AMG Blog

It’s the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! While we’re still waiting on the official creation of the Human Day holiday, we at AMG Creative figured this would be the perfect time to update our “how to be green” list. Here are parts one and two. Leave a comment below or post your own “green” tip on our Facebook page. Have a Gaia day!

1. We removed the 21st-century style plumbing from our building – too much wasted water.

2. This spring, we decided to start our own organic produce garden in the side lawn. Guess where the fertilizer comes from?

3. We changed our office hours: AMG is now open 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Hey, leaving lights on for eight hours a day uses a lot of energy!

4. Our newest designer, Mike Tallman, is a real, live hippie because a) he drives a Subaru and b) he’s in a band that plays crunchy grooves.

5. This year, the entire AMG Creative team is scheduled to attend Danny Glover’s environmental cause-and-effect symposium. Here’s a sneak preview.

6. Terry’s head is now being used as a type of solar panel. It works surprisingly well.

7. We shoot and eat the resident pigeons for two reasons. a) When they defecate, they emit carbon and methane. b) This is our way of consuming locally-grown food.

8. Each month, we make a donation to the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University. Keep up the good work, boys!

9. In our super-secret R&D laboratory, we’re developing a fart trap – ala the ghost trap in the Ghost Busters movies. Mike Lindau, one of our designers, served as inspiration for the contraption. We’re calling it the Flatutrap. “The Flatutrap. Because CO2 stinks!”

10. We are starting a petition to get Congress to officially recognize the term “carbon fingerprint” instead of “carbon footprint” because fingerprints are smaller.

Today, we recognize and celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr—a man who spoke boldly and bravely of the essentials of peace, justice and love. Often times we get caught up in life and how our fiscal year compared to the former year. Our long-term plans are short of ambition, and the goals we set are predominantly founded on numbers, rather than the values that King spoke so passionately about.

What about you? Are you connecting your daily actions, your career, and your life, to a greater, nobler purpose?

I can’t claim that my life or long term aspirations always contribute to King’s ideal of a world in which peace, justice and love reign supreme. But listening to the speech he gave at the end of the Montgomery March on March 25, 1965, has inspired me to dream more about the long view, to think outside myself in areas of my career and in my life. I hope this post encourages you to do the same.

AMG Creative craves excellence like Joan Rivers craves Botox. That’s why we never stop finding new, genuinely authentic “green” ways of conducting our creative services. For our first list of “green” initiatives, go here. To see what new innovations we’ve cooked up, read on. And as always, we welcome all of your outside-the-box planet-saving ideas. Visit www.facebook.com/amgci to post your own suggestions on how AMG Creative can save the world. Without further ado, our second attempt at being “Green”:   

1. To reduce our carbon footprint, we’re switching back to lead pencils.

2. We have replaced all light bulbs in the office with candles. This was in no way motivated by our recent, multi-million dollar investment in the wax industry.  

3. In days following a full moon, we wear green clothes. Like, green-colored clothes. I mean, they are literally green. Problem is, we’re still trying to convince our kids that Trevor is not, in fact, a leprechaun (despite his curiously similar resemblance to the University of Notre Dame’s wiry green mascot).

4. The outside of our building was equipped with air conditioning units in order to blast cold air into the atmosphere… Just another way AMG Creative is actively combating the stoppable(?) forces of global warming.

5. To garnish more natural heat during the winter, and reduce our natural gas consumption, we will conduct business from our roof top, which is 12 feet closer to the sun.

6. Every afternoon, we take a 15 minute break to hug trees around the office building. Some take it a step further and straight up cuddle.

7. Ben and Justin manage our organic hemp farm in the back corner of the parking lot. We are still unsure as to how this helps the environment, but at least we get some cool necklaces out of it.

8. Instead of Post-It-Notes, we Tweet. For the inside scoop, follow us at www.twitter.com/amgci (can you say “shameless plug”?)

9. If someone in the office isn’t on Twitter, we bug them with green-colored Post-It-Notes until they join.

10. To get pumped up before meetings, we listen to NPR, National Public Radio (and the news is next).  

11. Instead of using TP in the restrooms, we will take queue from our environmentally conscious Middle Eastern brethren and use water. Just remember, never shake our left hand… (too far? Sorry, never again.)

12. We applaud “Green Terry” and have reached out to his agent to sponsor his Global Green Tour.

Ok, so this is week two - week two for me being gainfully employed as Project Manager for AMG Creative, Inc. as well as week two for ‘The View from the Bottom.’ As I am rushing like Eddie George in ’95 (shout out to my fellow Buckeyes!) to fit in this week’s post, I will refer you to week one for the explanation of this rant space.

