Ep. 150 – A Podcasting Retrospective: The Stories Behind the Success

Rob (00:00) And I just remember being down there and being like, how did I get here? Where I am in the middle of the earth right now on the world's coolest field Don (00:00) Yeah. Yeah, it's. Yeah, yeah. I don't know about you, but I have told that story a few times of like never experiencing darkness. Like I've experienced in that safe room in a mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Rob (00:14) Go. ⁓ 900 feet under the surface of the earth. Don (00:43) All right, we're back, Rob episode 150. We made it 150. It's a lot of episodes, man. Not a lot of YouTube episodes, but it's a lot of episodes. Everybody go back and listen from the beginning all the way until 150. You know, it's very important. Yeah, exactly. It's we are in the top 1 % of all podcasts. I think if you make it this far, right? Yeah, yeah, it's because I mean, people start podcasts, then they just abandon podcasts, you know, so. Rob (00:47) 150. That's a lot. Yeah, before we came out from behind the curtain. If you make it that far. Yeah, yeah, it's like blogs. It's like blogs, yeah. Don (01:16) Last blog from February of 2023. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing how fast the calendar days click along. I am reminded of the phrase, the days are long, but the years are short, right? If anybody ever had little kids, that that rings home, you know. Rob (01:28) Mmm mmm. I wonder when we did the first podcast, how long have we been doing this? Don (01:38) I don't know. I don't know. That's a great question. I mean, here's the question. Have you ever gone back and listened to any of the podcasts? No. I've gone back and listened to a couple I think I listened to one or two with my wife and things like that. I have watched I haven't watched any of the YouTube episodes. I've watched a couple shorts just for fun. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, shocker. They pop up in your feed. Rob (01:44) No. Nope. Yeah. Yeah, they pop up into my feed and I watch some of those. But I don't need to, I don't know, it's weird. Maybe that's like when, I don't know if this is good analogy or not, but like when actors are like, no, don't go back. I don't go back and watch my shows. You're like, what do mean? Yeah, like I don't watch my own films or I don't watch my own shows, but maybe that's the same feeling. Like I don't need to go back and watch. Don (02:09) Yeah, they don't don't watch their own films. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you were in Star Wars and you've never seen Star Wars. You know, it's like one of those things. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, we lived it. We lived it. I mean, that moment's passed, you know, so anyway, congratulations to you, my friend 150. It's pretty exciting. Yeah. Before we get into today's topic, I want to follow up on a previous podcast and discuss where your viewership is. Rob (02:21) Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, you live it. Every glorious moment. I know back at you 150. So what are we doing? ⁓ on the great fall. On the great, on the great fall. I am at, if you can... Don (02:45) on the viral on the viral TikTok. Yeah, I need to know what number I need to know what number we're at. Yeah. Now you thought we were gonna top out at like what? Like two million or something? Rob (02:56) Yeah, I think I guessed like two or two. I don't we'd have to go back and I don't remember what my guess was two or something. Yeah, and I was like, that is insane. Like we will not do that. Well, I'm I'm don't know if I'm happy to report or I'm it's it's strange to report. I have reached five point five million views. So. Don (03:00) Two, okay, okay, okay. I was a four, because always know it's a four, because four is my lucky number. So I was a four mil. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ I mean, I think I think you got to view it like that's five and a half million chuckles out there. Right. mean, positive like laughs like, you know, ⁓ I mean, it is weird that it's you busting your ass, you know, but Rob (03:24) Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. again, I'll. Yeah, and I don't care, I will say it's hard to humiliate me. But I will say that it is a weird, and I said this last time, it is weird to think that five and a half million people, are aware that I even exist, B, have seen me at my most violent, dare I say, ⁓ completely wiping out. So I don't know, where does it, it seems to just like, it's almost like it'll stall out for a little bit and then all of a sudden, Don (03:48) Yeah, totally. Yeah, it's hilarious. then it catches fire and keeps going. it's making its way through the Middle East right now. It's rounding into Asia or whatever the deal is, you know what mean? So it's impressive. Hey, it's it's five and a half million laughs. That's your currency. So ⁓ it is. All right, Episode 150 thought. ⁓ Let's talk about let's talk about us. Let's talk about us, right? Rob (04:03) then it kind of catches fire again. Still no monetization. In any currency. No monetization. That's right. That's that. And that is that's priceless. It's invaluable. Invaluable. Yeah. Yeah. Don (04:31) I thought it could be fun since it is kind of a weird number, a little monumental hundredth, hundred and fiftieth issue. Like looking back on, not on the podcast, but looking back on the business as a whole and sort of all the, all the great work we've done for all of our great clients and things like that. Let's talk about our favorite campaigns or projects or we may have done this kind of in the past a little bit here and there, but yeah. But since it's kind of an anniversary issue, like issue. Rob (04:55) Yeah, we've alluded to it here and there, but... Don (05:00) thinking about it like magazines, anniversary episode, what if you know, what about like just some of the fun or or more memorable sort of experiences and and projects and things that we've done, you know, and then we can have, ⁓ we'll throw up some visuals on this one, you know, I mean, the kind of accompany our voice, that could be fun. So anything, anything, you go for it, go for it. Let's go back and forth. Bingo Bongo, just think because we might have some of the same, you know, you never know. Rob (05:15) Yeah. All right. Do you want to kick us off or do want me to? Okay. We might, we might. ⁓ I'm going to go back to one and it was one of many that we did for this client and I'm not going to even pick a specific campaign. We can talk about a few of them. ⁓ This was years and years ago back before ⁓ Kennesaw State University merged with Southern Polytechnic State University. ⁓ Which for those of you who don't know, it was a Don (05:36) Ooh, okay. Mmm. Rob (05:52) university right up the road up in Marietta. ⁓ SPSU, Southern Polytechnic State University. And I had worked with them for a little bit before you and I started working together. And then we sort of brought them over to the agency. ⁓ And yeah, I was just about to say, I think probably the reason that it was ⁓ the most fun and some of the most fun work and campaigns that we did is because of the client. Don (05:55) Yeah. SPSU. Awesome client. Rob (06:22) Like they always say work with people you like, honestly, ⁓ I look back and you know, Jim Cooper, shout out Jim, if you happen to see this, Jim Cooper kind of ran the marketing department there ⁓ and he was awesome. He was not only just a nice guy, but he was the almost unicorn of a client who was super, super nice, super sharp. and let us do what we wanted to, trusted us and trusted us to do our jobs, right? And to be creative and do fun stuff. ⁓ And also shout out to Dr. Lisa Rosbacher, who at the time was the president of the university and they were very close. And we became close with Dr. Rosbacher as well. And ⁓ she was awesome. She was on board with everything at the helm and let us do, let us go nuts. And I think back. Don (06:54) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. And this was old school too. We'd go in and just cover the conference table with pieces of paper and drawings and sketches and also, and just sort of talk about the entire process and everything. It was so much fun. Rob (07:22) yeah. yeah. That's right. It was great. And they would let us do the fun stuff. I mean, I remember like, I remember specifically ⁓ the campus life campaign. And so it was all about a drive to get students, because it was primarily a commuter campus, right? And what they wanted to do was promote this notion of the benefits of campus life. They wanted to get more students to live on campus. So we did this whole great fun campaign around campus life and about how great dorm life was. Don (07:38) Yeah, so much fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (07:57) and some of the unique events that they have, the Soapbox Derby Races. ⁓ What was it? The Zombie Nights? Don (08:01) Yeah. They had some zombies versus aliens or something. Rob (08:06) Yeah, something like that was a big fun thing. I just remember like it was really fun work. It was really cool. We went up there and just ran around shooting crazy stuff. I remember there was a goat involved at one point up on top of the rock. We were running around the dorms just shooting crazy fun little. Don (08:17) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and the design, the look and feel of all those campaigns were so great. There's so much fun. Yeah. Do you remember the best quote Dr. Rossbacher said in one of our meetings when she popped in to say hello and double check on what we're doing? Does this ring a bell at all? I'm going to totally butcher it if you don't remember it. Do you remember? Oh, dude, it stuck with me. It was. Rob (08:29) Yeah, it was great. And again, they let us just sort of kind of run wild and do what we do. No, I don't remember. Don (08:49) We were going over something, I can't remember, and Jim was there and we're going through and then she popped in and said, hey, you guys are hearing the thing? I this is what we're going through and some of that. I remember her looking at everything. And again, this may be the prism of time and the fog of, you know, and it was something along the lines of like, basically, guys, I don't understand what any of this is, but I also understand that it's not for me, you know, it's for, you know, 17 year old kids, you know, who are interested in engineering and this and that. Rob (08:59) Yeah, yeah. Sure. Don (09:19) and ⁓ it's absolutely working. So keep up the great work. Great job guys. And again, it was something along those lines that was like to your point about being an awesome client. It was like, yeah, you're the president of the universe. Like the ads aren't for you. The ads are for 17 year old kids. You know what I mean? In high school, not knowing where to go or what to do and things like that. It was so refreshing. It was amazing. Rob (09:24) Yeah. Yeah, she was always a big champion of our work. there was that, I mean, I think back to some of those old, you know, this was back when we did a lot of outdoor boards, the big outdoor boards, and I always used to love driving up 75 and seeing all the big ones. And we did all those with the hexagon, remember in the whole, like, there was some, yeah. Don (09:45) Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. When you see the work. ⁓ Yeah. Hexagonal is killer. We did that. They were really at the beginning of home learning, right? E-learning and all that stuff too, right? Yeah. We did that cool pizza box ad. ⁓ You know, that was all before it was even a thing. There was no like, I mean, maybe there was the inklings of like, Rob (10:05) Yeah, pizza box. Don (10:17) Southern New Hampshire University, you know what mean? Like the get the degree online or whatever like that, but it wasn't like what it is today by any stretch. Yeah, yeah, it was, ⁓ yeah, we did a ton of really awesome work for those guys forever. So yeah. Rob (10:19) Yeah, yeah. It was right when first, when online classes first became a thing. We did a lot of stuff for them and that was great. So I'll always remember that fondly. ⁓ Great work. Don (10:35) SPSU. was a good one. That was a good one. All right, I'll go next. All right. ⁓ In no particular order, I will say, ⁓ I'm going to say the Beast. Coming out with the Beast. Yeah, so not an advertising campaign. It was a brand design, build a brand from scratch, right? And it was for our old pals at Lackmond, right? Who ⁓ diamond tips saw blade manufacturer, a lot of tools, lot of private labels, things like that. Rob (10:45) ⁓ yeah, Lackmond. Yeah. Yeah. Don (11:02) ⁓ They supplied like Lowe's Home Improvement with a lot of their Cobalt products and things like that right back in the day. And we basically created a discount private label of their own products, right, called The Beast. And we'd had so much fun designing. It was all black. was sexy and black. And then all the packaging was like die cut, like The Beast had cut through the package. And you never saw The Beast, which was cool. That's one of the things we took. You never had a personification. Rob (11:19) Yeah. Right. You saw little eyes here and there, little notions or inklings. Yeah. Don (11:30) Yeah, it was just little elements, some fur, some crocodile skin, some different textures, things like that, right? ⁓ But then we did so many, you wrote so many awesome lines for all, know, it eats asphalt for breakfast and all these crazy like. Rob (11:35) Yeah. Yeah, that was, was, there was one that was, born on the assembly line raised in the wild or born in the factory raised in the wild, something like that. Don (11:46) born in a factory. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Yeah. So I mean, that, you know, that thing was supposed to be the it's funny how advertising and branding and how people, you know, latch on to what they latch on to. We built a brand as a low cost alternative to their own brand. And what ended up happening is it ended up being so popular that it that it flipped places, it became the premium brand, right? And then everybody wanted the shirts, the the sweat, you know, all the different now there's like Beast stuff everywhere. There's like Monster Beast and some other brand, you know, I mean, so. yeah, dude, dude, it had equipment. had everything. It was all about the Beast on the on the on the job site. So ⁓ that was a fun one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully relaxing somewhere down on a beach in Florida. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (12:22) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they were putting it on table saws at the end and like, mean, everything. Yeah, that was a good one. And they were great people to work with as well too. Shout out to Cliff, who's out there somewhere in the world, down in Florida I think, maybe Texas. I don't know. Hopefully. That was a good one. That was a good one. All right. Don (12:44) Yeah, the beast. The beast was a lot of fun stuff. All right, what you got? Rob (12:48) I am going to in no particular order. I am going to say the work that we did for Sweetwater 420 Fest. Whoa, 2016, almost 10 years ago, if you can believe it. Yeah, that was fun just because it wasn't at the time and Sweetwater since been bought. Don (13:00) Whoa, okay, not on my list either. Wow, okay. my god, dude, that's nuts. That was fun. Yeah. Rob (13:16) kind of good stuff, but it was run by ⁓ the guy who founded Sweetwater. His wife actually ran the festival and they kind of operated sort of separately, but we were tasked to do all of the sort of poster work and promotional work for the festival. Yeah. Don (13:22) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the graphics for the event, right? I mean, I think they reused some of those giant, like onstage, like tarp things or whatever, right? mean, but for the rest of us, I mean, we had to do, we designed everything, so. Rob (13:39) Yeah, yeah, yeah. We designed everything for that and it was great. just, remember doing all the, did obviously these sort of to, to announce the artists, which were Ludacris. Ludacris is one of them. Kid Rock was one of them. Um The Disco Biscuits were one of them. Who else? wrote it down. That's as far as I got. ⁓ Don (13:54) Was it? I don't remember. It's 10 years ago, man. Okay, Kid Rock. my God. Disco biscuits, I remember. Yeah, okay. Okay. Rob (14:08) But anyway, I remember doing the design work for each of the kids. We did six packs, promotional six packs with the whole design on it for the event where they unveiled who were the headliners. So each of the headliners had their own bottle of beer. Don (14:14) Yeah. Was it was Ben Harper, one of them? Okay, yeah, yeah, each, ⁓ each, each, each, you know, headliner got their own bottle, which was cool. And then it was put in a six pack, which was cool. Rob (14:24) Ben Harper, good call. Yeah, Ben Harper was one of them. Each headliner, yeah. Yeah, and it's put in a six pack and then they did the event over at ⁓ over at Sweetwater. It was cool. I just I always loved that. A you're working with. I mean, we didn't work directly with the artists, obviously, but I mean, if ever there were there were such a trippy, heady band that we could do kind of anything we wanted or brand rather. So I always liked that. It was all done. It was all hand hand drawn and hand done. Yeah, I kind of had a mandala sort of thing going on. Don (14:48) Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. It was cool. Mm-hmm. Had like a whole mandala kind of feel to it. correct me if I'm wrong here. again, this is 10 years ago. So we're dating ourselves. Were there creative loafing ads? I feel like, yeah, we did print ads for that. Yeah, yeah. Rob (15:07) Yeah, yeah, no, there was a whole creative loafing program that it was everything. I mean, it was, was, I think we did the badges and thing. I mean, think it was like literally like top down. So that was a fun one. I always liked that Don (15:19) Yeah, I that was a good one. That was a good, that was a good fun one. Yeah, that was a lot of last minute things I feel like on that one though too. Rob (15:26) Yeah, well, and and look, that's one of those ones where not unlike and I'll throw out another one. We also speak in a beer. We did a fun campaign for scoff law too, but that's one of the ones where. You get that and you you get excited to tell everybody and guess what we get to do Sweetwater 420 Fest and they'll be just graphic designers go. my gosh, this is amazing and fun. Just fun local Atlanta stuff too. Don (15:44) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, pretty cool. I know. Yeah, totally, totally totally got some cool tickets to I remember watching some of those some of the bands. So yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. Alright, I'm gonna go I'm gonna pivot to if we're talking about oldies. ⁓ I love all of our old HTH work, right? I know we talked about underwater dance video a podcast or two ago or whatever that but we had a couple campaigns with the split screen, specifically the split screen sort of thing. Rob (15:52) Yeah, yeah. Mmm, I have that on my list, ⁓ the hardware, the hardware stores. Don (16:13) Yeah, it was all. Yeah, I guess I'm talking about like the whole B2B platform for HTH specific to like Ace Hardwares and Orchard Supplies and things like that. So HTH, you know, home pool care chemical brand. I think they're still around and stuff like that. ⁓ And our mission was more on the B2B side, not as B2C for these specific campaigns, but it was all about, you know, their trade shows and their thing, you know, and it was it was awesome. Cool work, man. So I love the split screen. I thought that was super fun. Rob (16:38) Yeah. Don (16:41) those images are killer and then I love the tiny people. Remember little tiny people? Yeah, it was like a big barrel of like, yeah, it was a big pail of like pool chemicals. But then there's like a pool on top and little people here and there and doing different things. Yeah. Rob (16:45) yeah, the tiny people. The pale, like a big pale of... Yeah. Yeah, it was a guy like sliding off a hammer, I think, because it was all about the hardware store and the integration of cool stuff and hardware. Don (17:00) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's it's hardware stores get incremental revenue by selling seasonal items. Let's call it what it is. You know what mean? Are you going to buy light bulbs in a hose and it's like, yeah, by the way, I've got to put let me grab this and you know, that type of thing, right. So I think that's kind of a good definition of like, not a sexy assignment or anything, right? Like what this is, you know, but like, turning something that wouldn't seem Rob (17:06) Right, right. Yeah, yeah, that was fun. Right. yeah. Don (17:27) ⁓ exciting, unlikely. It's like the opposite is sweet water, right? It's like, here's something that's not necessarily exciting at all, but then, ⁓ the campaign can still be super killer, you know what I mean? And still be super awesome and impactful and stuff like that. So we ran that for two or three, four years in a row. I can't remember, but, yeah, that was always a fun one. The HTH stuff. Rob (17:44) That was a good one too. And yeah, we did some great work too. We got to do all that video work that we talked about before, which was just nonsense and just silliness. But yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. ⁓ Don (17:50) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. HGH. All right. What do you got? Rob (17:57) I am going to throw out. Don (17:59) I got three more. I don't know how many you've got left. Rob (18:01) I will be mindful of time and putting people to sleep. I'm keeping my eye on the clock here. I've always enjoyed, this is an ongoing project that we still work on, the working with the faction, which is an Atlanta United supporters group. for those who don't know, we're big soccer fans and have sort of supported the team since day one at Atlanta United. And so they have their supporters groups, one of which is the faction. Don (18:05) Hey man, it's 1.50. We can go double time if need be. Mm-hmm. Rob (18:31) and it's a bunch of guys that happen to live in my neighborhood. And this is one of those ones where like, it's all pro bono. ⁓ We do it for free because we love the beautiful game. And again, just supporting local things and it's a fun thing to do. And so every year we do their member t-shirts. Don (18:51) It's not a faction scarf, but I got my little Atlanta United scarf right here. Yeah. Rob (18:53) Yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, every year we do their we are called upon to do their their their annual shirts. And it's always a fun. think everybody in the shop here loves working on it because it's literally one of those just go nuts. You know, go crazy. Have a little bit of fun with it. You know, we play within the rules, too. But it's fun to go to the games and see this, see people wearing the shirts and the scars and the things. Don (19:01) Yeah, shirts and scarves. Yeah, have fun with it. Do whatever. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's just what I was gonna say. Like you always get a kick out of seeing people with your stuff out in the wild. You know that that never gets old. So Rob (19:21) Yeah. Yeah. And they're just a great organization. They're very philanthropic in what they do. And it's just kind of a fun, it's a fun thing to be a part of. And everybody gets free t-shirts out of it. So that's kind of Don (19:33) Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Well, and they're they're well printed, comfortable t shirts. So ⁓ Cuyler and I are often ⁓ wearing this we're in the shirt on the same side. Yeah, it's a it's a thing. So all right, shifting gears, I'm gonna go. ⁓ I'm gonna go rude. Rob (19:40) That's right. You know, I'm going to make sure that. ⁓ yeah. RUUD. Yeah. Don (19:55) RUUD as an old one, know, HVAC company, right? With a very strange name, R-U-U-D. Everyone thinks it's Rudd or something like that, right? ⁓ I love the rude because again, it ties back to your hilarious writing and digital outdoor boards that we developed, right? That we ⁓ developed a campaign during the summertime for air conditioning. Rob (20:03) Yeah. Yeah. Don (20:21) And it was weather triggered. I couldn't be if I'm wrong here, Rob, but it was weather triggered through digital boards around Atlanta and Charlotte, right? So based on whatever temperature it was outside, the board would give you the temperature, but then it also would accompany our hilarious line, right? So we had, I think we had lines from, was it 80, 85 degrees all the way to like 103 or something like that? Yeah. Rob (20:24) Never. Correct. Yeah, something like that. was a range of lines and every degree had a different headline. Whenever the temperature changed, you'd swap out the line. Don (20:47) Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I think it's a great confluence of like, was great art direction was shot really well and looked really cool. So it was was impactful outside with, you know, witty fun, you know, hard hitting headlines and things like that, right. But then tie using technology to its benefit, you know what I mean is like ⁓ overlaying that strategic approach to, you know, having the ability to change, you know, not printing vinyl and having the ability to change the message on a digital board. I that was that was super fun. So Rob (21:16) Yeah, that was, so we had the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We did the, so there were brand boards, which were like, which were like, makes Atlanta feel like Alaska, that kind of thing like that. And then the weather triggered boards. And then, yeah, we did that fun little spot where it's that we just focused on the moment the thermostat breaks. And you realize, you realize that your HVAC, Don (21:17) We did a great commercial for them too. Remember the commercial that we did? Yeah, yeah. So I think that's on our website actually. It's not like an old man. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the panic. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (21:45) You know is dead and we got a problem and it was literally the 15 second spot of somebody just ripping it off the wall and putting it back. It was really well produced. Actually we had our hand model. We had our our ⁓ I can't. We don't remember his name, but that was a fun. That was fun. Don (21:52) Yeah, it was. It was. Yeah. Do we have a hand model? We did have a hand model, didn't we? Yeah, that's right. That's right. Okay. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Rob (22:02) Yeah, yeah, we had a guy because we had to make sure that the hand hand look good because it was literally just a locked off shot of the hand. Yeah, that was a good campaign. Yeah, I like that one. Don (22:09) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was a fun one. I liked RUUD. I liked RUUD. All right. What'd you got? got two left here. One of them is not a campaign though. One of us is the project. Rob (22:16) I'll go, I will go with, again, this is client-based. This is an Adventures in Advertising client-based one. I think we've talked about it before, but I'm gonna go Ciner, the mining company, because A, it's one of those things where mining is not very sexy, and we've done some really cool stuff, really beautiful stuff for them, but that was more about kind of why we love the business and getting to go on the ultimate field trip. Don (22:28) Yeah. No. Yeah. the experience. Rob (22:44) which is down to the center of the earth at the mine out in Wyoming. Yeah, 900 feet under the earth into a trona mine, which go do your research and figure out what a trona mine is. don't need to bore people with that, but that was awesome. And I just remember being down there and being like, how did I get here? Where I am in the middle of the earth right now on the world's coolest field trip. Don (22:44) Yeah. Yeah. It was a 900 feet under the earth's crust. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's. Yeah, yeah. I have, I don't know about you, but I have told that story a few times of like never experiencing darkness. Like I've experienced in that safe room in a mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, where you go in the one chamber and then you seal it behind you, you go in the other chamber. And then it's just like, you know, the waiting room. Now, thankfully after what, 70 years, 80 years, they've never ever needed to do this. Cause it's like the safest operation ever, right? But it's basically like if disaster was to happen in a mine, Rob (23:16) Go. ⁓ 900 feet under the surface of the earth. Don (23:39) go here and then they will tunnel from the surface down to get you right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. ⁓ But it was like, all right, everybody turn your little mining light. mean, like comically, like with hard hats and turn your mining light off, you know, and it's like, my like, I mean, there is zero and I mean, zero ambient ambient light. I mean, it is. Yeah. Rob (23:43) Yeah, it's the O shit room. Let's call it what it is. It is the O shit room. No, it's scary. is darker than you thought imaginable and also quieter. Because remember we all got quiet and it was like, whoa, this is freaky. Don (24:05) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and they had procedures because, and purposely so, there's no ventilation, there's no, you because if there was a fire, there was smoke in the mine, you don't want it sucking. It's all about, mines really are all about air migration and dust, yeah, dust suppression and things like that, right? So there are certain scenarios where it's like, well, you need to be isolated from that just in case, right? So there are... Rob (24:23) Airflow. Don (24:31) actual procedures of like how you walk in this room to circulate the air to make sure that you don't deplete the oxygen in XYZ corner of the room, right? I'm just like, I mean, it's the safest thing in the world. We just did everything just for fun just to experience it. But man, I have never and will never experience darkness like that ever again. I mean, that was wild. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that was it was a trip, man. But yeah, to your point, that was an incredible experience, incredible client for years and years, you know. Rob (24:49) Yeah, that was wild. I hope I don't. I hope I don't. Don (25:00) ⁓ Super fun and we did some kick-ass work for those guys for sure. super fun work super fun work All right. I got two more. got ⁓ I got Trigger on my list. I loved I loved working on Trigger Rob (25:02) Yeah, we did some fun work for them. did some good work. ⁓ wow, yeah, Trigger, man, I almost forgot about Don (25:13) Yeah, Trigger. ⁓ That was all that really was was I don't want to downplay it or whatever, but it was general awareness press kits, I think a press folder and some. Yeah, for a documentary about the ripple effect of gun violence. So the concept was super cool. ⁓ We got to go and shoot all sorts of guns with a controlled environment, which was interesting and not your daily. So again, like what? How are we doing this? Where, you know, like another one of those interesting field trips, you know? Rob (25:21) Yeah, it was a press kit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Don (25:43) ⁓ And we were really allowed to do what I would consider like impactful work that actually meant something and and was interesting, you know, it wasn't just another run of the mill. Here's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we're mail it together. So when people got them, it was like fused with the bullet like I mean, you had to peel it apart like, you know, and just where the bullets went the bullets went like it was crazy. So yeah, that was an interesting Rob (25:49) Yeah. Yeah, we're going to print all we're to print all these folders and inserts and then we're going to shoot them with actual guns. Yeah, like real bullet holes in them. Fun day at the range. Yeah, that was fun. That was a good one. That was a good one. All right, fire off the last one. Don (26:12) That was an interesting one. Last one I've got is Nurses for Africa. I'm always going to have, and it's just a logo project. It was just a brand identity development. It just has a soft spot in my heart because it was, it's the only time in my entire career, I know you've heard, you you've lived this story or whatever, the only time in my entire career I basically like doodled out, you I think I did three or four little sketches and then was like, that's it. Rob (26:37) Yeah. Don (26:42) No more options, like this is your logo, you're not gonna say no, this is exactly what it is, ⁓ and sorry. Like this is what the logo is, you know, so. Rob (26:51) Yeah, well, yes, but I think it was also that, I think it was also, I remember when you did it and I looked at it and we were like, well, I mean, I don't think you can beat, like, don't think you can beat it. Like, I don't think there's a way, it was so simple and so easy and clean. Don (27:02) So I've. Best, best. Yeah. Yeah, we're not award people at all. But I remember we had some employees that wanted to enter a bunch of war as we enter it wasn't like every single award imaginable and different, you know, it was a great little project, had impact. And it was, you it was a, not Doctors Without Borders by any stretch, but it was like a community of nurses that took a trip that they take an annual trip to a certain specific part of Africa, which is where the it's the it's the silhouette of Africa as a stethoscope. Rob (27:16) Yeah. But it was Don (27:35) but then where the ⁓ heart monitor part or whatever that little circuit, that's where they go every year in Africa. So it had extra special meaning for them. ⁓ And so it made kick-ass t-shirts and then we did a really awesome poster forum that was all, yeah. So I just, I don't know, I just always love that one little project. It was super fun. It was super cool. Yeah. So, all right. Rob (27:39) Yeah. Right. Yeah, the big poster was great too, yeah. Yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. Well, that was a fun little trip down memory lane. mean, I've got more. not going to, I we're going to bore the people, but maybe we'll do a follow up at some point. right. Right. That's right. Don (28:05) Hey, they can hit pause, know, they can hit pause. ⁓ Yeah, no, this was fun. This is a fun one. mean, we got, know, here's the good news. You've got more projects that you still love, which means we have our cup overrunneth with amazing projects and amazing client stories, you know? So maybe when we actually retire, we'll keep the podcast going and then we'll tell the real stories, right? About ⁓ XYZ clients, which are the good ones. Rob (28:17) That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah, we'll put up some of the work. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly right. Yeah, we're gonna wait till we're done and then we'll tell the whole yeah, the horror stories, the absolute absolute horror stories. ⁓ Because they exist, but they're in a vault. For now. They're in a vault for now. Alright, where can the people find us? Don (28:34) Yeah. Hey man. Yeah, not to be let out now not to be let out. What a weird turn this just took but they can find us ⁓ right here on YouTube but also primarily on mock the agency.com. Yeah. Yeah, man. Rob (28:53) Yeah. All right. Well, congrats again on 150 and we'll see you people back here for 151. Don (29:00) 151. All right, we'll see you bud.