I’m reading a great book that I picked up in the airport this week, Affluenza. (And Dave, I think I am going to review it on Amazon I like it so much!) One of the chapters is called Aching for Meaning. I think that ache is something that is rampant in our oh so American lives. The more we work, the more we have, the more we ache and long for meaning in the work we do.

I often give presentations where we explain our unique philosophy as a naming and identity company. We use the word identity instead of branding because it is so much more meaningful. (Aside from the fact that BRAND is one of the most over used and misunderstood words in business today, we believe it hits a different nerve when we talk to people about their company’s identity and personality traits.) We think of our insight process as “finding a company’s soul.” It’s funny — often times by looking inward and understanding what you stand for and what you are excited about as a company, then simply reflecting that to the world, you amazingly become a magnet for kindred spirits. And here’s the best part, those kindred spirits are the folks most likely to become real and genuine ADVOCATES for your company and most likely to recommend your product, company or service to a friend.

I am fascinated by the BzzAgents of the world. I think it is interesting that a lot the agents are motivated by the fact that someone is actually listening to what they have to say. (Read some of the agent’s comments about being a BzzAgent.) And I think it amazing how the seeding of products and asking agents to spread the word is by all appearances working pretty well. Is it perhaps just another example of that “ache for meaning” in our lives?

Oh, well. I’ll have to think about that another day.

Like most companies out there, we have a web traffic-tracking program. In this case, it’s WebTrends. We can see how many hits we get from what companies in what cities and how they got to our site. It’s good to know after we make contact with a company if they came to check out our site and blog and how many individual users took a look. Yes Disney, Honda and Wachovia, I see you. And then there are the regulars that visit, like you, Imagitas and GSD&M.

But it’s also frustrating.

I’m armed with this information. This great information, but I want more. I don’t know WHO visited and how long they spent in a particular section. I can’t tell if it’s the receptionist or the CEO. When GM reads the blog or visits our site I find myself yelling at the screen, “Tell me who you are!!! Maybe we can help you!!!” And, of course, it’s impossible to track down who, exactly, is the curious soul that’s checking us out.

Overall, information is a great thing to have. Information is power. And it’s a great business development tool. We can track what companies, in what cities, in what countries are viewing us. But it’s hard not to feel at least just a little “big-brotherish” about all this. As this whole thing continues to evolve, it’ll be interesting to see how specific the technology gets and when it starts to cross the line.

My son is a brilliant marketer. I realized this one day about two years ago (he was 14 a the time) when we were sitting by a friend’s pool. A cute 25 year old woman in a tenny tiny bathing suit joined us and as she plopped down on the chair beside him she asked, “Hey I haven’t seen you in long time, how are old are you these days?” I had to laugh out loud at how quickly “16″ came out of his mouth. He lied, right in front of the very mother who birthed him.

It’s an easy habit for a company (and a 14 year old boy) to want to be all things to all people. The real challenge is to simply stay focused on the truth.

I’m confused. I just finished your book, Grapevine, and couldn’t help but scratch my head when I read, at the bottom of page 50, these words:

Like phony reviews that are often posted by authors, friends and enemies on amazon.com, this attempt at creating positive word-of-mouth through a totally fabricated event devalued the entire conversation and made its developers look bad.

And then you posted on the BzzAgent blog, which I assume is widely read by your BzzAgents - on Thursday, November 3, this message:

Grapevine is released today. First day you can post a review on Amazon [I've hated seeing the book up there with no reviews].

Somehow, at least to me, the ideas behind those two statements contradict one another.

I’ll post my complete thoughts on Grapevine later this week.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we just wanted to say “thank you” to the readers and responders to our blog. Thank you for being kindred spirits. For weighing in with your thoughts. And for being a part of this thing called Brains on Fire that is much bigger than just the people who choose to work here.

We are blessed.