made that ad?”

But do we follow that up by going out and changing things? Do we ever step up and say, “Their campaign is awful…let’s show them how we can do it better!”?

Because, until we’ve done that, we’re all just being hypocrites.

I mentioned earlier that I went to a concert Wednesday night. I’ll openly admit that I would have NEVER gone to the show if my buddy wouldn’t have been in town. But, while I may complain about a “lack of ways to have fun,” it’s obvious that this city has plenty of opportunities to provide for a fun night. It’s just a matter of whether I choose to whine about the limitations or choose to take advantage of (or create) those opportunities.

Learn from my mistake. Don’t be a hypocrite. Come up with solutions rather than complaints. That’s when change happens. That’s when we up the ante and transform the industry in a positive way.

And that freakin’ rocks.

How about you? Have you seen opportunities to improve (rather than complain) and then taken advantage of those opportunities? Have you done something fun lately that you had never done before and care to recommend it? Disagree with the post entirely? Let me know by leaving a comment below or hitting me up on Twitter.

-Mike

P.S. - Here's some video footage from Flawless Escape's performance at Nutty's North (straight killing it, fo sho)...



P.P.S. - That sick photo is by Barry Dolton.

P.P.P.S. - This post, written by me, was originally posted on my work blog at Deep Bench.

Impossible Captcha

Can anybody tell me what the first word in this Captcha is? Because...seriously...

This is one that just came up for me on Facebook about 3 minutes ago. Like I said...seriously?

Latest Plink: Why 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' was kind of a letdown...

Here's my latest Plink. It's on a topic I don't frequently discuss/judge/critique, but I wanted to answer the question. If you disagree, let me know. I'd love to chat about it. Leave me a comment or hit me up on Twitter at @mikebilleter. Anyway, here's the "movie that disappointed me"...

I'd come to expect a lot from the Indiana Jones series. The originals were some of the first "adult-themed" movies that my parents let me watch as a kid, so I've always had fond memories of borrowing my dad's VHS tapes and watching the movies over and over. The airplane propeller scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark is forever ingrained in my memory.



I also loved the Temple of Doom (even though many people don't) because it just ended up being the one I watched the most. Monkey brains, voodoo dolls, fire pits...it was as intense as any 8 year old could handle. I loved that.



Then when I heard they were making a new one, I was skeptical but excited. I'm by no means a film snob, so if there's action and some humor and some fun, it's hard for me not to be happy with it. Coming from a comic book nerd, you take your lumps as far as "bad movies" (Daredevil...which I didn't even hate, but lots of people did) and "good movies" (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk) go. I've come to expect that sense of needing to suspend belief so that, even if the movie is fantastical and unrealistic in the grand scheme of things, it can still be enjoyable.



But...watching guinea pig-sized ants and Caddyshack-esque gophers communicate like characters from a Disney/Pixar film and watching Indiana Jones survive a nuclear blast after being launched through the air at breakneck speeds in a 1950s REFRIGERATOR was just too much for me to handle.



I'm aware that voodoo dolls and arks full of demonic spirits that melt Nazi's faces off are by no means realistic, but at least the old films had the benefit of my childhood awe and mystification to help make them fun.



This one just seemed forced and paled in comparison to my hopeful expectations. I can only suspend disbelief so much (I mean...I actually enjoyed "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer"), but this one just pushed me too far in the off-put direction.



So, I'm certainly no film critic, but that's my response to this Plinky prompt. Sorry George Lucas and Steven Spielberg...I'm sure you're both crushed. I would be too.

Sioux Falls: A Creative Scene Poised for National Success?

Have you ever been to Sioux Falls, South Dakota?

If you haven't, you're missing out.

Let me repeat that. If you haven't been to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you're missing out.

Let's back this up a bit. In a New York Times story Sunday (July 12, 2009), the Times talked about the thriving creative community of Minneapolis and their efforts to unite a large number of their creative agencies in order to better highlight the creative talent Minneapolis features. Another interesting element to this movement is the fact that they are also going to emphasize this newfound unity in a website called "MinneADpolis, the City of Advertising" (http://www.minneadpolis.com/).

