In the AdAge article, “Is Content King? Then Distribution Is Crown Prince,” Keith Richman discusses the importance of distribution and how having great content does not guarantee it will be reach its audience. According to Richman:

“The good news is that the internet provides amazing opportunities to distribute content and reach an audience. The bad news is that you are competing with millions of other content creators for the attention of that audience and their barrier to entry into the online medium is almost non-existent. In this environment more than any, distribution matters significantly.”

While “Overemphasis on Brand Building Leads to Mistrust” by Brent Leary in Inc. Technology examines the 2010 Trust Barometer report which shows that increased content through social media has swung the pendulum away from individuals in favor of industry experts/academics who are now as the most trusted source for company information.

“All the information being created and distributed is overloading most of us, which may be why there is a return to trusting authority sites, and recognized experts.  So, as the trust study is indicating, it’s becoming increasingly important to be viewed as an expert — more than ever before.”

This pendulum swing reinforces the idea that there is opportunity for brands to create content to tell their brand stories. Adidas Penalty Shoot-Out, which was released in 5 European countries through Windows Live Messenger, was able to garner over 13 million game plays in just a two-month period. This clearly shows that a combination of great content, strong brand tie-in, appropriate context, careful understanding of audience and engaging user experience can get you some amazing results.

Lately, hiring an interactive agency has become a complex and confusing enterprise. As the internet grows and more companies appear on the scene, assessing the qualifications of an agency is becoming more and more difficult. The barrage of marketing speak, technobabble, and nearly identical sales pitches involved with identifying the agency who will really work for you, makes the decision process even more difficult. Emerging technologies, new service applications, new tracking and measurement platforms, the development of social media and easier access to information have all contributed to a deluge of both niche offerings and startup players all vying for your project with promises of incredible results and ROI. So where to begin?

1. The worst place to start is from scratch. Search engines are not incredibly discriminating. Just as you wouldn't look for a spouse through a Google search, you shouldn't use one to look for an agency, either. Sure, it's not totally the same as finding a life-partner, but the length of the relationship could still be a long one. Get references from people you trust. Ask about the agencies they use and what they like and don’t like about them. Look at your fiercest competitors and see which agencies they use. Scrutinize.
2. Don't assume you know the exact solution to your problem. Just as you wouldn't disregard your gastroenterologist's referral to a nutritionist, don't be indifferent to an agency willing to re-diagnose and give angles you’ve never even thought of. Experienced marketing agencies should ask difficult questions, be able to use their expertise to figure out what’s ailing you, and offer a number of creative solutions.
3. Listen to the type of questions they ask you. Are they tactical questions, or are they strategic questions? The tactical questions tend to focus on specific product or service offerings, while strategic questions are more related to your business goals and objectives. Agencies that ask a lot of tactical questions tend to lack marketing know-how and will eventually run out of steam when it comes time to innovate or build your business over the long-term. Be wary of agencies who tout their value proposition around a short-term solution, niche application or key piece of technology; that’s a vendor, not an agency. Stay away from these vendors as their engagement may be inexpensive at the outset, but you might find that their short-term solution may cost you much more over time.
4. When meeting with an agency, ask to meet the principals of the company. Ask them if they use third-party agencies or vendors to execute any of their projects. Do they foresee the need for any of these partners for your project? If so, who would they be working with and is it possible to meet them too. Don't leave out visiting their studio which will give you a feel for the culture and attitude of the agency and the people who will ultimately be working for you.
5. What type of clients do they currently serve? A more diverse and varied roster of clients is actually better for your business as agencies gain a more varied insight and tool set to handle issues and create opportunities. Ones that work in predominantly one vertical tend to be limited in how they approach problems
6. Ask for three case studies and have them demonstrate what they did for the client and what results the program produced. Look for hard metrics and make sure the results were in line with what was requested by the client.
7. Find out how long they retain their clients. A good agency should be able to retain their customers for 2-5 years. If they don't, ask them why not.
8. Remember that hiring an agency goes both ways. Asking them to do all the heavy lifting when they're doing a proposal limits their ability to present you with a viable solution. Provide the agency with all the information they ask for, and don't treat the proposal development phase as a test or sphinx's challenge. It helps no one.

With the decline of the consumer confidence index and a recovery not projected for another two or more years, businesses will need to not only change their marketing messages to emphasize the idea of value, their marketing and sales strategies must also embrace the concept of value. Consumers will be hunkering down for the long-haul—spending conservatively.

It is extremely important in these tough times for businesses to concentrate on building and reinforcing brand equity. Brand equity is built over time through tangible assets (logo design consistency, name recognition, messaging) all utilized to influence and shape the public's perception of the brand. Reinforcing brand equity requires developing a strong and consistent image of the brand. Keep in mind that it's much faster and easier to knock down a brand than it is to build one up.

