Gentle blog readers, it is time for me to bid you farewell. My husband, wunderkind, and I will be moving to Washington, D.C. in the new year. This move will bring us closer to family & friends and a new WOMM post for me beginning in January. As a fitting end to an exciting 2007 and my amazing time with the Brains on Fire team, I wanted to share with you the Top 10 things that I learned in my time here.

From the home office in Greenville, South Carolina, here are the Top 10 Things I Learned at Brains on Fire …

10. Blogging is a Muscle - the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Robbin helped provide me with some discipline by setting a goal of contributing 1 post per week. This kept me on the lookout for ideas and constantly writing.

9. Meetings should be used strategically & sparingly. Other than a regular touch-base meeting with the entire company, there are no regular weekly meetings at Brains on Fire. As a result, there is time during the day to do actual work and when a meeting is called, attendees come prepared to interact.

8. No one will die if you leave your laptop at the office. The first time I saw someone do this, I thought it was a mistake. Turns out, taking a night a week to ‘unplug’ and focus offline is very productive ” personally and professionally.

7. Nurture long term client relationships with ideas. It is easy to get complacent when you speak with the same clients over months or (if you’re lucky) years. Senior account guru Cathy Harrison taught me that the way to keep it fresh is to proactively brainstorm and share at least 1 new idea a week with your client. It keeps everyone energized and focused on the future.

6. Like brands with true personality, Popcorn is Polarizing. A lot of great people love it, but certain people (like Real Genius villain Dr. Hathaway and Spike) find it abhorrent. But, if no one hates you, chances are no one is moved to be passionate about you either.

5. Sow 10,000 seeds ” OK, this was originally a Guy Kawasaki principle, but I have never seen an organization practice it in the same way that Brains on Fire does. In my favorite example, 3 little kids found us by Googling ‘naming company’ and wrote Spike about their lawn raking business in need of a name. Instead of responding ‘Sorry, you have no money to hire us’, Spike shot their email to the entire company and we brainstormed a few doozies over email. I don’t know if winners like ‘Fall Releaf’ helped the kids, but it was a breath of fresh air for the rest of us and I strongly believe that small gracious acts will come back to benefit you tenfold.

4. There is no greater way to instill ownership than by giving fans a piece of a brand to give away. The Fiskateers taught me this through their random acts of crafting in San Antonio and Brains on Fire made it happen by bringing in outside speakers to inspire clients and friends at the FIRE sessions.

3. Everything is your brand. As remarkable as I originally found the way Brains on Fire answers the phone to be, I became immune to its coolness after a while. At the last WOMMA conference, however, I overheard a longstanding Brains on Fire client telling someone else how much they always call in through the front desk to hear today’s unusual greeting. Good reminder that you are the ‘small stuff‘.

2. Don’t be a chameleon. I personally have a bit of a chameleon tendency ” I can echo back tone, topics and language of those I am trying to reach or persuade. This is not always a good thing in the agency business. While chameleon behavior can help land new business, staying true to your identity no matter what will attract kindred spirits. Working with partners who have been attracted to you as you truly are is a strong foundation for long term success.

1. Have fun. My fondest memories of Brains on Fire are of my adventures with Geno & Spike ” checking into a hotel at midnight only to find that our reservations were for the wrong night, being punch drunk after 50 nonstop hours with enthusiastic scrappers, getting stuck in an airport and watching stupid videos on the big MacBook, hotel clerks’ reactions when they hear our names at check in (Miracle, Church, & Spike Jones), lugging the humorously oversized projector to a big meeting after our travel model broke on the worst possible day, the endless discussion about tattoos, the list goes on and on. My favorite is probably them ’surprising’ me by inserting a photo of me sleeping gape-mouthed on a plane into my bio slide for a presentation to a Fortune 50 brand (they of course had their professional headshots on their bios). I will desperately miss being the straight man of the trio, but take with me the knowledge that having fun while you work is, to continue the Real Genius theme, “a moral imperative”. Fun is contagious and attractive. All things being equal, people will always chose to work with people who are having fun.

I move to Brains on Fire ‘Alum’ status with a grateful heart. I wish you the happiest of New Years and hope you will keep in touch in the future at my new blogging home - www.virginiamiracle.com.