That's all information you can get from the Times story, so read that when you have a chance. But there's more to it than just the fact that they're working together to make things happen...

Minneapolis is tired of being overlooked as a hot spot and hub for the creative marketing, advertising and PR industry. There are numerous worldwide agencies located in Minneapolis producing great work every single day (and plenty of smaller shops creating equally impressive work, locally and nationally). Frankly, many of these agencies feel they are getting glossed over by people assuming the only good creative work comes out of New York, California and Chicago.

Now that's all fine and good. City pride, pride in local work and agencies, etc. Sure that's important. But what's more important is this:

They're actually DOING something about it.

Keep in mind, this isn't some happy-go-lucky, "we're all friends here" realm of rainbows and sunshine. These are all companies who directly compete for local clients as well as national and worldwide clients. Whether it's the larger firms going for larger clients across the country or the smaller agencies who are aiming high for those same large clients (as well as smaller, local clients), these 27 squads certainly have a reason to ruthlessly fight for every client they can get.

But they also recognize that connecting and working together will do more for their own agencies, their regional advertising and creative community, and the city of Minneapolis as a whole than they can achieve trying to scrap it out as individuals against NYC, Chi-Town, Cali and other major advertising markets.

Will there be problems? Probably. Will there be substantial success in the long run? Most likely. Is the creative community of Minneapolis attempting to do something that could change the game for "smaller" creative communities across the nation?

Yes.

Which brings us back to the beginning.

Sioux Falls is a fantastic place. Not only did CNN rank Sioux Falls as the 45th Best Place to Live and Launch in 2009 (citing that "it costs an estimated 45% less to open a business here than in New York"), but it's also been named Forbes' #1 "Best Small Place For Business And Careers"... FIVE years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).

More importantly, between the stellar freelance community and strong presence of talented agencies, Sioux Falls is home to some of the most creative minds in this country (not region...country). I know I'm a little biased, but I genuinely believe there is an overwhelming number of extremely talented creative people who could do amazing work for major companies nationwide if given the opportunity. Yes, that was a ton of adjectives. They were all sincere.

So what's the point? Well, as we in this region know, the Sioux Falls creative community is a competitive community. We want to do the best work for the best people and companies here. We want to do great campaigns for the biggest clients on the eastern side of the state, the western side of the state and everywhere in between.

I just wonder, if we work together a little bit more, whether we could be doing great campaigns for the biggest clients in the country.

Do I think we'll be forming a "South DakotAD" group tomorrow and have national clients pour in by the dozens? No.

But we here at Deep Bench are willing to get the bus rolling now. Drop us a line if you want to come along for the ride and help us make our great creative community even greater.

After all...I did say that if you haven't been to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you're missing out. It's up to us to make the rest of the world realize how true that is.



What do you think? Does Sioux Falls have a chance to become a national hub of creative work from creative agencies? Are we destined to forever be considered a "smaller market" compared to other major cities? Share your thoughts below in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

(Note: This post was originally posted on my work blog at http://www.thedeepbench.com/.

Photos by jennlynndesign.

Requirement #1 for a good day: Waking up

Here's a list of my requirements for a good day. It's short and sweet and awesome.

Waking up
That's all it takes. After I wake up, I have it within myself to make the rest of it a good day or not. I typically choose to do that. Make it a good day, that is. I don't exactly choose to wake up.

(Optional) Listen to music
My iPod is basically a prosthetic limb in regard to my attachment to it, as far as I'm concerned. It's full of beautiful, beautiful songs and sounds for me to enjoy, so 99% of the time, just turning it on and hitting play is enough to put me in the right place for the rest of the day. While it's not *essential* to my happiness during a day, it certainly doesn't do anything to make my day any worse.

Why I Can't Stand "A Case Of The Mondays"

If you’ve ever worked one single Monday in your life, it’s possible (and probable) that you’ve heard – or used – the expression “a case of the Mondays” to explain a bad mood on a Monday morning.

I can’t stand that.

