Balcom Agency

Seth Godin posted this list today of questions any business should consider before spending money on a new website. I'm going to print out this list and take it to every new business meeting I'm in. Answering these questions up front saves time and money. It also assures that the final product will be exactly what the client wanted.

• What is the goal of the site?
• In other words, when it's working great, what specific outcomes will occur?
• Who are we trying to please? If it's the boss, what does she want? Is impressing a certain kind of person important? Which kind?
• How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level?
• Who are we trying to reach? Is it everyone? Our customers? A certain kind of prospect?
• What are the sites that this group has demonstrated they enjoy interacting with?
• Are we trying to close sales?
• Are we telling a story?
• Are we earning permission to follow up?
• Are we hoping that people will watch or learn?
• Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
• Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
• Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
• Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to people?
• Is the site part of a larger suite of places online where people can find out about us, or is this our one sign post?
• Is that information high in bandwidth or just little bits of data?
• Do we want people to call us?
• How many times a month would we like people to come by? For how long?
• Who needs to update this site? How often?
• How often can we afford to overhaul this site?
• Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms? At what cost? Will we be willing to compromise any of the things above in order to achieve this goal?
• Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
• How much money do we have to spend? How much time?
• And finally, does the organization understand that 'everything' is not an option?

I'd recommend adding Seth's blog to your RSS feed. It's a great resource for technology and marketing info. Have a good weekend everybody!

You're dismissed.

I remember being underwhelmed by talking greeting cards (sorry Mom!), but I think this is pretty cool: CBS has embedded a video into a magazine! They call it the "first-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion."

I can't imagine this becoming too commonplace (for cost reasons and lack of volume control, where I read magazines, I would want the volume down...) but it's a surprising way to bring new life to an old medium, and a surprising new way to Rick Roll people!

Check out the article in WIRED.

You're dismissed.

What's the maddest you've ever been at a company? You ever felt cheated or insulted by a company and wished you could do something about it?

We've all felt that way, but most of us don't end up acting on that emotion. The problem is that in real-life David and Goliath stories, Goliath beats the tar out of David. Social media levels the playing field.

Dave Carroll, the lead singer of Sons of Maxwell, has done remarkable brand damage to United Airlines. Dave flew United to Nebraska when his $3500 Taylor guitar was destroyed by baggage handlers. Dave fought for nine months with customer service trying to get the situation resolved, but he was ultimately rejected. United offered him $1200 in flight vouchers to cover salvage cost, and Dave was furious.

So, he turned to YouTube. Dave vowed to create three music videos telling the story of how he was treated, and people have listened. On July 6, United Breaks Guitars hit the web. Today, it has more than five MILLION views. The second video release on Monday, you can watch it here.

Instances like these are becoming more common. Social media outlets like YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook empower us; they are filled with people expressing their displeasure with a company (just ask John about Ticketmaster).

These outlets allow every person and every company, no matter how small, to B seen and B heard. So what are people saying about your company?

You're dismissed.

The photo above shows the top terms being posted on Twitter immediately after the Lakers won the NBA Finals. If you don't know how to read a tag cloud, the larger a word appears the more people have posted it. Thousands and thousands of people posted "congratualtions" — far less people actually posted the correct spelling.

There are many arguments on how technology is making society collectively dumber, and many of them are valid. The information super highway that promised us the immediate ability to broaden our horizons and educate ourselves on countless subjects ironically did the exact opposite. It made us more vain and self-centered. We spend hours and hours updating our statuses and photos; we use the internet as a communications tool and demand instant gratification instead of taking the time to use it as a learning tool. This argument is detailed in Mark Bauerlein's book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)"

Part of me believes that this is essentially the same argument as "TV will rot your brain!" or "You kids turn off that Rock 'n Roll music, it's the devil!" — simple generational bickering. But I can't write it off that easily. There is no doubt in my mind that grammatical standards are slipping. Twitter and Facebook are packed with grammatical and style errors (txt msgs r 2, u know).

I'd like to know what you think. Old or young, please add your input in the comments field below.

You're dismissed.