Yesterday, I returned from spending my Christmas in Denver with my lovely parents, darling little brother, and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins. So I’m sure you can guess what this post is going to be about.

That’s right! How much I hate the airlines. Caution: This one’s a doozy.

Okay, on my way to Denver, I was substantially delayed, but it was a weather thing and the plane was coming from somewhere that was fogged in, and I got there fine… so no problem. Of course, when I got to DIA (which is a sizable airport), I discovered that crack crew at DIA Delta had decided to put six flights on one luggage carousel… despite the fact that there were three empty carousels right next to it. This carousel was loaded down with luggage packed so tightly that new luggage couldn’t find a place on the belt. The belt would start, run for five minutes, and stop. People were shoulder to shoulder around the belt. Passengers were actually rearranging the luggage to make room for more. The Delta baggage guys were standing in their office, leaning against the counter and passively surveying the madness. Finally, I elbowed my way to the front, reached out to grab my bag… and went with it. The man next to me hoisted me back to my feet, and someone further down pulled my bag and handed it down to me. An excruciatingly stupid (and avoidable) situation that ended up creating a very “we’re in this together” mentality. So I guess everything came out okay.

Cut to December 26th when it was time to fly home. Forget that I was already in a bad mood because these visits home are always so short (being a “grown-up” sucks). I got out of Denver with no problem and arrived in Atlanta for my 2 hour layover. I grabbed a slice of super greasy pizza (yum) and waited for my quick little hop (usually about a 30 minute flight) back home. Of course, it was the last flight of the night. So… they canceled it. “Maintenance.” And thus begins my love letter to Delta.

1. We all rushed to customer service and stood in line. The woman at the front of the line kept yelling that we should scan our tickets to find out when we’ve been rebooked instead of just getting in line. So we did. Only they hadn’t rebooked us yet, so it just kept saying that our flight still existed. Awesome.
2. One of the first people to make it to the front of the line came back to report that she had been informed that no flight vouchers would be awarded. It’s one thing to not offer them. It’s another thing to be asked for a voucher by an inconvenienced customer and refuse them. Great.
3. There was another woman at the counter who kept yelling out to the line, “you know, they should just get on the phone instead of waiting in line or they’re not going to get a seat,” in this sing-songy, angry tone that really just made me want to kick her in the shins.
4. This is a plane of people whose destination is a 2 1/2 hour drive from this layover. So you’d think a logical solution would be rental car vouchers. Nope. “We don’t do that.”
5. Okay… fine. No rental car. So they gave us hotel vouchers and two seven dollar food vouchers for dinner and breakfast (I’d already eaten dinner) and rebooked us for the next morning. They also handed out little overnight kits (I got the last one… so I’m not sure how the people after me fared). Fine.
6. I’m not sure if they told the hotel the scope of the people coming, because we went out to the bank of hotel shuttles… and waited… and waited… and waited… a rather sizable crowd of people all waiting for a teeny shuttle. I finally snapped and payed for a taxi. Of course, they hadn’t told me the address of the hotel, only the name… and there were two Comfort Inns near the airport. But my friendly neighborhood taxi driver asked around and figured it out… and I’m pretty sure I got there before anyone else.
7. I checked in and went to my room where I finally examined my overnight kit. Emblazoned on the side, in all its silk-screened irony, was the Skyteam logo and the words “Caring more about you.” Fantastic. Inside were some basic toiletries and - oh yes - a Delta Skyteam t-shirt. I’m sorry… I know that they’re just trying to give me something else to sleep in, but at this point… I want any t-shirt but a Delta t-shirt. Seriously… Dave’s Neo-Fascist Garage might have evoked less of a sneer from me.
8. The hotel itself was… well… it was pretty crappy. The faucet on the sink was VERY loose. The stopper had been removed from the bathtub - leaving only the rusty metal spike on which it used to perch. And I had to go down to the front desk to retrieve the world’s shortest ethernet cable in order to plug in and email my good friends at Brains on Fire to let them know why I would not be there in the morning as I had planned - and why I would be using an extra half day of valuable vacation time. Now, I’m not expecting five-star accommodations or anything, but a place where my shower is not a tetanus risk might be nice.
9. The next morning, I awoke from my oh-so-satisfying night’s sleep in that room between the vending machines and the elevator and headed off to the airport… where my flight was, of course, delayed for an hour.
10. I FINALLY arrived in Greenville (12 hours after my original scheduled arrival time)… with no little gray wheely bag in sight. The ONE man working the Delta baggage counter allowed a line of about a baker’s dozen to form while he unloaded an inordinate amount of unclaimed luggage (we all looked at it longingly… searching vainly for a familiar bag) from the carousel. He then meandered over to his thankless position behind the counter where he informed me that my luggage is “probably” still in Atlanta and “might” come in on the next flight around 1:30. Again… no flight voucher. Northwest gives you a $25 voucher when they lose your bag. Sure, it’s rife with blackout and expiration dates, but it’s a gesture. No such gesture from our friends at Delta.
11. I tracked my luggage claim online… which is really pretty cool, if you’re going to need it. First my luggage was located and trying to be scheduled for a flight. Then it was in Greenville. Then it would be delivered sometime between 4:30pm and 4:30am. Swell.
12. Around 5:30 (pm), my luggage was delivered by a friendly courier… a company independent from Delta… and the ordeal had drawn to a close.

