Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, and less than 30 minutes from the nearest ski resort means quite a few of us here at Twelve Horses like to ski and snowboard. In fact, two of Twelve Horses founders, David LaPlante and Martin Gastanaga, were professional ski racers back in the day before they got a wild hair and decided to start a web design and development company.

Obviously, their passions have an influence on the office culture, as well as the type of clients we have. As an indication, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Mountain Sports International, and Reno-Tahoe, America’s Adventure Place are just a few clients we have that are involved in promoting snow sports.

It is the latter client, along with a merry band of high altitude hucksters and several other sponsors, that somehow managed to convince the city of Reno to:

The video speaks for itself. You can also watch more on this YouTube channel. Can you say, Cool!?

Also, here are some awesome Ski Base Jump photos of Shane McConkey doing his thing courtesy of the RSCVA.

Our folks in Salt Lake City, Utah have moved in to some bigger and better digs. If you are in town for business, or just doing a little skiing on the hill, stop by for a visit. Just be prepared to talk a little tech. Also, we are always looking for solid web designers, web developers, search engine optimization specialists, and experienced marketers/account executives who can interface with our clients.

Visit our Careers page to apply.


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As tired horses feebly found their way into the office this morning, there was little surprise as to why they were a bit sluggish. Yesterday, Twelve Horses was honored with the “2007 Technology Company of the Year” award in Las Vegas by the Technology Business Alliance of Nevada (TBAN).

It was a great event, and a huge thanks goes out to the Officers, Directors, and Members of TBAN who nominated and elected us. Furthermore, none of it would be possible without an awesome team of talented employees, customers who have been with us since 1994, and an array of partners who have supported Twelve Horses going back to the early days when we were Aztech Cyberspace.

We are not only honored, but thrilled, excited, proud, stoked, fired up, and above all - humbled. The fact is there are many cutting edge technology companies in Nevada that are doing impressive work and collectively elevating the tech environment of the state. They are here for a myriad of reasons, but suffice to say, it is because Nevada is a great place to do business.

So, why did we win? Well, you can read what the president of TBAN had to say in the press release. Clearly, it has a lot to do with the type of web development Twelve Horses is doing, as well as the length of time the company has been in business. But from my perspective, there is more.

Part of TBAN’s mission focuses on “supporting and expanding technology in Nevada.” Twelve Horses is involved in numerous community organizations that center around technology, marketing, design, education, and economic development, but one organization in particular, which has really grown in significance in recent time, is the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (NCET). David LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses serves on the Board of Directors as chairman, and I know he has put a lot of personal and company time and energy into seeing the organization flourish.

David LaPlante is what I would call an extreme advocate of technology in Nevada, and you would not believe the amount of energy he puts forth in driving it. Between myself and social marketing manager, Leilani Schweitzer, we have an incredibly difficult time just keeping up with him and his schedule. It is INSANE. He is not the only one either. His partners, Steve Spencer and Martin Gastanaga, take on their fair share of community involvement and support as well. But it really and truly comes from a great love for what they do, and while I am biased, it looks as if it is really achieving really great things for the state of Nevada. This brings me to one final point.

Does Twelve Horses do all of this for semi-selfish reasons? The answer is, yes. Because we are headquartered in Reno, Nevada, and yet, service clients all over the country and beyond, we are aligned in many ways with the Reno-Tahoe brand and business environment. The better the region looks and functions, the better we look and function. It is no different when tech companies establish themselves in Silicon Valley. They know there is a certain brand perception that comes with that geographical area, and they know there is a certain level of infrastructure and employee potential.

Martin Gastanaga is a fifth generation Nevadan, and David is very much rooted, along with his family, in Reno, Nevada. Many of Twelve Horses’ employees were born, live, and love it in Reno-Tahoe. So what you have is a partnership. Local community organizations, governments, businesses, and citizens and stakeholders help Twelve Horses by creating and fostering the type of business environment we need to be successful, and in turn, we do what we can to help Nevada become even better.

Twelve Horses will keep striving to develop new technologies and applications, open up new office locations, and also support the communities in which we operate. It has been a ton of work and a ton of fun, and we have met a lot of great people and enjoyed many new and exciting experiences along the way.

