On this chilly Atlanta morning, I’m in front of the Mac with a virtual red pen in hand, writing my reviews of this year’s Webby Award nominees. This is one of my favorite freelance assignments, because I get to look at some of the best creative in the online advertising world… and then get paid to judge it.

The quality of the entries keep improving each year and 2007 is no exception. So far, I’ve been very impressed with the online campaign for Sarah Jessica Parker’s fragrance “Coveted”, which used an online game to reach its target audience, and Mazda’s initiatives to promote its 3-series via MySpace. I’m also happy to see that nonprofits are starting to use new media effectively to communicate its message and request donations. The Humane Society’s campaign against dogfighting is a good example of this. Their public awareness video on YouTube invited viewers to submit their own productions and created a lot of buzz.

There are, of course, also those entries that make you wonder what the creators were smoking thinking when they came up with it. Most of these seem to be submissions from Big Name agencies, which proves what I’ve suspected (and said) for some time: traditional advertising agencies are nowhere near being equipped to play in the digital space.

As someone who worked for one of the world’s largest “Mad Men” groups, I know firsthand that the traditional model does not quite know what to make of anything that falls outside of the safe and trusted channels. Upper management may pay lip service to embracing experiential marketing, but few account coordinators and even fewer creatives know more about it than the Wikipedia definition.

When it comes to pushing limits and breaking through self-imposed barriers to try new concepts in the online or wireless space (or even in virtual worlds) they’re simply not able to cut through layers of conditioning and bureaucracy. Hence, it’s most often the frat boys (and sorority sisters) toiling in a basement somewhere, with little or no overhead, new ideas, expert knowledge of the technologies and a passion for producing great work, who win Webby Awards. And cool accounts.

While the big boys spend undisclosed amounts to win the business of has-beens with ever-shrinking profit margins and shaky share prices, amidst dreams of shooting Superbowl commercials and winning a Lion or two at Cannes.

As some of you may have guessed, this site is currently undergoing some major construction. Think tiny one-bedroom turn into multi-family apartment building.

Like most construction projects the time frame for completion is somewhat flexible. I’d like to say I’ll have things looking spiffy in the next couple of weeks, but alas, between looking after wee ones and starting a new job, it may take a while.

The reason for the change?

A formal “portfolio site” tends to make me feel boxed in, as if I’m someone who is only defined by my job title. With a blog I can be anything and everything. I can talk about my career, but also about my latest travels or my struggle with ADHD. It’s more personal. It’s more real.

So, if you don’t mind tripping over a few two by fours every now and then, stick around for the end result. I think you’ll like it.

Well, I take back what I said. Amazon is still numero uno in my… er… book. After complaining about the delayed order, I not only received a refund, but also several apologetic emails. From real people. And my book is on the way.

Bottom line: Companies can’t necessarily be held accountable for every imaginable issue, but instead of getting defensive (or, worse, ignoring the complaint), they can attempt to make things right. When they do, I am happy to remain a customer.

I love mail. More than the average person, I think. Therefore it would only make sense that I also resent shipping delays more than the average person.

Unfortunately, Christmas is a time synonymous with winter colds, hour-long waits in crowded stores and plenty of delayed mail. It’s the time when the men in brown show up ten hours later than usual, the mail carrier doesn’t have time to chat and I pay for overnight delivery (which then turns into a one-week option).

Today’s culprit? Earth’s largest book store, Amazon. Apparently their “in stock, will ship within 24 hours” policy really means “will only ship when someone has time to process the order next Monday”.

Hopefully my email to their Customer Service department yields some results.