Transatlantic Supergroup Forms

Bill, Angela and Darryl (BAD) have been friends of this blog from its beginnings back in 2006. Now they have merged their unique talents to form AdVerve, which already existed, but now includes Darryl, who just left the agency he founded, Humongo, to join Carrot. Bill and Angela have shelved their old blogs while the one Darryl started will be carried on by the good folks of Humongo, whom I get to work with from time to time on various projects. It's all slightly confusing. The ad blog world is a little shaken, bewildered, confused and nervous right now. What does it all mean? It's like if your brother married your sister or something, but not gross like that. Bad example.

All I know is that these three bloggers are truly decent people who have been very kind to me in the five years I've known them. I trust that whatever comes of this, it'll be good. 

I Will Be a Schizophrenic Before This Is Over

As the Humongo Agency tour neared my locale, I debated going out to ambush them. I needed a good ruse, and at the last minute I came up with Ronnie, a character who is likely near to my heart. I did a summer on a landscaping crew, and Ronnie is probably a subconscious amalgamation of some of the guys I worked with. He means well, but he's, well, for lack of a better term, a little fucked up.

The character went over a little better than I expected and he has taken on a life of his own at the encouragement of Chris, Darryl and a few others. Ronnie now has a blog, a Twitter account and a YouTube channel. Here's his first video.

That's a Big-Ass Country

Click this image for an obscenely massive version.

Or more aptly, a Humongo Nation.

The special-needs kids of Humongo (formerly known as Plaid) are at it again. This time the Eastern Seaboard is the target as the customized Ford Flex full of live bloggers, tweeters and videographers meets up with people they've only known virtually, demonstrating once again what social media is about.

Last summer they did some Central states. Summer before that they did the West Coast. And they kicked off this annual ritual in 2007 with a tour of I don't even remember, that was so long ago.

This time they start in Maine and make their way to Miami, stopping along the way to meet people and maybe land a client or ten. I intend to ambush them when they hit Daytona Beach, but since they already know what I look like from the last time I ambushed them, I'm going to have to be more clever.

Sponsors already lined up for the tour include Ford, Green Mountain Coffee, Sprint and Wingate by Wyndham. If they're coming to your town this time around, you really should get out and say, "Hi," just as Andy, James, Lori and bunch of others did on previous tours. If you don't already read Brand Flakes For Breakfast, you should do that, too. It's an agency blog, but unlike most agency blogs it doesn't just promote the agency. In fact, it rarely does that. What's more, it wasn't left to die two months after it was created, like most agency blogs.

Speaking of country, this is (entirely coincidentally) my 1776^th post. And just in time for the 4th of July weekend.

Full disclosure: I've done some freelancing for Humongo. Fuller disclosure: They gave me the shirt in the above picture in the hopes that I'd blog about the tour. I'd have done it without the shirt, but when they threw in an air-freshener and some buttons, I felt I owed 'em.