Again, a huge thanks to TBAN for the award, and our promise is that we will do what we can to live up to it.

This past Friday was a little different than usual. It seemed normal at first as we gathered in the conference room, patched in the rest of the offices, and waited to hear what our CEO, David LaPlante had to say.

• He gave us a rundown on the recent progress we have been making.
• Announced the addition and promotion of some folks.
• Told us that we were going to be expanding our Salt Lake City office, as well as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Atlanta.
• Complimented us on what a great job we were all doing.
• And then he paused….

Suddenly, Martin Gastanaga, our COO wheeled in a giant box filled with individually wrapped presents. As they were being passed around, some of us were shaking our’s trying to figure out what it was; meanwhile, others were patient. But once we all had one we collectively tore into them. What was hidden beneath the paper was indeed an exciting surprise!

Every single member of the Twelve Horses team received a shiny new iPhone!

After things quieted down David closed the meeting with one final statement -

Go Play. Go Create. Go Make Them Better.

I can’t wait to see what our developers, designers, marketers, and general technologists come up with. For me, I’m looking forward to showing off my You Tube videos and Flickr photos.

Yeehaw!

It’s funny. When preparing this article for the August issue of RLife, I couldn’t help but keep asking myself, Is MySpace really an effective business tool? The answer is it depends on what type of business you are in, what the message is, and how well does the creative support it. There is no question that there is a sizeable audience there, it is the craft of interacting with them that separates the good from the bad.

Northern Nevada’s Online Community

Thanks to technology, the ability to transcend time, distance and conflicting schedules has empowered community participation in a variety of different ways.

 When we hear the word “community,” our tendency more often than not is to think of physical locality. Some of us might even first start with a mental image of tree-lined streets with kids playing ball and parents chatting on the porch, or a town meeting where voices are being heard in a public forum. But there are also communities of people in our region that you might not readily see or be aware of unless, of course, you’re online.

There is a vast community of Northern Nevadans which interact with one another each and every day by using the Internet. Recently, Northern Nevada Business, which is an account on MySpace.com, sent a message to everyone in its networked community stating, “Thank you for being one of our business friends! We recently passed 500 profiles, a testament to the popularity of MySpace and our strong local economy.” This is but one message of many that are shared within the network pertaining to events and information.

MySpace can be a very effective tool for businesses looking to leverage their online presence. The site is composed of millions of diverse and active users who can be networked together in order to communicate. Create a profile with images and information that describe your company; upload videos and write blog entries; join groups and participate in forums. It is all free. Once you “Add a Friend” you can exchange information and engage in ongoing dialogues with one another. MySpace can be an excellent opportunity for a business to reach a new audience in a different format, as well as build greater brand awareness and form stronger relationships with customers.

Just keep in mind that MySpace is a different form of customer engagement, and it must be used wisely. Consider the environment that you are in. For example, you wouldn’t show up at a friend’s wedding and immediately start trying to sell the bride and groom life insurance. It is not the right place or right time for that type of conversation. Instead, you would make a concerted effort to show them that you were there and supportive of their union and quite possibly one day they would use you when it came to purchasing life insurance. Similarly, don’t expect to have much success on MySpace by simply using it to send unsolicited offers that have no real value.

There are thousands of other MySpace profiles in Northern Nevada, and they are made up of individuals who are looking to be known and to know others. MySpace is so popular, in fact, that it is currently the sixth most popular Web site in the world, according to Alexa Internet, Inc. A recent article in TechCrunch by Duncan Riley stated, “MySpace grew from 55.8 million unique visitors in August of 2006 to 66.8 million in April 2007.” What is most surprising is that Google Trends reports that Nevada is number 2 in terms of people searching for MySpace on Google’s search engine.

A rival social networking site that similarly connects people together is Facebook.com. The difference is that you can search for people based on region, school and work, and groups. Currently, there are 3,528 profiles from Reno and 6,463 from the University of Nevada, Reno. If you’re looking to reconnect with someone you may not have seen in a while or if you want to become a part of group that is oriented around a particular belief, cause or focus, then you can do so with Facebook, which is also growing rapidly in popularity, and in the same period of growth reported for MySpace, Facebook went from 14.8 million to 23 million visits.

