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Spike Likes Fridays, Vol. 9

September 3rd, 2010 Spike No comments

From tennis pros, your hometown brought to life to a baby brought back to life, animal bffs to a fair weather hiker, here is the latest edition of Spike’s Likes brought to you by the friendly staffers at Hodgson/Meyers.

Gary Graf: This Spikester likes hiking around Mt. Rainier National Park (as long as the sun is shining).

John Kennedy: Happy to see football season is back.


Willem Buys: Words, presented by RadioLab and NPR.



Robert Coats: Talk about creative inspiration.  It is from Google Experiments and really pushes the boundaries of HTML 5 and pulls in data from multiple sources to create a presentation that is beyond interactive and falls into the category of “submersive” messaging. Granted, Google Experiments is using a music video in this instance but it perfectly showcases the possibilities of not only how you deliver a message to your target audience but how you can submerge that audience in the message  and make them a part of it. Enjoy this glimpse at the future of the web presentations at http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ and customize this to your location.



Jamie Bakun: The US Open and Roger Federer’s amazing Tweener!



Sharan Ochsner: Unlikely best friends.



Erin McNiff: Amazing story of mother saving baby.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Spike Likes Fridays! Vol. 7

August 6th, 2010 Spike No comments

The Blue Angels buzzin’ around overhead and the sprinkle of boats waiting for the hydroplane races – we’re so ready to start the weekend. Here are the wonderful things Spikesters like this week.

Rachel Omiliak: Food52.  The best recipes come from home chefs- and all of those chefs posted them here.  Wondering what Spike liked best?

Willem Buys: The time suck of social media! Social networking now eats up twice as much of our online time as any other activity. According to new stats from Nielsen

Erin McNiff: Leave the drama for the mama. I think Levi and Bristol just may be over, over.

Andrew Skirde: Shark Week!

Spike Likes Friday! Vol. 6.

July 16th, 2010 Spike 1 comment

Summer is here bringing the season of food festivals, outdoor movie screenings and farmer’s markets into full swing.  So here’s to a happy Friday, cheers to good weather (fingers crossed) and enjoy!

Jason Frummett: I like that for the first time since April, the oil leak in the Gulf has been successfully capped.

Robert Coats: 8-bit Cities. City maps for old school gamers.

Gary Graf: For lyrical virtuosity, and a darn good time, catch bare naked ladies. The band. I’m talking about the Canadian band. Who were you thinking of?

Lea Loya: OK Go’s marching band version of ‘This Too Shall Pass.’ Props again to these viral video darlings. Read lead singer’s brilliant NYT Op-ed piece from last February on the utilization and creativity of viral videos in the current stifling recording industry environment.

Jamie Bakun: Old Spice’s video tweet responses. This is quickly becoming my favorite ad campaign! Sadly, the video below is the last video tweet. To see the whole engagement go to http://twitter.com/oldspice. Be sure to read this article as well as watch the videos.

Willem Buys: A full-CGI animated piece by Alex Roman that illustrates architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces.

Sharan Ochsner: Transformer owl!

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Spike Likes…Thursday? A Special Edition.

July 1st, 2010 Spike No comments

Welcome to our special edition of Spike Likes Friday. We will be out tomorrow and Monday celebrating the 4th of July so enjoy this Thursday edition.

Gary Meyers: United Airlines 1K status

Jason Frummet: The eternal optimism of Seattlites about their weather. One good day among 30 grey days is enough to lift the spirits and make people thankful for the Summer that will eventually arrive.

Robert Coats: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Lea Loya: The NPR story of the man who inspired Monet, Eugene Boudin, takes you right to Normandy, France.

Jamie Bakun: What the Font? Can’t figure out what typeface something is? Here’s the solution:  http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Gina Auffaunt: A drop in by Lenny Kravitz. My friend’s cousin is the guitar player up front. It was “one of the best experiences of his life.”

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Spike Likes Fridays, Vol. 4

June 4th, 2010 Spike No comments
Welcome to Vol. 4 of Spike Likes Fridays. This week, we’ve found many things we like. Enjoy.
Andrew Skirde: Technology Performance Group, ArcAttack
Spikesters: The T.V. show, WipeOut, and hopefully, soon, more sunny days.

Gina Auffant: Get your Swagger Wag-on!

Charlie Worcester: Lego Printer!


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Spike Likes Friday, Vol. 3

May 21st, 2010 Spike No comments

Friday is here again and that means another highlight of some of our favorite things from the week. Happy Friday, everyone!

Gary Graf: Having kids come home from college!

Willem Buys: I have three things I like this week. 1) Trendwatching: Trendwatching.com, independent and opinionated, is one of the world’s leading consumer trends firm, relying on a global network of hundreds of spotters. Trends, examples and insights are delivered to 160,000 business professionals in more than 180 countries.” 2) Quirky.com: Everybody has a product idea. 3) The new album from The National

Robert Coats: Google celebrating PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday with the first ever playable Google Doodle. Click the Insert Coin button (or wait 5 seconds) and play a game using the arrow keys (bonus props for the ‘easter egg’: insert two coins and Ms. PAC-MAN joins the game. Play with a friend using WASD keys).

Jason Frummet: The quote, “Be who you are and say what you feel…because those who mind don’t matter…and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss

Gary Meyers: The Chicago Blues club B.L.U.E.S. on the city’s North side on Halstead Street this past Sunday night featuring the GUITAR SLINGERS SHOWDOWN competition. IPhone photo of Eric “Guitar” Davis ripping up the joint.

Jamie Bakun: Season Finale of LOST, which you can check out at  http://www.abc.go.com/LOST and  the 2010 French Open, starting Saturday — Go Federer!

Clare Chapple: The Greek Gods Traditional Greek Yogurt. Honey Flavor. Also, the ambitious and determined volunteers that come together to form community arts organizations, such as the Cascade Community Theater Group in Duvall, WA

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next installment of Spike Likes Fridays.

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Spike Likes Fridays, Vol. 2

May 7th, 2010 Spike No comments

Another week gone yet we still found things we’re enamored with.

Clare Chapple: The band, Interpol. And the great blue heron that keeps flying past my window at H/M.

Gary Meyers: “Ten Thousand Words,” by the Avett Brothers

Willem Buys: Blue cheese stuffed olives this weekend. Put one of those in a dry martini why don’t you!

Craig Labenz: http://urbansketchers-seattle.blogspot.com/

Jamie Bakun: FREE movie tickets for  the preview of “Letters to Juliet” on Mother’s Day!

Charlie Worcester: 2010 logo trends on LogoLounge.com

Gina Auffant: Electron Boy Saves the Sounders, with the help of Make-a-Wish Foundation. Video below.

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Hodgson/Meyers goes for the gold with new designer.

April 26th, 2010 Spike No comments

Stage and screen. When you can perform there, you can perform anywhere. Take Jamie Bakun, for instance.

Jamie brings precision, creativity and flair to her computer screen as a newly hired graphic designer at Hodgson/Meyers, voted one of the Top 100 B2B agencies in the country four years running. She also brings those same qualities to the stage, in this case the ice, where she earned gold medals in ice dancing from the United States Figure Skating Association.

After performing on the Sun Valley ice with such Olympic luminaries as Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi, Jamie now shares the creative arena with agency H/M principals Tim Hodgson and Gary Meyers on such accounts at Windstream Communications, CSG Systems and UC4.

Prior to joining Team Spike (named after the Hodgson/Meyers woodpecker and CEO), Jamie honed her skills at Paramount Pictures/Screenlife Games and Draft FCB/The Hacker Group, where she worked on such accounts as NetFlix, AT&T and AAA Auto.

Born in the Seattle area and skating since she was 10-years-old, Jamie took her discipline and drive to Georgia. There, she earned her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art & Design, graduating with high honors. A year early. With a 4.0 grade point average.

All of which suggests there’s nothing average about Jamie Bakun.

(By the way, Jamie reports that ice skates weigh between eight and eleven pounds.)

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Spike Likes Fridays: The first of many

April 23rd, 2010 Spike 1 comment

Today is our inaugural ‘Spike Likes’ entry showcasing the things we liked at Hodgson/Meyers this week. Stay tuned every other Friday for more observations.

Craig Labenz: Transferring mixed tape cassettes to MP3s. So hi-fidelity.

Tim Hodgson: Neat Pantone app. Cross reference colors via your iPad, iPhone or iTouch at www.pantone.com/xref

Gary Meyers: 24, the Audi A8, and this quote: “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” – Mark Twain

Lea Loya: The sun setting after 8:00p and summertime anticipation.

Charlie Worcester: 8-bit goodness from PIXELS by Patrick Jean



Stay tuned for more in a couple of weeks.

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Hodgson/Meyers: A world of experience.

April 23rd, 2010 Spike No comments

Take a look at the collective resume of B2B ad agency Hodgson/Meyers and chances are you’ll be impressed. Sure, there are august institutions listed, such as Harvard, Marquette and Gonzaga. And, yes, you’ll find we work for a who’s who of notable business and technology clients, such as Applied Systems, Avanade, CSG Systems, Fluke Networks and UC4. However, it’s under the category of Personal Experience where you’ll find the extremely compelling entries.

For instance our search marketing maven is a veteran of Desert Storm—and of Texas. One of our copywriters is a published author, which makes perfect sense, while one of our designers is a gold medal-winning ice dancer, which totally doesn’t.

A project manager doubles as a wrangler of goats, chickens, dogs and a wascally wabbit. Our e-pro man hails from The Netherlands and our business manager is the mother of a winning Wheel of Fortune contestant. We have a math major copywriter who once wrote songs for the Big Cheese himself—Mickey Mouse.

Our Brooklyn-born biz-dev man spent summers growing up on a farm—in Ireland. While our account coordinator gained acceptance into the CIA. If we tell you his name, we’d have to kill you. Actually, the agency in question is the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York.

A senior designer once sat next to Bill Gates on a cross-country flight. Of course, he was only 10 years old at the time. Not Bill, our designer. The co-founder of Microsoft was not forthcoming with stock tips and our man has been Macintosh faithful ever since.

Come springtime, one of our project managers pursues collegiate commencement speeches, finding them so inspirational as to bring her to tears. An account manager rowed women’s crew in college, running three miles to the boathouse everyday for practice at 4:30—in the morning.

The Hodgson/Meyers Web master once worked as a singing pizza waiter. It wasn’t that he served singing pizzas. He sang while serving. He was so good in fact that he once was the opening act for Frank Sinatra…Junior.

Our Director of Account Planning has swum with dolphins in Moorea, dove with sharks off the Marquesas Island, and rode an elephant in Cambodia. Not to mention ridden herd over the H/M account team, while helping clients navigate turbulent business waters.

One of the gentlemen whose name is on the door has a plethora of experiences all unto himself. Take a deep breath before proceeding: bartender, bouncer, pipefitter, ice cream server, potato farm worker, fly-fishing guide, whitewater rafter, stock clerk, forklift operator, sheet metal worker, dart champion, surfer dude and—wait for it—life drawing model.

Our other co-founder pursued his love of history, art and architecture with trips to East Berlin and Soviet Moscow, and offered compassion for others in Rwanda, visiting wonderful people who lived in mud huts (no electricity, no water) amidst the banana trees. Special travel tip: Take a pass on the Rwandan Chinese food.

Last but not least, our Chairman of the Board is a pileated woodpecker named Spike.

Worldly experience and communications acumen. Both contribute to our unique approach to solving companies’ most vexing business problems. From our collective adventures, we’re able to create messages that resonate with audiences on an emotional level. Thanks to our accumulated marketing knowledge, we’re able to take a strategic approach to helping clients grow their business.

All of which has helped Hodgson/Meyers be recognized as one of the Top 100 B2B Agencies in America for four years’ running. But who’s counting? Well, maybe our math major copywriter.

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