Bad idea. Why disgrace people who enter your lame "contests" versus thanking them? Agree with getjackson. Why not post the winners? Um, because the winners suck too?

Sorry I missed your post Miles!

We're actually launching a Featured Artist section as part of our new Newsletter and on our site!

This will highlight some of our most successful and prolific artists, showcasing their work on and beyond GeniusRocket.

Our newsletter and blog are viewed by most of our business clients and we hope to help launch the careers of any and all artists who contribute.

We want to showcase all of the great work on our site, whether its been selected or not!

getjackson and miles, this blog is in place to shine some light on works that didn't win, BECAUSE the light has already been shined on those that did win. It would be completely redundant to focus on the winners--they've already been recognized!

And these people aren't being disgraced! Have a sense of humor, and while you're at it, a sense of understanding. These people are being given exposure, and furthermore, acknowledgment that their work is worthy of recognition.

Carry on now, Fred. This sounds great.

-J

I get it now. It's like a gallery of runners-up? "Epic Fail" confused me about that. Please reconsider what that title communicates. I'm not against showcasing high-quality also-rans.
Like Miles, I'm a past winner (multiple winner & semifinalist) and support him in saying the light of recognition Jamie cites has been astonishingly dim.
In the interests of the client, an EPIC WIN blog would be most helpful.
Thanks, Fred, for the explanation. My density and lack of humor are duly chastised. :P

On a more serious note concerning the title "Epic Fail", I read it as more of a more epic way to fail rather then a failure of epic proportion. I understand the confusion, but feel as though it's a minute one compared to the concept of what Fred is trying to accomplish. Consider it more as a "Everybody Wins!" idea rather then a spotlight for losing.

I get it. You get it. But will prospective clients get it?

The message should consider the audience.

Who would be the curator? Will creators have Right of Refusal?

Alright Miles, as a general rule of thumb if you aren't getting the recognition you think you deserve its because you think too highly of your work. Make a masterpiece and you'll get your credentials. Perhaps you are failing to communicate just how brilliant your ideas are. You just need to let us lesser beings truly appreciate the divinity of your craft.

Additionally, would it not be more beneficial and helpful to other entrants to learn how winners created their ideas, as well as understand why clients chose the winners?

To all, Miles you are totally right and totally wrong in your posts. First, you are totally right we haven't done enough to highlight our community. To use your light analogy I would love to have it so that light is so bright that people see the publicity as practically as good as awards... though never the substitute. That is the reason that we brought in Fred. Fred is only "the intern" but he was a great fit because goes to art school and has better understanding of the creative viewpoint more so than anyone else. You may be asking why only an intern, well in short its because we are a start-up. Unlike a few others in this space there is no VC money behind GeniusRocket. We are very small team on a very small budget trying to create a site that has benefit to the creative artist as well as the client.

But when it comes to client satisfaction there you are totally wrong. We are well ahead of many of our peers. In fact we send out a survey to all of our clients and currently we have a 97% satisfaction rate. That means out of all of our clients only 5 have told us they would never work with us again. In fact many on the RFBs you see on our site are from returning clients. The reason they come back is that is because in most cases they love the creative artists that they get to work with. The quality of the work is amazing, and few other outlets provide that to them.

So when we talked about figuring out ways to better profile our creatives it was Fred that recommended a blog that profiled some of the amazing work that whether its bad taste or differing vision was overlooked by the client. I'm not quite clear why this blog, that was done with the best of intentions, has generated such backlash from Miles. If it's the name, then trust me I know Fred would be happy to change it, but at least let him get one post up.

The only things I ask is one, BE NICE TO FRED, he's totally on your side. His job, that he is trying his best at, is to figure out ways to make GeniusRocket at better place for creatives. And two, know that we are looking out for you the artist in every way we can and as quickly as we can. We WILL roll out more creator profiles, its been in the works for a while. But as a past winner you know that the site can be clunky so right now we are working on getting the site as automated as possible. At the same time newsletter, new site sections, and blogs like Fred's are going to do their best to profile the amazing talent that we have in our community. But it does take time.

Thank you to everyone and if you really just want to give us feedback, here is my email... vent away, I will respond. peterl@geniusrocket.com Also fill out the survey, its there for a reason. http://tinyurl.com/GRSurvey

Would also be interested in learning about the delight of the creatives who submit entries. Again, why are they not highlighted? Believe it or not, the creatives are more important than the clients, as they are essentially your employees. Without top-flight creatives, you will not attract top-flight clients.

An RFB may be open for three weeks and pay three-hundred dollars. Over its course, an entry prepared in three minutes will be as easy to submit as one whose preparation took all three weeks.

I presume awards more often go to those that took the three weeks, though that's difficult if not impossible to measure. What's not difficult to measure is how little $300 is, for three weeks of work by a creator who has been unemployed for a year.

That creator's incentive to over-perform is the potential of portfolio-building.

Students, take heed: The value of a portfolio is in attracting work, and its samples which are demonstrable as work that actually satisfied real, paying clients are viewed by prospects as vastly more legitimate than ones appearing to be the product of a hobby. So, showing one's GR work on his/her own webspace is far less pursuasive than showing it on GR would be. For that reason a showcase of near-misses could have promotional value to participating creators. However:

I would be reluctant to (drive traffic to GR to) promote my work in a context which may be interpreted by my prospect as an invitation to "come see my epic failures." Even though *internally* it may be understood as an honor, uninitiated shoppers may very well take the opposite meaning.

Because this risk of reputation damage would effectively negate the showcase's promotional value to the creator, there would then be no incentive to invest in an RFB beyond the face value of its dollar award. The results to GR would be reduced participation, and less awesome product.

To be effective, the Fail blog must be repackaged.

Thanks for listening. I appreciate your investment.

:)

</speech>

Thanks a lot for that.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate such a constructive and well thought out post.

I see value in the current set up (it can be kind of sharp, episodic, and hopefully fun to watch) but after I see how the first actual episode is received (By the selected artist and the community as a whole) I will be sure to carefully reevaluate it.

Seriously, thank you so much. Your flexibility and fairness in this discussion has been the stuff of legend.

-Fred

Hey Fred,

What about putting a "Frame" around the screen that says something to the effect of "EF Productions: The Penultimate Episodes" thus letting the viewer know that these are "award winning" pieces, but not necessarily the ones that "Ultimately" were picked up....

Crash Pad

:)

Silver Stars

:)

is wom slam gonna be featured on this blog.....im gonna stay tuned..hehe

Spectacular submissions. Up in flames.™

Winning submissions that didn't win?

:)

About the explanation, plamotte says,"I think its already done. I didn't write it."

@fred? Can you point us to it?

@Fred, thanks for the note. I support your stopgaps E.F. & boldface.

@getjackson, thanks! I appreciate that!

@alinacatalina, your comment made me actually lol. Not just theoretically.

But yeah, this will probably relaunch at some point with a different name, but I'd like to complete a full "season" with this because I like it for one reason or another, and because it has been well recieved by some (But we'll aim for all with the next one).

But more importantly, what do you guys think of the pieces that have been featured so far? If you like them, please let the artists know!

And also, if anyone has any suggestions for featured work you're welcome to post them here or email me at fred@geniusrocket.com!

note: I will take your suggestion more seriously if its not for yourself.

:)

-Fred!

I learn English and copy writing from blogging. :D