Time flies when you're having fun (Happy 1-Year Anniversary, C/S!)

Wow. It's been a full year for us here at Crazy Savvy. Pretty hard to believe. I guess the old adage really is true: time flies when you're having fun.

And what fun we've had! The thrill of setting out on our own, the strategic challenges of building our agency from scratch, the elation of signing our first client, the satisfaction of launching our website and printing our business cards and collateral — all these moments (and so many more) were relived today as Erin and I enjoyed a celebratory lunch on Le Meridian's sun-kissed patio. Naturally, champagne was consumed. Laughter was shared. Memories were rediscovered. Projects were rehashed and the future was discussed, not at the conference room table or at an intense planning meeting, but over crepes and chocolate confections (yum, yum).

A year ago, as we officially made the leap into the Great Unknown (aka entrepreneurship aka potential insanity aka welcome to advertising, baby), it was swelteringly hot. We locked ourselves in a variety of un-air-conditioned war rooms, wishing and hoping that our best laid plans would not go astray as we ventured out on our own.

Since then, those early days before we had a logo or client base or articles of incorporation, both Fate and Fortune have been kind. (Maybe they were amused by the name Crazy Savvy? I know many of our clients are!) We've been able to do some really nifty work, partner with clients we're genuinely enthused about, build an agency brand that we find both authentic and compelling (hm .... perhaps the two are intertwined!?)

There have been countless deadlines, briefs, budgets, conference calls, plane flights, business card exchanges, proof sheets, invoices, spreadsheets, pitch decks, Post-It notes, 3-a.m. emails, Twitter updates, client meetings, and (of course) blog posts since those early days. We've both learned so much — from our experiences, from the industry, from our clients, and, natch, from each other. In the past year, our lives have changed in so many ways, both professionally and personally .... decidedly for the better. It seems there are some very exciting things on the horizon, as we look to the next chapter of life at C/S. We're ready to seize the day.

But some things don't change. We still finish each other's sentences, often enough to be spooky. We still love the challenge of combining strategy and creativity to tackle the communications and marketing needs of our clients, near and far. We still believe in transparency, sincerity, hard work, curiosity, courage. We still enjoy conducting our staff meetings on the patio rather than in the board room. Most of all, we're still so profoundly grateful to have been able to pursue our dream and run a satisfying, successful business. We're still not only colleagues and business partners, but also the greatest of friends. Hell, there's enough change in the world — it's nice to know that some things stay the same, too.

So these are the things we celebrated today, sipping champagne and soaking in the sun. We can scarcely believe how far we've come — and we're both excited at the prospect of where we're going. So cheers, cheers to a fabulous year at Crazy Savvy!

Presenting in a Bullet Point World

While I was prepping for a presentation yesterday, my mind turned to PowerPoint. Oh, PowerPoint, almost universally reviled PowerPoint, how people love to hate you. We've all struggled to stay awake through presentations in which people read their PowerPoint slides, bullet point by monotonous bullet point.

*Yawn*

I have a few quibbles with PowerPoint. First, it's ugly. Horribly, unforgivably ugly. Yes, it's possible to create an attractive slide show using this program, but as someone who has wrestled with it herself and seen designers tearing their hair out over the program, I find myself wondering how many hours of productivity have been wasted in this manner? Particularly when alternatives like Apple's Keynote can effortlessly create presentations that don't make your eyeballs bleed.

Of course, aesthetics only go so far. My bigger issue with PowerPoint is its fixation on bullet points. Is this always the best way to present information? Let me go out on a limb here and exclaim: Hell, no! And yet this is the default standard in presentations thanks in no small part to Microsoft's continuing dominance in the market.

You likely saw the article "We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint" recently, which featured an insanely complex chart designed to illustrate the complex strategy under way in Afghanistan. As the caption dryly notes, it "certainly succeeds in that aim." If you haven't seen it, take a look. That's one heck of a chart.

I would love to show some examples of brilliant slide presentations. I have seen some, but can't seem to put my hands on them at the moment. I welcome your suggestions...maybe this will be a future blog post!

So anyway, after all this, it will come as no surprise that Jen and I chose not to use a PowerPoint in our presentation to a Board of Directors last night. We were aiming for something more personal and down to earth. This was a small enough group that we were hoping to share some information and spark a dialogue about our topic (the nuts and bolts of strategic communications plans), rather than leave our audience with the feeling they should have earned continuing education credits for enduring another consultant clicking through yet another PowerPoint presentation.

