#SpokeFriday – February 5th, 2010

#SpokeFriday rolls on in 2010. As usual drinks and snacks are provided and you are encouraged to invite your friends.

If you haven’t been to one before – SpokeFriday is our monthly happy hour to gather friends of the agency and to make new ones.

As a virtual agency, the majority of our creatives work off-site so we use these happy hours as an opportunity to gather our creative teams, clients, friends of the agency and anyone else who is in St. Louis who would like to attend. Come for networking, drinks, appetizers or just to meet some friendly people in St. Louis.

Update: Forgot to mention, we are giving away 2 all-inclusive tickets to a future St. Louis Blues game.

spokefriday-02052010

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THE BIG PRINT GIVETH (and the small print taketh away)

If you like fine print, you’re in luck. In the first major revision to product endorsement guidelines since 1980, the Federal Trade Commission now specifically requires online marketers to disclose any ‘material connection’ they have with a product or service they mention.

You’ve no doubt seen disclaimers in marketing efforts:

  • not a real doctor
  • past performance does not guarantee future results
  • results not typical

Because social media, blogging, and word-of-mouth marketing make it especially difficult for consumers to identify paid endorsements, the new regulation requires that these relationships be made clear to the intended audience. If a company is providing free product or cash to someone to promote their product, the marketer must disclose it.

This is a good thing.

The FTC exists to (among other things) protect consumers and prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices. By holding ‘mommy bloggers’ to the same standards as traditional sources of advertising, the FTC hopes to make consumers less susceptible to unsubstantiated or false claims (looks like the acai berry diet’s days are numbered).

In full disclosure: as a writer I love to use purple, extra fine point Sharpie pens. The Sanford corporation does not pay me to say this…but if they’d like to, I’m available (Wait!?! Is that Mont Blanc on the other line…?).

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#SpokeFriday – January 8th, 2010

Happy New Year from Spoke!

Our next #SpokeFriday is this coming Friday 1/8/2010 at 4pm at our office. As always, drinks and apps are free and everyone is welcome. This month a special treat as the event is hosted by Designing Chefs.
Hope we see you there. Help us spread the word:

 

SpokeFridayPoster

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There’s a handyman at my house today.

There’s a handyman at my house today.

I’m not exactly sure what the problem is, but something is leaking somewhere. Honestly, I didn’t even try to figure out what the problem was before I left the house. All I know is – there is water where it shouldn’t be, and somebody needs to set my pipes straight.

I had just the man for the job (and it wasn’t me). For the record, I’m not the least bit handy. If you give me a screwdriver, I hope it has a swizzle stick in it (and perhaps a nice orange wedge garnish).

That said, I could try to fix it myself, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible. With a few hours work, I could probably dig around in the house, look up things on the Internet, and even ask the folks at the hardware store…heck…

I might even fix the problem.

But. I could also:

  • waste valuable time, and not fix the problem
  • do more harm than good

In this case, outsourcing was my best solution. In the time my handyman fixes the leak, I will have written (and edited) this post, written copy for one client, sketched out ideas for a new campaign for another, and outlined two statements of work for new business.

By outsourcing to a trusted expert, I was able to do what I do best, and empower somebody else to do what they do best.

Anything else seems like flushing common sense down the drain.

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Spoke Friday the 13th – Our Anniversary Party

This coming Friday (November 13th) is our next SpokeFriday, it’s also our official anniversary party.

If you are coming, click here to tweet about it, view event and RSVP on facebook, or click on the image below to download the PDF to share with friends.

Spoke Friday Invite

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