The numbers don't lie: the internet is made of cats. Lots and lots and lots of cats.

Doubt me? Type "cats" into YouTube and you'll get back 1.3 million results. Type "cats" into Google Image Search and you'll get back 776 million results. Type "cats" into Twitter and you'll see an average of one cat-related tweet per second. That's a lot of digital hairballs! Mmmmm hairballs.

At Traction, we believe that quality design is a key foundation of a successful brand. Sadly, due to the ubiquity of digital tools and/or a lack of understanding the guiding principles of design, many companies are opting for poorly conceived or executed brand identity—either by choice or necessity. This pains us to no end.

Recently there was some kind of design community kerfuffle about the recently announced Ebay rebrand. Many designers were in such an uproar about the "blandness" new logo, that it inspired a design contest. A design contest of epically bad proportions.

Memes are important. Why? Because even if you don't actively mine them for content you should at least actively understand them. Or else this happens and you embarrass a client. Since Traction's work is neither created nor received in a vacuum, I've taken it upon myself to "educate" the office on the current state of internet memes.

This is a response to Adam Kleinberg's post Why We Have A Burning Man Policy

After six consecutive burns I planned to skip this one. I was going to backpack through India! Or ride AIDS Lifecycle! Or apply for grad school! Or visit friends in Europe! Honestly, I didn't really have a plan aside from wanting a Big Important Adventure that involved running water, flushable toilets, and wearing pants. (in hindsight perhaps India was incompatible with this goal) So I retired from my position as Store Manager for Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet, said "See you in 2013!" to my far flung burner tribe, and *POOF* I was no longer interested in the burn. Then early August rolled around and friends started selling their extra tickets... Fuck.

Welcome to Traction's inaugural Office Dog Spotlight™. Furry friends are always welcome at Traction—as long as they maintain reasonable bladder control and don't scare away the FedEx guy. Our first spotlight lands on De Niro Burrows, a golden retriever with a true heart of gold.

“We are artists, scientists, and pragmatists…”

We here at Traction believe that everything is interactive, and that we are an amalgam of effort that results in an unbreakable creative and strategic concrete. We believe that there is no obstacle we cannot surmount if we take advantage of our most valuable asset - each other. In this spirit, we have been participating in a collective Scientific endeavor to expand the frontiers of the human experience, one that we are sure will etch our names into the marble halls of posterity for all time. That effort is a Scientific torch illuminating the darkness of mankind’s ignorance. It’s a torch we like to call Beer Science.

 Dear friends and colleagues,

A few weeks ago, a member of the Traction team, Sidney Burrows, had a terrible fire in his home. We hope you'll join us for this benefit event next Thursday (June 28th) at 6pm to raise some dinero to help DeNiro (and of course, Sidney and Mina) get back on their feet again (or paws). Of course, it's a Traction event so it'll be sure to be a good time. 

Here at Traction we love good food, good drink and good competition; hence our quarterly Traction Cook Offs. On Friday, June 1st our resident foodies competed in a pairing of grilled sliders and cocktails. Check out our Flickr photostream for a great set of pictures from the event.

As social media evolves from novelty to business practice we see a lot of interesting strategies that brands are utilizing to engage with users. From incentives to customer service, brands are trying anything and everything to get users to like, follow and share their social media programs. Some strategies are smart.  Others are just desperate.