Call me crazy, call me closed-minded, call me unsympathetic (or just call me reasonable), but it drives me insane to think that people let something as completely intangible as a certain day of the week determine their mood and attitude for 24 hours.

I’ll admit there’s a difference between having a bad day that is coincidentally on a Monday and an actual “case of the Mondays.” That’s understandable. But am I the only person that goes crazy when a conversation with a person on Monday morning transpires like this? –

Me: “Hey, how’s it going today?”

Person: “Eh, it’s Monday…”

Me: (While internally shaking my head and repressing near-violent anger) “Alright, well…I hope it gets better for you.”

Person: “Oh, it’s just a case of the Mondays. Things should be better tomorrow.”

Wait, what?!

You’re going to spend an entire day being in a bad mood based on the logic that it’s the first day to your work week? Seriously? Is EVERY weekend you spend that magnificent that it makes you dread your entire first day back to work? You’re going to let one day bring a depressing and dreary attitude into the workplace, to infect everyone with your negative, “my environment controls my attitude” outlook on life?

Uh-uh. No way. Leave that garbage at home. That’s what I say. You have a chance to make every Monday an exciting and opportunistic day for you if you choose to make it happen. Mondays are a fresh chance to kick off a great week and spread an “I plan to enjoy my day (and make it productive)” approach to everyone in your office. Why pass up that opportunity only to replace it with negativity? If you can give me one good reason, I just might retract this post and apologize for my errors. And maybe shave my head or something crazy.

Bottom line: This post was inspired by a Twitter offer from a coffee shop in Sioux Falls (which has been very, very good to the Deep Bench crew) called Coffea: “50% off drinks today for anyone with a ‘case of the Mondays.’” the tweet read. I love their approach. I love that they are using Twitter to create a tribal experience (Seth Godin-style) of insider information. Like a secret password or handshake that actually provides value to customers. I love that.

But I don’t love “cases of the Mondays.” So I walked in, and asked if I "could still have a discount, even if I consider a case of the Mondays to be a good thing." The response? “You know, if you think Mondays are a good thing, then I think you definitely deserve a 50% discount.”

I’ll say this: I respect and appreciate Coffea’s attempt to make everybody’s Monday a little bit better with a 50% discount (and I respect them even more for doing it with a social media approach). In fact, I’d even say that falls into Deep Bench’s “Do Good” aspect of our organization’s “Work. Play. Do Good.” mantra.

I just wish the rest of the world would try to approach Mondays with a slightly more optimistic outlook. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I think wishful thinking is the small push that helps start turning the gears of change. So, from now on, I’m going to try to spread my “Positive Case of the Mondays” approach by sharing some positive thoughts, concepts, and probably music on Mondays just to add a little optimism to the mix and maybe create a little change.

Because really, why would you want to let an outside force like the day of the week affect your chance to enjoy an entire day’s worth of opportunities for success?

It’s that kind of attitude that almost…almost gives me a case of the Mondays.

If you agree or disagree with my mindset or analysis on cases of the Mondays, let me know in the comments below or drop me a line on Twitter at @mikebilleter. Although it’s unlikely, it’s possible I'm wrong, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with me.

[Editor's Note: This post was originally written for and posted on my work blog at Deep Bench.]

How Would You Spend Time With Your Idol?

If I haven't mentioned it on here before, I fell in love with The Gaslight Anthem about 10 months ago when Marvel Comics' Ryan Penagos (@Agent_M on Twitter) tweeted about their awesomeness and inspired me to pick up their (at the time) new album, "The '59 Sound." I then proceeded to listen to said album a few times a week for about 7 months straight. In fact, it hasn't left my car's 6-disc changer since I loaded it in there last August.

Beyond the obvious reasons that I enjoy them, such as their talent, their passion, and their overall sound, I also love the fact that I had frequently compared them to "Bruce Springsteen if he sang for a somewhat punk-rock band" only to later discover that he is, in reality, probably their biggest influence, that they actually grew up within a half hour of his hometown, and that they've mentioned their admiration and respect for him in numerous interviews and spotlights.

