One of the great tragedies of the typical hiring process is the reliance on standardized one-page documents to reveal the skills, suitability, and subtleties of a certain individual.  Let’s face it, resumes suck.  They won’t get you a job; in fact, they’re really only used to filter applicants.

It’s the in-person experience that gets you the job, so we’ve decided to skip the whole resume process and request that potential future Forties submit video applications instead.

We usually don’t even look at resumes anyway. We sought out Amy Lamp based on her talent and personality; Kim Stearns didn’t bother sending one, but just told us point blank that we should hire her; and Sunny Thaper’s never even created a resume (even when he was assigned to do one while in college).

When someone sends one, we glance at it and stick it in the archive.  We’re looking something that stands out–and resumes don’t.  Those who push a little harder to make sure that we notice them (and get to know them) are the ones who’ll fit here at Forty.

It takes some extra work on the part of the applicant, but that’s our filtering mechanism.  We don’t want the people who take the shotgun approach, sending resumes to every possible employer in the area.  We want people who specifically get what we’re about, and want to be a part of it.

So, we’re starting to ask applicants to skip the resume and instead submit a video application via YouTube. Tag it with “workatforty” and shoot us over an email letting us know about it.  There are no constraints. You can say or do absolutely anything you want. You can talk about your skills, you can talk about your pets, or you can not talk at all.  That part is up to you.  Just get in front of a camera and let us know what makes you tick.

Tom VanHaaren was interested in working at Forty, so we asked him to put together a quick video. Here’s what he came back with:

That told us a lot more than his resume did. It feels like we know Tom a lot better than the dozens of faceless resumes in our archive of people looking for comparable positions, and he’d generally have a better shot at getting the job because he took some initiative.

So, those of you interested in becoming part of the Forty crew, let’s see what you’ve got!

We’re often asked why we selected the name “Forty” to represent ourselves.  It’s certainly not an obvious name for a marketing agency, so it’s generated quite a bit of curiosity over the years.  To help answer the question, I thought I’d take a few moments to explain the meaning behind the word.

Being the Idealist in a Pessimistic Industry

Forty is the marketing agency that’s going to save the world.  We haven’t always had that tagline, but that rambunctious idealism and desire to run an ethical, sustainable, and effective agency has always been part of our culture.

Not everyone shares those ideals, though. We lose bids against agencies that give unrealistically low budgets, we make less money than agencies that pad their hours, and we have to spend more time persuading clients to do things the right way instead of just giving them with they want up front.

It’s a long, hard journey, and it could be difficult to keep up that idealism in the face of the ease, convenience, and additional revenue that could come from fudging our process and numbers a bit.

The name “Forty” reminds us that it’s actually okay for things to be hard, and that we’ll see the rewards of that hard work in the long term.

The Meaning Behind the Word

Throughout human history, the number 40 has been used symbolically to represent a long journey or duration (often seen as a period of preparation or testing):

• Noah’s flood lasted “40 days and 40 nights”
• Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years
• Historically, a generation was considered to last 40 years
• 40 weeks is the average term of a human pregnancy
• Some traditional punishments involve receiving 39 lashes (because 40 was believed to be enough to kill a man)
• The dead are often mourned for 40 days in Muslim cultures
• Babylonians observed the forty-day “disappearance of the Pleides,” which coincided with the rainy season
• In some primitive tribes, males were required to leave their village for 40 days after circumcision
• Muhammad was believed to be 40 years old when he received revelation from an angel
• In some Slavic cultures it is believed that ghosts remain at the site of their death for 40 days
• There is an Arab proverb stating that “to understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days”
• According to Jewish tradition, one reaches maturity at age 40
• Ships suspected of carrying disease were required to stay in Roman ports for 40 days (the root of the word “quarantine”)

These are all echoes of the basic Forty concept, which is that “doing it right takes time.” There aren’t any quick fixes. (We’ve always used the written form of “Forty,” rather than the numerals, because we’re interested in the concept rather than the number itself.)

This video–”40 Inspiration Speeches in 2 minutes”–ought to cover it!

Holy heck, it’s a bonus video! Here’s “40ft” by Franz Ferdinand (love their use of green!):

After several months of working with the Agile project management consulting firm, Sliger Consulting, Forty is proud to announce the wrap-up of their brand new fully-functioning website. The new site features an event calendar, articles, presentations, podcasts, and some new interactive areas such as Ask an Agilista and Light Bulb Moments. It feels great to have wrapped up an entire project done in our Projects Exposed format (if you haven’t seen the entire process up until this point, then go read up about the project before you continue!)

Light Bulb Moments sections:

Ask and Agilista section:

Blog:

Michele’s response to her new website:

Check out the site for yourself!

It started as a friendly competition amongst agencies to battle in a few games of bowling. Little did we know, things were about to turn quite ugly:

vs.

Thus, Agency Throwdown was born.

The idea behind these events is to spark some friendly competition among Phoenix ad agencies in silly events such as Mario Kart or darts and bring together groups of people that may otherwise never meet. The first installment of which is happening at Brunswick Zone in Mesa tonight at 6pm between the folks at Keane and the team here at Forty.

Does your agency want to challenge us? Maybe you want to go head-to-head in shuffle board against your biggest rival agency in the valley? Just keep us updated on your battles so we can come out and support the teams.