There are many other social networking sites that are oriented around similar interests and pursuits. The University of Nevada, Reno has its own social networking site called Nevada Chatta, or www.nevadachatta.com, which brings alumni together and provides a means of staying abreast of events and causes pertaining to its members and the university. There is even a group of local road and mountain bikers who use Yahoo! Groups, a place where people with shared interests meet to organize trail rehabilitation and clean-ups.

Face-to-face interaction is still an important part of our community here in Northern Nevada. But thanks to technology, the ability to transcend time, distance and conflicting schedules has empowered community participation in a variety of different ways. Here in Reno we are more networked and informed than ever, and through this connection we can continue to grow a greater sense of community.

Get online, create an account and begin to discover the online community that calls our area home. You never know who you might reconnect with, what you might learn or how you might get involved.  

After blogging for a while, one can quickly lose sight of the fact that many people do not understand why blogging is beneficial in the context of both personal life and business. That could not have been more evident than at a recent conference I attended where I led some roundtable discussions on blogging.

Simultaneously, a cool new local magazine here in Reno called, RLife asked us to do an article on blogging to help clear some of the confusion about it. Instead of writing in the usual article format, David LaPlante and I made into more of a conversation because isn’t that a large part of what blogging is all about?

The hope is that we shift the mindset of readers from the historical perspective that blogs are places where weird people post their thoughts, to an understanding that blogs are powerful channels of communication offering valuable information and the chance for collaboration. I’ll take the liberty of posting it in its entirety here. Obviously, we had fun with it.

What’s all the Blog About?

“I’m constantly learning and growing through the exchange.”

Blogging has been around for a number of years, but it seems like there’s been an explosion of blogs dedicated to Reno and Nevada lately. The reason? It has gotten easier. That, and there’s a lot to do and talk about regarding the Northern Nevada region. In order to explore this phenomenon further, we decided to ask local bloggers Robert Payne and David LaPlante what the fuss is all about. David is the CEO of Twelve Horses and was named Marketer of the Year by Nevada’s American Marketing Association in 2004. Robert is responsible for brand building and global positioning of Twelve Horses. They must be doing something right, since EDAWN recognized Twelve Horses as its 2005 Business of the Year. Both David and Robert are certified technophiles and blog addicts, so who better to help us navigate the sometimes complicated world of blogging?

Robert Payne: There’s so much to write about regarding blogs, where should we start?

David LaPlante: Well, for those who haven’t yet discovered the joys of blogging, why don’t we give them a (very) brief tutorial on blogging 101?

Payne: Sounds good. I’ll start from the beginning. The “Blog,” which is short for Web log, originally started as a “log” of diary-like entries published on a Web site in reverse chronological order. Avid bloggers were primarily made up of a select few of internet savvy individuals who either had strong opinions or useful information they wanted to share online. While some of that still holds true, a lot has changed in the blogosphere.

LaPlante: Agreed. The software and tools surrounding what constitutes a blog has evolved considerably. Many blogs for all intensive purposes look just like well-designed websites with interactive features and rich media. While it’s still a way for people to publish their thoughts for everyone to read, blogs can also serve as an extension of an individual or company’s brand.

Payne: Exactly. If someone Googles, “Robert Payne” they will find www.robertpayne.net; likewise, if they search “David LaPlante” they will find www.davidlaplante.com. Other search terms might even lead people to things we have posted about on our blogs. It is not only a means of getting to know us better but also an extension of ourselves and a means of forming new relationships.

LaPlante: Yeah. We’re cool. Totally A-List all the way. If you don’t have a blog, then you’re a loser <grin> - just joking. Actually, we’re two of perhaps a couple hundred super-active online bloggers who live in Reno. Why do you think they are blogging?

Payne: Because they have the opportunity to share their personal experiences and perspectives online, interact with the online community both here in Reno and throughout the world, and quite possibly, bring about social change. Personally, I’m constantly learning and growing through the exchange. What about you?

