The annual ADDY Awards ceremony was held this past Friday night, and  a few of us here at Twelve Horses attended. If you remember from last year, there is always a theme. This time it was all about the t-shirt. Just use the “A” in ADDY to come up with a phrase of your liking. Anything goes. Here’s what Twelve Horses rolled with at the event.

All in good fun, and despite our snarky anarchy behavior we managed to walk away with a couple of awards of our own.

We received a gold ADDY for the design of the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau’s website, as well as a silver Addy for an email design done for Incline Creek Estates, which is located on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe in Incline Village. If we ever decide to recreate superman’s castle all in lucite, these will go into the construction.

Thanks to A2N2 for a fun event!

tags: advertising, awards, web design, nevada, lake tahoe

This hilarious parody, entitled “The Couple”, pokes fun at the disconnect that currently exists between traditional advertising and today’s consumers.

There is definitely a need for change within the industry as advertisers continue to view their audience as a statistic or dollar opportunity instead of forging meaningful relationships that will benefit all those involved.

“You’re saying you love me but you’re not behaving like you love me. It’s not genuine.”

The world needs more genuine advertising.

OneGoodReason.org was recently launched as part of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada’s (EDAWN) rebranding efforts. The site was designed to highlight the greater Reno-Tahoe community’s passion for the region. Everyone is encouraged to get on the site and post their feelings and perspectives about why they choose to live and do business here.

I had just entered, “The Biggest Little Best Kept Secret in the Nation” when I noticed the above highlighted posting. Someone had entered, ”Obviously you have a way to identify my URL. More tricks from Twelve Horses.” Funny!

First off, Twelve Horses did not produce this site, R&R Partners did. Secondly, I don’t think they are tracking any personal information. It is simply about saying something positive regarding our region. Have fun with it and help get the message out about how wonderful the greater Reno-Tahoe area is to live and work.     

Yesterday, I blogged about what happen to Robert’s desk when he went on vacation. When I posted it, I didn’t realize that Martin had video of Robert’s reaction. Apparently, the morning that Robert came back to work, Martin hung out in the utility closet waiting for him to open the door. I’m not sure how long he waited, but the video is pretty good.

Technorati Tags: Employment, Martin Gastanaga, Office, Robert Payne, Twelve Horses, Video

One of the benefits of working at Twelve Horses is the fun loving prankster style atmosphere. Recently, co-Horse Power author and Marketing Manager Robert Payne went on vacation to Costa Rica. We used this as the perfect opportunity to relocate his office. First we removed everything from his office:

Next, we moved everything - including a makeshift desk - into the small 4 foot wide supply closet that’s located behind the conference room.

Yep, we then added a Red stapler.

Technorati Tags: Costa Rica, Employment, Office, Robert Payner, Stapler, Twelve Horses

Do you have a business idea that you’re sure will make tons of money? Are you struggling to figure out how to get your foot in the door to pitch it? You can always do what Aaron did. Aaron wanted to get in front of Google to pitch his idea. He started by creating a very simple website and uploading some videos to Google Video. His idea was simple:

1. Fly to Mountain View
2. Sit in Google’s lobby until someone listened to his idea
3. Pitch
4. Fly home

Underlying all this was the real plan: go viral. Because of the uniqueness of the whole concept and the way he went about it, he was sure Google would hear him. Unfortunately, they didn’t. At least, not at first. But he persevered. Once he arrived, he kept updating the site and producing videos. Word started to spread and then he made Digg.

He has had his meeting with Google, met Robert Scoble and Dave Winer, and has promises from Google for a follow up meeting. He continues to stay in Mountain View and has been there for the last 7 days. Good luck, Aaron.

[Via Robert Scoble's Blog]

Technorati Tags: Dave Winer, Google, Marketing, Robert Scoble, Viral

We try and foster good relationships between us (Twelve Horses) and advertising agencies.  They offer some services that we don’t and we offer services that they don’t and often there is some overlap.  We have many employees that used to work at traditional agencies and have performed those more traditional roles when asked.  However, we will never be into agency speak.