Otherwise, we hope to see plenty of you out at Brunswick Zone this evening rooting on your favorite agency!

Thanks to the Arizona chapter of the AIGA, Forty got to play host to an event all about us: Inside the Designer Studio.

We were incredibly honored to be chosen for such an event (previous ITDS events have been held at Terralever, Tomko Design, and SW!TCH Studio, so we had some big shoes to fill), but we knew this would be a challenge for us as we’re not exactly good at talking about ourselves.

Even though it took quite a bit of prep work on our part, the event went off without a hitch and a whopping 36 people showed up!

Take a look at the presentation we put together about Forty’s philosophy on marketing as well as our history:

We are very humbled in knowing that such talented, amazing individuals came out and we thank you all very much for letting us give you an inside look into Forty.

Here’s a little tribute to those in attendance:

When I was young, I had a really pessimistic view of marketing.  I thought advertising was about emotional blackmail and manipulation, branding was conceptual mumbo-jumbo, design was pointless visual fluff, and public relations was just a way to hide your faults and deceive your customers.

Taken together, all this “marketing” crap was fundamentally about making people do something they didn’t want to do, just so some rich white guy could get a couple extra digits in his bank account.

Maybe Marketing Isn’t All Bad…

As I got out into the real world, I slowly came to realize that marketing wasn’t quite as evil as I had originally thought.

photo credit: thivierr

My first job was in the Public Relations department of a community college, and I was really excited at the opportunity to help get the word out about the school.  They were doing great things with scarce resources, and I want to help the community understand that and get excited about it.  For that, we needed marketing.

That’s when I started to realize that there might be more to marketing than I’d originally thought.

Maybe Marketing Is Good?

In every field of endeavor (sports, politics, religion, etc.), the selfish minority tends get the attention, tarnishing the efforts of the generally well-intentioned and hard-working majority.

Almost every experience I’ve had with real people involved in real marketing has challenged my formerly pessimistic view of the industry.  I’ve watched marketing help people build thriving small businesses to support their family and employ others. I’ve seen it used to promote initiatives that build communities and improve lives.  I’ve experienced the excitement of a worthy effort finally getting the attention it deserves.

photo credit: rhettmaxwell

Over the years, I’ve come to understand marketing is fundamentally about connecting.

Sarah starts a business to meet a need, and John has that need. Marketing brings them together so they can both benefit.

That’s it. That’s what it’s about.

Maybe Marketing is Awesome!

In fact, marketing is the only thing that brings the supply and demand together.  Without it, the market never knows the product or service exists, and the business simply fails. Without marketing, there would be no business. There’d be no economy. There would be no “American Dream.”

That puts us, as a marketing agency, and a remarkable position.  We sit between our clients and their future customers, and figure out how to bring the two together.  It’s like setting your friends up on date, and then watching them fall in love.  It’s exciting and rewarding to be part of that process.

photo credit: Glenn Loos-Austin

Over the years, we’ve enabled scores of businesses, non-profits, and individuals connect with their customers in ways they probably wouldn’t have without us.

We’ve helped people start the business they’ve always wanted. We’ve helped people come back from the brink of bankrupcy.  We’ve helped people grow their business to provide for their own families (and the families of their employees).  We’ve helped non-profit organizations get the attention and support they need. We’ve helped change industries for the better.  We’ve helped movements get started.

In short: we’ve helped.

I’m Not Kidding About Loving Marketing

Some people hate their jobs, and can’t wait to retire so they can do something fulfilling.  I don’t have to.  I do something fulfilling every single day.

That’s why I love marketing.  That’s why I love coming to work at Forty. And that’s why today, like yesterday and tomorrow, is going to be an awesome day.

Last month, Phoenix welcomed the newest PR Store to open in the country. At first glance, one might assume this is a clever name for an up-and-coming ad agency sweeping across the country, but in fact, it is exactly as the name states: a store for PR.

Upon walking through the cut ribbon of the grand opening, I was greeted by chipper folk in blue shirts with friendly smiles. I was surrounded by games (I won a $100 gift card!), drinks, food, and informative brochures. The store was filled with shelves lined with promotional frisbees, hats, pens, and hacky sacks - everything you would assume to see in a store selling something as intangible as marketing.

I had mixed feelings about such a place upon entering, but didn’t let them affect me whilst investigating the merits of such an establishment. Russ Perry, of Keane Creative, and I pulled aside Wynne Angell, the owner of the newest location, to learn more about this friendly little store.

According to Wynne, they charge a single fee (ranging from hundreds of dollars, to thousands) for their marketing services whether they be web design, logo creation, radio ads, etc. and give their clients 3 revisions - any revisions over this number will accrue an hourly fee of $75. She also discussed the idea behind having an actual store front is so that their clients can come in whenever they want, no appointment needed.

Seems reasonable enough to me. I can see where the idea of this type of business would appeal to a small business owner with no knowledge of marketing who might be looking for a quick set of marketing tools. They walk into PR Store, look at some colorful brochures and branded jar grippers, they sell you on their products, and promise a delivery date in the near future. You’re sold! One problem: marketing isn’t a product.