For this week’s topic I turn to our talented, if not outspoken Creative Director, Blais Hunter.

TOPIC #1: ‘Let’s blame storm about this. Oh, and you’re always to blame’
Blais has personality, and he likes to share – there, I think I said it nicely.

During our weekly ‘File Maker’ meeting - where we scroll through each and every project listed in our aforementioned project management software and evaluate the status and next steps for each - my boss noted that the file for an ongoing website maintenance job was missing from the queue.

Quick Notes to Bring You Up to Speed before I Continue:
1. File Maker is the Devil in-software-carnate, notorious for its ease of screwing up your entire data management system – “touchy” is the verbiage my boss uses…
2. This job began and finished long before I started here, so the likelihood that I had anything to do with the problem ranges somewhere between zero and ‘a snowball’s chance in … (Gotta’ love British sketch comedy!) ‘
3. Blais is living proof that two, usually positive, character traits (willingness to share and rich personality) sometimes combine and manifest themselves in less-than-loving manners (somewhat understandable through the volcano experiment you performed in third grade).

At this point our , umm – witty? - Creative Director piped in with the quick and dirty solution to the problem that summarizes my position and the position of enterprising-entry-levelers-everywhere within our respective organizations: “Let’s blame storm about this. Oh, and you’re always to blame.”

Knowing my rank in the room and appreciating that I do enjoy receiving a paycheck, I bite my tongue regarding my knowledge that this incident could not and is not my fault and respond with “I will fix that.”

Oh what a view it is here from The Bottom. So, until next time, keep your head up, keep your tongue tied and keep your eye on the prize. And maybe one day you can be like Blais – everyone can dream!

Every business has them. If job title accurately depicted job description, he/she would be bestowed with titles such as: The Peon, Grunt Work Guru or Menial Task Marshal. Out of necessity to fill the position, desire to remain on the good side of political correctness or sheer pity, however, businesses around the country and globe label these paper-pushing, bottom-dwellers as Administrative Assistant, Attendant, or - as my nametag here at AMG Creative reads – Project Manager. No matter the title and no matter the location he/she is always subordinate to everything/everyone and as scripture so elegantly put it, I AM.

My name is Justin Williams and I AM the new Project Manager at the most desirable advertising agency in the most desirable place to live in the US (according to Money Magazine). As in most entry level positions, there is little room for my strategic vision in the office and for good reason. It is 5:00 PM on Friday of my first full week and this is the first time that I have been able to put a full thought together deeper than, “Where is that file?”

Although I accept my position at the “bottom of the ladder” and am even grateful that my to-do-list can only pile so high (decisions weighted with any responsibility never stop here!), I have a voice too. And I want to be heard! Thus, I bring you ‘The View from the Bottom,’ a weekly/whenever-my-to-do-list-allows rant about the menial tasks and headaches that we subordinates encounter on our journey up the corporate ladder – shhh, not too loudly though, my boss is in the next room.

This is your favorite creative agency at its finest. We’re too pathetic to excel at real sports, so we do this to feel good about ourselves. Don’t worry, we finished working on your ads, Web sites, image brochures, etc. before our Office Olympics.

Oh, quick word of clarification: AMG’s Office Olympics differ from Dunder Miflin’s Office Olympics in the fact that ours isn’t on TV. But it should be. Really.

As Americans, we hold dear the American Dream. Part of our dream is business ownership – the right and opportunity to own a business of our very own. The fancy term for that is “entrepreneurial spirit.” Small businesses have been part of the financial backbone of our country and are still very much needed.  

An example of a successful American small business is Lowe’s. Lowe’s Hardware store was founded in 1921 by L.S. Lowe in North Wilkesboro, a small foothills town in western North Carolina and a neighboring town from where I grew up. From this single store, Mr. Lowe was dedicated to serving his community and neighbors with the best prices possible on much needed, every-day items.  Through the daily hard work of the Lowe family and 20 years of small successes, Lowe’s went public in 1961 and grew to be the company they are today – the second largest home improvement store in the world. That’s the power of and the motivation for the American small businesses.

This classic example of success lived out the meaning of owning and operating a small business versus simply owning a small business.  Do you know the difference? I can own a sail boat but not know how to sail it. I can own a classic 5-speed Ferrari but not know how to drive it. I’m not sure about you, but I want to sail and drive; it’s part of my DNA. Successful small (or large) businesses are sailed/driven – not docked or garaged. They operate under the careful direction of a skilled operator who may or may not have any ownership. Let’s face it, owning and operating a small business is not for the weak. It takes an unbelievable amount of time, sweat, energy, passion, resources and even tears. 