Hitting the jackpot (in so many ways)

I'd love to post something really witty and substantive today, but I just don't think it's in the cards. My brain is still a little fuzzy from last weekend's medical adventure. (I think I belong on House. Although as the good doctor or one of his patients, I'm really not sure.) After heading off to the ER for what seemed to be a cut-and-dry case of appendicitis, we instead discovered (many hours later) that I was suffering from the bite of a black widow spider. Two bites, to be precise. Rare in Minnesota, but not unheard of .... go figure.

Anyway, much excitement abounded, but now I'm on the road to recovery .... a road navigated largely from the comfort of my couch in front of the fireplace. And believe me, the fireplace is a necessity, because here in Minneapolis, we've been going on nearly two weeks of solid rain. Delightful.

But never fear, even with half its leadership team temporarily down for the count, Crazy Savvy continues its adventures in communications and marketing. With some exciting presentations on the horizon, it's looking to be a satisfying end of the month. We're getting back to our roots, tackling a number of projects that combine strategy and creative in stimulating ways. And we're fast approaching our official one-year anniversary — look for more news about the celebration next week! Hard to believe it's been a year .... I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.

But it's back to the couch for me (actually, I haven't left it .... how did people survive before the days of laptops and wireless?). To brighten up this very wet and dreary Thursday, we'll share some fan-mail from a much-loved (and jet-set) client of ours. I have no doubt that the weather in Vegas is infinitely nicer than ours here ....

More Than Yes (Wo)men

Allow me to get on my soapbox for just a minute today.

Communications professionals of the world, let me entreat you to join me in acknowledging our collective responsibility to be more than yes men (or women, as the case may be) when clients come to us with ideas that could benefit from more thought and planning.

So often in my career I have witnessed professionals shrug somewhat indifferently and say, "Well, that's what the client wants." End of discussion.

That's the easy way out, dear colleagues. And it's also missing a tremendous opportunity.

Certainly, nobody wants to offend or alienate their clients! (That's where tact and diplomacy come in so very handy.) It's infinitely more difficult to dig deeper and discover the root of the idea, but this is also precisely where the best solutions can be found, where we can do our most creative, strategic work.

After all, our clients presumably come to us for our expertise and counsel. As an industry, we do a disservice to our clients and to ourselves by taking the easy way out just to avoid a difficult conversation.

Facebook fail

So while we're on the topic of social media (see my penultimate post for more on the subject), I want to chat a bit about Facebook's latest iteration. Since the website was launched in .... let me see, 2004? .... it's pretty much been my social networking bible — my electronic little black book, if you will. There have been a number of tweaks to its look and functionality over the years, but it's the latest iteration that has my dander up.

Facebook has helpfully (!!()(**&^%#$) translated one's likes and interests into quasi-fan pages, presumably designed to link people together by shared interest. Sounds nice, granted — more layers of interconnectivity and all. But it's driving me batty. I dunno, maybe it's my peculiar tastes, but I put some thought into what I put under my likes + interests category. Much of it was insider information, things that my friends would laugh about and understand, but things irrelevant (and often nonsensical) to the greater world.

Number one on my list (as anyone who knows me would instantly grasp) was Pushkin. Now, when Facebook made the change to its newest version, it helpfully (%#$$#&*(!!) suggested the fan page of the great Russian poet for said entry. All fine and well: I do indeed like the writings of the literary great ..... but I was in fact talking about my dog. Another interest was "winning at Scrabble" — not just a game at my house, but more of a blood sport. Oh, thinks the new Facebook, you must be a fan of Scrabble. Well .... sort of, but what I really like about it is the winning part. Losing doesn't go down too well (especially when dinner at La Belle Vie is on the line, as it often is!)

What Facebook has added in interconnectivity, it's taken away from in originality and customizability. Plus, my understanding is that one's "likes" are now visible to the public. I sure do like champagne, but do I really want anyone from Grandma Suzy to a prospective client to be able to find that out about me from a simple Google search? (A silly example, perhaps, since I'm freely talking about it here — but I think you get my drift.) There have been waves of complaints about Facebook's approach to privacy since it was founded, but this latest seems the most egregious violation yet. I haven't poked around enough yet to determine if there's a privacy control workaround — there probably is, but the whole new system infuriates me to the point that I decided not to post my interests anymore, period — but the fact that the default is to public view is concerning enough.

I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, interactivity and interconnection are good .... to a point. But Facebook just hit that tipping point for me, and it makes me a bit incensed. What this will mean for companies and brands that have Facebook pages, only time will tell — it hasn't seemed to do much to our C/S page yet, anyway. But if this is the latest tweak, I can't help but wonder what's next.

To end on a more sunshiny note, though, I'll leave you with a picture of the "Like" that inspired this entire diatribe. It's hard to feel cross when looking at a smile like that .... clearly, someone is very happy it's spring!