LaPlante: I enjoy participating in the online conversation, and creating an archive about my life and interactions with people for my kids to read someday. And I really like interacting with other Nevada bloggers online.

Payne: Who are some of your favorite Nevada bloggers?

LaPlante: Well I guess you’d have to start with Myrna the Minx (www.renodiscontent.com). Love her. Hate her. She’s got a huge following. Business is always good for political bloggers. She’s filled a huge hole in the local conversation that mainstream media just doesn’t delve into. She’s very direct and funny as hell. Too bad she’s anonymous, I’d love to buy her a XXX Blonde at the Silver Peak.

Payne: It’s certainly one of the more well known blogs in town. She gets a lot of different comments from both sides of the fence. I also really like the downtown makeover blog, (www.downtownmakeover.com) simply because it highlights so many of the awesome things happening in downtown Reno, from the many construction projects (with updates) to the cool events and when they’re happening.

LaPlante: Love the DMO blog. It’s cool and positive. Unfortunately, blogging can also skew in favor of the whiny. It can seem like an unmediated City Council meting that NEVER ENDS at times. So when I get tired of politics and current events, I wander over to (www.thebaconstrip.wordpress.com), (www.renobikeproject.blogspot.com), or (www.reno-rambler.blogspot.com) for some bike blogging.

Payne: Politics. Redevelopment. Biking. There’s certainly no shortage of topics people are blogging about. The last time I checked, www.Technorati.com (the blog search engine) was tracking more than 700 blogs about Nevada and something like 70 million different blogs in total. A lot of local businesses are picking up on it, too. But I often hear from non-bloggers, asking how we have time to visit all those blogs?

LaPlante: You don’t have to visit them, just subscribe to their RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. I subscribe to about 90 blog feeds, and about 30 of those are local feeds. I use Google Reader to manage most of them. I also subscribe to feeds on my Blackjack cell phone .

Payne: Google Reader rocks and RSS is revolutionizing the way people can consume content online. It’s like the TV Guide for the internet. I know exactly when people post new content to their blogs; but I digress. What do you think should be the biggest take-away for people reading our conversation about blogs?

LaPlante: That there’s room for a whole other RLife to be going down online. There’s a ton of very vocal, funny, pissy, smart, dumb, cute, ugly, typical and atypical local bloggers that are all about the Reno life. Get online and join in with all that’s out there.

Payne: Cool. Blog on!

tags: blogging, Reno, Nevada, RLife

This past Friday several of us here at Twelve Horses went out swinging with the folks at the Advertising Association of Northern Nevada (A2N2). Each year they hold a really fun golf tournament at the beautiful Lakeridge golf course.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Lakeridge features a world famous hole, number 15, which is situated high above Reno with beautiful views of the city and surrounding mountains. Set at a par 3, one must drive the ball perfectly off of a rocky outcropping, over water, and on to the island green. Of course, that is but one hole among many other great plays. The entire course is a real joy to play, and it is well worth your time if you find yourself in Reno.

Here is a little video I put together to give you an idea of the day we had.

Last semester, I took a Managerial Information Systems class, in which I was exposed to almost every three-letter acronym you could think of, including systems for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). I did well in the class but I left the final exam feeling like I had just finished “History of Business Technology” rather than a modern information systems class.

In the few weeks I have been working here, I have already learned more than I ever have in the classroom. I’m no longer learning outdated systems and have jumped onto the bleeding edge of information technology.

Most of my work has been centered around Salesforce, an online-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application.

Businesses are a lot like people because no two businesses are exactly the same. Each company has their own unique needs and specialized business processes that they must follow to be successful. I’ve been learning how to implement and customize Salesforce to fit those needs for companies in various industries.

Once we customize Salesforce for a company, they can use it to see a detailed overview of their entire business. This allows them to efficiently streamline their sales cycle from lead generation to close.

Given my technical background, Salesforce was fairly easy for me to learn and the flexibility of the customization process allows me to do what I want so I can work to meet the needs of the client.

