2. Our favorite lunch spot is the Bulldog NE. But we doubt we’re their favorite customers. (Maybe if we called ahead before all 15 of us stomped through their doors …)
3. We’re really, really happy about our new dishwasher. Magically clean dishes.
4. We’ve had a TV for 6 months that we haven’t taken out of the box.
5. All meetings involve snarky comments. It’s why we have meetings.
6. Hilarity is one of our core values. For real.
7. Our fridge is stocked with string cheese, English muffins, sparkling water, Diet Coke and V8.
8. Kristina thinks V8 is gross. David, Julie and Elizabeth strongly disagree.
9. We love the fake grass in our conference room table.
10. Meghan and Elizabeth hate each other. Elizabeth says Meghan eats kittens. True story.
11. We’re almost out of beer for Disco Friday.
12. For Amy and Angie 1.0′s birthdays, we ordered a Pride & Pegasus birthday cake (e.g., Jane Austen on a pegasus). Best birthday cake ever.
13. Our receptionist team includes Liberace, T Rex, and a cow. We had to fire Buffy the Vampire Slayer because she was dressed inappropriately.
14. Erin and Meghan are in a fight.
15. We really, really, really want to hire more guys. We love dudes. And equal opportunity.
16. We love it when dogs visit the office. Our favorites: Molly, Wahoo, and Sam.
17. Chunks of things fall from our ceiling.
18. Delivery dudes, please pay attention: No one named Brian Traffic works here.
19. But if you are named Brian, and you’d like to work here, please let us know.
20. We have very loud shoes. We are the loudest walkers in the history of anyone who walked.
21. Favorite shoes around here: Danskos (particularly favored by IAs), MBT shoes (the anti-shoes), and Fluevogs.
22. We made our own Christmas stockings.
23. We work in the old Banks building. Many clients and visitors remember shopping here before it was turned into office space.
24. We’re within spitting distance of the Otter, Popular Front, and White Castle. But we do not spit on any of them.
Having recently been dubbed by some of my more outspoken coworkers as the Rose Nylund of Brain Traffic, I feel it’s incumbent upon me to dispel some long-standing myths about White Anglo-Saxon Protestant-raised Midwestern web writers:
We don’t carry around a copy of Strunk & White and/or a pocket thesaurus in our satchels. (We don’t carry satchels at all—ha!)
IMHO, we’re perfectly capable of txtng. w00t!
We’re not a bunch of failed librarians and/or poets and/or designers.
We don’t speak in bullet points. (But we are working on a top-secret technology that will one day allow us to hyperlink live conversations.)
We won’t correct your grammar . . . at least not to your face.
I’m totally kidding about number five. Because we will correct your grammar! But we’ll be super nice about it. And we’ll absolutely do it to your face. Better yet, we’ll leave a note. Because that’s a super thoughtful thing to do!
For a taste of just how thoughtful we are around here, take a gander at my desk. This homage to passiveaggressivenotes.com was masterminded by a couple of our particularly “creative” (read: smart-alecky) writers. That was soooooo nice of them!
This week’s installment of “Around the Office” concerns rapper and pop culture phenomenon MC Hammer. Or is he just Hammer now? Not sure anymore.
In any case, everyone at Brain Traffic is now five degrees from MCH. Here’s how the Baconian tree works:
1. My husband William, owns an Etsy shop.
2. He had the idea last week to create a poster pantomiming the lyrics to "2 Legit 2 Quit." Just for fun.
3. Two days later, Hammer TWITTERED about it.
4. William found out through a fellow Etsian, who must have been following Hammer (which raises its own questions).
5. We have established, with some surety, that it’s the real Hammer*.
* He has not responded to requests for information as to how he found the poster. But William experienced quite the surge to his shop from said Tweet, so we’re all very thankful. Aahhh, the wide world made much smaller by the internet.
Around 3 p.m., Brain Traffic takes a break (coordinated by Angie 1.0). It doesn’t happen every day. And not everyone can always participate. But those of us without pressing deadlines step away from our desks, often to pick up miniature containers of Play-Doh. (Thoughtfully supplied by Katie.)
Not many of us are expert sculptors. (Except Christine, who’s good at everything artistic and crafty. She’s our resident Martha Stewart, and she makes delicious toffee, too.) But creating works of art is beside the point.
The main goals of Play-Doh time are simple:
Relax. Taking time away from our desks to recharge, breathe, and de-stress.
Chat. We happen to enjoy each other’s company, and chatting often leads to laughter, and laughter is contagious—especially for Katie.
Play. Mashing colored clay in our hands gets our creative juices flowing. Play-Doh’s tagline states it best: “Imagination Taking Shape.”
Play-Doh time usually only lasts around 15 minutes. It’s not a huge investment of our time. But it is a creative investment in our quality of work.
A little playtime gets those brain cells moving again, energizing our creative process. And once they’re moving, there’s no stopping them. After our Play-Doh break, we knock out more great work. And just a couple hours later, we go home with a feeling of satisfied accomplishment, and some fun memories.