So I can't even begin to imagine how awesome this must've been for them:


the 59 sound - bruce springsteen & gaslight anthem( glasto )
by runawaydream

I mean...wow... The video came my way, unsurprisingly, courtesy of Agent M, and according to their website, "The Gaslight Anthem were also honored to have Bruce Springsteen ask to perform "The '59 Sound" with them during their set at Glastonbury too." I'd be shocked to hear that their response was anything other than "YES YES SWEET JESUS YES!"

My question is this: If you could spend one day doing whatever you wanted to do with someone you consider to be an "idol" or "influence" in your life, who would you spend that time with and how would you spend it? I'm not saying my official answer would be spending some time with Stan Lee talking comics - I'd like to spend a bit more time thinking about it before I make an official decision - but it's hard for me to think of a better choice off the top of my head.

So...who would be your "Do something with your idol" choice? Share your thoughts in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter at @mikebilleter. Look forward to seeing your guys' answers.

The Shaq Effect: Just how influential is the Big Cactus?

So…the Oprah Effect. You’ve heard of it. How much she - and other celebrities - are affecting the social media realm. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing can be discussed in other places, but one thing’s for sure…it’s definitely a “thing” and it should not be ignored.

Take, for example, “The Shaq Effect.” The argument could be made, in fact, that the Shaq Effect served as the precursor to the Oprah Effect. His engagement with fans via Twitter and his Facebook Fan Page led to all kinds of buzz and excitement as his follower numbers skyrocketed and he enjoyed interacting with his adoring public.

But how can you really measure something like The Shaq Effect? Sure you could use detailed metrics of Twitter number increases and Fan Page fan statistics, but that’s way too boring and scientific. We’re going to go with something way cooler and more fun: screen shots and videos. Hooray!

Here’s the situation: At 10:40 p.m. CT, on the night of Tuesday, June 23^rd, Shaq tweeted this:

The video he’s tweeting about can be seen below. As the screen shot shows, it had about 340 views at the time of the tweet. That’s not bad. (Screenshot first, then video below that)

(Here's the video itself...)

Being the studious and curious thinker I am, I made a point to check back in at exactly 10:40 this morning. Here’s the number of views, exactly 12 hours after Shaq’s tweet:

And now, as of the time that this post was created, the view numbers are almost 35,000.

So…did the numbers spike so rapidly due to the video itself simply being awesome, or is it the fact that Shaq’s network of 1,372,200 people (at the time) rushed to view a video that inspired Shaq to want to play a guy in a game of horse for $1,000 (many of whom probably then shared it with THEIR networks)? Bearing in mind that the video had been posted since June 11 and only had 340 views in almost 2 weeks, I’m guessing Shaq had a bit to do with the view number increase of over 5,000% in a 12-hour span. Obviously there's more to this equation than page view numbers in the bottom corner of a YouTube screen, but this was simply meant to be an observation that happened to morph into a blog post.

Our question is this - Could any Twitter celebrity have made that happen or is it the sheer numbers behind the army of Shaq Twitter followers that made it happen? If Gary Vaynerchuk had thrown it out there to his 566,000+ followers, would the video views still have jumped to 20,000? If Chris Brogan had shared it with his almost 80,000 followers would his followers (and their networks) have gotten the video 20,000 views? On the flip side, would Ellen DeGeneres’s network of 2,100,000+ followers have taken the video to 40,000 views?

Or would simply landing on the front page of Digg have been all it needed to get there? Are you at all surprised that Shaq’s network didn’t get the video MORE than 20,000 views?

All of these many questions are questions that we’re currently debating in the office, so we figured we'd see what you have to say. We’d love to hear your thoughts, so fill us in on your views in the comments section below or on Twitter at @deepbench.

P.S. - We'd love to hear your favorite Shaqalicious nickname while you're at it, so let us know. Big Cactus, Big Diesel, Big Jabberwocky, Big Aristotle (my personal favorite) or one of the dozens of others?

