More then five years ago, I began work at Brains on Fire as a wordsmith. (Yes, I know it’s hard to believe with all my typos and such.) And the week I started, the Copy Chief and a shareholder in the company, Scott Gould, gave me a piece of paper that I still have to this day. I pull it out from time-to-time for a gut check. And I thought I’d share it to give you a different glimpse of the culture around here.

“When you write for Brains on Fire”

You gotta fall in love with language. You should think of words as thin-tipped English pub darts you continuously toss at people who need a little prick. You gotta be the kind of person who loves to eavesdrop on conversations in restaurants. Read like a madman (or madwoman, as the case may be). And not just ad copy; you need to read everything from Faulkner to Larry Flint. You must be a thief; you should steal the good stuff you hear floating around in the atmosphere. (If your best buddy from south Georgia says, “Man, this weather is hotter than a double-dicked prairie dog,” you’ve gotta say to yourself, I could use that somewhere.) Be ruthless with your own work. (Kill your darlings. Slash and burn, man.) You gotta be in a constant state of re-education. Listen before you think, think before you write, then re-write everything you thought you heard. You gotta learn that a good line can come from anywhere, usually from people who aren’t writers. Think of yourself as an artist. (Everybody thinks he can write; very few can.) Find your voice.

In the words of the late, great Jim Dickey, “Writing is easy. You just have to get the right damn words in the right damn place.”

Your job is to find those places and fill them up.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a function for one of our clients that honored some of the significant people in their history. St. Francis is a hospital system that is very true to their roots and very much believes in healing their patients on every front physical, emotional and spiritual. As I sat there, I began to think how lucky we are as a company to have clients that allow us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. St. Francis is already remarkable without Brains on Fire. So are the people that work there. But they asked us to find that greatness within them and expose it so their employees and patients can know what it is that makes them remarkable.

Sure, we believe in the mission of every client that we partner with (if not, we (gasp) turn them away). But to be a part of a group like St. Francis is an honor. And we count ourselves lucky for a relationship that goes far deeper than that of client/agency.

There’s an interesting article in the Boston Globe about corporations enlisting students to pitch their products and services on campus. All kinds of terms are thrown around in the article, word of mouth and buzz being a couple.

And check this out:

They (the students) are expected to devote about 10 to 15 hours a week talking up the products to friends, securing corporate sponsorship of campus events, and lobbying student newspaper reporters to mention products in articles. They also must plaster bulletin boards with posters and chalk sidewalks — tactics known as “guerilla marketing,” which, marketing firms acknowledge, intentionally skirt the boundaries of campus rules.

These kids get paid by the big corporations like Microsoft to engage in these activities.

Is this true word of mouth marketing? Or shill marketing? Or both?

Design and Illustration Rock Star Justin Gammon here at Brains on Fire is an avid gamer. And, like many other hard-core enthusiasts, he has been anticipating the arrival of a new game for the PlayStation 2 entitled Shadow of the Colossus. (SotC is an action game that consists of the main character seeking out and fighting giants across a massive landscape.)

The boys and girls over at Sony Computer Entertainment did the usual beautiful website with message boards, etc. But they also used a blog with video logs in it to help gather the community together. The blog is called Giantology and is a collection of images and videos posted by the author about these “real” archeological digs that are turning up the remains of these massive beasts (from the game). The author mixes these posts with other musings and the game is never mentioned. There are even comments from readers (obviously who don’t know what’s going on) who challenge the authenticity of the videos and pictures.

Sony was smart in the way they approached their launch plan. They went after the Justin’s of the world first and then teamed with heavy.com to appeal to a wider audience who probably doesn’t know much about SotC. You can find more about the partnership with heavy.com here.

Yesterday I called in a pick-up order for dinner at a local sandwich shop while I was out running errands. I gave them plenty of time to fill the order and have it waiting for me when I arrived.

As they were ringing me up, the cashier (a young college-aged girl) realized that the order was wrong and proceeded to tell me that they’d fix it immediately, but I would have to wait while they did so. I bit my lip, but I have no doubt that the look on my face told her that I wasn’t happy. She offered me a free drink while I waited or a free cookie with my meal. I declined and went over to the waiting area.

Then something remarkable happened.

After a couple of minutes passed, the same cashier left her station, came from behind the counter and walked over to me. “Sir, I’m really sorry that this has happened and I appreciate your patience. I would like to refund your money for our mistake. Your meal is on me.”

She caught me off guard. And she even got a smile out of me. I responded, “You know what? Stuff happens. The fact that you tried to make it right is enough for me.”

I’ll be going back there again.