Similar to a restaurant with an order counter, you choose what marketing services you would like from a menu of options. Want extra pickles? No mayo? Double cheese? You got it! They type your order into the cash register, press enter, and a few minutes later, you have some food. PR Store is no different from this model. You select business cards, a website, and some branded baseball hats. Six weeks later, you have them and you go on your way.

Unfortunately, marketing is not as simple as ordering from a menu. There is the concept of branding, differing markets, changing needs, etc. that must be addressed, and readdressed. Marketing is complex and complicated - more than “would you like a glossy finish with your order?” Marketing is a service, something The PR Store is fresh out of.

The idea of a menu in and of itself is flawed. People should be coming to marketing agencies for guidance, suggestions, research, and help from those who know what they are doing. Sure, the client can get what they want (spicy mustard, please), but do they know what their customers want? Most likely, no. By putting these decisions in the hands of the small-business owner, marketing professionals become obsolete and these important decisions are left to those with no idea what they’re doing.

PR Store might be a good idea for someone looking for standard, run-of-the-mill websites and marketing materials that aren’t targeted, researched, or tailored to meet specific needs. But at least you can be sure to get exactly what you ordered. (Burger King built their company around this idea and it worked okay for them.)

Just be careful when working with an establishment such as this. As I learned when opening my gift card’s envelope back at the office, it was only valid on services totaling $750 or more. Kinda like finding out those extra pickles cost you 75 cents.

Sure you just came back from a 3-day vacation and are ready to work… but why not enjoy that awesome feeling of doing nothing for just a little while longer? Here are some choice videos of Team Forty goofing off to get you in the mood. Some of these videos have crazy colors going on… just ignore that.

Instead of the usual screenshots and text, we thought it might be interesting to show some photos of design artifacts from around the office related to one of our projects (in this case, the website redesign for Sliger Consulting):

On April 13, we received an e-mail from Rachel Young at Social Media Group, inviting us to participate in Ford’s new campaign in which they loan a new vehicle to prominent bloggers, Twitter users, etc. for a week at a time.

It’s an interesting (and potentially risky) way to build a brand, so major props go to Ford for being brave enough to tackle this approach.  Wanting to find out more about the campaign from the inside, we accepted, and requested (from the list of options we were given) the Ford Escape Hybrid (with Microsoft Sync).

A few weeks later, it showed up in our parking lot. I signed a one-page document, and they handed over the keys.  It was an amazingly smooth transaction, and they made it as easy as possible for us.

The Ford Escape is Pretty Cool

Nutshell review: The Escape is a great vehicle. The Microsoft Sync is a bit iffy, but okay.

During the review period, I drove the Escape back and forth to work each day. We also used it for attending client meetings, going out to lunch, etc.  It was a good idea for Ford to give us a full week, because it gave us the opportunity to get more comfortable with the vehicle in a way that would have been impossible over a shorter duration.

The size was just about perfect for a team like ours (four adults).  We all fit pretty comfortably.  Anything smaller would have been a bit cramped, and anything larger would have been unnecessary.  It’s “boxy,” which I think is actually an advantage since it frees up a lot of space.  (It reminded me of the Honda Element on the inside.)

The interface and handling was fairly intuitive for all of us.  Sunny felt that the brakes were a bit abrupt, but I didn’t notice that problem myself.  We took turns driving it (despite being told that I was supposed to be the only driver — Sorry, Ford!), and everyone seemed to adjust to it very quickly.

The dual climate control feature was pretty cool, but we didn’t test it much since this is Arizona and we just had cold air blasting out from both sides.

Efficiency over Power

The Ford Escape Hybrid is tuned to favor fuel efficiency over power, so if you’re an overcompensating middle-aged dude, this probably isn’t the vehicle for you.  It moves along pretty nicely in general, but it doesn’t exactly leap when you punch the pedal.  Calm drivers with reasonable blood pressure levels, however, should find no problems with it.

We got an average of 28 mpg while we drove it (about half highway, half city driving).  Not bad for a vehicle of this size.

This Car Has a Brain

It was a lot of fun having an on-board computer in the car (media player, GPS navigation, phone management, etc.), but it seemed almost like more of a novelty than a life improvement.

The handy USB outlet allowed me to plug in my iPhone to charge it and play music over the speakers, but it also took over and required that I use the in-dash touchscreen interface to navigate my music library.  Compared with the interface on the iPhone itself, this felt clunky and awkward, and was a bit frustrating.

The bluetooth phone interface was tricky to set up, but once it was going it was pretty great. The system would detect when my phone was near, and automatically hook it up so that I could call people (and receive calls) without ever taking the phone out of my pocket.

Here’s some video of us testing the phone system:

The GPS navigation features were fairly robust. While entering an address was a bit more hassle than it needed to be, once it was in, the navigation process itself was very smooth and pleasant. (Though it did really bug Sunny that it referred to a fifth of a mile as “two tenths”!)

Microsoft Sync Isn’t as Convenient as It Looks on TV

You may be familiar with commercials like this one:

The actual experience for new users is more like this:

Voice recognition is a difficult technology to perfect, and Microsoft Sync is probably the best option out there for car buyers at the moment. The issue wasn’t so much the actual recognition, but rather the clunky interface of options, menus, etc. It’s more of a design issue than a technology one.

