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Archive for March, 2009

March 31st, 2009

Cool Chameleon

This is where you think we’re going to write something profound but, we just like this creative YouTube video.

March 31st, 2009

Did you hear what he said!?

On any given day we can catch strangers talking about their crappy love/ work life while just standing in line at the grocery store, riding public transportation, or walking down the street. And, now in this great digital world of ours we have the ability to ease drop on stranger’s personal business just by logging on to the internet.

If you go to the site, FMyLife, you can view users sharing life’s everyday unfortunate moments such as, “Today, I was fired for “customer dissatisfaction”. I work in IT and have never met one of my company’s customers. FML.

For those of you on Twitter, you can follow SecretTweet to read 140 characters of anonymously posted secrets including such passages as, “I am embarrassed everyday that the only people who post on my Facebook/Twitter are my parents. Still, I update every day. 23 y/o male.

And, for all you New Yorkers, swing by the Overheard in New York site to catch some of the notable conversations happening around the city. For instance, this little toddler was heard throwing a tantrum over pickles.

Raucous blond toddler, shouting: I want pickles!

Harried young mother, shouting back even louder: We have pickles at home! I will give you pickles!

–Broadway & Bleecker

All these humorous conversational sites inspired us to start an ‘Overheard at Squeaky’ sidebar. We will post the best conversations happening within the walls of the Squeaky Wheel Media office. Like this gem…

“I don’t know how many girls you’ve fooled with your teenage games.”

March 24th, 2009

Don’t forget to submit your $250k worth of award submissions

For many creative agencies award submissions are a valuable part of the marketing strategy. To be able to win a highly visible and well respected award brings great recognition in the industry and further validates a company’s claim as a top creative agency.

For smaller agencies though it can be an uphill climb often competing against companies with multiple offices and more importantly larger budgets. As an independent, minority owned company going on our 7th year this is nothing new for Squeaky Wheel Media.

We recently registered three award submissions for a top tier award show at $300 a piece but, when you compare it to some of the massive agencies and their submissions our investment was trumped. Due to an unfortunate email sent by a junior member from this particular award show we were able to see that a well known agency eclipsed $250k of submission fees. These are staggering figures, and ones that I’m sure the award show does not mind receiving (totaled over $3.5 million in entry fees). Now I’m not suggesting that larger companies don’t deserve all the accolades they receive if they win, I’m just stating that the odds are substantially in their favor to bring home the gold. Make no mistake, this does not deter Squeaky from entering and it should not for you either. I would just suggest to other agencies to also research additional, niche awards.

If you are a creative agency in similar size to Squeaky (75 people or less) I would recommend also considering more tailored award submissions. For instance, Ad Age started up a Small Agency of the Year Award at a respectable $150 an entry. Deadline is May 22, 2009. Squeaky looks forward to competing against you.

In the end awards are truly great to receive, but the best recognition comes from the clients you retain and the word of mouth recommendations you receive. You can’t buy this type of publicity. Now if I could just get Abbey Klaassen, Digital Editor at Ad Age, to write a story on Squeaky Wheel Media I would be a happy camper.