P.S. – Being at the historical Orpheum Theater for the Addys reminds us – if you haven’t gotten your OTA Sessions ticket yet, you really, REALLY should consider doing so. Time is running short, it’s going to rock, and you really don’t want to be the only guy or gal who completely underestimated how awesome it would be, do you? Didn’t think so.

Moving on, here’s Arik Hanson on a change that affects one of our favorite out-of-office offices…

-“Your brand: Much more than just a logo”

Caribou Coffee, a brand near and dear to Arik Hanson’s heart, recently went through a re-brand, leaving its previous woodsy feel for a more contemporary design and look. Although the change itself is debatable, Arik brings up an interesting angle (as all great PR pros are wont to do). As he puts it, “Organizations need to do a better job of sharing the stories and experiences that make up their brands. Yes, the logo and visual identity are key pieces of the brand puzzle–but they’re just one of the elements.” A good point. Read Arik’s full post to hear what else he has to say.

-“4 Things the Grateful Dead Can Teach You About Social Business”

Some great bands in this world have built fan followings that would (and should) make most business owners and brands insanely jealous. Fans that do whatever they can to make it to a band’s show, buy a new album, wear a t-shirt, or simply blast their music in the car on a Saturday afternoon. Shannon Paul talks about how one such band, The Grateful Dead, managed to build one of the most loyal followings in existence (and why companies could learn a thing or two from their “business model.” Take note, companies, and see why building your own base of “Deadheads” might be a good decision.

-“Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Their Young”

The post’s title seems harsh, and Jonathan Fields doesn’t disappoint with the content. While there is no literal eating involved, Mr. Fields mentions that the eating of ideas can be just as necessary in the business world as animals eating their young can be in nature. As he puts it, “Entrepreneurs often get so emotionally-wed to their babies, they lose the ability to make good decisions.” Do you get so attached to your ideas that you fail to see potential pratfalls or opportunities for improvement? If so, this post is for you.

*Bonus Jonathan Fields post! “Would You Fall Asleep Reading Your Life’s Story?”

This is pretty much just worth reading for the sake of some Monday morning inspiration. Jonathan asks a tough question that you should seriously answer for yourself. In the post, Jonathan discusses, “what story I want told about me when my time comes,” and his thoughts on why it matters to him. If it doesn’t matter to you, it should. Read his post to see why.

-“Are you keeping an eye on your bucket?”

Just to keep the positive inspiration flowing, here’s a solid post from Drew McLellan on “keeping yourself physically, mentally and emotionally replenished.” Drew really represents the “Work. Play. Do Good.” mindset we strive to encourage as he discusses the importance of serving others, “creating an oasis,” and more ways to keep your bucket full. So, is your bucket empty? Maybe Drew’s post will help you fill it up a bit.

We really hope this mix encouraged you to hit this week with intensity. The world is expecting to see fantastic things from you, so please try not to let the world down. Tap into that creative intensity and do something that changes the whole landscape. We’d certainly love to see it. In fact, tell us about it in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.

Also, if you are trying to figure out how to get inspired, be at the OTA Sessions on March 25-26. OTA just might be the creative kick in the caboose to get you in a game-changing mood, so don’t pass it up. We can’t wait to see you there.

Photo (“Catch A Falling Star…”) c/o Paul Sapiano. Thanks Paul!

And don’t forget, we are less than a month out from the OTA Sessions, so don’t forget to buy your tickets now before the earlybird special is gone. You won’t regret it. We promise. First things first, some solid advice from Drew McClellan.

-“A marketing tip from Tiger Woods”

Drew McClellan uses this great post to point out why an apology should be more than just the words “I’m sorry.” You may or may not have heard about Tiger Woods’…incident…in November of 2009 (if you didn’t, here’s what Wikipedia had to say), but the important thing isn’t what he did. It’s what we can learn from his apology after. Read Drew’s post to see why an apology that says more than I’m sorry might be one of the most productive things you can do for your business. Assuming you have something to apologize for.

-“Think Traditional Media Is On The Ropes? Think Again.”