UPDATE: As of a few hours after we posted this highly detailed analysis (around 6:00 on June 24th), it appears Shaq has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to TechCrunch, it's possible he found out about this trade via Twitter. On a side note, it is this writer's fear that, when Shaq gets to Cleveland, the potential combination of his HUGE personality combined with LeBron James' equally outgoing personality could cause the entire city of Cleveland to explode from a fun, passion, and excitement overload. Things could get crazy, folks.

Editor's note - This content was originally posted (by me) on my work blog at http://www.thedeepbench.com/.

Auto-Tune the News #5 (Trust me...it's brilliant...)

This makes me so glad that I was able to hang out with this crew (The Gregory Brothers) for a weekend. Because they are absolutely awesome.

Watch it. Love it. Share it. You know you want to. And while we're at it, watch my all-time favorite below.

Also, here's their website: www.thegregorybrothers.com

Real Life Street Fighter Car Destruction Bonus Round

Because, really...who didn't want to at least try this in real life after playing Super Street Fighter II?



Sorry if the embed doesn't show all the way. Just click the video and watch it on YouTube if that's the case. Hat tip to @RichGinter for the find on this one...

Are YouTube videos the website of the future?

As firm believers in an innovation-focused approach when it comes to projects and campaigns, we were thoroughly impressed when we stumbled across the new BooneOakley website. Why? Because they are clearly bold enough to take a game-changing approach as far as corporate websites go. For the record, by website, we mean, YouTube video...website…thing. If you want to see what we’re talking about, take a look at the embedded video below and then read up on what this means for the future of websites and interactively engaging your audience.

It’s not easy to be one of the first to embrace a new effort. But based on some of their ad campaigns, it’s obvious that BooneOakley lives in the realm of telling stories through video. So why not embrace that medium with a website dedicated to telling a story through video? It’s a prime example of understanding where your talents lie and taking them to the next level.

Although there will definitely be people who A) Don’t understand this “website” and B) Don’t like this “website,” we definitely expect to see more and more of this type of effort in the future from other companies and agencies.

According to our Head Coach Hugh Weber, “You can go through a hundred agency sites and see 99 of them that are exactly the same. It’s another unique approach to ‘What is a website?’ A website doesn't have to be static HTML, it’s whatever you want it to be. I love that level of interactivity.”

Our question is this: what are your thoughts? Were you impressed with this new approach to an interactive “website?” Did you find it to be confusing or too different from the norm, or did you really enjoy it the same way we did? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below or hit us up on Twitter at @deepbench.

(Editors note: This post, written by me, was originally featured on my work blog over at http://www.thedeepbench.com/. Just so you know.)

So you can execute...but what's your strategy?

A few days ago, I came across this great post from Valeria Maltoni on her blog, Conversation Agent. The post discusses the importance of execution. In fact, her intro sentence pretty much summarizes the post perfectly: “There's no amount of marketing budgets or number of social media networks you can throw at a product if what you're doing is executed poorly.” I absolutely agree with that sentiment.

But here’s my question. What if what you’re executing – the campaign itself – really isn’t that great in the first place? As PR-Squared mentioned in their recent “Uncampaigning” post, “even if you enjoyed their clever launch into the Social Media sphere, when was the last time you visited skittles.com?” Sure you can execute something and execute it well, but what if, in the long run, your lack of strategy does nothing more than create some momentary excitement.

Enter Seth Godin.

Although his post “Challenging convention” isn’t solely focused on this exact topic, an applicable assessment from him regarding the reason behind changing something just to change it is this: “Sure, you could invent a new kind of handshake or a new pricing structure. But if it catches on, do you win? Is it at the core of your business model?”

In my mind, that’s a great example of execution without strategy. Sure you can execute a plan. But what is the purpose of that plan? Why invest the hours in an attention-grabbing effort if the eventual results aren’t a part of your campaign’s core focus? If you aren’t utilizing a strategy, how do you even know what that core focus is in the first place?

To conclude, I’ll leave you with this example of execution without strategy…

In a recent Wired.com article titled “Homebrewed CPU Is a Beautiful Mess of Wires," they share the story of a man who, over an 18-month period of time, custom-designed and built his own 8-bit computer (think early Atari level capabilities) by meticulously connecting 1,253 pieces of wire to a wire-wrap board. It makes for a fun story and his creation will be featured at a “do-it-yourself technology” expo, but after putting all that work into this project (think "campaign" if it makes more sense), this is his closing thought:

“Why did I do all this?” he says. “I don’t know. But it has been a lot of fun.”

