Nothing is worse than losing when you’re oh-so sure you’re going to win. You’ve mentally prepared yourself and you’ve rehearsed your speech ad nausea. And then you lose and you still have to smile and politely clap. You’re forced to sit through 84 more categories while you are served coffee and dessert. Usually, I’m so disgruntled I’ll eat six or seven desserts.

On Saturday, all the planets were aligned. Every single nominee at our table walked away with their respective award. And my boss, who had never won an Emmy, was absolutely over the moon. We decided he would give the acceptance speech 1) because he had never done it before and 2) because he’s my boss and told me he was giving it regardless. I was thrilled for him.

The video was for SAVE, Inc. — a local Kansas City charity that does housing options for men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS. It was the third video we’ve produced for them. Each of them had garnered nominations – so we were bound to win sooner or later. (Apparently later than sooner.) The Executive Director of the organization was on hand last night to accept the award with us … which was even more gratifying. You can watch the video here: http://creative.plattformad.com/tvFlash.php?id=8#creative

All in all, it was a great night. And it was great to see us finally bring home the gold for SAVE, Inc. They do such phenomenal things in the community with such limited resources. It’s been a privilege helping PlattForm work hand in hand with them for the last five years.

Lindsay, who is a 3rd Grade Teacher at a local elementary school, started the traveling bake sale to raise money and awareness for autism, as well as improve the social and communication skills of one of her students (Gus) who has autism.

Once I heard about what Lindsay was doing, I suggested she should have Gus and his goodies come to Plattform. The people here are so nice and it is a great environment for Gus to be around – I mean c’mon, we have a WII! Boy was I correct! Not only did we raise $400 worth of donations, but one person in particular made an impact. A woman came up to Gus- who at the time was more intrigued by the red balloons than the bake sale- knelt down to his level and said “Hey Gus, how are? Can you tell me more about Autism?” This unknown person was wearing a gray cardigan and had “cute” short black hair (can you tell that this is the portion of the time I was not there?). This really made an impact on Gus. Anyhoodles, to the gray cardigan, cute-haired girl, as well as the rest of the great employees of Plattform, myself and Gus’ Goodies say thank you for your generous donations and participation! It was definitely a successful event – Gus got to play WII, while the Plattformer’s had a sugar overdose and expanded their knowledge on Autism!

To be expected, we left a prominent footprint at the Career College Association’s Annual Conference. With new contacts and potential clients, our employees understand the value of positively representing PlattForm Advertising.

You might think our presence at CCA was enough for one year, but this year we are going above and beyond. In late July we attended the Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrator’s conference where our own Mike McHugh presented in two sessions about the evolution of admissions and internet marketing.

Just this week, we attended the Distance Teaching and Learning conference in Wisconsin. At this conference, Joe Mulvihill will be co-presented a session on internet marketing, which is scheduled to be published in the 2009 Conference Proceedings and Web Resource Library.

Last but not least in mid-August, PlattForm will be at the New York Marriott Marquis attending the LeadsCon East Annual Conference which focuses on blending internet and traditional media communities as well as online lead generation.

Without the help of each employee these new endeavors would not be possible. Thank you for all your efforts in order to help PlattForm continue to remain and grow as an industry leader in higher education.

Every year my team in the Video Production department puts together a pro-bono video for a local charity. The first video we produced five years ago was for a local organization that provides housing options for men, women and families affected by HIV/AIDS. To date, the video has raised nearly $900,000 for the charity, SAVE Inc. Over the years, PForm has wrapped its arms around this organization … and it’s been fun for us to watch them grown alongside us.

Over the weekend, we shot our fifth charity video in as many years. It was for the local Kansas City chapter of The Ronald McDonald House. It’s an amazing charity that was founded back in 1972 to help parents with gravely ill children. Now there are Ronald McDonald Houses worldwide … providing a home away from home for families who have children in need of critical medical care.

We spent a majority of the day in the neo-natal intensive care unit at Children’s Mercy Hospital. We were interviewing parents with kids who were clinging to life. Mercifully, most were being nursed back to health. Yes, it was better living through chemistry, technology and the sheer love of their parents. A lot of the moms and dads were teetering on the brink of tears through most of the interviews. It’s never my intention to make people cry while I’m talking to them … but you could tell the waterworks could start at any minute.