Jason Falls posts some interesting stats that show the difference between traditional online news outlet website traffic and niche news blog online traffic. For all the hype and hubbub (yes, hubbub) over the death of traditional media, you might be surprised at these stats. While most of us in the online world praise social media and citizen journalism are becoming the be all end all, Jason has a slightly different (and very much worth remembering) mindset. As he puts it, “social media is an emerging and relevant channel to which public relations professionals should pitch stories and brands should connect with audiences. But the rest of the world is outside the bubble. Forget about them at your own peril.

-“What does tomorrow’s PR pro look like?”

Although this Arik Hanson post is a recap of a presentation he gave to a group of college students, the points he covers should be read by every professional in the PR industry. On top of that, the presentation is actually a sweet Prezi presentation, which is just fun. But seriously, from advising folks to “Hone your traditional PR skills” to making sure you stay “indispensable to your employer,” Arik’s points could be used by everyone in our realm, not just students. Plus, we’re in PR. We’re never too old to learn more.

-“The Mr. Rogers Guide To Blogging From The Heart”

If there is one thing Copyblogger does well, there are 400 things Copyblogger does well. But one of those things is writing content aimed at one niche, but applicable to every niche. In this case, Karl Staib compares blogging to Mr. Rogers. His points are so well-made, however, that you can probably apply them to any field you may work in. And that, my friends, is why this post is worth reading. Trust us, neighbor.

-“The Five Elements of Viral Calls to Action”

Although it’s pretty well known that it takes more than a video and a formula to make something “go viral,” there are plenty of ways to facilitate the potential spread. With these great tips from Dan Zarrella and a little bit (or a lot) of luck, you just might have the next viral hit on your hands. Or you might have an unintentionally, semi-viral hit that, for the most part, just creeps people out.

Anyway, we are sorry that Box Scores arrived a bit later than usual. Things have been crazy here at Deep Bench as we are getting closer and closer to the OTA Sessions, but we’ll make sure to have things back on our regular schedule come Monday, so be ready for more Box Scores then.

Oh, and don’t forget to let us know whether you agree with our posts or have a few to share of your own by leaving a comment below. Thanks, and have a great rest of the week!

Photo (“Tiger Woods“) c/o Cliff. Thanks Cliff!

Also, we’d be remiss not to mention our favorite upcoming, creativity-fostering, mind-expanding mind-blowing OTA Sessions conference happening March 25-26. What’s that? You want to know more? Oh, well check it out right here. And when you’re done with that, read up on this week’s Box Scores below. First up, the wise Jim Connolly…

-“Why copycat marketing can hurt your business!”

It’s easy to look over at another brand or agency’s marketing strategy or efforts and think, “Well hey, if they’re doing it, we should be doing it too!” And because it’s easy to do that, we will occasionally just straight up copy them. Want to know why it’s a bad idea? Here’s an intro thought from Jim Connolly; “Amateur marketers will copy what they see others doing, wrongly assuming that it must be working.” See…wrongly assuming. Go read why it’s wrong. You’ll be glad you did.

-“Minority Report In Your Living Room: Gestural Interface Computers “Five Years” Away”

This is just a bit of tech awesomeness from Read Write Web that we thought you guys would find interesting. Mostly because we thought it was awesome. According to the post, “John Underkoffler, a science consultant for Minority Report, has worked for the last decade with his company, Oblong Industries, to take the gesture-activated interface from the screen to, well, the screen.” To see the screenshots (which are worth taking a look at), check out the full post over at Read Write Web.

-“A Pitching Lesson”

So you want to pitch a blogger. Maybe you need to pitch a blogger. If you want to do it in a way that works out well for everyone, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out some tips on doing it right. Getting your tips from a guy like C.C. Chapman – who has pitched plenty of bloggers and, more importantly, consistently receives TONS of pitches from others – is a good decision. Here’s a lesson in pitching. Take it to heart.

-“Don’t Forget The Little Side Streets”

As usual, Chris Brogan goes beyond pointing out something worth noticing. He points it out, tells you why he pointed it out, and gives you a checklist to make sure you get as much value from his out-pointing as you can get. Because that’s what he does. So, read up on why you shouldn’t forget the little side streets and then hit up his checklist so that you don’t have any excuses for not visiting the little side streets more consistently. You’re welcome.

-“Do You Really Need An Hour?”