Okay… that is a whole big long rant to say this: Airline prices continue to go up, while the term “No-Frills Airline” becomes increasingly redundant. Not only do these companies not feel they owe us, I dunno, more than a couple crackers. They don’t feel that they owe us basic human treatment. The service is poor, the employees are rude, the apology for inevitable issues is non-existent… and we have no recourse, because we still have to get where we’re going. I guess I can’t help but wonder when the turning point comes. When will we say “enough already” and demand an airline that treats its passengers as if they are paying hundreds of dollars to engage their services? And will they ever deliver? So many things have gotten so much better in the last decade. The internet, TVs, cars, phones… it all keeps getting “better.” But air travel gets increasingly awful. We (and everyone) post continually about the power of the consumer in today’s society. So when do we band together as consumers and say, “HEY! I want my lukewarm quiche and free mini-pillow, and I want it NOW!”

Size: 50 gallons
Complexion: Charred America white oak
Personality: Well-rounded with a distinct character

Just in time for Christmas I received a package from Maker’s Mark announcing the arrival of my own Maker’s Mark Barrel. My barrel number is 793606 imprinted on a fancy Barrel Birth Certificate. That’s cool enough but I also received directions to see my name etched on the plaque that will mark the barrel for the next seven years of its life.

Maker’s is the Grandaddy of ambassador movements, and the thoughtfulness of the Barrel Dedication Kit will stick with me every time I order, a Maker’s and Coke, a Maker’s Manhattan, or a Maker’s Old Fashioned. To be honest I’ve never thought of this before, but if your going to drink why would you just order a whiskey, Maker’s really understands this ownership thing. They’ve got me.

Yesterday, in between gift opening and the family meal, we enjoyed one of TBS’ 12 consecutive showings of the holiday classic ‘A Christmas Story‘. It was the first time in at least 10 years that I had watched the full movie and I saw very different things through my 2007 eyes. For example, the iconic leg lamp won by the father and billed as a ‘major prize’ now reads to me like a precursor to sweepstakes mail fraud and email appeals from exiled princes in far off lands.

One plot thread has a particularly different feeling in light of what we’ve learned about Word of Mouth Marketing. Ralphie loves the Orphan Annie radio program and anxiously waits for her secret decoder pin in the mail. That night, he listens carefully to the show and waits to get the secret message. After racing to a ‘private spot’ to decode it, it reads ‘Be sure to drink your Ovaltine‘ and our cherubic hero exclaims ‘Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a b*&%h!’

Just a fun Christmas reminder that the fans who beg to be involved with your brand will be especially upset if you feed them commercial messages instead of engaging or, in this case, intriguing them. Happy Holidays!

Some things are bigger than all of us.

We wish everyone all that mushy holiday stuff. Just be safe. And love on those that love you. (Maybe even love on those that don’t love you.)