Thursday, August 6, 2009

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So awesome, that they published an entire story about what we like to call our "attraction engine." Read the whole deal at Advertising Age. Look for us on the cover of Tabloids, next.

Labels: plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:07 AM   0 comments

Monday, July 13, 2009

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The PlaidNation tour is featured on The Ford Story, as one of the In the Spotlight stories!

The Ford Story is one of Ford's most awesome sites (even more awesome now), and serves as sort of a hub that shares the hot stories and conversations all about Ford, their products, their technologies and history. And now they're showing their Plaid love.

We're sure that before our tour is complete, we'll be featured on the front page of every Ford site, quoted by the CEO, and have a car designed after us. But perhaps we're getting just a step ahead of ourselves...in the meantime, send the link to everyone you know and tell your friends that Plaid says Ford is HOT.

Labels: plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:32 PM   0 comments

Monday, May 11, 2009

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Matt Hunsberger just completed design work on the vehicle graphics for the 2009 Plaid tour. Ford Motors is a tour sponsor, and has lined us up with a sweet Ford Flex. Matt decided to take that one step further, and created the hottest looking Ford Flex to ever hit the highways.

Look for the Plaid Flex in a city near you this summer, or watch all of the action live at PlaidNation. See more views of the design on the official tour blog.

Labels: identity, plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 PM   0 comments

Thursday, April 23, 2009

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This year's Plaid tour will be bigger and better than ever before. Starting with the Plaid ride. Thanks to the Ford Motor Company, we'll be riding in a sweet Ford Flex from Detroit to New Orleans!

Ford Motors has agreed to become the official vehicle sponsor for the PlaidNation tour. That means comfy seating. Ford Sync technology. Built in GPS. And countless other luxuries that the Plaid crew don't typically deserve.

While in Austin attending the SXSW Conference, Ford's own Scott Monty took Dave and Darryl on a nice test drive, while previewing some of the car's awesome features. We're already dreaming up super hot vehicle graphics, and thinking this will be the most Awesome Plaid ride, ever.

Labels: plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 1:58 PM   0 comments

Thursday, March 19, 2009

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It's on! The third annual PlaidNation tour cuts through the U.S. this summer! We'll be kicking the tour off in Detroit, hitting Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Branson, Memphis, Jackson and New Orleans.

Look for details and loads of other surprises soon on the official Plaid tour site, PlaidNation.com!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:09 PM   0 comments

Friday, August 22, 2008

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The September issue of HOW is covered in Plaid. First, our 2007 Plaid Summer Tour won a "Merit" award for self promotion. If that wasn't enough, they featured a two page spread on the tour as a unique self promotional tool. (Matt models the cover above)

The story isn't live on the HOW site yet, but we've scanned a copy for you to see. Read the first page of the spread here, and the second page here. We think that you should buy all of the copies at your local newstand and tell the cashier at Borders that Plaid ROCKS!

Funny side story: We told HOW that one of the clients we were introduced to on tour was the genius team at crayon. They assumed we meant CRAYOLA, and printed that we landed them as a client. I wonder if the marketing team at Crayola is reading HOW and thinking, who's Plaid???

Thanks HOW!!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:49 AM   0 comments

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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Missed all the daily wrap up videos from the Plaid summer tour? No worries. Enjoy this compilation of the best moments from PlaidNation 2008. We're already counting down the days till 2009!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:32 PM   0 comments

Monday, August 4, 2008

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Phew. Another year on the road has screamed past faster than a Plaid van at 85MPH.

If you haven't had a chance to check in, or missed some key moments, now's a great time to catch up on the most glorious tour ever to hit the highways. PlaidNation 2008.

See all of the daily wrap up videos here. It's the next best thing to being there.

See the interviews and extra footage here. The interviews with Robert Scoble, Biz Stone and Cathy Brooks (coming later this week) are extra remarkable.

Read the Twitter stream. If you're new to Twitter (or just bored at work), this is a great way to see it's value. An entire tour has been documented (and archived) moment by moment, as it was happening. Reading the stream is like re-living the tour.

Watch the 11:40 shows. These vidcasts were recorded live at 11:40, wherever the van happened to be at that moment. You'll see additional discussion about what happened on tour, with extra detail brought to the show by the people on the tour. The most popular episode: Plaid gets kicked out of a popular celebrity cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Check out the Flickr photo stream. Better than your Aunt Lucie's vacation to the Galapagos Islands, you'll see other workplaces, cool locations and Plaid employees mostly avoiding trouble.

We've put all of this and more together for you, on the tour dashboard at PlaidNation.com

Thanks to everyone who wrote about it, talked about it, or became a part of it. We're already in planning mode for next year's tour, and have some incredible surprises. Just wait until 2009!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:38 PM   0 comments

Sunday, July 27, 2008

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If you're not already glued to your computer watching every detail, be sure to check in on the second annual Plaid Summer Tour - now in its second week, on the west coast. This week Plaid will be spending time in San Francisco, San Louis Obispo, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas.