This Advertising Age post from Darryl Ohrt brings up a question that we know numerous companies and agencies should be asking: Do meetings REALLY need to take as long as they do? One of the best points Darryl makes is this: “If our fantastical creative solution to a client’s problem can’t be conveyed within 20 minutes, perhaps it’s time to do a little refining.” Good point. So, do your meetings really need to last a full hour? If not, you just might find yourself (or your employees) an extra 40 minutes an hour to get work done. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Boom. There you have it. Great thoughts from great thinkers (one of whom – Chris Brogan – will be presenting at the OTA Sessions-sponsored Trust Summit on March 26th) to open up your mind a bit this Monday morning. Let us know what you thought of this week’s Box Scores by leaving a comment below or dropping us a note on our Facebook page.

And, if you liked what you read here, just think about the thought-provoking insight you’ll get from the OTA Sessions. It may sound like we’re selling it hard, and we are, but we’re only pushing it so hard because we want EVERYONE to get the value out of it that we think they could get. We know it sounds cheesy, but we promise, we’re doing it for you.

Have a great week!

Photo (“minority-report-1″) c/o eyeliam. Thanks eyeliam!

Oh, and one more gift from us to you. If you haven’t signed up for the OTA Sessions yet, here’s your chance. There are still some tickets left and you REALLY don’t want to be the one who missed out on such a stellar event. Just hit up the site and see what the OTA Sessions have to offer. You’ll be glad you did.

-“Frightened, clueless or uninformed?”

According to Seth Godin (who seems to know a thing or two about marketing), there are three types of people: frightened, clueless, and uninformed. Seth’s advice is to “comfort the frightened, coach the clueless and teach the uninformed.” Anyone who wants solid advice on reaching their customers and clients would be wise to read this post.

-“The danger of the dabbler”

Are you a dabbler? Not sure what that means? This Christopher S. Penn post might be able to explain it. It matters, and if you’re dabbling, odds are you might be giving up too soon and failing too fast. The important thing, according to Christopher, is that “there are goals which are intimately tied into methods. How you get there is part of getting there.” So…are you getting there by dabbling, or by following through on your goals and methods?

-“Is Reading Blog Posts Worth Your Time?”

Seems like blasphemy that we’d include this Copyblogger post on whether blog posts are worth your time, but the question is a good one. There’s a difference between reading a blog post and learning from it and taking action from it. James Chartrand gives some great advice on how to make that happen. If you really want to get some value out of reading through your blog posts every morning, this is the post for you. So read it and get smarter. You’ll be glad you did.

-“The Albert  Einstein Guide to Social Media”

This post is just straight up worth reading. Amber Naslund comes with some awesomesauce as she uses quotes and thoughts from Albert Einstein in relation to social media. Amber’s ability to take Einstein’s brilliant thoughts like “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted” and “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” and relate them to social media just might be the fresh perspective you need to open up your mind a bit more.

-“The 3 Benefits We Care About”

Christopher S. Penn is back for more in this post on what we care about. More specifically three questions decision-makers in business want answers to: How can I save more money? How can I save more time? How can I save more money? If you can answer these questions for decision-makers, you’ll probably be in a good place. You can thank us (and Christopher) later.

And there you have it. A Box Score offering full of delicious wisdom and insight for you. We hope you got as much out of them as we did. If so, drop us a line in the comments below and let us know what you thought. Or, jump over to the Facebook page and let us know there. We’d be happy to hear your input.

Oh. And don’t forget the OTA Sessions. You’ll be very sad if you do.

Photo (“Albert_Einstein_Imagination”) c/o WalkingGeek. Thanks WalkingGeek!

-“Show, Don’t Tell”

Jonathan Fields has rock solid post on the importance of using visuals to illustrate a point. Words are lovely (in fact, I, Mike, make a living off of them), but sometimes imagery is what it takes for someone’s brain to truly understand an important fact or two. This post on the Apple iPad’s inability to display Flash technology should help you understand what Jonathan means.

-“Listening is not enough”

Sometimes I wish we could just feed the Brains On Fire RSS feed into Box Scores, but that would be unethical and all that junk. Instead, we try to diversify the Box Scores as much as possible, but Spike Jones just seems to catch our eye on a consistent basis. Here’s a two sentence summary on why the rest of this post is absolutely worth reading: “Don’t monitor the conversation, learn from it beyond what your competition is learning from it. Listen in a way that will help you reframe how what you do and why you’re doing it.”