What should a business do until the economic environment improves? Continue to spend money promoting your products and services; just be smarter about how you invest those dollars. Limit the amount of scatter shooting in your marketing and advertising campaigns, be more critical of the status quo, investigate and research the best way to reach your target audience and relay clear messages. The value of the marketing dollar spent is equal to the effectiveness of your campaign. Make sure your tactical decisions back up the strategic goal of building brand equity.

One of the many things my great-grandmother taught me was if you live thoughtfully and support others, you can live a full, happy life. Sugi Iwasaki lived through a number of financially difficult times in history including two world wars and the US Depression. Through all of that, she was the bread-winner for her immediate family and was also able to send money back to her extended family in Japan for many years by working as a seamstress and sewing teacher. She lived a full life of 98 years, continuously supporting what was important to her by thinking long-term and being value-oriented.

When I work with clients, I keep my great-grandmother’s lessons in mind. Plexipixel was built on the fundamental belief that we are successful when our clients are successful. It’s our job to have our clients’ backs and help them build their success by reminding them that brand equity is built over time and maintained through thoughtful management. Our clients continue to work with us year after year because we ask the difficult questions before we start each project:

• Who is your audience?
• What are your goals?
• What is your marketing strategy that will bring people to this awesome website, advergame, widget, animation…?
• Does this project support your current brand strategy?
• How does this project fall in line with your overall marketing and advertising strategy?

If you’re unable to answer the questions above, it might be time to rethink how you’re spending your marketing and advertising dollars. Or on the other hand, if the agency you’re working with doesn’t ask these questions before they dive into your project, it might be time to look for a new agency—one that will partner with you to make sure that you’re both around (and healthy) for the long haul like my great-grandmother.

Vicky Tamaru @ Branded Entertainment, All Business

But in this day and age the networks need to compete extra hard for the eyeballs it needs to be able to justify the cost of the advertising slots. The competition includes anything from cable channels, licensing channels like Hulu, to even the network’s own alternative channels for content and advertising like their online video players.

One example of the struggles of the existing business model was exposed when NBC was able to continue production on the critically acclaimed show "Friday Night Lights" only after selling first-run rights to DirectTV--this means that even though the show is an NBC property, it’ll be shown on DirectTV first. Although the critics have consistently given good marks to the show, the ratings have been sub-par and the advertising income on NBC alone wasn’t enough to justify the production costs on the show. This strategy may pay off financially for the individual show and the network in the short-term but I wonder how this will equate to eyeballs back to NBC’s other properties in the long-run.

A combination of important factors makes Xbox a great contender for helping offer a new world of opportunities for content creators (including the networks) and advertisers. The first big game-changer was the launch of NXE ("New Xbox Experience") which enables users to access a plethora content much easier than ever before and gives advertisers a number of different ways to show their wares. The second big announcement late last year was the drop in the price of the console itself from $279 to $199 ($50 cheaper than the Nintendo Wii). The third factor was the partnership with Netflix that allows users to download Netflix content right to their Xbox. Another important advancement was the integration of the Xbox Live Marketplace online experience with the console which enables users to purchase and download content straight to their Xbox using a browser-based online user face on xbox.com including second-run top-tiered TV content ala iTunes like "Heroes", "Lost", "The Daily Show" and more.

Last week, I attended the AdClub Seattle luncheon. Chuck Frizelle, Director of Xbox/Games Product Strategy and Planning, was the guest speaker speaking on "Advertising in the Game Industry". Chuck has been in charge of the Xbox Live advertising business since its inception. Chuck’s main point to the Advertisers in the audience was that Gamers aren’t a niche audience anymore and that games are just a type of entertainment. The topic I don’t think he touched on enough was the opportunities for everyone in the family--gamer or not--to use the Xbox Live experience to watch and interact with entertainment of all kinds including movies, TV shows, games, and advertainment like the "Doritos :: Unlock Xbox" game.

With the convergence of media on one platform and the ability for users to control that media all in one place, we’re seeing a platform that really does change the game of entertainment and advertising. Xbox eases the user into one comfortable platform that allows for active as well as passive entertainment.

The next logical developments for Xbox Live should be an Interactive TV experience that will enable users to purchase items seen in a TV show or movie immediately and the availability of more casual games in XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade). The Interactive TV experience on this platform just makes sense since people are comfortable being both active and passive while enjoying entertainment on the Xbox unlike the computer experience which is mostly an active experience and watching regular TV which is mainly as passive experience. The introduction of more casual games in XBLA would also be a good move to help change the perception of the Xbox platform as a "hard-core gamer" console to something more family-friendly, like the Wii. Games like "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" have already helped to do just that but those games are best played in groups and Xbox really needs to encourage everyone in the family to be more comfortable interacting with the Xbox even when solo--casual games can help with just that.

Once the Xbox is welcomed into the living room beyond the game room, families will be able to be entertained in a myriad of ways from a single platform. Advertisers will also have many opportunities to reach their target consumers in ways that are more creative and thus more welcome by their audience. It could just be that brave-new-world for content and how that content is funded that we’ve all been waiting for.