Although it may be ok for a guy working on a fun project in his spare time, it’s not ok to take that approach with clients who are paying you to execute with a strategy in mind (maybe along the lines of that aforementioned Skittles.com 2-day campaign). So make sure that when your next big idea or concept pops into your head, you take some time to plan a strategy around it before you execute. Your clients will thank you.

What do you think? Is execution the key to success? Is strategy the only way to make sure things are done right? If you think it’s a combination of the two, which brands or companies do you feel have done a good job of making both of them work in conjunction? Share your thoughts in the comments section below (preferably with a strategy behind them) or hit me up on Twitter at @mikebilleter.

(Editors note: This post, written by me, was originally featured on my work blog over at http://www.thedeepbench.com/. Just so you know.)

Are You A "Rock Star" In Your Customers' Eyes?

(This post, written by me, was first published on my work blog over at www.thedeepbench.com. I figured I'd share it here as well. Enjoy. Hopefully.)

Ask yourself this question: “Do our customers consider us to be rock stars?” If you aren’t sure what I’m asking, watch Intel’s “Our rock stars aren’t like your rock stars” commercial, then read why the question matters.

Beyond just being funny, this commercial's message is deeper than it appears. Although it’s obviously overdone to add the element of humor (unless people really do wear shirts with Ajay’s photo screen-printed on them), the fact of the matter is that Intel uses the spot to distinguish its employees from employees in other fields. Although there are a large number of people in the world who don’t have any idea who Ajay Bhatt is, those that do know who he is most likely recognize and respect what he’s accomplished. And those same people are the ones working hard (for Intel) to create, innovate and become “rock stars” like him someday (in order to make life better for YOU, the consumer).

The question I ask is this. What are you doing to become a “rock star” to your customers or clients?

If you own a restaurant, how are you working to elevate your status from “that place makes decent hamburgers” to “SERIOUSLY…You have GOT to try these burgers!”? (Hint - It takes more than good food for the customer to have an amazing experience...)

If you run a retail business, what are you doing to take your customers from “I got my stereo here, but it’s cheaper to get it at Wal-Mart” to the point where they tell friends and family, “The customer service at [your store] was UNBELIEVABLE! It may not have been the cheapest place to get my stereo, but they were so great that I wouldn’t take my business anywhere else.”?

Basically, how are you engaging your customers or clients and making yourself (or your brand) a “rock star” in their eyes? If you’re not working to achieve that level of connection and engagement, why aren’t you? Frankly, if you’re able to answer the question “How is what we're doing making our customers' lives better?”, then you’re probably on the path to stardom in their eyes. If you can't answer that question, then you might want to develop a strategy to get yourself on the right path for rock star success.

Because honestly, wouldn't you rather be the rock star than the opening act?

What do you think? Which companies or brands do you feel are the rock stars in your life? Who do you know you can consistently rely on to give you a great experience? Who could do better? Let us know in the comments section below or hit us up on Twitter at @deepbench.

BBC Blast Studio: Control Machines in London (From Your Computer!)

Have you ever wanted to control machines in a random room in London?

Well now you can! Courtesy of BBC’s Blast Studio, you can control one of four artistic devices (via your computer) that respond your keyboard commands in real time. (Here's a screenshot for you so you can see what I'm talking about...)

Want to play a song on a set of hanging colored lights that light up and make a musical tone when you type the corresponding key? Do it!

Want to decorate a wall with paints that you control? Do it!

Want to type a message and have it print out on paper inside the studio to be saved forever (barring any disastrous fires or floods in London)? Do it!

Want to drop goops of paint on some randomly big spinning thing in the middle of the room? Do it.

You control the room. From your computer. Very far away. If you don’t think this is fascinating and awesome, let me know why you aren’t impressed. That’s not meant to be said in a challenging tone, I’m just curious as to what people do/don’t like about it. I think it’s got great potential as projects like this down the line continue to grow and flourish. I mean, you’re controlling machines from your own computer at home. And they’re in LONDON!