Nice Work, Ford

It’s great to see Ford engaging with its potential customer base through campaigns like this one. It’s a gutsy move, but it seems like Scott Monty knows what he’s doing, and is navigating the waters well.  We had a great experience interacting with Social Media Group (who is doing a great job as well). I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly and pleasantly everything went.

We appreciated the opportunity we had to test drive the Escape, and can vouch for the fact that it’s a pretty spiffy vehicle. It was also great to participate in a large-scale social media campaign and see what it looks like as a participant, which can be very different than what the agency itself sees.

(All that said, I was still happy to get back to my usual ride. I love my car!)

The Forty team is pretty loyal to Ignite Phoenix; a couple of us have been to all three events, the others have gone at least once. So when Tomas Carrillo, one of the Ignite Phoenix organizers, came to me to see if I’d be willing to design some event cards for the next shindig, I was immediately on board. Help get the word out for this energizing, interesting, and engaging event? Sure!

To start, they knew they wanted to print them at moo.com (a wildly popular site among the design crowd), which has a skinny little standard size of 70mm by 28mm. I also knew I had to incorporate the national Ignite group logo to fit the color and placement standards outlined in the national guidelines. So I started designing in just the stated colors of black, red, grey and black while concentrating on making the cards bold, simple and direct. Here’s an assortment of possible designs that were created:

I thought they looked fine enough, solved the problem OK, but I wanted to create something that did a better job of conveying the energy of the event. So I broke outside my mental box a bit, stretched the logo usage guidelines, and came up with this design (my favorite):

Tomas and his team were happy with all of the designs, so they decided to just get all of the versions printed (the nice thing about moo.com is that you can upload up to 100 different images for one side of the cards with each order). Keep your eyes open – the Ignite team will be handing them out soon for the June 16 event.

Now you know my favorite. Which do you think is best?

KSport came to us looking for an as-needed marketing department to help them promote their high-performance automotive parts brand.

To start things off, we collected demographic-specific collateral to read up on and understand their preferences and style. To aid us in all of our work, we created a persona to ensure that our efforts were completely aligned with their consumer.

Meet Kevin:

From this profile of KSport’s typical customer, came the creation of a mood board.

Their current logo did not have much consistency and was changing every few months - so they were in need of something that could remain constant and usable on all materials. The evolution of the logo design:

From here, we designed out a sticker as well as several variations on the logo depending on where it would appear (braking system, packaging, magazine ads, etc):

Coming up will be an ad template, website, and package design. Stay tuned!

Questions to Discuss

1. Which logo variation did you prefer? Did you agree with the choice made by the client?

2. How would you translate the mood board elements into their future marketing materials (website, ad template, etc.)?

Whether you’re just getting started with this whole social media bandwagon, or you’ve got 20,000 Twitter followers and no idea what to do with them, there are some basic principles that you should know if you want to use social media to your advantage.

Pillar #1: Focus on quality, not quantity

photo credit: hoyasmeg

When engaged in an endeavor as complicated and subtle as social media, it’s hard to know how you’re doing, since there aren’t really any useful ways to measure effectiveness.

Unfortunately, this means people have reverted to relatively useless ways of measuring their effectiveness, such as the number of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, visitors to your blog, etc.

Social media isn’t a numbers game; it’s about building real relationships. You’re better off ten people who actually understand you and care about what you’re doing than 10,000 people who can’t remember your name or why they’re connected to you.

Pillar #2: Make it a two-way conversation

photo credit: mark sebastian
It’s tempting to try to apply traditional advertising and marketing techniques to social media, and to use it as a vehicle for one-way communication with an audience.

Those who take this route usually don’t last long, though, since people don’t respond well to someone talking at them rather than communicating with them.

Instead, focus on engaging with your connections. Talk to them. Ask them questions. Give them answers. Find out what makes them tick. Find out what value you can provide to them.  And don’t just do this at a superficial level (occasionally replying to one of your thousands of followers), but really dig in and get to know the people you’re connected to.

As with so much else in life, the more you give the more you’ll get back in the long run.

Pillar #3: You don’t need to be viral to be successful

photo credit: Jeramy & the Octoberlings
When the news talks about social media, they love to cover the “overnight sensations” that get a million views on YouTube in a matter of days.  The stories you don’t hear, though, the majority of social media success stories that have taken months or even years to develop.

Get the notions of sudden stardom out of your mind, and focus on moving forward at a steady pace, methodically and intentionally building a community around your brand.

Don’t give up a week or two in, when you’re wondering why you’re not famous yet.  Just keep moving forward.

Pillar #4: Come to people on their own turf

photo credit: alborzshawn
Instead of trying to bring people to your content, focus on bringing your content to the people.

For example, instead of posting a video on Vimeo.com and then trying to get everyone to visit that page, post it on Vimeo, and then also post it to YouTube, Viddler, and other major video sharing sites. That way people can see it on the site where they already have an active account (and friends), and are more likely to comment, share, and engage with your content in other ways.

Spread your content around. Decentralize. If you do this right, you may not even need your own website at all!

Pillar #5: Be original (even when it’s difficult)

photo credit: furryscaly
One of the tricky parts about social media is that you’re expected to generate a lot of content.  Suddenly normal, average people are expected to be writers, photographers, videographers, designers, etc.

