Moose was abuzz last week when a local TV crew showed up unannounced to interview Tyler Davis, one of our Account Coordinators. They were doing a story on PleaseRobMe.com, which you can check out here.

So after all the watercooler talk and feisty comments on KSDK's website, we invited Tyler to write a response...

My recent run in with KSDK as the “Potential Target” on their “Please Rob Me” story was rather eye opening. Not because I learned that they were able to track me down and find out where I worked. Rather I was more surprised at the lack of information they chose to report on social media sites such as Twitter and Foursquare. Instead, they focused on scare-tactics.

PleaseRobMe.com, which is basically a Twitter search for all Foursquare posts, states their goal is “. . . to raise some awareness on this issue [online privacy] and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc.”

Foursquare, the newest and emerging social media, allows consumers to check in at certain locations, ping it across their social networks and earn points in the meantime. (It’s a little more complicated than that but those are the basics). 

So because of Foursquare’s nature, KSDK reported that PleaseRobMe.com is “A new website [that] lets potential crooks know when you’re not at home.” However, as the website states, this is not the case. Rather it is an over exaggerated way to raise awareness.

I agree completely with PleaseRobMe.com’s mission and believe that in the social media world, you have to be aware of what information you offer up. You need to keep your personal information private. That’s why I don’t publish my address or phone number on my social networks. That’s also why, when KSDK showed up at Moosylvania with a microphone in my face, they were unable to clearly identify my correct home address.

Sure if you dig hard enough online, you can find public records with my address attached. But that doesn’t mean when I check in on Foursquare that my roommates aren’t home or my alarm isn’t set or my dog isn’t hungry for human flesh.

New to St. Louis, I personally joined Foursquare to learn more about the city. I am able to see where my friends have been or check in and invite them to join me. Truly, it’s an online network that allows me to be social. 

As a marketer on the other hand, I use social media to explore and understand how consumers interact with it. In fact, both Bravo TV and Pepsi have recently joined forces with Foursquare to offer up specific check-ins and badges to consumers. Having this knowledge and understanding emerging media makes me a better marketer.

Since the KSDK airing, I haven’t shied away from Foursquare. Rather, I’ve embraced it. As of right now, I’m the mayor of Moosylvania. (How many entry-level account coordinators can say they’re mayor of their company?)

I encourage everyone to check actually check out Foursquare. Hopefully, the KSDK article piqued your interest instead of scared you away. If you do want to learn more, I suggest starting with this article from Mashable or this one from AdAge. 
 

Trust us, we know we’re hard to shop for. Our style can be considered off beat (we prefer trend setting and cutting edge, but call it what you will). And we’re nothing if not picky. 

So because we know it’s tough to keep up with whether we’re into Chuck Norris, ninjas or pirates this month, we’ve put together a no-fail list of gift ideas. (Santa, listen up, big man.)

10. Office Supplies (but our way, of course)

• Album Cover Sketchbook  
• Ceramic Notepad
• Apple's Magic Mouse
• Casette Tape Measure
• Pantone Coffee Mug (uh, yes – coffee is totally an office supply)

9. Modular Shelving
We've got a lot of stuff (read: toys) around our desks, but we get bored easily. So these let us reconfigure our space as often as we want.

8. Fanny Pack Hat
Hip sack OUT, Cap Sac IN. No further explanation available.

7. The Beautiful Losers DVD
We may even let you watch it with us.

6. A Turntable
And after you get us one, it wouldn't hurt to throw in some vinyl... You can't fail with any of these albums:

• Merriweather Post Pavillon – Animal Collective
• Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix
• Manners – Passion Pit
• See Mystery Lights – Yacht
• XX – The xx
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
• Logos – Atlas Sound

5. A Camera Level
It's ingenious, and we need it.

4. A 'Stache
Really, who doesn't want one of these or one of these. Pretty please?

3. Some Cool Shades
Take your pick.

2. An iPod Boombox
No, not just a ho-hum dock and speakers, we need a retro-way to share our tunes with the rest of the Embassy.

1. Clothes
Psyche! No, you don’t have to try and pick something out. Try a gift certificate, to a place like Threadless or even a sewing machine so we can craft totally unique pieces.

 

Happy wrapping! And warm wishes for a great holiday season.

After one of our CDs, Rob, had been home sick for more than a week, his team got a bit creative with planning his welcome back celebration.

Turns out, Rob kind of likes his new office, but the rest of the Moose CDs have started to stockpile Vitamin C drops just in case...

 

Our art directors have some pretty mad skills, but Joe Wienke has developed one that has the Account Service team nervous to deliver creative feedback. If only we could divert his attention from snack chips long enough to create a few laser-cut dies...

 

School's started, and the dust has barely settled in the 'choir loft' area of the building where we keep our interns. This year's group was one of the most vibrant we've had, and we're missing them already. So much so that we put together this video tribute to the Intern Olympics. One of our most cherished traditions at Moosylvania, the competition is complete with crazy mascot costumes, insider trivia and speedwalking.

2009 Intern Olympics Blog Post from Randy Lutz on Vimeo.

 

Following a valiant effort by all participants, Tyler Davis, an Account Service intern, emerged victorious – making this the second straight win for an intern in the grapes getup.

For our inaugural 'as seen by Moose' post, we're featuring one of our favorite Moosylvanians, Astro. He regularly comes to the Embassy with Ann (an Account Director), as do his furry friends Hazel, George, Mia, Flo and other playful favorites. They're not quite up to par on Photoshop (yet) but they do wonders in helping soften the stress of the ever-impending deadline.

 

Photo by Mike Cassimatis (an Art Director).