Playing to Win the Game

As a marketing firm, business strategist and advertising agency, we love small businesses. If we are retained early, we can help set the dreams, visions and goals as well action-plans for your business. The single most important advice we can give any business is these few words:  “Out of sight, out of mind, out of business.” Employing an advertising agency to handle the bulk of your marketing and advertising needs can be vital to your success.

I’ve personally been a small business owner and operator. I recall the time when my business coach and mentor convinced me to delegate. I admit I was a bit scared. After all, I birthed the business – it was my idea, my vision, my passion, it was my baby – and how, oh how, could I trust someone, anyone, with my business? As I began to find trustworthy associates to fill key roles in my business, the business started to grow and become healthy. It was not easy, but it worked. When I partnered with a marketing firm and shared with them my dream, vision, difficulties and frustrations, I felt relieved and encouraged – finally I didn’t have to do it alone. It’s like being part of a baseball team: no one person can beat a team of nine. It requires a skilled player in each position with one collective focus: playing to win the game.

If your business does not concentrate on business growth through deliberate, skillful marketing and advertising, your business will not succeed. We find that serving as the marketing partner for small businesses can be fun, encouraging, exciting and even exasperating. Before you hire a marketing/advertising agency to be your partner, do your homework and research.  Speak with their past and current clients. Know intimately the desires and objectives you have for your business. Create a budget and hold those funds aside for this purpose only. If you stop your marketing and advertising efforts you can fall victim to “out of sight, out of mind, out of business.” Realize that your marketing and advertising partner knows and understands your target customer audience. They are marketing to them – their likes, their desires and their needs – not yours. You are not the customer or target; you are the business.  Trust your marketing/advertising partner. After all, you hired them. Be involved but not controlling. Embrace their ideas by knowing they understand who you are, who your customer is and where you want to go. Give your partner a defined budget and let them go to work. They succeed when they help you succeed.

You’re a small business owner/operator with the desire of serving and helping people. If all goes very well, your small business may become a big business with substantial rewards. Seek out a marketing/advertising partner and start a powerful, successful relationship.

I say, I say, this is gonna cause more confusion than a mouse in a burlesque show!

AMG Creative has gone green! Woot. Below is a staff-compiled arsenal of ways to combat those evil CO2 emissions that trees need to survive. This list is just a portion of the changes we’ve implemented at AMG Creative. Why? Because we didn’t want to be the last business on the planet to jump on the elitist/morally-superior bandwagon.

1.       Every five minutes we hold our breath for five seconds (we call it the “Five Every Five” plan)

2.       We have canceled our once-weekly, printer-paper bon fires (too expensive and the flames died out too quickly)

3.       Sometimes we turn off the lights when we go home

4.       We flush only once a day

5.       We trap our flatulence in plastic bags from Wal-Mart then put them in the recycle bin

6.       All of us carpool to and from work in a single Smart Car – which is why our hours of operation are 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

7.        In order to save electricity and reduce our carbon footprint, we will institute “Polar Fridays” in the winter months and “Nude Tuesdays” in the summer time

8.       Our office drink is an unsweetened tea made from oak tree bark and grass shavings when the lawn guys come once a week

9.       We stopped burying our empty ink cartridges in the lawn outside the building

10.   To conserve water consumption during work hours, we’re only drinking beer

11.   And to offset the amounts of water used/CO2 emitted during the beer-making process, at all times during the day, one of our employees will be running on a treadmill to create alternative energy to power our computers

12.   And to offset the electricity used by the treadmill, we do communal laundry once a month in the Poudre River

In our 21^st century, Twitter-fied world, we’re so hyped up on communication it’s as if we’re swimming through two layers of air. If fish are oblivious to water, then humans are oblivious to air and (quickly becoming) oblivious to the constant barrage of communication we produce.

For those of you who follow the NBA, you know that the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was suspended for Game 6 in the Magic’s first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. How did he spend his night off? By Tweeting. Here are the highlights:

“did yalllllllll seeeeeeee thatttttttt”

“With the left. Yeaaaaa polish hammer” (when teammate Marcin Gortat threw down a dunk)

“man im soo proud man. yall have no clue. we gonna be on the plane doin the pool palace lol”

This is just one of millions of Tweeting examples. Everyone from Al Gore to Coldplay to the NFL have Twitter accounts. You can even follow Barack Obama’s teleprompter.

Then there’s Facebook. Every business known to mankind has a Facebook fan page. Heck, even God has a fan page on Facebook (and people actually post “prayers” on the wall…yeah, that’s not weird). And, of course, Facebook enables you to be the kind of gossip that puts Perez Hilton to shame.  Everything going on in your friends’ lives – from pictures of last night’s kegger to their current emotional instability – is right there for you to peruse and comment on.