It can be hard, and it’s tempting to slip into the habit of just reposting other people’s work.  “Hey, check out this video” becomes a substitute for actually posting new content.

Unfortunately, reposting other people’s content provides very little value (compared to original content), and you wind up watering down your social media sauce.  Nobody’s going to link to you linking to someone else.

You may not be able to post as frequently when you focus on original content, but people will notice when you do (and they’ll appreciate it).

Once upon a time, Forty was a web design and development shop.  We had a wide set of skills (branding, SEO, print design, etc.), but for the sake of focusing our brand in the early days (and making it easier to promote our services), we only focused on that one particular skill in our toolbox.

Over time, as we became more established and well-known, we determined that we could finally expand our offered services beyond just web design and development. This was an exciting time for us, because we could finally unleash the other talents that we’d been holding in reserve, and that we could provide more complete marketing solutions to our clients.

However, it also meant that we had to find a new way to think about ourselves.

THE AD AGENCY: IDEAL MODEL OR DEAD MAN WALKING?

photo credit: TheeErin

Our initial instinct was to look at ourselves as an “advertising agency.”  The other companies we saw as potential competitors in the local market tended to identify themselves that way, so calling ourselves that would have been a natural step toward changing the perception of who Forty is and what we do.

However, we had a nagging feeling that the term “advertising agency” was antiquated.  It reaked of the old school approach to promotion: magazines full of annoying print ads, pop-ups and banner ads, massively expensive and questionably effective TV spots, etc.

If the concept of “advertising” isn’t obsolete yet, it certainly seems to be heading that direction.  The American public is becoming increasingly numb to traditional advertising concepts, and brands have been forced to find alternative ways to connect with their audiences (e.g., through social media).

We didn’t want to buy a ticket for a sinking ship, so we avoided calling Forty an ad agency.

THE INTERACTIVE AGENCY: A REDUNDANT PHRASE?

photo credit: kentbye

Forty spends a lot of time working on new media (mobile devices, social media, the Web, etc.), so “interactive agency” was the next most obvious way to describe what we do.

However, a fundamental part of Forty’s philosophy is that interactivity and online media are not just beneficial but actually fundamental to contemporary marketing campaigns, and that they are intertwined with print efforts, public relations work, and other marketing-related disciplines in order to create a unified, highly-effective promotional push.

While other agencies may see interactive as a particular set of services that can be isolated and bolted on to a campaign independently of other moving pieces, we definitely don’t.  All contemporary marketing has an interactive component, making the “interactive” descriptor superfluous.  Marketing now is interactive, so there’s no point in using that term to distinguish it.

MARKETING IS ABOUT PEOPLE

photo credit: Kevin N. Murphy

Eventually, we came to realize that the only effective way to describe what Forty does would be to position ourselves as a “marketing agency.”

Marketing includes design, advertising, interactive, mobile, social media, Web, SEO, print, public relations, branding, reputation, and customer experience.

More importantly, it involves people (i.e., the “market”). It’s an inclusive term that expresses the most important concept: we connect businesses to customers through whatever means are most effective.

We’re neither tied to a medium (interactive) nor to an approach (advertising).  We have the flexibility and skills to adapt to each particular client’s situation and determine what combination of efforts will provide them the greatest exposure for the money invested.

That’s what “marketing agency” means to Forty — and we love it.

You know how a new project makes you feel? Blue skies, birds singing, anything is possible. Then something happens and it’s like the skies darken and the bird poops on your head.

photo credit: recubejim

Recently we were reminded of an important step in a new project: explain to the client that there will be bumps in the road. The experience involved a web project that had a form error after launching, but it could have involved any unexpected and undesired issue that surfaced as a result of implementation.

Problems come up regardless of expertise, and they’re inevitable when creating something unique within tight constraints.

Originality on a Budget

photo credit: peasap

Testing is an important part of a project. It can involve getting feedback from people about visual design, such as a logo or packaging (think of the now-infamous Tropicana redesign), or it can be testing a web site for functionality. However, budgets don’t always allow for this testing. Time restraints are a factor in testing, too. Not enough time to test? Be prepared for glitches.

When originality is a project goal, there will be bumps in the road because that exact thing in that exact situation has never been done before. The technologies and techniques are repeated, but this combination of them is original and untested. It’s not that we’re sloppy, but limited time and budget mean that choices have to be made and it can be a better use of the client’s money to keep a project moving forward rather than get stuck resolving minor imperfections.

When You Spot Something, Jump on It

photo credit: Vibrant Spirit

Even with testing, it’s a fact of life that unfortunate things will happen. What matters is how people handle those situations. (Our recent issue was fortunately resolved within fifteen minutes.)

When hiring a marketing agency or design firm, don’t set out to find the company that will be problem-free. Find one that’s responsive to the problems that will come up. Since it won’t always be blue skies, it’s nice to know you’re part of a team that’ll give you their umbrella.

