From kurzundschön, a German young-creative competion. Great little montage, although to the best of our intepretation the product is not defined. We're going to call what's being promoted simply 'creative freedom' or something high-brow like that.

And we thought pop-up books were fascinating when we were young.

I'm sure you've seen it a thousand times like we have ... the black-turtlenecked hipster who floats into your office with a card that says something snappy like Jeff Martin, Internet Marketing Beast Slayer or the make-us-want-to-puke word Guru used in a job title. Interesting and fairly hilarious as it was ten years ago, it's been done to death. And then done again.

The good news is that many companies are realizing that personality is actually an asset of their businesses. And such a realization has given rise to differentiation among even parity products by way of trust, engagement, and emotional connection. We all like to do business with people we inherently like, so this move is applauded.

There is however, a dark side. And it feels kind of like it did in high school when the geeky, outcast kid tried to join the cool set and ended up betraying who he really was, only to find out that he could 'get the cool girl' by simply being himself. (Yes, that is the plot to Can't Buy Me Love) In a single word: forced and awkward.

We ran across it today when uploading some files to a hosting company that one of our clients uses. As we logged in, up popped a picture of our fuscia-clad 'Support Hero' Christopher Rees, who apparently is supposed to be our contact point if we have any troubles with their service. We can get past the purple/pink shirt, and we're pretty sure Chris is a great guy, but the whole thing kind of wreaks of forced positioning.

Again, kudos for trying to do something interesting, but I wonder if anyone has thought through the fact that the 'rep' being touting as our suport hero lists on his bio page that (a) he's a self-described 21 year-old electronic 'freak' and (b) that when he came to the company he knew nothing of HTML or web hosting, which given that he's 21 can't possibly be that long ago. Just the kind of guy we want working as our support person for a web hosting account, right? Not quite.

Nothing against Chris. Like we said, he's probably a swell guy. The problem is with the strategy that he's been forced into. Looking at the company's website they look pretty much like a bland, run-of-the-mill hosting company who's parties are probably agonizing and possibly operate out of a bunker in some incredibly boring part of the country. Yet they've tried to force these poor support people like Chris into trying to come across as fresh and dare-we-say bitchin'. In doing so, they've only undermined our confidence in what they're providing.

Too often we see this in creative development processes, some of which can be challenging. Finding your company's true personality is sometimes not easy, where manufacturing one is. And honestly, not all companies have an appealing persona, which is fine, too (not ideal, but fine). But in the end, it's a much bigger sin to create something that you're not true to, than to be known as simply a good, efficient, personality-less business, as crazy as that sounds. Getting away from who you are - like the guy in Can't Buy Me Love - is a train doomed to run off the tracks. And like the movie, when it's run its course, everyone realizes that they succeed long-term by being true to their real personalities.

We wish Chris the best of luck, although if we have a problem with their service, you can bet we'll be trying to reach someone who more closely matches the skills we need to mend what's not working. And more than anything, we hope that they help Chris out by not forcing him to tell us his credentials in this unappealing and awkward forum, cool or not.