Aside from the social network sites, there are actual Web sites. Tostitos has the NOLAF viral Web site. JC Penney’s did the “Beware of the Doghouse” online campaign. Heinz lets you “Talk to the Plant” in its Interactive Ketchup Growing Experiment.

Hang on a sec. Just got a Tweet update on my cell phone…Oooh! Guy Berryman of Coldplay just woke up. Good morning, Guy!

Feeling saturated yet? We are bombarded like atoms with communication.  

Two things here. First, the way communication style is changing before our eyes. I love how Bill Simmons, ESPN columnist and blogger, describes this change:

The more interesting angle for me is how Twitter and Facebook reflect where our writing is going thanks to the Internet. In 15 years, writing went from “reflecting on what happened and putting together some coherent thoughts” to “reflecting on what happened as quickly as possible” to “reflecting on what’s happening as it’s happening” to “here are my half-baked thoughts about absolutely anything and I’m not even going to attempt to entertain you,” or as I like to call it, Twitter/Facebook Syndrome. Do my friends REALLY CARE if I send out an update, “Bill is flying on an airplane finishing a mailbag right now?” (Which is true, by the way.) I just don’t think they would. I certainly wouldn’t. That’s why I refuse to use Twitter.

And don’t forget character limits! Twitter only gives you 140 characters to work with, which is a problem if you are right now in the middle of, say, “Applying Boudrillard’s simulacra/simulacrum to the social networking sites in an attempt to identify the generation of models of the hyperreal in our digital ‘desert of the real’.”

That’s 25 characters too many for a Twitter feed. Dwindling attention spans – especially in those born after 1990 – pose mind-boggling challenges to marketers, educators and regular individuals alike (especially parents of teens). “Quality, not quantity” used to mean that less is more, but in quality’s favor. Now, less is more in quantity’s favor: the less you say and the shorter you say it, the better. Punctuation and complete sentences be damned, just tell me in as little time as possible so I can skip to the next song on my iPod.

Secondly, and I believe more importantly, is the question of: Where do we go from here? Didn’t the “gotta have it” stage of social networking sites and viral Web campaigns hit its peak a few years ago? Obviously there are stragglers to the marketing possibilities of these technologies. And there is still unbelievable potential in these mediums, just as there is still huge marketing potential in radio advertisements, and they’ve been commonplace for decades now.  But if Katie Couric is Tweeting, and if God has a fan page on Facebook, I think we’ve passed the point of novelty and have arrived at commonplace.

Right? I mean, if “everyone is doing it,” then what comes next? And what do we as marketers need to do to push the envelope? You have a Facebook page? Am I supposed to be impressed or something? Your rock band is on myspace? Congratulations, welcome to earth. You have a Web-only commercial running on YouTube? It’s about time.

These technologies have invoked a lot of interaction, as is the goal when companies use them for marketing purposes. Yet there is a limitation to the amount of genuine communication with a lot of these tools. Take the Tweet from Coldplay: Guy Berryman told all of the band’s followers that he just got up. Now unless Coldplay, for some unknown reason, decides to follow me, they will have no idea what’s going on in my life. Rude. Sure, I can do an “@” comment and say, “Good morning!” like thousands of other people who have no lives, but is Guy Berryman going to reply to my salutation? As if. It’s a one-way communication model. And even if you like talking to a tomato plant (the Heinz campaign), Twitter feeds, fan pages and viral Web campaigns are decidedly one-sided.

When you couple an avalanche of constant communication with an often blocked-off communication cycle, the customers (and even your friends) might start to look elsewhere for recognition and interaction. Remember how the fish is oblivious to water, and we are oblivious to air? We are now oblivious to all of this “interaction,” and we will only begin to notice it once the next big thing comes along. Which is kind of like air: we only notice it when it’s not there.

So what comes next? Will there be a return to more a stripped-down, “earthy” approach to marketing and communication? Will the continual evolution of the Internet produce even shorter communication patterns, possibly reaching the point where it reduces our lexicon to a purely image-driven system, like the ancient Egyptians? I think it’s safe to say, though, that whatever comes next won’t be like Monty Python – something completely different and unexpected. It will be something familiar but enhanced; recognizable but revolutionized. As Marshall McLuhan said, “We drive into the future using only our rear view mirror.”

The next marketing paradigm shift is for us to decide. We’ve come this far, and we need to start asking (and answering) the question of what comes next. We owe it to our clients; we owe it to humanity.