At any given point the Kansas City branch of the RMH houses upwards of 50-60 families who have kids in the hospital or receiving medical treatment. Parent after parent mentioned the same thing … we don’t know what we’d do without this place. Most of the families were from smaller or rural towns. Traveling hours to visit their sick kids is not realistic or practical. Heck, most parents refused to leave the hospital room. How convenient to have the Ronald McDonald House less than five minutes away from Children’s Mercy.

The experience was definitely and eye-opener. I’ve never had full access to shoot in a hospital … let alone an intensive care unit. But every one was very candid and honest and wanted nothing more than to tell us how much the Ronald McDonald House meant to them and their families. Keep an eye out for the video as we’ll be unveiling it later this year!

Before the production began, no one who knew Adam Castle envisioned him as a grisly-voiced, face-contorting FBI bad ass. But now it’s hard to see him any other way.
The soft-spoken marketing consultant for Beauty Schools Marketing Group competed in this year’s 12 Hour Video Contest. With his performance in the winning video, 24, he crafted a new persona as comedic actor with a striking impersonation of hard-as-nails cop from television, Jack Bauer.
Castle’s experience exemplifies the magic of 12 hour videos. In the upside-down world of employee self-made video making, the unexpected is the expected … and the expected is as edgy as company videos should ever be allowed.
12 hour video teams consisted of 8 to 16 employees, including a camera person, an editor and a production assistant/grip/writer-editor. Each team was allotted 12 hours to write, shoot and edit a video that follows a given theme. This year, the themes were: Fear, Revenge, Joy and Anger. Beginning at 3 p.m., the teams were allowed to film until midnight on Fridays and then come back to edit the material into a cohesive production on Monday morning.
What happens behind the scenes of a 12 hour video is not unlike what happens when the camera is rolling. The silliness and the camaraderie that spills out when topics are being brainstormed and loose scripts are being developed often makes the transfer to the scenes that are filmed. And, that is the magic of the process. Contributors who take a leadership role in the group are often at the forefront of the shooting process.
In a company-wide vote, employees made 24 by far and away this year’s winning video, which earned it a showing at PlattForm’s annual meeting. Given his unexpected stardom, Castle said the experience wasn’t too of course from what he had envisioned.
“My 12 hours video was basically what I expected,” Castle said. “I was expecting that we would be working on the video until midnight, but we had a pretty defined idea, so we were able to finish up early. Our team didn’t drink as much beer as we thought we would either … it makes me wonder what that says about my expectations of Plattformers? Just kidding … kind of.”
The 12 Hour Video experience was the same across the country as PlattForm’s New York office got in on the act. Jason Penta, who worked behind the camera channeling what he called his “best inner-Spielberg,” helped create the visuals for “Land of Confusion.”
“We definitely all brain-stormed together as a group,” Penta said. “Everyone had great, creative ideas. And of course, everyone was willing to ham it up for the camera. It was also the day of our First Friday/Cinco De Mayo party, so there was a lot of excitement in the office all day. As the margarita count got higher, the video definitely got more interesting.”
Castle said the only other time he ever acted was in ninth grade drama class. He said he had no idea what role I would play in the video before the production began. His teammate, Brandon Gregory, conceived a spoof of the 24 television show starring Keifer Sutherland, and that was all it took.
“Once we had the idea, the whole team was really into it as soon as we started brainstorming,” Castle said.
Castle is the antithesis to the Bauer character, which made it 10 times funnier to see him in the roll.

And Lori is practically famous.

Recently, she was hand-selected to be part of the Chevy Traverse Kansas City Mom Squad. Along with four other KC mommy bloggers, Lori was chosen to test-drive a brand new Chevy Traverse for eight weeks.

In return for these two months in a free car, Lori just has to pimp it online and enjoy perks like free massages at Massage Envy, grocery store gift cards, Royal’s games, and a Flip video camera … man, being a celebrity is rough.

But so far, Lori hasn’t let fame go to her head: “Hearing my name on Q104 the other day was so surreal! I was like ‘Skyler! That’s me, that’s me!’ But she couldn’t care less, so I was frantically trying to find someone to call. So of course I called my mom.”

Oh, Skyler. She’s just jealous. After all, it’s thanks to HER that Lori started blogging in the first place.

Lori began mytwo.wordpress.com over two years ago, as a way to keep her friends and family updated on her pregnancy. Since then, Lori’s blog has blossomed into a place where she can showcase her photography, vent frustrations, and record her life with 20-month old daughter Skyler and husband Ronnie.