Beyond being just cool as a concept, what does this mean for companies and brands down the line? Are there companies that could use this type of technology to better engage fans or customers? Is this the next step in the process of letting customers personalize their brand experiences? I’ve got a few thoughts but would love to hear yours. Let me know in the comments section or hit me up on Twitter at @mikebilleter.

Is YOUR passion contagious? (What I learned at Big Omaha...)

When you think of tech and innovation conferences, it’s likely that the first place that comes to mind isn’t the Midwest. While Silicon Valley and the East Coast seem to be hot spots for those types of gatherings, we Midwesterners had a chance to gather for an awesome and exciting event in a place much closer to home than usual: Omaha, Nebraska.

For the millions of you East and West Coast readers who don’t travel much to our humble Midwest region, try to contain your snickers and smiles. While it may not be New York City or Los Angeles, Omaha has plenty of action and excitement of its own. This action and excitement was encapsulated in last Thursday and Friday’s FANTASTIC event known as Big Omaha.

Featuring some unbelievable guest speakers, top-notch facilities and rockin’ pre/post parties, Big Omaha’s goal was simple: “What happens when the country’s foremost creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators descend on one place? That place explodes. Which is precisely what we plan for Omaha…The energy will be impossible to contain. We will begin building communities, companies and friendships. We will inspire new thoughts and completely new ways of thinking. We will develop visions: personal, shared, and civic.”

They succeeded. Big time. With some unbelievable presenters sharing their thoughts on entrepreneurship (or Jason Fried’s dislike of the word entrepreneurship), success and failure (or Jason’s disdain for the concept of failing early and often) and how to maintain your company’s culture as your environment changes around you, as well as a glimpse of the fun and energy of Omaha’s community and the people that represent it, Big Omaha proved that the Midwest can be just as innovative and tech-savvy as any other region of the U.S.

Beyond the great speakers themselves (Gary Vaynerchuk, Micah Baldwin, Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Jason Fried, Micah Laaker, Ben Rattray, and Adriana Gascoigne), the guys putting on the conference (Jeff Slobotski and Dusty Davidson) did an unbelievable job of providing a great conference environment, engaging people with fun pre- and post-event parties, and keeping the show running as smoothly as a freshly-zambonied hockey rink.

Although I could take time trying to recap what it was that the speakers said (or, for more humor, I could recap my first lesson in driving a stick shift from the Omaha airport to downtown Omaha…which was a self-taught lesson, mind you), I’d rather focus on what I feel is the most important element of Big Omaha, and that is this:

If you believe in the creative community of your region and you believe that your region has plenty to offer the rest of the world, you can build an extremely strong and engaging event to reflect the brainpower and passion of your creative community.

Don’t think small!

Don’t think that because you live in a (relatively) smaller community, you can’t make BIG things happen. Dusty and Jeff felt like they could truly represent the passion of Omaha’s creative community and they did so with abundant success.

And I don’t mean that strictly in the sense of building a conference either. I’m talking about it in any form of life or business. There is NO client or project too big for you if you truly have the desire to work with someone great or do something amazing.

It’s up to you. Big Omaha proved that. Every speaker at the conference shared how he or she was blown away by what Omaha had to offer. But here’s the important part: if Jeff and Dusty hadn’t brought their passion to this project, those speakers probably might not have ever known Omaha had so much to offer.

That’s what you can do. Bring your passion to the table every single day. Show the world that you love what you do and that your passion is contagious. How could someone NOT want to work with a team of people completely thrilled with and invigorated by what they’re doing?

Big Omaha wasn’t just about Omaha. It was about taking your passion and turning it into everyone’s passion. From the people of Omaha themselves to the many visitors from around the country, it seemed like just about everybody was ready to up and move to Omaha by the time Friday night rolled around. How can you build that kind of excitement for your brand or your clients?

Most importantly, how can you build and maintain that passion for yourself?

