Context

Beanstalk Talk, is the blog of Ad Giants, and as you can probably tell from the name, it’s not an especially formal, single-minded or policy-laden beast, despite the often repeated advice of many, many, many people. Beanstalk Talk is an informal place to pass information about Ad Giants specifically and communication in general, and by communication, I mean marketing, advertising, PR, word-of-mouth, buzz, viral, SEO, consumer generated advertiing, social networking, and most any other medium or discipline, trend or fad that might stick or vanish in ignominy in these wild media times.

My name is Fred, and I’ll be the Beanstalk Talk wrangler for the near future. Readers have the right to know the context of what they’re reading (some might even call it a responsibility,) so if that interests you, this section is for you. I worked with Ad Giants CEO David Farmer and Marketing Director Bob Cox many years ago at a traditional ad agency. We had lumbering, bureaucratic clients, and poor but nimble clients, and that breadth of experiences helped those at the agency form into a family, of sorts. If you’re old enough, just think of the dramedy M.A.S.H. If you’re not old enough, imagine a mix of Seinfeld, The Office and Just Shoot me. Also, direct us to your online Spring Break photos. Just kidding. We’ve already seen them.

Before the conglomerate-owned agency somehow bought itself out, Bob went to an agency in the midwest, writing and supervising copy for clients of all stripes, from banks to burgers. I joined some friends in starting a radio production house and tried to get an idea off the ground to harness the repetition of advertising for educational purposes while funding it with opt-in advertising. David began Ad Giants. This page isn’t the blurb for the whole Ad Giants tale, but I can tell you that Ad Giants began as one of those ideas ahead of its time, too rich in possibilities to execute with the available technology and too broad to get off the ground at once. I remember a meeting David called six years ago with many of the friends and coworkers he’d met over the years. When he presented the business plan, the room was filled with people who were excited and intrigued, but unsure how to proceed. Too many elements weren’t safely in place yet, even in terms of infrastructure, let alone the evolution of media. Over the next six years, David and key partners molded, shaped, trimmed and tweaked the concept into the tool it is today. David caught up with us again, and when he asked me to wrangle the blog, I quickly agreed, even though I never sought to blog corporately. Here’s why I agreed.

My background spans rural journalism, military-industrial PR and advertising, all of which are various grades of creativity and objectivity (or subjectivity depending on the fullness of your glass.) Ultimately, I’ve come to believe that the first responsibility of creativity, at least in business, is to solve problems, and that’s exactly what I think Ad Giants does, simply, elegantly, and with respect for humanity. I’m 51. That kind of thing excites me..

So until there’s a coup d’ blog, I’ll be doing the wrangling. Here are some blog details, but bear in mine, it’s always a work in progress, and there’s always plenty of work to do:

1.) We’ve chosen wordpress and the K2 beta theme initially because it’s built to be tweaked, even though we’ve not customized it too much as of yet. Also, the WordPress community is, in many ways, a helpful, thoughtful, giving and determined lot, and as often as I’ve found help from them when my eyes glaze over at pages of PHP, SQL, and even CSS, I’ve developed great respect the open sourcers.

2.) Honestly, I’m going to try to avoid the incestuous cycle of blogging about blogging, even though that’s what I’m doing right now. Eventually a conversation about having a conversation about a conversation has to implode, doesn’t it? However, some of that will be unavoidable because of the rise of blogging as a marketing tool, and this being a blog about a tool to make the work of marketers easier and more effective. But I’ll try, because blogging about blogging makes my head hurt.

3.) About transparency, Ad Giants is a Texas-based outfit. We believe you can be a straight shooter without shooting yourself in the foot, so Beanstalk Talk is more a soapbox than a witness stand. Our only requirement is that before one climbs the soapbox, he or she believe what they’re about to say.

Thanks for stopping by. Just jump in anywhere.