Vicky Tamaru @ Branded Entertainment, All Business

Okay, I’ll admit it. I don’t personally have an iPhone, but my husband does and he loves it. Why haven’t I made the plunge? Simple -- I’m waiting for the next big thing.

When I travel, I have five vital pieces of electronics with me. It’s always a struggle to get my iPod, cell phone, digital camera, Nintendo DS, and laptop in one computer bag (my "personal item") so that I can stuff my other carry-on full of clothes and other necessities.

I would love to have just one appliance to take care of my most important needs that those five items do for me now:

1. Check my work (Outlook) and personal email
2. Check /update my Outlook calendar
3. Access my Outlook contact list to quickly make phone calls
4. Purchase, sync and listen to music
5. Purchase, sync and watch videos
6. “Connect” to folks on my social networks like Facebook and Twitter and update my status
7. Take photos and video and upload them easily where I want to
8. Let me play games
9. Read/write Word documents
10. Read/write Excel spreadsheets
11. Pay for applications/content once—access it across as many platforms as possible (computer, phone, audio device, game console…)
12. Save all of my existing content (music, videos, photos, documents, etc.) in one place for me to sync and access easily

The iPhone does the first seven things well with the help of ActiveSync (to sync with Exchange Server), the Facebook app, and iTunes. Windows Mobile does the first ten things but it lacks a lot of the more fun applications available to the iPhone. Number eleven and twelve are the big items that neither can deliver quite yet.

Here is why I think the time is now. Apple has convinced the American consumer of what the Japanese have known for years: that a phone-sized computer can be used for an assortment of activities. In Japan, people use their phones to play games, read books (in fact the best selling novels often start off as cellphone novels), watch TV, and pay for items -- using it like a debit card -- which is why the iPhone hasn’t been a success in the Japanese market. Americans have started to recognize that they can use their phones for both business as well as pleasure. There are also more useful apps like the SonoSound ultrasound viewer for doctors and the NikeWomen Training Club to customize your daily workout, while games are some of the most popular iPhone applications downloaded from the iTune store.

Apple achieved this culture-shift by doing what they do best, making things fun and easy to use. There are a plethora of applications and content just available for you to try in iTunes from your phone. As soon as you’re ready to purchase, Apple makes this task as easy as pie, especially if you’re already used to using the same experience to get audio and video content for your iPod.

To get all of that content, Apple made it super easy for content developers to develop the content (getting your content through Mr. Jobs to sell it on iTunes is another story we’ll ignore for now). The biggest hurdle for mobile content developers was always the lack of consistency and requirements across phones. Imagine this: You’ve got a great idea for a mobile application but you have to develop it in several different languages (Java ME, BREW, .NET, Palm OS…), for phones with a variety of screen sizes, and then you’ve got the distribution nightmare. Say goodbye to any hope of making any money. iPhone and iPod Touch have one programming language, one screen size, and one distribution channel. Not to mention that it’s got a huge share of the cellphone market in the US. According to Apple’s WWDC keynote in June 2009, they announced that over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches had been sold globally. In May 2009, iPhone accounted 69 percent of the smart phone traffic according to AdMob. With Smartphones making up 37 percent of all mobile traffic globally. Those are some pretty good odds.

But I’m going to point out the elephant in the room: Are you tired of buying content and applications just for use on your iPhone? I know that I stopped adding content to my iPod because I’ve got two iPods and several computers and I’m tired of encoding/copying/moving/synching my files -- I want to buy or encode once and share all of the files regardless of device. Besides that, I’m an NPR addict and my iPod doesn’t have access to radio without external hardware. So I’ve actually gone back to what I used to do before I had an iPod, listening to internet radio stations and streaming my local NPR station live. And I know that I’m not alone in this.

On the business side, I love that my Windows Mobile phone allows me to use Word and Excel on my phone -- no need to purchase any apps or convert my files. I can also VPN into our business server from my phone. That means that I don’t need to store all of my important content on my phone, I can sync it from a server.

Microsoft has already opened their Windows Marketplace for Mobile to developers. They need to make sure that they don’t fall in to the trap they often do -- by making their OS and applications available to too many manufacturers without requiring them to stick to enough standards. It’s going to be key that developers feel like they’ll be able to make money on the content and applications they create and not wasting it on porting it to too many different phone requirements.

This is why I’m hopeful about the Zune Phone, aka Pink.

First, the Zune Phone will need to run off of Windows Mobile so that I can take care of my business needs and also my “need” for other mobile applications that I’ll be able to purchase from the Windows Marketplace.

On the fun side of things, the Zune already plays my audio and video content and has a radio tuner, so I’m going to assume that’s all on the Zune Phone. XNA, the Zune game programming language is also supported on Xbox. In fact, Plexipixel did the design for the Zune Sudoku game that was released with the 3.1 software update. There’s been chatter about a portable Xbox console since 2006 -- could this be the next step to that reality?

And what about the social experience? Xbox Live has been an excellent connector. At GDC, Microsoft announced the social extension of Xbox Live, Twitter and Facebook integration but more importantly the ability to watch videos or listen to music with friends. If the Zune Phone is able to tap into some of the Xbox Live social functionality, I’m buying one immediately.

Finally, Microsoft has a big ace in the hole called Azure. What is Azure? It’s Microsoft’s cloud computing solution -- platform, software, database, OS offerings all in one. Why is Azure so important? Think of being able to access all of your photos, videos, audio, business documents, games all on your Xbox, Zune Phone, Zune, and PC. But let’s go beyond that. Let’s say that you’ll be able to run some big juicy applications on your smaller devices like your Zune Phone. More and more developers will be building their software as a service (SAAS) -- think Google Docs or Salesforce CRM -- now that companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have cloud offerings available to developers.

I bet you’re wondering by now what this all has to do with branded entertainment or advertainment. Think about it: Your advertainment apps or content will no longer be tied to one platform -- iTunes already offers a number of branded applications in their store. People have been talking about mobile advertising for ages but nothing’s hit. It’s been expensive and difficult to execute. But if there are only two or three major phones and even better, one solution for multiple platforms, think of the possibilities.

I’m hoping that Microsoft can get it right. They have so much that they can leverage -- a great OS in Windows Mobile, industry standard applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook, an amazing game console in Xbox, the social experience of Xbox Live, a good audio/video device like Zune (that has lots of opportunity to be so much better), and now the Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Azure. It could be a hugely powerful combination!

Vicky Tamaru @ Branded Entertainment, All Business

1. But Everyone’s Talking About It…
   Just because Twitter is “the next big thing”, doesn’t mean you should jump in head first.  Investigate your audience and its intention before you even consider investing time and money. Don’t forget to make sure that it’s an integral part of your overall comprehensive marketing strategy.
2. Customer Expectations
   Many of your customers are already very comfortable in the digital world.  They’re on the Web, using their iPhones, connecting on social networks and watching videos.  Make sure that your digital marketing is executed with your customer in mind.
3. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
   There are lots of great technologies, tools, and best practices available for you to leverage for your digital marketing project; no need to waste your money or resources on unnecessary costs.
4. The “One Size Fits All” Solution
   Conversely, avoid the solution that promises to solve everything for everyone.  Your business is unique; take the time to find the most appropriate solution for you.
5. Missing the Mark
   Your website might look good, but is it working pulling its weight capturing leads or retaining customers as hard as it should?
6. Brand Degradation
   An initiative executed poorly could degrade your brand.  A brand can be pulled down exponentially quicker than they can be built up.
7. Runaway Development Costs
   Poorly planned and architected websites and applications can end up costing you multiple times its initial projected cost, just as a bad contractor can blow out the budget and schedule of your home redesign.
8. Unplanned Maintenance and Management Costs
   Once it’s built, who’s going to update the content, pull down and analyze the data, make small tweaks to keep up your investment?  Make sure to account for these in your strategy plan.

In this tough economic environment, business decisions need to be made wisely.  A good digital agency should be interested in partnering with you to work towards your success long-term during any economic environment and be just as critical as you are of how funds and resources are being invested.

Your customers are in the digital realm: on the Web, using their smartphones, connecting via social networks and watching videos.  Are you where your customers are?  If not, let us help you.

As digital pioneers, our integrated group of designers and developers and our experienced management team understand how to navigate the often confusing virtual wilds. Let us be your guide as you maneuver the digital world, providing the essential tools for this amazing journey.

What We Do

We excel at making complex concepts:

• Engaging
• Simple to understand
• Easy to retain
• Fun, when appropriate

We do this by:

• Strategizing around your goals (goal-oriented)
• Focusing on your audience (user-focused)
• Leveraging tools, processes, and best practices (value-minded)
• Working closely with you and your team (make your interests our interests)

Our Work

Maximize digital marketing initiatives through a blend of strategy, conception, execution, maintenance, & measurement:

• Website Design and Development
• Branding
• Interactive Demos and Animations
• Custom Cross-Platform Applications
• Social Media Strategy and Execution
• SEO Strategy and Execution
• Games
• Mobile Applications

Who We Are

Plexipixel is a full-service digital agency specializing in consumer-driven experiences that incorporate “Sticky Brand Play”™, our user-focused, value-minded process to acquire, engage, and retain customers that gets measurable results.

Our projects include B2B and B2C work with clients like Adidas, Philips, Infiniti and Microsoft.

Contact us to schedule a consultation today!

Roshamboom! is inspired by David C. Lovelace’s extreme rock-paper-scissors concept called RPS-101.  The RPS-101 (http://umop.com) game got a ton of web chatter when it was released back in 2007 because it took David over a year to concept the game and produce the 5000+ outcomes.  The Plexipixel folks thought it would make an ideal (and silly) turn-based game for Facebook.  Plus, it allowed them to practice some Silverlight skills."

Barak Cohen @ Microsoft

Plexipixel developed a proprietary platform for rapid development and deployment of social networking applications and games called Dormouse. Dormouse is the platform powering the MySpace and Facebook implementations of MSN Games' "Hexic" and "Chess" which were released earlier this year as well as the Silverlight Facebook game, "Roshamboom!"

"Dormouse not only allows us to build applications and games for social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, and hi5 quickly, it allows us the flexibility during development to quickly respond to API changes such as OpenSocial 0.9 and MySpace Profile 2.0," says Andy Jacobs, Plexipixel's Lead Developer. "In addition, the platform has been deployed across a distributed web cluster to serve up speedy page loads and minimizes any single point of failure for popular games like 'Hexic' which has 50,000 active monthly users and growing."

In addition to Dormouse, our full social networking application solution suite includes the integration of analytics and tracking through Zabra, our customizable RIA (rich internet applications) tracking tool.

"Sites like Facebook have very comprehensive analytics tools, but Zabra allows us to track user interactions within the actual Flash/Silverlight/Javascript applications at the heart of the 'Hexic' and 'Chess' on MySpace and Facebook," says Vicky Tamaru, CEO and Co-Founder of Plexipixel. "We've also been using it to take small sample data about Silverlight penetration through our 'Roshamboom!' game to help us make technical decisions on other interactive projects."

Other speakers at LOGIN include Edward Hunter, Director of Gaming Solutions at comScore, Toby Ragaini, Director of Game Development at Big Fish Games and Lowell Vaughen, Director of Strategic Marketing at WB Games.

About Vicky Tamaru:
From playing Space Invaders in the 1970s to chatting online before the "interwebs" were even invented, Vicky has been a geek since before it was cool. In an increasingly fragmented and over-saturated world, Vicky's extensive experience in weaving the creative realms of design and tech into "unexpectedly sticky brand play" has given her a unique understanding of the importance of meaningful, engaging entertainment to the bottom line of any business. She is the Branded Entertainment expert on Dunn & Bradstreet's AllBusiness.com and is on the Advergaming committee of the Casual Games Association.

About Plexipixel, Inc.:
Plexipixel has been a leader in the interactive-experience field since its founding in 2000. Plexipixel is responsible for the design, development and concept assistance for one of the top five most successful online games in the world and has created other award-winning, highly successful advergame, animation, and website projects for multinational clients such as Adidas, Microsoft, Sony and Volvo.

RPS-101 was referred to by John Bardinelli--a freelance writer of casual and independent games--as "a completely unrealistic version of [the most basic game known to man]". Plexipixel created an interactive version of the game that is playable by anyone with the Silverlight plug-in and a Facebook account by using Microsoft's Silverlight technology and Dormouse™ (a proprietary social networking application development and deployment platform) to leverage Facebook's native services to create a game that is easy to play and can quickly be viral.

"RPS-101 took a year to develop on my end, so I was impressed at how well its complexity was preserved in this very engaging, addictive new version," says Lovelace.

Since 2000, Plexipixel has earned a reputation for delivering "unexpectedly sticky brand play"™ that include user-focused websites, games, applications, innovative advertising, and animations for companies such as Volvo, Adidas, VISA and Sprite.

"We make the users' experience fun," says Kristi Torgrimson, Project Manager/Producer who heads up the Plexipixel San Francisco office. "The interactive experiences we create for our clients totally immerse the users into their brands. We recently had a 75-percent completion rate for an advergame we created for one of our Fortune 500 clients. For another client, we achieved more than 13 million plays in just two months."

Most recently, Plexipixel has taken their extremely successful "unexpectedly sticky brand play" philosophy into the world of social networking. Microsoft's MSN Games worked with Plexipixel to develop and deploy MySpace and Facebook applications based on their most popular games, "Hexic" and "Chess". The social networking applications were built on the Dormouse platform and the user interactions within the Flash games are being tracked by Zabra™--Plexipixel's customizable RIA (rich internet applications) tracking and analytics tool.

Plexipixel has been a leader in the interactive-experience field since its founding. President Matt Tamaru and CEO Vicky Tamaru collectively bring decades of experience in design, interactive media development, character design and animation. Matt was a pioneer in web animation using FutureSplash (later renamed Flash) and has worked on advergames, animated web shorts, websites, and various interactive projects for Disney, Coca-Cola, Nickelodeon, among others.

"We're excited to bring two of our most popular games to the Facebook and MySpace communities," said Megan Hodel, marketing manager for MSN Games at Microsoft. "These networks reach more than 200 million people around the world, and the MSN Games applications will make it easier and more fun for Facebook and MySpace users to play some of their favorite casual games."

Both of the MSN Games applications reward users via collectible merit badges for playing and achieving skills, and feature leaderboards, news feeds from MSN Games, and the ability to share the applications with friends. The applications feature full Facebook integration, including notifications when badges have been awarded and games completed. MSN Games has also launched a dedicated page on Facebook, where casual game fans can download the game applications to their personal page, view videos, and post pictures and messages.

"Chess" features asynchronous multiplayer functionality, so that users can play their turn whenever they have time to log on and make their move. The application also allows users to track their long-term progress against friends using the ELO rating system.

(via PR News Wire)

What my husband Matt and I love about the show is that it’s a great combination of charity and business, competition and cooperation, and creativity and precise planning. Overall, the show is extremely well orchestrated as a true Branded Entertainment vehicle. It does a great job not selling anything short, including the duration of the show which is done in a two-hour weekly block (almost unheard of in this day and age of TV programming). It also does an amazing job elevating all of the brands in an immersive and entertaining way. The brands are numerous yet each has a compelling role to play in the overall story: the celebrity contestants, the corporations involved in the challenges, the non-profits the celebrities play for, as well as the Trump brand itself.

What’s been also so good to see is that everyone involved-from contestant to represented corporation-really seem invested in the show emotionally. There have been many passionate fights and tears from the contestants seemingly driven by their desire to win for their causes. And even members of the Trump family show a few moments of true compassion in the board room.

In today’s business environment, one of the true advancements marketing has made is to being more open to showing the real faces behind the big brands through social media and the like. It been refreshing to see a broadcast TV show hosted and produced by one of the most successful businessmen in the United States also make an effort to represent brands in more authentic ways.

Matt and I will probably be watching the ‘Lost’ finale and DVRing the live ‘Celebrity Apprentice’-only because after six years, we’re just more invested emotionally in the ‘Lost’ story. But you can bet that we will be watching ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ soon afterwards. We won’t be able to wait long to see Bret Michaels back from the brink of death in the board room with the very competitive Holly Robinson Peete. And yes, we’ll certainly be picking up a couple of bottles of the winning Snapple flavor. Job well done, ‘Celebrity Apprentice’!

Vicky Tamaru @ Branded Entertainment, All Business

Microsoft has revamped the MSN Games site to feature the new social features more prominently.

(via Forbes)

We just did a client mashup to create a little gift basket to welcome our newest and most fashionable client, Gene Juarez Salons and Spas.

We worked with our friends over at Whole Foods to put together this amazing fruit, cheese and chocolate (aka noms) basket.  They did an amazing job and were great to work with yet again!  Whole Foods seriously wowed everyone with their catering for our Open House last October.

Instead of getting a bottle of wine, we picked up a 6-pack of Kellerweis beer from our lovely clients Sierra Nevada. Which I heard was quickly scooped up by Scott Missad, the CEO of Gene Juarez (further evidence that this is a man of incredible taste).

David and Amber giving some UX/UI advice behind a large wood pillar

After every project, we gather feedback from team on what went well and what can be improved for next time.  This feedback informs how our process and communication is evolved.

Here's a little peek into our Post-Mort for Sports Hack Day 2013.

What We Did Well

• Work with the client when their creative direction changes—client is king!
• Great balance between giving the client a “corporate” logo but lobbying for more personality and guiding our expertise over the design
• Recommended the site fonts, colors and direction even though we didn’t design the site layout
• Excited to help out the greater design community and support our client events
• Tout our own horn to make sure we maintain our client network, get our logo on the site, post up our sign at the event, etc.

 Areas for Improvement

• Make sure all stakeholders are involved in the initial “project” kickoff—Initial conversation with Jon didn’t include Carter and his expectations were very different.
• Since the project is pro bono it’s inevitable we want to do our best on the work with the highest quality and standards, however, it would be great to do a “schedule” and estimate of hours before starting the project. This way the actuals would benchmark the dollars spent against a projected budget amount.
• Bring laptops! Did not discuss going beyond the “mentor” role and actual think about creating assets for them to use. Of course, this is difficult to do for multiple teams and would have needed a design to join a team all weekend but, something to consider.
• Bring business cards to pass out and also provide when designers were asked if they had one. If no cards, then at least some swag so people in the teams could remember us when they went home.
• Consider bringing a smaller group of mentors and if interested, designers can join hack teams for the entire event.

Quotes from the Street Team

"It’s a unique event which we have not had experience with."

"It was flattering to be invited to support an event like this by some really smart, connected folks."

"It was a fun event. The food was good. I liked tweeting and getting followed by random people. It was very geeky in a good way. I thought it was awesome to be involved at the level we were at. Of course part of me really wanted to help these guys by busting out Photoshop and doing it for them, but this way we were able to get a glimpse of the ideas from a lot of the teams and help out in small ways. "

"We spent a lot of time not doing much; it seemed like maybe the teams had some level of anxiety about showing us their work, asking for feedback, or just do to general time constraints."

"To actually help out teams significantly I think we would have needed to be there for the whole event, with computers, etc. In the end as ‘design consultants’ I suppose we achieved about as much as we could have been expected to."

Every night it’s been a toss up between writing a blog entry and cleaning the house, doing other work related items or getting some much needed sleep early enough so that if the little one has a difficult night and there’s screaming or perhaps diaper pieces all over the crib pulled out of said diaper by a tiny adept finger that has to cleaned up (which includes what was in the diaper), there’s still enough time to get a few nods in so that our brains can semi-function during the next day at work.

Excuses, excuses… and that’s only a small part of mine but I’ll spare you the rest.

So a few months ago, Jon Rooney (Splunk>Dev) asked us if we’d like to help out with a sports themed hackathon that he and Carter Rabasa (Twillio) were putting together for Superbowl Weekend.  We were asked to create a logo, help out with the color palate for the branding and then send some UX/UI experts to the event to mentor the teams.  Then we heard that Brian Goldfarb (Google) was going to be involved as a sponsor.

When Jon, Carter and Brian are involved with something, you know it’s going to be a nerdy good time so we jumped on it.

This is what resulted:

• Carter got some kickass sponsors including Google, ESPN, Adobe, and Amazon Web Services
• David (Lead Technologist), Stephanie (Lead Designer), Jesse H. (Visual Lead) and Amber F. (Designer), Matt (Executive Director/Co-Founder) all went down on Saturday to help with mentoring of UX and UI for apps.  They mingled from team to team and also had a Lucy from Peanut’s style “UX Advice” table.
• Great judges including Charlie Kindel, Rebecca Lovell, John Musser, Peter Chee and Stuart McKee
• King5 news story (try to spot Matt): http://www.king5.com/news/local/Seattle-sports-geeks-Super-Bowl-hackathon-189397661.html
• THE BEST HACKATHON SCHWAG EVAR

 Update on Sports Hack Day: It’s gone international.  Stay tuned.

It was a dark time of dot.com crashes, outbound marketing and RAM measured in megabytes; a time of uncertainty and tragically overused clipart. Many could see the flicker of light that signified a way out of these darks times or perhaps…a way UP. Like a fiery newborn phoenix, the Plexibee arose from the hot ashes of static web pages, broadcast content and denim dress shirts, furiously flapping its wings to fan the flames of the new digital era…

OK, well it wasn’t really THAT epic but a lot has changed since we started Plexipixel over a decade ago. The Internet has done a lot of growing and we like to think we have too.  We’ve been rolling with the punches all these years, learning new tools and trends and passing this knowledge onto our clients to help them succeed in these constantly changing times. With new and better technologies springing up nearly every day, it’s been an educational journey that we’re excited to continue many decades into the future.

We have also grown our team of developers, designers and project managers to help create more awesome stuff as they work and play out of our studios. This year we officially outgrew our funky yet charming Victorian digs in Queen Anne and moved into a new space in South Lake Union. While we have a great deal of pride in our work, we are humble in our roots. We have a great deal of gratitude for those that helped us get here. We hope you will join us in thanking them with a raucous party at our studio in the SLU which will also include a silent auction for a cause near and dear to us, Art with Heart.

Want to join us?

BIG THANKS to our event sponsors and donors! Check out these fine organizations and establishments
that clearly care a great deal about our community.

If you’re headed to the Ottawa International Animation Festival, let us know if you catch our animation as we’d love to live vicariously through you. 

Enjoying his newly installed marble floors.

Camera phones just don't cut it for underwater photography.

Stephanie and Bob singing the song of his people.

BOB ROSS SAYS HEY! That is all.

Check out what KIND is doing to make you feel better one snack at a time. Visit their website, like them on Facebook or get your hands on your own nommy nibbles at these stupendous establishments.

We’re super proud to say that Plexipixel has always had a view of the Space Needle from its studios both in Lower Queen Anne and now in the SLU. As vintage scooter enthusiasts (Matt and I met at a scooter rally in 1999) and fans of the 1960’s view of the future we are super excited about this year’s celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the 1962 World’s Fair and thought it would be fun to get Roger to share his story with all of you."

- Prologue by Vicky Tamaru

On a surprisingly thunderous Friday morning I had the honor of sitting down with Roger Mizumori, current Tech Designer at Boeing and long-time veteran of the computer industry. While his wealth of knowledge on content management and IT solutions is impressive, we had actually asked Roger to speak with us about an entirely different and unique work experience:  operating a food stand at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

A Little Teriyaki Stand

As a 16 year old from the very neighborhood in which the Fair took place, Roger was given the opportunity to work at a chicken stand located just outside of the Japanese Pavilion barely a stone’s throw from the infamous Paradise International with Gracie Hansen. The stand’s owner proclaimed it to be a teriyaki chicken stand, and while it may not have maintained any of the traditional aspects of authentic teriyaki chicken Roger’s memory suggests that it was still delicious. Surrounded by the bustle of spectators and staff, the stand was located j Inside of the Japanese pavilion spectators could watch pearl divers in a giant tub that would bring up oysters for the intrigued spectators. Remembering the scent of grilled meat in the air, a convergence of world cultures and the buzz of innovation all around him, Roger reminisced over the thrill that was downtown Seattle 5 decades ago.