P.S. - If you want to see some awesome photos from Big Omaha, check out our friend Aaron Mentele's shots in his flickr photostream. As soon as the videos from the event are up online, we'll link to those as well.

Did you go to Big Omaha last week? Share your thoughts on the event in the comments section below. What did you enjoy? What could have been done better? What did you learn from the experience? If you weren’t there, why do you wish you could have been? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so drop us your insight below or hit us up on Twitter at @deepbench (or hit me up personally at @mikebilleter).

From a Fiesta Agent understudy: How Ford's doing it right...

Doing something unique is fun. Doing something really unique is really fun. And doing something that only about 120 other people in the entire United States get to do is just flat-out wicked awesome.

Luckily, last Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to be a part of Ford’s “Fiesta Movement.” No, I didn’t win one of the cars (which would have led to an entirely different post…probably just a video of me screaming and shouting for joy), but I DO happen to have a boss who DID happen to win a car. And, seeing as the 10+ hour drive from Denver isn’t all that fun on one's own, I was fortunate enough to have a boss who wanted me out there to help him film, stay awake on the drive back to Sioux Falls, and do all of the other cool things that assistant-ish employees get to do.

After an early morning journey with boring details, I eventually found myself in Denver, meeting up with Hugh and the other 7 or so “Fiesta Agents” who were preparing to go see their cars for the first time. After a lengthy drive out of the city, we pulled up to the raceway where the cars were waiting for their respective Agents. Hugh’s excitement at finally meeting Ruby (his name for his Fiesta……yeah…I know…) was like a kid who just found out Christmas was happening every day for six months. I couldn’t have punched the smile off his face. And I’ve got really strong fists (that’s me on the left…)

Needless to say, Ford did it right. Nothing around but racetrack and open air, and a set of brand new cars begging their owners to sit down inside them (and probably literally begging, because these Fiestas are the smartest cars ever…it’s almost creepy…more on that later…). After the initial introductions, Hugh handed out the soon-to-be iconic “Fiesta Hugh” shirts (crafted by none other than Deep Bench’s own up-and-coming graphic design phenom, Andrew Brynjulson (Bren-yool-son)), which you can see in the image below.

And then it got even more awesome. After a quick instructional session on the cars themselves, the Fiesta Agents got to take their babies out on the speedway track. Although the maximum speed limit was 55 mph, the curves on the course were insanely tight and they managed to make 55 feel like 85. Although I can’t drive a stick shift, Hugh absolutely dominated his test runs like he was Jeff Gordon himself (or whichever NASCAR racer is relevant these days).

After it was all said and done, we were on the road back to Sioux Falls, and that’s a different story for a different post. For a sample of what’s on the way, here’s this photo:

Onto the point of this post… I was extremely impressed with Ford’s ability to make this Fiesta Movement a true social media campaign throughout the entire day. Although there are a few (necessary) rules and restrictions, I was blown away with how open everything was to filming and photography. I was loaded up with two video cameras and one photography camera, and I was never once asked to put them down or turn them off. Whether it was instructional sessions or video-recording conversations between agents and the marketing crew, I was never restricted from taking photos or footage. They’re perfectly willing to let this be a living, breathing social media effort, relatively out of their control.

In my opinion, Ford is taking big steps (and potentially big risks) to ensure that it’s on the forefront of online/social media marketing efforts. This isn’t a crafted and scripted series of videos and tweets that Ford’s invested in to get positive brand recognition. These are real people, doing real things, with the only rules being don’t break the law and don’t destroy your car.

Oh, and share it with the whole world.

It’ll be a blast to see where this goes (mostly because I hope to be going along with Hugh and Ruby wherever it all goes). I have a feeling the Secret Missions and subsequent adventures will be a lot of fun. Luckily, Ford’s willing to let you be there every step of the way too.

What do you think? Do you think Ford’s taking the right steps by putting its brand in the hands of customers for the world to see? Would you rather see a different campaign or strategy from Ford rather than the Fiesta Movement? Let me know your thoughts and I’ll pass them along to Hugh. With no restrictions, we’re willing to try just about anything, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see!

And here are some more pictures of the journey: