Al gets choked up on a conference call - a tale of trust, team work, and success.

When Tracy Martin, the president of Martin Financial Group, was invited to give a presentation for one of the largest insurance companies in the state - he asked Mint for some advice and assistance with what he said was "The most important presentation of my life."

No pressure, right?  And did we mention that the presentation just was two weeks away, and the day after the Thanksgiving weekend to boot?  So the Mint team went back to the agency and drafted two different directions for the client's approval.

And here's where it gets interesting. The audience was going to be about a dozen actuaries, and Tracy only had an hour to cover his material.  But for one of our options, we introduced a very different way to deliver the information.  One that did not require PowerPoint or even a computer, and for some sections, not even any words to read.

We envisioned a presentation consisting of relatively small boards that would be put up on a small easel and then elaborated on by Tracy.  Some boards would have numbers.  Some would have words.  Others would only have images, like this:

Tracy seemed reluctant to go this route at first, but eventually embraced our recommendation.  And then the team, lead by Al, Eric, and Billy toiled furiously for a few days to select the right images, words, and sequence to make the presentation shine.  We worked hand in hand with Tracy and Stefanie Colonna-Romano (who had championed the alternative form of the presentation from the beginning) and crafted not only the presentation boards, but also all the talking points, as well as a word-for-word script for Tracy to use as a starting point.

The final presentation was delivered to Martin the Wednesday before Thanksgiving...giving Tracy and Stefanie the weekend to rehearse.  And so we waited for a few days for feedback.

When we finally got the news it couldn't have been better.  We actually didn't hear from Tracy until Tuesday because some people in his audience invited him to their company holiday party!  And this was the call which got Al all choked up.  Seriously.

Admits our Chief Creative Officer: "Yeah, I did get a bit misty on that call.  I don't know...I guess it was a project that I had personally worked on nearly round the clock for a few days in November, so I had put a lot of myself into it.  Also, I knew it was a risk for Martin to go in with a somewhat different approach to the presentation.  And the fact that they trusted Mint - and that trust paid off - was really great to hear.  I was proud of Martin, and of Mint."

So thanks to Tracy Martin and the rest of the Martin Financial Group team for letting Mint be involved with such a critical presentation, and also for going out of your comfort zone and trusting our creative recommendation.

That buzzing in your ear? It's really a cell phone ringer.

by David Van Arsdale

It all started with British shop keepers trying to get rid of teenage loiterers with sonic technology called Mosquito, which emits an annoying high pitch sound that only teenagers can hear.

You see, most adults develop something called "aging ear", so their ears are "protected" from this high frequency sound.  It probably took teenagers a whole 15 minutes to realize they could use this to their advantage.  NPR and CBS both reported that kids were using a special cell phone ringer during class to flag incoming text messages, without the teacher even realizing (although their teenage giggles probably gave it away). Gone are the days of secretly passing notes in class so your teacher can embarrassingly read them aloud.

You can hear a sample by clicking here -- or can you?

A shout-out to Samantha (age 13) for bringing this to our attention! Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

In our End of 2008 issue of Blue Briefs, we published an open list of things folks at Mint thought might make good gifts...for ourselves and anyone else on our readers' holiday shopping lists.

And golly if we weren't surprised by the appearance of not one, but two radio controlled helicopters (the very last item on our very long list) in Account Supervisor Darren Manship's car the first week of 2009.  Note that we believe Darren's car was locked - and so far no staffer, friend, or relative has 'fessed up. 

Well, if he can sneak down a bazillion chimneys in one night, then breaking into a black Honda Civic must be simple for Santa.  So Santa, if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of our collective heart.  We've really enjoyed the helicopters.  In fact, we liked them so much, we bought another one...one step up the skill scale.  So if you notice Billy or Al with a bandage on their face or sporting an eyepatch, you'll know what happened.

In other "be careful what you wish for" news:

Mint also found out that week that we were awarded a very nice AOR assignment for a great new client after a thorough RFP process. Depending on who you ask over here, this might actually trump the helicopters!

To watch a video of one of our helicopters, click here.

Working out, at work.

We're all caught in the common struggle of balancing work and a healthy lifestyle.  There are a number of ways people try to stay fit while clocking long hours at work: eating healthy, drinking lots of water, running during lunch, etc.  But there is this one interesting "strategy" people have mixed feelings about: using an exercise ball as your work chair.
  
David Van Arsdale, Mint junior copywriter, is in his third week of sitting on a big exercise ball at his desk and at the least, it has been entertaining.  Below is not only his report, but also the reactions from some of the Mint staffers:

David Van Arsdale:
"I have found that it is a nice break from the standard office chair - I sit on it about an hour a day.  Not only does it work your core strength and improve your balance, but I think it also promotes better posture.  And for $12.99 from Wal-Mart, it's definitely worth trying."

Billy Joe Pyle:
After 10 minutes
"This is easy."

Next morning
"I know this is sad, but... I was trying to think why my abs hurt this morning."

Taylor Mazzarese:
"I like to kick it."

Eric Schoenfeld:
"In true new media fashion, here is my video response."