From left: Italian Dinner by Elizabeth (including a bottle of Chianti and spaghetti with meatballs), BT Skull by Angie 1.0, and Frog-Man with Bow Tie by Angie 2.0.
What’s it like at Brain Traffic, you ask? I believe my feelings would best be expressed in song.
No, I'm not going to sing. I'm going to reference.
What we do Believe it or not, there aren’t a whole lot of tunes with “content strategy” or “IA” or “web writing” in the title. But let’s face it, even if there were songs like that – who would listen to them? (I mean, except us.) There are, however, lots of great numbers that talk about what we do and how we think.
"It Takes Time to Build" – The Beastie Boys
“The Architect” – dEUS
“Oxford Comma” – Vampire Weekend
“The Writer” – The Drawing Board
Rhett & Link “Internet Overdose”
Who(m) we love Seriously. Like, these are BT spouse projects.
Where we live and work Oh, sure. There are the staples from Minneapolis – Prince, Soul Asylum, The Replacements – but there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of songs that talk about our town. These do …
That Dog "Minneapolis"
Vic Volare “I’m Gonna Miss Minneapolis”
How we roll Every Friday, we celebrate Disco Friday at the office. This event can include, but is not limited to: Disco tunes, a couple of beers, and an intercom session with Rick Astley piped through the entire office. (That's right, we RickRoll OURSELVES.)
I’ve been writing for websites since 1997. You know what that makes me? Old.
It also means I’ve wrangled a lot of web content over the years. For a while, I really believed that great web writing was all about shorter paragraphs and bulleted lists. Then I discovered metadata. Content inventories. Dynamic content modules. Nomenclature.
If you’re looking for a seminar about writing great homepage taglines, then any run-of-the-mill advertising copywriting course would be fine for you.
But if you’re interested in really understanding what it takes to be a smart, successful web writer in 2009, then I’d like you invite you to register for my March 11 seminar, “Writing for Websites.”
You’ll learn:
Why writing for websites is different from writing for print
How to write great web content using our Top 10 Tips
SEO copywriting basics
How to create a smarter, more efficient workflow for drafting, reviewing, editing and approving content
What metadata is and why you should care
How a content inventory will change your life
Even though the seminar is still a month away, we’re already 80% sold out. The time to register is now.
Find out more, or call Josh at 612-331-6600 x60 with any questions.
We love when there's smart, useful content on the internet. And because we love to share such things, we'll be doing so weekly. Here are some posts and sites that have captured our attention in the last week or so:
Words are Delicious This post, "Defiantly Reaching Out," explores how to use simple, clear language instead of jargon or cliché.
After Deadline This blog from The New York Times draws from "weekly newsroom critique" about language, grammar, and editing from the standard-bearing site. For example, "The Chitchat Patrol" post separates clear writing from the colloquialisms we inadvertently adopt as standard language.
You may remember Kristina's post about style guides. Style guides make writers happy because they can follow the rules the first time, and they make businesses happy because the writers are speaking the language. And hammering out style details at the beginning saves needless time and expense to clean up these small details at the end of a large project.
As such, we writers have regular discussions about troubling words or troublesome tasks of cleaning up misunderstandings about capitalization, em dashes, and the like. Here's one of the latest, when we officially decided not to initial cap “internet” anymore, whether it’s used as a noun or an adjective.
As I recall, the decision came about something like this:
Angie 1.0 (me): Hey, everyone! Should we initial cap internet when we use it as a noun?
Angie 2.0: I don’t like capitalizing Internet. Or Web. Or InterWebs.
Katie: Yeah! I hate capping things.
Meghan: But didn’t we agree to initial cap “web” when we use it as a noun?
Angie 2.0: When did we agree to that?
Angie 1.0: Didn’t you get that email?
Meghan: Wired magazine doesn’t initial cap internet. And isn’t the rule about initial capping it in the process of changing?
Angie 2.0: And Wired is on the cutting edge of that change.
Angie 1.0: Right. Eventually nobody will initial cap internet.
Erin: Once the dictionaries catch up.
Meghan: Yes, let’s be on the cutting edge of change!
Everyone: Yeah!
Angie 1.0: Remember that movie The Net with Sandra Bullock?
Erin: Wasn’t that about identity theft on the internet?
Angie 2.0: Yeah, something like that. Do we have to initial cap “Net” when we use it as a noun?
Katie: We are NOT using “the Net.” Under any circumstances.
Everyone: YEAH!
A quick perusal of a few industry blogs revealed an inconsistent style on initial capping internet. So we turned to Wired for some guidance. In 2004, it declared that on its pages internet and web (and net) would not be initial capped anymore. We’re happy to officially join the trend—since we believe it will become a rule anyway.
It’s definitely becoming a rule in our house style guide.
I joined Roller Derby on a whim. I had never played a sport, hadn’t been on roller skates in 20 years, and suffered from chronic knee issues. Yet, it seemed like a good idea. I do enjoy a challenge.
