Yes, that’s Budda’s main man, Scot "Jimmy Page" Sier rocking out on YouTube. He snagged the #10 spot on YouTube’s music channel this week with this "Drum Stick on Guitar" performance. Proving once again that our clients ROCK! (Although I am not at all sure about the hat….?)

The curious can see our work for Scot’s company, Budda, here.

John Cook at the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that Isilon’s IPO is the "best performer in years". From his "Venture blog":

"Isilon Systems skyrocketed in its stock
market debut Friday, with shares rising 77 percent in the best opening
performance for a technology IPO in more than six years… Isilon, which raised $108 million in a public offering that industry
watchers described as one of the hottest of the year. The stock closed
at $23.10, giving the money-losing company a market value of $1.4
billion.

"This is the best technology first day pop since 2000 without
question," said Paul Bard, a vice president at Renaissance Capital’s
IPOHome. The previous title holder: Santa Clara, Calif.-based
Transmeta, which had a first day gain of 115 percent in Nov. 2000." More here.

John’s article in the Post continued:

"The 246-person company, which helps customers such as Kodak, MySpace
and NBC manage their digital storage needs, raised $108 million through
the public sale of stock. It initially was looking to pull in about $80
million.

The sharp rise in the stock even surprised some Isilon executives
who had gathered on the New York trading floor of Morgan Stanley, the
company’s principal underwriter. As the "ISLN" ticker symbol flickered
across an electronic monitor, Isilon’s senior director of marketing,
Jay Wampold, said it "caused us to raise some eyebrows." Full article here.

Mortar watchers will note that Mortar launched the new brand for Isilon back in October.

You can see some of the work here (Website). And here (The Almost Awards). Isilon is our first debut on the public markets since we founded Mortar back in 2003.

Elf me. I’m a sweet little Xmas elf.

Click through. Add photo. Send dancing elfish self to pals.

This will be huge.

See the new viral promo from OfficeMax.

[That’s the perpetually optimistic Mortar DCS Renny Diiulio sporting the elfish suit BTW].

Remember our post about Rozerem, the sleep aid ads that feature Abe Lincoln and a talking Beaver? See Leave it to Beavers.

The Journal reports that the makers, Takeda Pharmaceutical, have increased monthly Rozerem sales by 66% from $6.5 million in July , 2006 to $10.5 million in October, 2006.

Now the Journal is to be commended for churning out 1,000 words without pausing for a moment to consider the significance of men dreaming of chatty beavers.

But they do find time to mention that the Cramer-Krasselt-designed spots briefly show a deep-sea diver doing the dishes.

Interestingly, Takeda admits that consumers have to see the spot "six to nine" times for the information to sink in.

Although one can imagine that the sleep-deprived won’t need anywhere near as many impressions to be encouraged to ask their doc about the drug. 

Full story here.