Now that the Oswalds have the Traverse; life has already gotten easier. 2 weeks into the 8-week test drive, Lori says: “It’s been super fun driving the Traverse so far – and it’s been a new creative outlet for me to work with video blogging that I’ve enjoyed much more than I expected (despite my first embarrassing attempt - see “Awkward Interview” on the list of videos)”

So – here’s the thing. Like all celebrities, Lori is only as famous as you make her. She doesn’t expect to be the top Google search for 2009, but she expects her fans friends to vote for her. So check out Lori’s entries at www.mommymadnesskc.com and vote for her as Kansas City’s favorite Mommy Blogger! She’s been known to bribe people with rides to Happy Hour in return for votes.

Sidebar: Vote for Lori at www.mommymadnesskc.com, and visit her at mytwo.wordpress.com.

Sidebar: Want a taste of the celebrity life for yourself? Get your own free massage by visiting your local Chevy dealer! Just test-drive a new Traverse and receive a Massage Envy 1-hour gift card!

The MIA Award: Accounting – who somehow, miraculously managed to avoid doing a skit this year. I don’t know which was worse – Accounting getting off scott-free – or hearing Phil yammer on about EBITDA.

The That’s Whack Award: Turns out Steve Booth was pretty fly for a white guy. Who knew he could rap so eloquently? Although he did oversee the editing process from start to finish so as not to look foolish. As if.

The Gritted Teeth Award: Tricia Cooper who looked like she’d rather be enduring childbirth or a root canal than talking to the masses. You did fine, Tricia. At least you didn’t have to rap.

The Justice Is Served Award: Aaron Edwards was bludgeoned to death. Well, in a dragon costume, anyway. Townspeople, peasants and paupers rejoiced. I secretly did a little happy dance as well.

The Sugary Goodness Award: Mike Joseph hurled stale Peeps to the peeps in the audience as part of his routine. Kari Fajen lost an eye. And that was just because she stabbed herself with a pencil to go home early.

The NKOTB Award: Caleb Brattrud, who has quickly become the most popular boy in the whole school. Who the hell is Caleb Brattrud? I’ve never seen anyone so adored in this building since Sarah Dehart worked here. It’s nauseating really. Stephen Kent – take notes.

The Clutch The Pearls Award: There was an audible gasp from the audience when Dave Admire announced we’d be getting the entire week of Xmas or New Years off. Yes, it’s like Xmas came early.

The Charm ‘Em If You Got ‘Em Award: The oh-so clever Kevin Kuzma and Jenni Valentino managed to wrap everyone around their little fingers. They’re comedy gold. Like Cheech and Chong. Or Abbott and Costello. Or Shields and Yarnell.

The Most Improved Award: Sales/Marketing brought their A-game to the table this year. Who doesn’t like a rousing game of Family Feud? It’s like one big family around here anyway. The feuding part comes naturally.

After a nearly month-long coma, Brant started to stir. Of course, no one knew the extent of his brain injury or what to expect. One minute Brant was minding his business driving to work on a snowy January morning. The next minute this father of three was fighting for his life.

Brant’s condition continues to improve every day. He’s awake, alert and is constantly trying to hug his kids. He’s also becoming a bit more chatty as he starts to remember things. If there was ever a poster child for a miracle — it’s Brant — or as his family calls him “BB”.

Brant’s wife keeps friends and family (and the entire ad agency) up-to-date about Brant on a website. It’s a novel and new fangled approach to giving status updates. You can read more about Brant at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brantburt.

From my time working with him at PlattForm, I found him to be a social, gentle spirit with an extreme passion for his family and all things outdoors. Brant has months and months of recovery ahead of him. PlattForm continues to help in any way they can. And the family is holding a massive fundraiser on May 16 to raise funds for much-needed therapy and continued rehabilitation. A slew of PFormers will be involved and yours truly is emceeing the event. It’s just reinforces how close-knit our agency really is.

If anyone can survive a horrendous car accident and live to tell about it … it’s Brant. The man has a lot to live for. His brain spent nearly a month re-wiring itself. And now the prognosis for recovery looks promising. So we’re all keeping our fingers crossed and wishing the best for Brant. We miss you! And, for the record, I’ll never look at a mountain biker the same way again. The next time I think I have a hurdle to overcome, I’ll think of Brant. Everyone appreciates his amazing strength and fortitude. Looks like this is just one more mountain he’ll tackle and overcome.