Making Way for Progress

Being a teenager at the time, Roger recalls watching the demolition of his old elementary school and other familiar buildings--to be replaced by futuristic new structures--with a keen sense of curiosity. Rather than lamenting his old stomping grounds as they were torn down brick-by-brick to make way for the Coliseum (or as we know it, the Key Arena) he was instead more interested in seeing how this vast new urban landscape would turn out. Perhaps it is this type of naturally inquisitive thinking that landed Roger in the world of technology and maybe even pushed the city of Seattle to continue experimenting with new ways of living, working, and creating together as a community.

Roger has been proud of the fact that these World Fair grounds now labeled as Seattle Center has continued to be a vibrant space for the past 50 years.  Having visited Fair grounds in other cities, he has seen them devolve into ghost images of what might have been.

A Lightning Rod for Change

When asked whether he felt the Space Needle and the Fair itself impacted Seattle as a technological hub or if the underlying desire to reach for the future was here all along, Roger feels that it was more timing than anything else; we were ready for it and it was ready for us. For a long time, Boeing was the most technology advanced company in the area. The emphasis that the Fair had on looking into the future with exhibits like the Monorail, the Bubbleator and the Space Needle itself, clearly had an impact on a community that was already curious as to what the world and later generations had to offer.

While the monumental progress taking place around the Fair was exhilarating, Roger has much stronger memories of Memorial Stadium, his high school’s home field and the location of the Fair’s opening ceremonies, transforming from an often muddy dirt field into a beautiful architectural specimen of Astroturf and modern design. One cannot blame a kid that age for being invested in the future of his school football team.

Something for Everyone

Because Roger was, as her termed it, “a bit of a nerd” the Science Center was easily the most fascinating part of the World’s Fair for him. He spent many of his breaks from the Teriyaki stand browsing through the latest advancements the scientific world had to offer.  Once he had seen all there was to see in the science center he noticed a large crowd gathering several feet away from an elevated stage. When it became apparent that the King of Rock and Roll was filming part of his latest movie,  It Happened at the World’s Fair, Roger took advantage of being on his break to move his way as close to the stage as possible given the thick throngs of exuberant fans. Once he got a clearer view he realized it was simply a lip-syncing stand-in for Elvis rather than the authentic velvety tones of the King himself. Somehow, this didn’t cheapen the memory for him as he retold the story with an amused smile on his face.

Lessons for the Next Future

With years of knowledge and experience (professional and otherwise) we couldn’t help but ask Roger how he felt later generations would deliver when it comes to technological advancements and spectacles to infuse child-like wonder into our global society.

“As a culture we are more acclimated to the increasing pace of technical development. There are those who hang onto tradition, which is important as we need to carry certain things forward…” In the brief silence he holds out his right hand, then reaches out with his left hand, palm-up and slightly raised, and wearing another bemused smile, “but imagine a world in which the technology you see in science fiction is a thing of reality.”

Perhaps, (hopefully) we will never lose that collective sense of curiosity that is inherent to innovation. Like a pearl-diver delving to the depths of frigid waters to discover and share some of the most beautiful creations we could dream of, we must continue to let our creativity run wild and share these discoveries with one another so that every generation can experience their own science fiction becoming simply science.

On Friday July 20^th, there will be a special showing of It Happened at the World’s Fair presented by Seattle Center. Not to be missed!

Whether you're a Kindle user or prefer the feel of crisp pages between your fingers, there is a great new book on branding to add to your (virtual or actual) library.

Create a Brand that Inspires: How to sell, organize and sustain internal branding is a recently published work by Wolfgang Giehl and F. Joseph LePla that shares stories and instructions on how to create, organize and sustain your internal branding particularly in the digital world. Parker LePla, Joseph's agency, was an integral part of our branding strategy and their insights are invaluable for allowing your brand to stand out in a crowd. Aside from the fact that we are mentioned on p.102, we think this is an excellent read for those of you who are looking to manage your own brand or advise others on best practices for doing so. Go check it out! No, we mean actually bring it to the check-out…

“What kind of happy meal?”

“Any of them.”

“Umm…OK. Is this for a boy or a girl?”

“It’s for ME, damn it.”

“Alright…that will be-“

“TAKE ALL MY MONEY!”

So that was about how my conversation with a slightly bewildered young man at the McDonald’s drive-thru went this weekend. Why? Well, aside from satiating my overpowering urge for salty fries I was there for one thing, and one thing only: my Pokémon TCG mCode.

“What’s that” you ask? Well first, it’s a really cool way for you to access the Pokémon Trading Card Game online for hours of battling bliss, but it’s also the latest promo from Pokémon showcasing some character design (pictured above) done by our own Executive Factotum Matt Tamaru. This is the first time Pokémon has let anyone outside of Japan design characters for them so needless to say this was a big honor for us.  Also, these fries are delicious.

Want your own code? Head down to your nearest McD’s and order your own happy meal, because—darn it—we’re not sharing!