Tag lines are a real art, made especially difficult when you are external to the organization requesting one. So where do you begin? How do you begin to narrow down an entire company you know little-to-nothing about into one well-crafted, compelling sentence? It’s pretty easy once you follow these steps:

1. Ask your client telling questions - Asking them a question such as, “What are some keywords associated with your product/company?” can give you much more insight than asking, “Does the word, ___, accurately describe your organization?” Some examples of good questions to ask (courtesy of CreativeBits.org):

• Describe your company in one sentence
• Describe your company in 3 words
• Describe your company in 1 word
• Describe your company in 1 letter
• How would you explain your company/product to someone with no knowledge or your industry?

2. Research, duh! - Take a look at their competitors, their suppliers, or any other entity that can be associated with them. This will give you excellent insight into what the client expects to see. If it is industry standard to explain what a company does in their tag line, and not necessarily have a clever one-liner, and the only way to know this is by diving into the industry, head first. Another great resource is industry specific dictionaries - they will clearly tell you which words/phrases are commonplace in the specific industry along with their definition so you know how to use them.

3. Ask someone in the industry - Not only does this help you to refine your research, it also adds quite a bit of credibility when pitching your tag lines to the client. Stating that you’ve run the potential tag lines by a current/past/potential client shows you’ve adequately done your research and substantiates any claims you make about the effectiveness of such a tag line.

4. List out the keywords - In all of your research and questioning of clients and customers, you probably came across a boat load of information. The best thing to do at this point is to list out all of the keywords or phrases you’ve come across to view them visually. From here, it’s very easy to notice patterns or synonyms and reduce your list into a few major keywords to work from.

5. Determine the audience - As simple as this step is, it is also quite important to determine. The different between a tag line meant for a consumer and one for a business can be huge. Not only is it important to make such a distinction, but getting as targeted as you possibly can will only help to further refine your tag line into something incredible.

6. Determine the tone - Are they a serious organization? Do they make fun of themselves? Make sure their tag line aligns with the company’s persona or else it can confuse their clients. Sporadic bad example: The Cancer Research Institute: We make fun of everything.

7. List out anything you can think of and DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING - The worst thing you can do at this point is to write out a potential tag line and decide then and there that you don’t like it. Make it a point at this step to keep everything you take the time to type out - deleting is for later, once you’ve let all of the possibilities come out. This is the time to write down any phrases or word combinations you can conceivably think of.

8. Create variations - Once you have a daunting list of possibilities in front of you, add more. For every phrase you’ve constructed, you now have a launching pad for several more. These variations to your existing phrases can be slight tweaks such as adding an article, rearranging the words to make the phrase flow better, or even replacing a word with several synonyms. Sporadic example: “A tried and true software suite for the amateur web designer,” can become, “The perfect software suite for beginning web designers.” Or even, “Becoming a web designer has never been easier.”

9. Walk away- As every writing job goes, the best thing you can do is to walk away and get the project out of your mind for a while. I’m sure you can think of something to do - and everyone’s cooling off period is different, so maybe you need a day or maybe you need an hour. Just get it off of your mind!

10. Narrow them down - Once you’ve had time to not think about them, come back to your exhaustive list and begin the narrowing down process. This step is completely subjective as only you know which ones you want to keep and why.

11. Give your client a few choices, but not too many - Make sure to deliver a variety of choices to your client. It wouldn’t be in your best interest to deliver one potential tag line 4 different ways, the only thing seperating one from another being a single word. Give them choices that offer different flows, rhythms, or keywords - but be sure you don’t overwhelm them. Unless your client specifically stated that they wanted 15 tag lines to choose from, I would keep the number under 10. Keep in mind that you will most likely be asked to refine several of them, so if there are others you didn’t present, this is your opportunity to incorporate elements from other favorites.

12. Be confident in your delivery - You worked your butt off on this, make sure they know this. Also, you are the marketing expert that they hired, so make sure your expertise is mentioned when delivering your beautiful tag lines.

Questions to Discuss

1. Are there any steps you would add to this list from your own experience?
2. Have you ever come across a terrible tag line for a company? Especially one that was clearly written without knowing these steps?

We recently met a few of the guys responsible for keeping the Bookmans site up and running as well as developing their online store (which is very impressive considering their lack of inventory of any kind…noodle on that one for a bit). Jared McFarland is one of the guys responsible for this massive task. Think he’s just another boring web ninja? Well, he kinda is, but we discuss brownies, what makes Tucson so great, and obscure music so there definitely is some depth to this one.

Have a look:

Kim: So let’s start of with the basics. What is your name, place of employment, job title, and favorite ice cream flavor?

Jared: Alrighty.  I’m Jared McFarland, I work at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange.  I’m the resident Web Ninja, and I’m a huge fan of Ben & Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Chip.

Kim: What exactly is a Web Ninja?

Jared: A much cooler title than Web Developer, and less pompous than Web Architect.

Kim: Did you choose your job title?

Jared: Kind of.  I was called a “kick ass web ninja” by a co-worker at one point, then decided I wanted to use it as my official title.

Kim: I’ve been hearing quite a bit about Bookman’s lately, what sorts of things are you working on that’s making people talk?

Jared: Good question.  We’re starting on a Mesa store remodel in the near future, and we’re in the process of implementing cafe’s in all of our stores (right now only our Flagstaff location has a cafe).  We just launched a new version of our website (www.bookmans.com) which generated some buzz, and we’re working on our online store right now.  We’ve also acquired a couple web startups and we’re in the process of re-launching them with new code bases and new designs. So, we’ve been pretty busy.

