The Greatest Agency: June 2007

Here's where you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how we do what we do at
The Greatest Agency in all the land.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

We hired Matt.

We hired Matt this week! He's been freelancing here for a few weeks now, and we convinced him to make it permanent. He's a super talent, great designer, illustrator and even a stop motion animator. And he has some pretty cool t-shirts.

Most importantly, he's not named Rob. We already have too many Robs around here. New Rob, Old Rob, and Boston Rob. Geez.

Labels: plaid, plaidteam

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:49 AM 1 comments

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

New bobble heads are here!

New bobble heads have arrived at our office - including Rob, the newest member of Plaid. (Pictured leading the pack, above.) We'll be having them photographed, and added to the site in a few days. We actually have enough bobbles to form a bobble army. Or a baseball team. Or a dance troupe.

Labels: plaid, plaidteam

posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:53 PM 2 comments

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Tour route & schedule finalized

We've settled on a tour route. Looks like we're covering a good part of the country, from Maine to Texas. And quite a few stops in between. Somehow, we ended up with three stops in Tennessee. That's one long-ass state.

We're still working out the exact order of states to visit in the northeast, but the rest looks pretty final:

July 16 Maine
July 17 Mass
July 18 RI
July 19 CT
July 20 NY

July 23 NJ
July 24 DC area
July 25 Norfolk/VA Beach
July 26 Raleigh, NC
July 27 Winston-Salem, NC

July 30 Knoxville, TN
July 31 Nashville, TN
August 1 Memphis, TN
August 2 Little Rock, AR
August 3 Dallas

If you're located anywhere along this route, and would like us to stop by, please give us a shout. We'd love to get a photo with you, show you the van and maybe even put you in one of the videos documenting the whole escapade. There will likely be some sweet Plaid goodies, too.

Labels: plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:37 PM 4 comments

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Plaid bags are almost here

Our limited edition Plaid messenger bags are complete. They were built by hand, in Hungary! They're shipping tomorrow, and I'm guessing that process will take about two weeks, with customs and everything.

These will likely be the first product to sell on House of Plaid. And there's only THIRTY of them, in all of the world. They'll each be numbered as limited editions.

I can't wait to get mine - judging by the pictures, these are going to be awesome bags. We'll share details and photos soon.

Labels: houseofplaid, plaid

posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:32 PM 0 comments

GPS tracking all set for Plaid tour

Brian's setup the GPS tracking, so that you can follow the Plaid van on tour. Every step of the way. Keep an eye on us, to make sure we stay on track, stay on schedule, and stay away from casinos.

We'll be incorporating the GPS feed into a Google maps mashup, and it will track the van in real time. Since it's still four weeks until the tour kicks off, Brian's been testing the system on Plaid employee cars. We think he caught someone going to a strip club at lunch the other day.

Can't wait to see this live.

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, website

posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:16 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Rob hasn't left in tears yet.

It's Wednesday. Three days into Rob's first week. He hasn't left screaming, or threatened to kill any of the Plaid staff. We think that's a sign things are working out. And he's doing some stellar work, too!

Labels: plaidteam

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:18 PM 1 comments

Friday, June 8, 2007

Plaid tour gets real. now seeking sponsors.

We're officially doing it. The first ever road tour by an agency. With a tour van. And agency employees. And lots of energy drinks. The tour will kick off on July 16, and end (in Atlanta, we think) on August 4.

Anyway - we're looking for sponsors to help ease the pain of financial costs, or to make life more enjoyable for those on the road.

Have a brand that wouldn't mind being seen on our 2400 mile trek across the U.S? Or on the tour's internet dashboard? Or on the tour blog? Or the tour Twitter? Or included on the YouTube videos? ~~We're poor,~~ We're whores, and we're not ashamed. There are opportunities that range from product placement to cash deals. Limited only by your imagination.

Anyway - you can learn more at PlaidNation - which for now, is something better than a PowerPoint deck about sponsorship. Eventually, this site will become the dashboard for everything related to BrandAid 2007.

Stay off the roads. Lock your doors. Plaid is coming.

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:43 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

We met Rob today.

We met the newest member of the Plaid team for the first time today. You may remember that we hired Rob, without ever meeting him in person. Oh, the glorious internet.

Well, Rob and his wife just completed their trek from Arizona to Connecticut, and stopped by to introduce themselves. Super cool people. And - btw - any New York or CT agencies looking for design or illustration talent should let us know. Rob's wife is ALSO in the biz, and she's looking for a gig on the east coast. Cuz she's all about grey, depressing weather. (Oh, just wait Suzy, till November through March. You'll see.)

Rob starts officially on Monday!

Labels: plaid, plaidteam

posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:05 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 4, 2007

Ltd. edition Plaid sketchbooks move ahead

Mucho thanks to the loads of input from other designers, bloggers and creatives regarding Moleskine's ridiculous policy of product customization.

Without getting into details or arguing copyright, we're moving ahead. I'm pleased to announce that the original artist that we've commissioned for these books has happily agreed to begin producing them.

Sketchbooks will be here shortly, the House of Plaid will launch, and 50 people across the creative land will be able to purchase a very special and unique Plaid sketchbook. More details very soon.

Thanks for everyone's input, and especially to the Moleskinerie blog for bringing even more attention to this issue. We promise the finished product will be worthy of the wait.

Labels: houseofplaid

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:30 PM 3 comments

Friday, June 1, 2007

Choosing possible Plaid tour routes

Giuli's identified two possible routes for the first ever Plaid Summer Tour. These are EXTREMELY rough, and will likely change dramatically, as we begin to identify the people and prospects that we'd like to meet along the way. And driving schedules.

One option takes us across the midwest, and the other through the south. Both pass through some pretty fun markets. We're still ironing out the details on this, but welcome any input in the meantime.

Southern Route:
Day 1 Connecticut
Day 2 Rhode Island
Day 3 Boston area
Day 4 western Mass & NY
Day 5 NYC, Long Island

Day 6 NJ…...
Day 7 Philly
Day 8 Washington DC
Day 9 Norfolk/Virginia Beach
Day 10 Raleigh/Durham

Day 11 Winston-Salem, NC
Day 12 Asheville, NC
Day 13 Knoxville, TN
Day 14 Nashville, TN
Day 15 Atlanta

Midwest route
Day 1 Connecticut
Day 2 Rhode Island
Day 3 Boston area
Day 4 western Mass & NY
Day 5 NYC, Long Island

Day 6 NJ…...
Day 7 Philly
Day 8 Washington DC
Day 9 Amish country and mid-Pennsylvania
Day 10 Pittsburgh

Day 11 Detroit/Ann Arbor
Day 12 NW Ohio and something in Indiana
Day 13 Chicago area
Day 14 Wisconsin
Day 15 Minneapolis

This is getting more real by the day, and we're all getting pretty stoked. We're also starting to put together possible tour activities - and I can honestly say that brands will be PSYCHED if we stop by their offices while on tour. Lots of fun planned.

Labels: plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:59 PM 0 comments