Considering one has yet asked me to fetch a cup of coffee for them, I’m really enjoying my work and I’ll keep you posted on my upcoming projects.

David LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses will be speaking on, “Building Brand and Destination Character Through Social Marketing” tomorrow at the 7th annual SMG Tourism Conference at Lake Tahoe. The event will be held at Embassy Suites Resort in South Lake Tahoe, California.

He will be providing a look at how destinations are using all things Web 2.0 to connect and engage with their audience in a meaningful manner.

The following article ran in the Reno Gazette-Journal today:

Tahoe Tourism officials to discuss strategy

Lake Tahoe-area tourism executives will gather in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday to share strategic information at the 2007 SMG Tourism Conference.

This eighth annual event, which is themed “Sustainability & Authenticity: Marketing Your Destination’s Unique Character,” will address issues critical to tourism, including geotourism, social media and brand building, California tourism trends, and how Indian gaming and economic development trends are impacting destination character, officials said.

Speakers at the event include Jonathan Tourtellot, director of sustainable destinations at the National Geographic Society; Dave LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses; and William Eadington, gaming expert at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The conference will be at Embassy Suites Resort in South Lake Tahoe from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will include an exhibition area.

Also included will be the Geotourism Dinner Cruise on the Tahoe Queen, featuring a panel discussion moderated by the National Geographic Society, after the conference.

The conference fee is $140 for one or two people or $115

for three or more attendees. The fee includes registration, lunch and all materials.

Spaces on the Geotourism Dinner Cruise are $58 each.

For more information, visit www.smgtourismconference.com or call (530) 541-2462, ext. 102.

tags: lake, tahoe, smg, tourism, conference, social, marketing, branding

Yesterday, I traveled to Salt Lake City for the Seth Godin speaking event.

Our president, Steve Spencer, who operates our Salt Lake City office, joined forces with WordMob to bring together the necessary number of people and dollars to get Seth Godin there to speak to roughly 300 Utahans about his book, The Dip.

The attendees were there because of their collective interest in strategy, marketing and new media, as well as gathering new ways of looking at the direction of their businesses. The crowd was quite lively, and the questions at the end sparked some even further discussions, which were equally interesting.

Seth covered a wide array of topics, but his primary message was knowing when to quit and when to push through. “There is nothing wrong with quitting,” he said; “in fact, we are all quitters,” he added. For example, how many of us still play the musical instrument we learned when we were little? Another example Seth used was - how much time, effort and money would Microsoft have saved if they had realized the Zune could never compete with the iPod and just quit? Seth gave countless examples and metaphors, but the main premise was think of the opportunity cost of not quitting.

On the flip side, he also talked about knowing when to push through. Seth said, “the world needs more superstars.” Why? Because people are often afraid, lazy, or unaware of their true strengths, and so they give up. The ones that truly succeed do so because they persevered even through the hardest times. How to know? Metrics, market analysis, and knowing oneself. He dovetailed this into a discussion on the Long Tail.

The Long Tail and the ability for individuals to reach a global audience offers us more opportunities than ever before. There are countless niches to fill, and if your idea is powerful and creative enough, you can own it and be a superstar.

Within Seth’s main messages there are always underlying messages and interesting tangents.    

One example that stung a little was the mention of the MBA. I have one, and because of my prior liberal arts background, I find it quite useful. But Seth seemed to think my time would have been better served taking risks working, for instance, for a nonprofit. A marketing professor in the audience followed up on this comment with a question: What then are the top three things I should  be teaching my marketing students? Seth said to tell them:

1. That nobody cares about them. (I and the rest of the audience thought this was very funny and realistically rather true.)
2. You’ll learn more about marketing through trading on eBay.
3. Get really good at storytelling.

After the presentation, the audience was treated to a little stunt thought up by the folks at WordMob. Two of the guys, Phil Burns of TagJungle and Ash Buckles, had Seth shave their heads. It was hilarious and, of course, I had to take a picture.

All in all it was a great event, and I hope the folks in Salt Lake will continue to push these events. I suspect that between WordMob and the Utah Tech Spotlight they will.

tags: seth, godin, the, dip, salt, lake, city, wordmob