Kim: Wow. Not to shadow all of these other accomplishments, but what kinds of food will be in the cafes??

Jared: To be honest, I don’t know.

Kim: Darn.

Jared: I’m not overly involved in that process, and I’m certain there’s a lot to work out before we get to the menu.

Kim: I would imagine. I just hope there will be brownies.

Jared: Me too! And muffins.

Kim: There is a severe lack of brownies in bookstore cafes.

Jared: I’ll put in a good word for you and your brownies.

Kim: So what is it that is making Bookman’s so successful?

Jared: Well, we do a lot of things.  I could talk about marketing strategies and campaigns, but what I think it really comes down to is the people.  Bookmans is made up of people genuinely interested in what they’re doing, and in their community.  I can honestly say I’ve never worked with a group of cooler people than the Bookmans crew.

Kim: So how did you get involved with the company? What is your background?

Jared: My background is in web development… I started doing that when I was 13.  Skipped the whole college routine and went to work for a Tucson firm when I graduated high school.  I started to do my own freelance stuff on the side, and as part of some self promotion started hanging out with the Tucson Digital Arts Community folks.  (Shameless plug for them http://www.tucsondigitalarts.com, they rock)  I got started doing some Ruby on Rails stuff, and the TDAC guys wanted to learn about it, so I gave a presentation.  This was right after the Bookmans IT department got back from SxSWi in 2008, so they wanted to learn more about Rails as well.  They were at my presentation, we met up a couple times for lunch after that, and the rest is history.

Kim: Wow, would you recommend this path for others? Or was it mainly based on timing and luck?

Jared: That’s a tough question. It worked for me, so I would encourage others to try it.  I gave up a lot though… I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights in high school reading PHP books, building my own apps and cruising IRC channels asking for advice on how to develop.  I would just caution someone else to know what they’re getting into.

I don’t regret it though.  Development has been my passion for a long time, so for me, the sacrifices were all well worth it.  You have to be driven though, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been passed over because of my age, or lectured about a degree.  You gotta be willing to blaze your own trail, make your own connections, and pursue what you want.  If you’re not, I’d go the safer, time-tested routes.

And yes, there was quite a bit of timing and luck involved.

Kim: I hate when people ask me this question, so I’m going to ask you: Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

Jared: Hahaha - I plan on being in the development game still.  I love Bookmans and want to stay as involved with them as possible for the long term.  We’re working on a lot of really cool web projects, including the online store, so I don’t see myself going anywhere anytime soon.  SxSW this year got me really motivated to get even more involved with the Tech Community here in Tucson, so hopefully in the next couple years we’ll see some cool stuff happening there as well.

Kim: Good, I may have to model my answers from now on from your response!

Jared: Hahaha, I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I like it!

Kim: So Tucson, eh? Would you be just as happy if your job were in Phoenix, or do you have a creepy patriotism towards Tucson?

Jared: Creepy?! Hahaha

Kim: Sorry, eerie?

Jared: Hahahaha. Literally laughing out loud on this end.

Kim: I don’t know what to call it - just an unnatural attachment to the city.

Jared: I actually think it’s very natural to be attached to this town, a lot of the locals are.  I really like Tucson.  Which is funny, because when I found out I was gonna be living here, I wasn’t happy.  I’ve lived in a lot of places (13 houses, 9 towns, 3 states), and Tucson is unique.  I can’t say whether or not I’d be just as happy in Phoenix, I don’t spend a lot of time there, but I have a HUGE patriotism towards Tucson.  I really hope I can have a good impact on the town and make it an even better place to live. I just wish it wasn’t so damn hot.
Kim: So to close things off, do you have any cool/obscure/unheard of music selections you’d like to share?

Jared: Oh my, yes I do.  I’m a huge indie music fan. How much time do you have?

Kim: That many, huh? How about 5 super awesome, amazingly fantastic, hidden gems?

Jared: Haha, yea, I listen to “weird music” as my friends would say.  Right now I’ve got The Notwist in the player.
Okay, five it is:
1. The Notwist
2. The Decemberists (not that hidden really, but their new album is AMAZING)
3. Broken Social Scene
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Frightened Rabbit

Kim: Oh, I’m a huge fan of #4, and I’ll have to give the rest a listen.

Jared: Those actually aren’t all that hidden, most people into good music have heard of ‘em.

Kim: I will pretend that you did not just offend me…I do too listen to good music!

Jared: Hahaha. Sorry sorry - Now we’re even; I’m creepy, you listen to bad music. Oh, Van She is awesome as well.

Kim: You broke the rules, that’s #6. Interview over.

Jared: Wow. Harsh.

After years of soul searching, experimentation, and dipping our toes in the water, we here at Forty have finally committed to fully adopting the Agile methodology across the board.

This is a pretty radical change for a marketing agency.  The Agile methodology was developed in the software industry, and for the most part has stayed there (albeit with great success).  Most marketing professionals don’t even know the methodology exists, let alone have implemented it.

We’re probably not the first agency to adopt this methodology (there must be some out there), but it’s still uncharted territory, and while there’s much we can learn from others, we’re also going to have to figure out a lot on our own.

Err…What the Heck is “Agile”?