On the final day of our 2009 internship program, we brought together the leaders of our agency to offer candid advice to our fledgling marketers, as we send them out into the world.

Gus, our president, encouraged them to be proactive 'gunners', because natural talent will only get you so far. Our VP of Creative, Lynn, shocked them with stories of a time without computers, telling them to stay ahead of the technological and cultural curves.

Then Mike, a seasoned veteran of the industry and a CD, gave his advice in a less expected way...

 

Words Of Wisdom from eric flinn on Vimeo.

(After pizza paired with serious advice, we let loose with our beloved tradition of Intern Olympics – rest assured those photos are still to come.)

It has long been understood that a blind date lends itself to awkward moments. However, Moosylvania’s blind date-style interview ended with a great opportunity for our personalities to shine through. Our second date, the first day on the job, started with a bang. Now that the nerves had settled, we sat down with an outdoor picnic of KFC and Ted Drewes Frozen custard! We knew it was a match made in heaven – we were then ready to take the next step.

Meeting the Family
During the first week, Sarah Shockley (Senior Copywriter and Moose Mentor) had been talking with her intern Randy Lutz when he asked, “who this ‘Sarah girl’ was anyway?” Moosylvania in many ways operates like a family in that we all come together and put our all into every project. With loving and sometimes tough-loving support, we find a way to challenge ourselves and grow each day.

Getting Comfortable

Sure, our mentors had to hold our hands during some early stages. But, once we started to work on communication, we connected in a way that neither of us saw coming. Overall our mentors see this year’s batch of interns as “eager and full of initiative” (Rachel Hamblin: Copywriter), “humble and truly happy to be here” (Ryan Doggendorf: Art Director), and “excited to be here and have a passion to learn” (Erica Thurston: Account Services).

We have been settling into our offices and personal desks quite well. Maybe a little too well at times as Marc Goone (Account Services Intern) said he has been tempted to hang-glide from the interns’ workspace in the loft to a hanging light on the ceiling of the agency. Some of us interns have taken quickly to our new responsibilities. Laura Hoeman (Art Director Intern) is located by the only phone available to the interns, and the power seems to have gone to her head a bit. Our choir loft location might be a bit of a climb for mentor Ryan Doggendorf (Art Director), as he admits to getting out a breath after climbing the stairs a few times.

Becoming Equal Partners
As Moosylvania interns, we don’t just sit here and look pretty. Our input is taken seriously, and we are allowed to take the reign on tons of projects. We also get to see what our roles will be in this crazy fast-paced agency world.

“I was very much surprised that we were allowed to sit in on client presentations…I’m (also) allowed to answer questions and speak with the clients themselves.” (Kayleigh Kozemczak: Account Services Intern)

“I appreciate all the hard work that goes into working as a team, and I now understand just how gratifying it is to write something that may actually be out there on the shelves or in the magazines one day.” (Jill Towerman: Writer Intern)

“I’ve learned not to throw away an idea. I show people everything I have been working on because someone may have an angle on it that I did not think of.” (Daniel Shinn: Art Director Intern)

Building Memories
Our first day on the job, we set out on a scavenger hunt to scope out the latest point of sale promotions in grocery and liquor stores around St. Louis. Next, our mentors told us that we must learn the Moosylvania Anthem in order to gain entrance to an important meeting. “That was one hot track we dropped,” said Laura Hoeman. Another favorite memory is getting to know more about client Dean’s Milk by making mouth-watering smoothies and shakes for all employees.

What’s Next?
With summer almost over, we are looking forward to participating in the annual fun-filled Intern Olympics and seeing the projects we have worked on come out in the real world. Just like most summer romances, time flies when you’re having fun, we’re just here to enjoy the ride.

One of our diligent account service interns, Tyler, was searching on a popular marketing blog “AdFreak” and discovered a great internship promotion. Little Debbie snack cakes was sponsoring an “Intern Hero” contest in which a company’s interns could send in a picture explaining why they need and deserve free muffins. And guess what Little Debbie sends five winners every day? FIVE BOXES OF FREE MUFFINS!!!

Early Monday morning, Tyler sent word to his fellow interns suggesting that this as something right up Moosylvania’s alley. They all responded with great enthusiasm and began looking at some of the current winners. Like the motivated and ambitious interns they are, they went into extreme brainstorming mode right away to figure out how their submission could stand out from the rest.

In the end, they couldn’t think of a more perfect solution than to pay homage to the beloved children’s book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin. After crafting their own version of the story, they threw on some iconic Moosylvania T-shirts and made it happen.

After teasing the interns through ambiguous tweets all day long, Little Debbie finally posted “If You Give a Moose Intern a Muffin” as a winning entry! Expecting five boxes of muffins in the mail any day now…

 

 

1) It is good practice to listen or acknowledge those who are listening to you in everyday life. Twitter can be overwhelming when you have a lot of followers. But filters are available to show top topics of discussion with your followers and provide an opportunity to jump in when appropriate. It could even lead to more fodder for your column. As a writer about marketing and consumer behavior, you might find a "tool" like this interesting, unless you consider yourself a tool.

2) I don't think there is prestige in multitude of followers, unless you have a dirty little secret - like you're an SEO fiend trying to get a bump out of Google - which many avid Twitters are. Or you're just starved for attention like Ashton and Oprah.

3) There cannot be a guru of Twitter, because there are no rules and everybody's playing.

4) Nat and Ken, a question, "What Would Emily Post Do?" Her foundation has no published opinion on the subject. Maybe you can get the scoop straight from them? Or better yet, just ignore the whole subject and behave however you choose on Twitter. You're free to move about the country.

5) Nat, I still think you should write a movie script based on your Strip Club Ad Review.

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