Some songs just never get old no matter how many times you listen to them. Every time you play the song, you find a new reason to love it. I feel this way about my favorite song.

I tried to buy the song on iTunes, but for some reason it's not there. So I decided to make a ringtone instead! You're welcome. And dismissed.

I recently worked on the behind-the-scenes videos for the Real School Gardens website and the Alcon Pink Eye piece.

We were fortunate enough to be able to record in the AMAZING studio B at Studios 121. The people over there have a great setup, and they helped us out a ton. Will Raymond, the Senior Production Services Manager, even jumped in front of the green screen to help us set up the shot. After helping us out with a quick audio test, Will quickly regretted stepping in front of the camera. I can't imagine why.

To say thank you, I put together this little video of our friend Will that shows how we at the agency feel.

Check out Studios 121. They have impressive production stages and audio suites, as well as some of the most professional and helpful staff around.

You're dismissed.

I was giving blood the other day (willingly I mean...no vampire activity involved) and I struck up a conversation with Janelle, the nice lady stabbing my arm with a needle. I told her I worked in advertising, and she was immediately impressed. "My goodness! That must be exciting. On Bewitched, Darrin was in advertising."

After recovering from the timely cultural reference, I smiled and said "Yes ma'am, and that's exactly what advertising is like."

Advertising is a romanticized profession. Hollywood portrays advertising as a fast-paced, sexy profession and people like to picture it that way. So, I'm officially bringing the 'sexy' back to advertising. From now on, I'm gonna wear suits to the office everyday. I'm gonna drink scotch at lunch and scream at my imaginary assistant to take letters as I dictate.

So, dear coworkers, when you smell the cigar smoke from downstairs, I hope you give a little smile and remember, Scott's bringing it back.

You're dismissed.

Good video production is all about doing the little things right. It's about the details. Every frame is poured over to ensure the timing and flow is absolutely in sync. If even one dynamic is skewed, it can make the video seem off or incorrect.

Recently, MixMaster Mac and I collaborated to make the showcase video that is displayed in the Our Work section of the site. Video production, like anything worthwhile, takes time.

For the showcase video, MixMaster Mac and I worked countless hours creating the music for the site. The importance of music selection in video production cannot be overstated. It sets the mood and feel for the entire video and establishes a connection with the viewer.

To illustrate my point on the subtleties of video production, I have made a few minor changes to the showreel at the top of this post. See if you can catch the tweaks I made and see if you notice a different feel to the video.

To see the actual showcase, click here.

You're dismissed.

Unless you've been living under a rock (or Panhandle, Texas) you've probably heard some argument about Digital Rights Management (DRM). In case you haven't, DRM is basically content protection entertainment companies use to protect media from being pirated. However, it doesn't always work that way.

If you're anything like me, you go through phases of desired online media. Some weeks, you want to watch nothing but full episodes of LOST or The Office, some weeks you want short, random videos of dogs and babies (The Golden Reliever...heh). What you always want, however, is a fast download and a simple process. What you NEVER want to see, is a trademarked sad face telling me my $2,000 computer can't play a video.

I work in the interactive department at the ad agency, so I thought I'd check out TNT's new show "Trust Me". When I tried to watch the video, this is what I saw.

Seriously, that sad face is trademarked. Why in the world would that be trademarked?

I understand that TNT wants to protect its content, but when a user can't lawfully use that content something is wrong.

TNT has to understand that this is a bad policy. They're alienating an entire demographic – a vocal, tech-savvy, profitable demographic. I've never been pissed at a TV network before now (well, unless you count when TBS canceled Gumbel 2 Gumbel).

A user's experience online is a lot like a customer's experience at a restaurant – if the food was good (or online, the content) and the service was good (online, the usability) you're likely to come back to the site again or even recommend it to your friends. If I went to a restaurant and a waiter brought me a plate with a sad face drawn with ketchup, you can bet I'd be pissed.

So, TNT, I'm giving you up for a while. Don't even try to lure me with your 24 hours of A Christmas Story special – I'm not budging.

You're dismissed.