We'll be meeting brands, creative people and interesting characters along the way. Watch it all live on the van cams, video, Twitter stream and more - all on the tour's dashboard at PlaidNation.com

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:11 PM   2 comments

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

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Our second annual Plaid summer tour is just days away from kicking into high gear! Be sure to bookmark the tour dashboard and watch the tour live all day, every day starting July 21!

Tell your boss that you're not being unproductive - but that you're busy researching how to put the latest social media tools into action. And then get back to watching the live webcams, as the Plaid van gets pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. Or whatever the crew might be up to.

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:11 AM   0 comments

Saturday, February 2, 2008

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We decided this week that we're officially embarking on a Plaid summer tour. If you missed it last year, we outfit a Plaid van with the latest technology and social media, and fill it with a few agency staffers, and drive. And drive.

Last year, the tour took us from NYC to Dallas. We met some fun and interesting people, brands and agencies along the way. Last year we shared the entire experience on line, with the latest social media tools. This year will be even better.

Our 2008 tour will take place on the west coast. Sometime in July. We're still debating the exact markets where we'll stop, and the route details. One of the routes we're really digging is Vancouver to Vegas. With California in between. Sounds fabulous.

Once we have exact dates arranged, we'll be telling the world. If you're located anywhere on our route - please let us know - we'd love to stop by and say hi!

Once planning gets into full swing, we'll share the details on our tour site, PlaidNation. (Right now, you can see what last year's dashboard looks like.)

See you on the road!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:13 PM   0 comments

Thursday, August 9, 2007

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The Plaid BrandAid 2007 tour has come to a close. What an awesome event. We'll be posting additional videos later this week and next, as we finish editing all of the footage we shot on our journey. Stay posted by watching the tour blog or tour dashboard. In the meantime, enjoy this clip of the van getting stripped.

Labels: plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:38 AM   0 comments

Sunday, July 22, 2007

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The van is gassed and ready for our second week on tour. Week two will bring us through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia and North Carolina. Should be lots of fun. And brand love.

Stay tuned to the tour on our official dashboard, where you can watch the live van-cam, read the tour blog and so much more.

If you're in a market that we're passing through, let us know - we'd love to share some Plaid love!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 10:50 PM   0 comments

Friday, July 13, 2007

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We're about to embark on a 21 day tour from NYC to Dallas, spreading Plaid love and cheer. You can join the fun by checking out our tour dashboard - where you can watch the live vancam, see our YouTube webisodes, blog posts and Twitter updates. Even see where we're at with live GPS mapping.

This is an excellent example of how a bunch of web 2.0 tools can bring together an audience and deliver an experience. Bookmark the dashboard, and it will be almost like you're on tour with us!

We'll be having some fun, and sharing van loads of ideas with brands across the Plaid nation. Stay tuned and you might see something that applies to your brand, too. That's Matt pictured above, who designed the bitchin' Plaid van graphics.

Labels: plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:47 PM   2 comments

Monday, July 9, 2007

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Only six days until the Brand Aid 2007 tour hits the pavement! There's a lot going on behind the scenes, as we prepare for a three week tour. You can monitor some of the current progress on our tour dashboard.

Bookmark the dashboard, and then check in daily starting Monday, July 16th. You'll be able to watch us live in the van (woohoo, sure to be exciting), follow the live tour blogs - and most importantly, capture some ideas for use in your own business. We plan on pulling off a handful of 'ambush brand-overs' for a couple of the brands we meet along the way. Sure to be fun for all.

That's Giuli pictured above, with the Plaid van, prior to having it pimped out in Plaid.

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:57 PM   0 comments

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

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The first ever Plaid Summer Tour is now just days away.

Today we launched PlaidNation, which is the dashboard for everything related to the tour. From this site, you can check in on the tour blog, Twitter log or Flickr photo set. You'll also be able to see the van's actual location, and watch its progress, with our Google GPS map.

Want more? While we're in the van, we'll be streaming a live webcam, so that you can watch us picking our noses. Or whatever we do while on the road for hours on end. We'll also videotape all of our adventures - and will upload regular Brand Aid webisodes to YouTube.

On Monday, we GET THE VAN. Look for exciting pics and video as we wrap a van in Plaid!

Labels: plaid, plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 4:24 PM   0 comments

Saturday, June 16, 2007

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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

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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

Friday, June 8, 2007

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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

Friday, June 1, 2007

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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

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

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The Plaid summer branding tour that we've been brainstorming on is coming closer to reality. Giuli's been putting together budgets, and so far, there are no surprises. It's looking pretty reasonable.

A good friend has a friend who sells tour sponsorships, and thinks it's not out of the question to get a tour sponsor. That would help offset some costs, and maybe give us a little more budget to work with. I'm very close to giving the whole project the green light. I'd say I'm about 90% there. Just some additional budgeting and logistics to finally confirm that it's a go.

We're brainstorming on tour names. And putting together possible cities, clients, and prospects that we want to visit. I'm meeting with PR later this week, to begin building our publicity strategy for the tour.

Meanwhile, additional tour ideas are flying fast and furious. If this happens, this is going to be a blast. We're getting more stoked by the minute, and ready to paint the nation Plaid!

Labels: plaid summertour, selfpromotion

posted by darryl ohrt @ 9:36 PM   1 comments

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