Or else.

Place blame where you will; the fast food industry, Moore’s law, the flatter and smaller world we occupy. Regardless, the fact is, hyper-speed is now the new normal. So it bears mentioning when you get to witness, and participate in, an anomaly to the current reality.

It isn’t everyday that a combination of outside forces dictate that things can’t happen as planned, that time does slows down, when everything you believe was going to happen, doesn’t.

This is the story of Verne Global.

‘How would you guys like to work on branding a data center in Iceland?’ That was the call we received from our long-time friend and client, Lisa, back in early 2008. There wasn’t a hotter place (figuratively) than this small island at the time. And because it has a geology that is rich in sustainable and renewable energy, a very cool place (literally) to house a data center.

We said, this is a no-brainer, home run! And naturally, jumped at the opportunity. But not long after our initial meetings and implementation of the first phase branding efforts, an event called the global economic crisis hit. If you haven’t seen the documentary, Inside Job, by now, just watch the first five minutes, it says all you need to know about how Iceland became known as the poster child for the Great Recession.

So from 0-60 and then back down to 0 in a heartbeat.

Although the marketing efforts were naturally placed on hold, we kept in contact with Lisa and monitored the roller coaster ride that ensued. Verne went from life support. To near death. To slow and steady re-emergence.

With the strength, insight and sheer will of the Leadership Team as well as influential Icelandic supporters, new investors and key strategic partners were brought in and lo and behold, the clouds began to disperse. (the volcanic ones remained, however. As I said, this was a challenge of immense proportions). Some early adopters became customers and in February, Verne Global held its official “grand opening”.

A long-awaited and proud moment for the many folks who were honored for continuing to believe that this business plan had merit. Smart and courageous people who fought against some serious odds on every conceivable level; Geographic, financial and structural-to see the effort through.

Most people nowadays would have bailed. Chalked it up to another bad deal and moved on. Leaving a lot of wasted time, effort and people, in their wake. Yet these guys didn’t. They actually stuck with it and they persevered.

My hat is off to all of those folks who hung in there and ultimately were vindicated. And a sincere appreciation for our personal and professional relationship with the company and the role we continue to have in supporting it.

Sometimes, as the saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.” Or at least, those who have the guts to wait out the storm.

The Official Opening Ceremony

Well, if you haven’t noticed, the economic recovery is still pretty shaky, and for many companies this has meant pulling in their financial horns. As usual, top of the list is the ad budget for a number of firms.

For smaller firms, and small-to-mid-sized b2b firms, this is understandable. You work with what you have, and if you can’t afford it, you can’t do it. (Has anyone told the folks in Washington about that concept? But I digress…)

However, there’s a dark side to that reality. A number of companies have come to the conclusion that advertising is a non-essential luxury, period. No need for it, even if the money is available. You can get by on press releases, SEO and social media–all of which is basically free.

For a lot of companies, especially smaller firms in the b2b firmament who are decidedly awareness-challenged, this is a potentially dangerous turn of thought. Can ‘new media’ play a role in success? Sure, although at ACP we do tend to think that the more esoteric a b2b tech product is, the lower the value of new media to marketing efforts. We have yet to see any evidence whatsoever that certain segments of the business audience spend time researching solutions on Twitter or Facebook. (Consumer product marketing, of course, can be a totally different story.)

Advertising, even if focused on online advertising on relevant sites, is still far and away the best way to get noticed. If you need to inform or educate, trade magazines (those ‘irrelevant’, ‘dinosaur’ printed things) still remain a best buy in most cases.

Of course, as the stock market pros say, this just sounds like us ‘talking our book’. We’re a marcom agency, we make money on media placements, etc. But we’re also the firm that ran an ad during the downturn of the early 2000s titled, ‘An ad agency explains why you shouldn’t waste your money on advertising.’ Like I said, depending on the economic conditions, you work with what you can.

But never forget that there’s a reason companies pay ridiculous amounts of money to advertise on the Super Bowl every year. Nothing can take the place of advertising when it comes to creating awareness and a positive predisposition toward your company and products. When the money isn’t there, you have to find next-best alternatives. But thinking new media freebies are going to have the same effect….well, that’s more wishful thinking than reality. Online, print, TV, radio, billboards, whatever. Advertising’s track record, even in our super-duper technology age,  speaks for itself.

More interesting, in my opinion, were a couple of runners-up in the Most Creative category. The first was coined by noted lexicographer Weird Al Yankovic to denote a period of 72 days:  a ‘kardash’, the length of time Kim Kardashian’s publicity stunt…er, I mean wedding…lasted.

More to the point (considering what we do here at ACP) is the lovely phrase, ‘put a bird on it’, meaning ‘to add artistic flair to something, usu. used ironically or humorously’.

So if you’re a client who happens to find our design for a particular project too minimal for your taste, you can now simply ask us to put a bird on it.

It’s not necessary to specify the particular species or genus of bird, although if you do have one in mind we’re always open to suggestions.

While we continue to do a prolific amount of work for our clients, we’ve finally done a little something for ourselves.

Feel free to take a look around. With or without your shoes on.