Notes from Electric Pulp

Google has announced plans of parlaying its online advertising network into a unified platform that includes traditional media types. In addition to Google AdSense placement, they will soon be able to deliver advertiser messages via print, radio, television, streaming media, podcasts, Google Video, and probably holograms.

With Google stock trading down after announcements of slower than expected growth, we think they should just get it over with, buy Microsoft, and make their ads an integral part of the Windows OS.

When National Public Radio correspondent Curt Nickisch recently asked us to contribute to a story on the business side of Web 2.0, we saw it as a great way to get some cheap national PR exposure yet another wonderful way to support the amazing service that is Public Radio.

Once the deft Mr. Nickisch realized the full vibrance of our office, he smartly signed us to a studio session. Electric Pulp’s own Stefan Hartwig and Michael Lehmkuhl traded wildly intelligent observations about Web 2.0 and its impact on today’s business world in between random guttural ramblings and braindead utterances. It’s amazing how distracting a fuzzy boom microphone can be.

If you’re lucky enough to be part of our local listening area, you can hear an expanded version of the piece on SD Public Radio stations at 7:30am and again at 5:30pm on Feb 23, 2006. An archive of the story can be found at the SDBP website.

Also listen for a nationally syndicated version of the story to be broadcast on NPR’s Marketplace show in the near future.

Whether you’re into bikes or not, you’re probably familiar with the Discovery Channel series Biker Build-Off. Billy Lane, Chica, Matt Hotch, and Indian Larry have all participated in the television phenomenon.

And first up for the 2006 Biker Build-Off season is [ep] client and friend Brian Klock. Congratulations are definitely in order. Not only is this a huge honor to the top builders in the industry, it’s on the TV.

(1) Jason Hart vs Brian Klock
(2) Detroit Bros. vs Jason Kangas
(3) Kim Suter vs Gypsy Charros
(4) Matt Hotch vs Roger Goldammer
(5) Russell Mitchel vs Billy Lane
(6) Marcus Walz vs Michael Prugh
(7) Mike Metzger vs Larry Linkogle
(8) Toscla (the big easy) vs Kevin Alsop
(9) Scott Long vs Trevelene
(10) Roland Sands vs Jesse Rooke
(11) Pitts vs Harold Pontarell
(12) Paul Yaffe vs Dave Perewitz
(13) Craig Whitford vs Michael Long

Filming starts this Spring with the show airing in the Fall – we’ll let you know before it hits. Find out more about Brian Klock at kustom cylces or chrome classifieds.

Recently voted #1 Freestanding Imaging Group in the US by Medical Imaging Magazine, CDI is a national leader for diagnostic imaging, pain management and interventional radiology services. The only thing keeping CDI from being named Master of the Universe was a little help bending the Internet to their collective will. As you may have guessed, Electric Pulp was the agency selected to do the bending.

Our charge was simple: create a marketing home base for each of the 37 (and counting) centers while maintaining a clear path for patients, referring physicians and team members. Work includes a color palette and style guide, a compelling site design with a little Flash, and a comprehensive content management framework.

Take a look at the results.

The new site does NOT have video of a karate monkey [chimp, monkey, whatever] doing a spinning roundhouse kick, but it DOES feature some great sound clips to help get you acclimated to your next MRI experience.

There’s been a lot of buzz this week about announcements from AOL and Yahoo! regarding new email delivery fees. We’re sure that at least some of our readers use email, so we thought we’d post some thoughts on the topic.

Our first thought is a simple one: boo/hiss. Let us be the first to call these guys commies.

Our second thought, though, is that maybe this isn’t so bad…

On the upside, this is a valid effort towards forcing sender accountability. Since the mailer will have to pay to ensure deliverability, they will be giving up some anonymity. On the downside, the model allows messages to bypass spam filters, so a clever spammer can pay, get their spam delivered, and then disappear again like a ninja in the night.

For those of you not familiar with the announcements, the free email services will be charging sending companies anywhere between $0.0025 and $0.01 per recipient for guaranteed delivery.

So, how does this affect you? Well, if you’re marketing via mass email, you may need to increase your budget slightly. But, if you’re sending a Happy Birthday email to yourGrandma@aol.com, you won’t notice a thing.

Kudos to the industry giants for finding another way to monetize a ‘free’ service. It’s going to be interesting to see if the added revenue outweighs their sure-to-follow loss of market share.

You see, when joesomebody@aol.com starts noticing that he no longer gets his Joke of the Day or Victoria’s Secret Sales Offers (because of the new cost), he may be tempted to jump ship and get a gmail account. And that means Google is one step closer to taking over the world.

For those of you who do opt to keep your AOL / Yahoo! accounts, make sure you subscribe to our free RSS feeds – there’s no way we’re paying $0.07 to email PulpMail any more.

Motorcycles are cool. They’re fun to look at, fun to ride, they’re even fun to buy. But, when it comes to selling them, funtime is over… or at least it was. Enter ChromeClassifieds.com, a site so easy to use, you’ll want to buy and sell bikes ’til the cows come home.

Identity, site design, and commerce functionality was all created by the talented chaps (we’re still learning how to use puns effectively) at Electric Pulp. The site targets high-end bike builders and large dealerships as well as the average motorcycle owner looking to sell his/her ride to free up cash for baby strollers or dinette sets.

So, if you’re looking to buy or sell a motorcycle, check out Chrome Classifieds. If you’re asking yourself how you can create your very own online business, well then you should contact Electric Pulp. We’ll give you our unpracticed pitch on how money grows online.