If you’re used to the word “methodology” meaning “tons of paperwork and annoying procedures,” Agile may come as a pleasant surprise.

photo credit: pinguino

According to the Agile Manifesto, this methodology values…

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Over the years, a variety of elaborations and refinements of those basic principles have become prominent, but those are the key tenets of the Agile approach.

Agile is NOT What You’re Used To

Most people (especially those hiring a traditional design/marketing agency) are accustomed to a “waterfall” process, in which the whole project is planned out beforehand (with detailed scope and budget guidelines), and broken into discrete stages requiring deliverables, reviews, sign-offs, etc.

photo credit: joshuahoffmanphoto

We’ve used that method for years, and it sucks. The only reason for all those scope documents are so the agency and client can argue with each other later about who did something wrong, when the problem could have been solved early on by simply talking instead of worrying about a comprehensive paper trail.

Why would we stick with a methodology based on the antiquated notion that we can accurately predict and plan for the future?  That may have worked 20-30 years ago, but the industry simply moves far too fast for that to be effective now.

Design/marketing projects simply evolve too quickly (based on competition, new technologies, changing trends, etc.) to accurately plan it all out in the beginning. We need a methodology that is nimble, flexible, and able to respond quickly. In a word: Agile.

What the Agile Methodology Means to Forty

photo credit: Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

We’re still sorting out the specifics of our day-to-day routine, but these are the principles behind our own implementation of the Agile methodology:

• We believe in a single project team, comprising members of both our and our client’s organizations. (There is no “Us and Them,” just a single team working together.)
• We believe project team members should interact freely, without a project manager getting in the way.
• We believe the project team should have frequent (even daily) conversations.
• We believe real communication happens face to face or over the phone. (E-mail should be a last resort.)
• We believe in showing and discussing rough work (sketches, partial designs, etc.), instead of trying to perfect them before showing the client.
• We believe in delivering business value as early (and as frequently) as possible.
• We believe the project team should measure all work performed against identified business goals.
• We believe projects do (and should) evolve; we welcome course corrections.
• We believe in sustainable work habits. Weekends and evenings give everyone time to think, rest, and recharge.
• We believe project team members share accountability for results and performance. (Finger pointing is counterproductive.)
• We believe each project is unique, and requires flexibility regarding strategies, processes, and practices.
• We believe in learning, having fun, and doing great work.

We’ve been headed this direction anyway, but officially adopting Agile gives us a much-needed kick in the pants to formalizing our processes and workflow around these concepts.

We’re In Good Company

We’re novices when it comes to Agile, and I’m sure we’re going to run into many obstacles over the next several months (or years) as we find out what works best for Forty.

In the meantime, though, we have some great sources of guidance and advice.  We’ve shared office space at Gangplank with Integrum, a well-known Ruby on Rails software development firm that’s up to their eyeballs into Agile all the time; and we’re lucky to have as a client Michele Sliger (check back soon for a gorgeous new website!), an expert in helping companies adopt and implement the Agile methodology.

More Resources on Agile in Design / Marketing

• Getting Real About Agile Design
• How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Embrace Collaboration
• Applying Agile Principles to Communication Design
• The Agile Web Design Manifesto
• Agile Marketing
• Agile Marketing
• Agile Design

Stay Tuned for Agile Updates

We’ll be posting more about our adventures (and misadventures) with the Agile methodology on this blog, so be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed if you’re interested in following along.

Questions for You!

• Are we wrong about this?
• Does a marketing agency have any business mucking around with what is traditionally a software development methodology?
• Clients love the waterfall methodology because it feels so predictable. Can we convince our clients to adopt Agile, even if it means more up-front uncertainty?
• If you have experience with Agile, what would you recommend to an agency like Forty trying to adopt it for the first time?

I was asked by my friend, and former fellow Phi Beta Lambda member, John Tyler if I would co-present at Phi Beta Lambda’s annual State Leadership Conference on the topic of social media (and how it pertains to student organizations). Since I know a thing or two about social media, I agreed and helped devise a last-minute presentation for students from colleges across the state of Arizona.

Click here to listen to the presentation.

(If you want to play along, here are the slides.)

I would love to hear your feedback on the topics discussed!

Since we last spoke, a whole lot has happened with this project. Upon agreeing on a visual direction for her website, Michele requested that we tackle her redesign in chunks, starting with a section she calls “Light Bulb Moments.” This portion of her website allows individuals to submit stories about their experiences with Agile. Here is her previous Light Bulb Moments page:

The first step in redesigning this page was to create a wireframe:

Once the wire frame was approved by Michele, we got to work on the visual comps. After a few rounds of revisions internally and with Michele’s input here is the new  Light Bulb Moments page:

Here is an interior page:

(these pages are currently live if you want to check them out for yourself.)

The next steps on the project are to tackle the blog layout and coding, implement a new section to her website titled “Ask an Agile-ista,” and complete the remainder of her website’s static informational pages.

Questions to Discuss

1. What are your thoughts on the design of the Light Bulb Moments pages?
2. What elements from the Light Bulb Moments page do you think can be transferred to the other sections she wants us to create?
3. Have you ever worked with a client who wanted to do a redesign, not only in pieces, but pieces that don’t begin with the homepage? How did you handle it? Do you have any advice for us?