So I bought all the gear. I learned to skate…and to fall. Soon, I was drafted onto the North Star Roller Girls. Then came the unexpectedly hard part: picking my skater name.
A good name is an important thing for roller girls. Your new identity unconsciously shapes how you play, and how you act. What’s more, your derby persona starts to creep into your “real” world. So when you invite her into your life, you’d better be sure she’s the right one.
Being a strategist professionally, I knew what I had to do. First stop: a comprehensive list of requirements:
Powerful. My name had to command attention.
Unique. I wanted to stand out, not copy someone else.
Sassy. Because “mousey” and “roller girl” just don’t mix.
Clever. I may be a bruiser, but I’m no dummy.
Clean. The name had to be sedate enough to mention in polite company.
Then came brainstorming. Lots of it. Gwen Igitcha? Te-kill-ya Rose? Keyser Suzie? It seemed all my ideas were not right, too complicated, or already taken. The search became an obsession. The list of rejects got longer.
In the end, I employed another lesson from my professional background – to ask for help. Hey, even tough girls need a hand once in a while. Another roller girl pointed me to the International Rollergirls’ Master Roster, which helped weed out names that weren’t available. Others offered suggestions. When someone casually pitched “Anita Tension,” I knew right away. She was perfect.
This weekend, the crew from Brain Traffic came out to see Anita Tension do her thing. While I was on the track, they came up with a long list of awesome derby names. Just like that. Which is another great lesson: talented writers make the process so much simpler.
Check out this short list of their ideas. If you ever find yourself in need of an alter ego or a smart-n-sassy web handle, it could help you out.
Princess Die Nancy DrewBlood Auntie Maim Poison Ivy Lucy Flawless Winona Rideher Ivana Bruiser Meg Lomaniac Genghis Connie Pippi Longsocking Pixie Styx Sylvia Bullet Mickie Finn Motley Drew Bloody Mary Martha StewHurt Attilla the Honey Cami Flogg Sarah Impalin' Casey at the Bout Audrey Heartburn Block n Bomber Scary Badshaw Drew Beatyamore Dana Skully Fox Maulher Brawny Anderson Alex P. Beatin’ Death Cab for Judy
"Whatever you may have heard, this is our world, our place to be. Whatever you've been told, our flags fly free. Our heart goes on forever. People of Earth, remember."
The Brain Traffic team sat together in the conference room to watch the inauguration yesterday. There were tears, applause, and lots of comments about Aretha Franklin's hat. Every one of us typing away on our computers—not only sharing the experience with people in the room, but those far away in cyberspace.
Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution The Obama campaign—which has inspired so many with its themes of hope and change—has often reminded me of the "internet revolution" of the late '90s.
In retrospect, it sounds a bit trite, but anyone who worked in the first wave of interactive agencies from 1996 to 2000 will probably tell you a similar story: We went to work every day believing we were the "pioneers" of the internet age. Groups of incredibly smart people (most of us in our early 20s) toiled for small paychecks in dodgy warehouse spaces. (Revolutionaries have to suffer, right?) But, we believed the Internet could triumph over the big corporations and big governments . . . engage the whole world in a global conversation . . . give every human being on Earth a voice.
This fervor was even documented with a manifesto—the Cluetrain Manifesto. The quote at the top of this post is not a part yesterday’s inaugural address, it's actually part of the introduction to the Cluetrain written in 1999. Thankfully, Obama's speechwriters have more talent, but Locke & Co. (Cluetrain's authors) were trying to convey a message of inclusive, universal change, too.
Storm Clouds on the Horizon Speed ahead a few years. By 2001, the internet "bubble" was bursting. Those of us on the ground realized the big corporations that we were trying to bring to heed were actually the only clients paying us for project work. On September 11, I also sat in a conference room with my coworkers huddled around a TV. There were only nine of us left at the agency. There had once been more than fifty. Like everything else that stopped that day, it seemed like the revolution no longer mattered.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race Yesterday, after more than a decade of working in the internet industry, I thought I would take a look at the Cluetrain Manifesto again, for old time's sake, and to have a good laugh. I'm not 20 and naïve anymore, after all.
As I read through the Manifesto, there were certainly things that gave me a chuckle. But, I also realized that a lot of the "95 Theses" are starting to happen. The internet has changed big business (airline or newspaper execs can attest). Internet conversations are affecting how consumers spend their money (Angie's List, Amazon recommendations, etc.). People around the world are linking to each other and communicating faster (Facebook, Linked In, Twitter). Even the Obama campaign is a proof of how the internet can mobilize the people. (Not to mention that our new President is taking a stand to keep his Blackberry.)
As Barack Obama took the oath of office, the typing in the Brain Traffic conference room paused. I looked around the room, and realized the same thing that drew me to Obama, drew me to Brain Traffic. Smart people, working toward a change for the better. So, maybe there's a little revolutionary in me yet. (Luckily, this time around, I work in a far less dodgy warehouse.)