-“6 Great Approaches to Public Speaking”

This is just a solid collection of public speaking tips/posts from ReadWriteWeb. Interested in improving your public speaking skills? If you’re not, maybe you should be. Check out this post, hit up their links, and let your next presentation (and every presentation after that) be your best. Once you start to notice fewer “ums” and “uhs” and a little less nervous sweating, you’ll be glad you did.

-“What Have You Been Putting Off and What’s Holding You Back?”

Two great questions in one great post from Darren Rowse at Problogger. Ask yourself these two questions, and then see if your answers resemble Darren’s initial response: “Why didn’t I do it? Was it laziness…. or busyness….? If I’m honest about it I’m sure it’d be a bit of both of those things – however I suspect it was also partly fear that held me back.” Now, if you want to get over your fear, do what you’ve been putting off, and feel good about it, check out Darren’s post. You definitely won’t regret it.

-“Content Needs to Get Most of Your Attention”

Valeria Maltoni comes in with a sick combination of thorough but easily digestible content on her Conversation Agent blog discussing…well…the importance of great content and a great content strategy. From the importance of design to key elements like reciprocity, Valeria’s post is worth reading to see how you can improve your blogs content (and consequently improve your blog). Enjoy.

There you have it. Some great posts from the past week, brought here together in a convenient set of Box Scores just for you. Hope you get as much out of them as we did. If you have any to add that we might have missed, leave us a comment below or drop us a line on our Facebook page.

Also, if you want to see all of this year’s Super Bowl ads, Advertising Age online has a good collection for you. Let us know what you think!

Photo (“Southern Tier Youth Football Conference”) c/o Jim Danvers. Thanks Jim!

Oh, and don’t forget to take a look at the OTA Sessions site when you get a chance. If you haven’t registered yet, you’re gonna want to do that. Anyway, on to Box Scores!

-“Relentless follow through”

Bottom line? The post is worth reading. The action steps recommended are worth taking. Immediately after you finish reading the post. So read up on Drew McLellan’s insight and advice and then get in touch with your clients or potential clients, whether that’s to say hello, to drop them a quick recommendation, or simply to make sure you don’t miss out on some business. You’ll be glad you did.

-“How Well Do You Know Your Audience?”

As Jason Falls puts things over on his Social Media Explorer blog, “It’s easy to assume we know our audiences.” It’s true. Assuming we know our audiences is easier than doing the research it takes to know for sure. This is a friendly reminder to make sure you really know your audience. Read the full post to see what we mean.

-“Emotional Truth”

Because Mike is Mike, it’s hard for him to go more than a few weeks without including some link or post involving Marvel Comics. This great post comes from Vice President, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort. The post centers on getting past the flash and flare of action and focusing on what’s more important in telling a story: emotional truth. As Tom puts it, “that’s my 2010 goal: push back towards the fundamentals of striving to find the emotional truth of the stories and the characters…” How many companies could take a page from this thought process to tell their stories (or their clients’ stories)? It’s not the tools, it’s the people behind them that matter.

-“20 Ways to Up Your Blogging Fun Quota”

This Problogger guest post from Christie Burnett doesn’t just apply to blogging. It actually can apply to a lot of our daily business functions. Part of the “Work. Play. Do Good.” Deep Bench philosophy involves play. Whether it’s advice like “Draw: Put pencil to paper or pen to tablet and say something with illustrations, instead of words” or “Inspire: Source relevant inspirational quotes to share with readers,” Christie’s thoughts show that, beyond blogging, businesses could use creative ways to approach problems and ideas.

-“Dating Rules for Courting Your Clients”

This post is very applicable to the very folks that make up our beloved “deep bench”: freelancers and other small agencies. The folks at Men With Pens help point out how to choose the right clients and not fall into the “temptation to work for demanding or low-paying clients because [you] need the money or are afraid [you] won’t get better clients.” They have plenty more good advice in this post, so read up and be sure you’re making the right decision when you take on your next client.

We’ve tried to cover quite a few areas in this week’s Box Scores. From knowing your audience to comics to taking on clients, we tried to give a good mix of great posts from the past week. We hope you got as much out of these posts as we did, and we’d love to hear what else you have to offer. If you’ve got another post to share or just want to compliment us on a job well done, leave a comment below or drop us a line over on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you.

And one last thing: we won’t call it a shameless plug because we don’t feel there’s any shame in it to begin with, but we will drop you a prideful plug one last time to check out the OTA Sessions. You seriously, seriously won’t regret it.

Photo (“Audience of the Open Ocean”) c/o David Goehring. Thanks David!

-“Four Reasons to Love Your Competition”

The folks from Men With Pens come at us first with a post to get you revved up for success this week. Although the post is intended for bloggers, a good business owner could (and should) put all of these concepts to good use. Before you complain about your competition or get mad when they seem to copy a new strategy or idea, think about these thoughts from Men With Pens and remember that competition isn’t always a bad thing.

-“Defining who you aren’t”

Future OTA Sessions speaker Spike Jones drops some insight on us courtesy of the Brains On Fire blog. The point is to know what you do or don’t do as a company and then do (or don’t do) those things well. As Spike puts it, “‘Like’ is not a Brains on Fire word. We want people to love you or hate you. Those are powerful emotions. ‘Like’ is a deathtrap.” (his emphasis…with good reason). The question is, does who you are NOT inspire love or hate? If not, maybe it should.

-“Getting Started: Brands and Cause Marketing”

Lauren Fernandez is the kind of bright, young individual you read about in dozens of posts about talented, up-and-coming professionals. Oh wait. She’s not “that kind” of person. She is that person. This post from her blog emphasizes a point that, though important in marketing, seems to be a rare point of discussion in the blogosphere. Cause marketing is important. Brands can use it so well if they just know what they’re doing. Here’s her much-needed insight on how you can start to know what you’re doing with cause marketing (and why it will help your brand).

-“Can Dominos Turn Around Their Cardboard Reputation?”

Rohit Bhargava takes a good look at Dominos Pizza’s recent (and very drastic) pizza recipe reformation and the marketing/PR efforts that have gone along with this revamp. From a poignant and sincere video describing the change and what it’s meant to the Domino’s team to a microsite featuring Twitter updates that include good AND bad reviews of the new pizza formula, Rohit praises the effort Domino’s is putting forward. Read the post and see why their effort goes far beyond a simple pizza recipe change (and why it might help your brand to REALLY listen to consumers).

And with that, we wrap up another week of Deep Bench Box Scores. While we feel these are some great posts from the past week, we’re also all about hearing from you, the reader. So drop us a line in the comments below to let us know what you think, and, while you’re at it, you can add a link or two for posts YOU found particularly helpful or insightful last week. Or, drop us a line over on our Facebook page and we can talk with you there.

Hope you enjoyed Box Scores! Check back next week for more (or subscribe to our RSS feed here for all of our Deep Bench content) and don’t forget to check out the OTA Sessions site for more info on that event. You won’t regret it.

Photo (“Experimental Pizza Delivery Car”) via John Lloyd. Thanks John!

-“Do What Others Will Not”

There’s a reason Julien Smith has co-written a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Because he’s good. And this advice from him to you follows suit. If you want to succeed, you have to find success in places that others won’t. As he so eloquently puts it, “This quote, by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, punched me in the face when I heard it: ‘Traveler, there is no path. Paths are made by walking.’”

-“The Big Surprise”

Every once in awhile you go to a concert and you walk away more anxious to buy the opening band’s album than the closing band’s. Is it what you expected? Of course not. Is it usually a pleasant (and sometimes BIG) surprise? Yes. Well according to Narciso over at Method + Moxie, part of that surprise comes because the band is willing to go all out and leave everything on stage. So…do you do that in your life every day? As Narciso puts it, “We’ve got so many things that get in the way of our own true strengths.” So stop that. Go surprise someone. Today. Now.

-“What Entourage Can Teach You About Successful Freelancing”

If you’ve never seen HBO’s Entourage, chances are you’ve dreamed about it. One man rises to fame and fortune and brings his best friends along for the ride. Sounds like a blast, right? Well Copyblogger’s Julie Roads realized how similar Entourage is to freelancing, and her points are well-made. If you’re already an Entourage fan, you’ll enjoy this quite a bit. If you’ve never seen Entourage, you just might want to after checking out this stellar post.

-“What makes your advocates feel like rockstars?”

Spike Jones knows a thing or two about building community and igniting movements. It’s sort of why he gets paid. Rather than writing another worn-out “how to be a rockstar” post, Spike takes a different (and probably more important) approach to the rockstar concept – making your supporters feel like rockstars. If you don’t quite understand what “Empower with responsibility” means, you should read this. You’ll be glad you did.

-“My language is just grating!”

This post from Drew McLellan is a two-step reminder not to fall into a rut with your creative language and writing as far as content goes. The first step is the reminder not to do it. The second step is a fun and challenging exercise to help you make sure you’re not doing it. A point to ponder from Drew: “Whether you are a copywriter day in and day out, a business owner who crafts an occasional flier or an exec who writes 10 e-mails and memos a day…your audience deserves your best words.” Truth. Do you give them yours?

And so ends another week of Deep Bench Box Scores. Hopefully you got as much out of these insightful posts as we did. Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below or tell us if we missed any posts worth including by leaving a link or telling us over on our Facebook page. We collect Box Scores each week for you and would love to hear what you have to say.

Oh, don’t forget…we’ve got exciting news coming very, VERY soon, so get pumped and be ready to buy your OTA Sessions ticket. One glance at the concept (and a second glance at the speaker list) might cause more excitement than you’re prepared for. Be ready, and we’ll be ready for you. See you soon!

Photo (“Rockstar”) by N1NJ4. Thanks N1NJ4!

So why, when I ask for a beta invite to some “social media” app or program, do the informational emails read as follows:

“Hey Mike,

Welcome to ______, a super awesome, well-rounded, and all-powerful social media app that literally does EVERYTHING you want it to do. That’s right. It runs Twitter. And Facebook integration is COMING SOON [Ed. note: This means it does not, in fact, do everything.]. And we’re doing 10 million things to make it better in the next week so that it totally rocks your face off and you love us and we’re awesome and la da da da da….

Thanks for joining our “community,” Mike. We love you and we’re your best friends forever now! P.S. – Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for a bunch of updates we’ll be emailing you anyway. Hooray social media!

-The ______ Team”

I’ll be honest. These emails almost make my brain explode. And not in a “this is so awesome, I’ll brainsplode from the awesomeness” sort of way. More of a “did they just copy and paste this from the last ‘Generic Social Media App Team’ email I received?” brainsplosion.

And then the always honest, always open Micah Baldwin blew those stereotypical emails away with his beta invite to Graphic.ly. While I’d love to discuss Graphic.ly in detail (seeing as it’s a digital comics platform and I love comics like NBC execs love being stupid), I’m going to focus on something important:

The “Welcome to Graphic.ly” email that Micah sent.

First, after sending the email from HIS actual account (not no-reply@randomapp.com or support@fakeapp.com, but a legitimate, to-Micah’s-inbox email address), Micah says this [with a few parts clipped a little bit]:

“The Graphic.ly Baby Beta is unique in that we are truly giving you a product before it has matured. IT WILL SUCK BADLY….

We decided to give you the Baby Beta because we know that you care about building a really kick ass product, and we know that we must crawl before we can walk. If we dont get you involved now, the end product will just, well, suck badly.

You will be disappointed. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of features are not working yet. We have included only 2 books (all free), which I bet you have read. But the plan was not to wow you with catalog (we have hundreds and hundreds of books and merchandise to upload), but to let you understand what we will be when we are all grown up. We want, when you finally see the final product, to see your fingerprints on it. To be able to tell your friends, “I built that.”

He eventually goes on to explain what beta testers will find, what they’ll think (which is that it will need work, according to Micah) and what we beta testers will do to make it better. He does NOT just go on to say that Graphic.ly is the greatest app/program/whatever ever and will only get better and better and better. He’s REALISTIC about things. Which is so refreshing.

Of course, he’s not done there. Micah then gets super crazy on us and shares not only his personal email address, but also throws out his IM name, his Gtalk name, and his phone number. All of those things.

Granted, it’s not as if the Graphic.ly community is loaded up with spammers that are going to bombard him with annoying messages/thoughts, but I can’t tell you how many apps I’ve received beta invites for and I can’t even name one person who works for them. Typically, a robot sends an email, I glance at it, disregard it and move on. The fact that, if I really wanted to, I could contact Micah himself to discuss improvements to Graphic.ly is so much more real and tangible than any invites I’ve received thus far.

Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe I just haven’t been a part of the “right” communities and programs. But I checked my inbox on about the last six I’ve received, and Micah’s Graphic.ly email was the only one that compelled me to do more than read it and disregard it.

So, if you’re looking for a lesson on being real and authentically engaging with your community, I’m throwing this out as a prime example. The fact of the matter is that I’m already spending time on Graphic.ly and I’m looking for ways to improve it. Does it help that I’m a fan of comics and do pretty much anything I can to support Marvel Comics (a partner in this effort)? Of course.

But does it matter more that Micah and the Graphic.ly folks made me feel like I’m a true, genuine part of this team? Definitely.

Good work, Micah. I look forward to contributing to this effort and improving it. Hopefully more companies trying to “build community” look at what you and your team at Graphic.ly are doing and try to improve their efforts as well.

It could be a spectacular change for everyone.

What do you think? Does stuff like Micah’s email really even matter? Is it more of a formality no matter how “personal” it feels? Are there other great examples we’ve missed out on? Share your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion over on our Facebook page. And, to subscribe to the Deep Bench RSS feed and have our content delivered right to you, click here.

-“Do You Live Social?”

The “who controls social media” debate has been a much-discussed issue in the online world. David Armano wrote this post up for Harvard Business (yeah…that Harvard) and his thoughts are worth reading. One of his most interesting points is this: “If you’re not genuinely, honestly engaged in the social network, you’re not going to get far with those who are.” Maybe you’ve heard that before, but it never hurts to hear good advice more than once.

-“The 7 keys to social branding”

Sometimes a good guest post rocks just as hard as the usual blogger’s regular content. Tamsen McMahon demonstrates this phenomenon to perfection with her guest post on Valeria Maltoni’s “Conversation Age” blog. Although the points may seem simple (“Clarity – Speak your messages in their languages”), it’s the explanation behind each that makes this post so valuable. So read up on what Tamsen has to say and see if you agree with her 7 keys to social branding.

-“What every mass marketer needs to learn from Groucho Marx”

In honor of Seth Godin, we’ll keep the description of his post short by quoting him: “If Wal-Mart or some cultural shift has turned what you do into a commodity, don’t argue. Find a new place before the competition does.” The way he connects it to Groucho Marx is just frosting on the cake.

-“Project Management and the Dynamite Philosophy”

Amber Naslund comes correct with some awesome advice on project management and how she manages to get as much done as she does. Amber starts with the tools (her tools, as she wisely points out that everyone is different), how she uses them, and then the big boom for a finisher. Literally. Her closing advice is “Blow Things Up.” After you read the post, you’ll see why it really is the Dynamite Philosophy. (Ok, I couldn’t resist…and boom goes the dynamite…)

-“What Vegas Can Teach You About Marketing”

Tips like “Know what you can afford to give away” and “Only reward behavior you care about” don’t make perfect sense upon first read. Luckily, Rohit Bhargava is able to completely justify them, all along with the fun and excitement of Sin City itself, Las Vegas. So if you want to learn a bit from Vegas (and from Rohit) read up and let us know what you think.

-“NBA Jam to Make a Comeback on Nintendo Wii”

This pretty much just makes Mike happy. Since it was on Mashable, we figured we could post it here too. Boomshakalaka!

And those great posts make up this week’s Box Scores. Hopefully the advice and wisdom from all of the bloggers helps kick off your work week with some productivity and some general awesomeness. If you feel we forgot any great posts or that you have a post or two worth adding, let us know in the comments below or by leaving a link on our Facebook page. And if you want more Deep Bench content delivered weekly, subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking here.

By the way, we weren’t kidding about that OTA Sessions announcement. We’ve got a video coming from Hugh in a few hours, and we just hope it gets you as excited as it gets us. We have a feeling it will. You’ll be hearing from us soon…

Photo (“Fireworks barge explosion close-up”) c/o Shiny Things. Thanks Shiny Things!