Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!

The Kool-Aid Krew; A belated introduction of sorts.

If you've been playing the home version of this game since this project was launched, then you will have noticed some new voices beginning to appear in this little chorus. As was my goal from the very beginning, this site is shaping up into the collaborative project I was hoping would be born from different and diverse personalities.

In the very short period of time since the first post, this blog has begun to gather a small following. Thanks in part to Jonathan Maus (formerly of JRA and currently of Bike Portland), things have really accelerated. Prior to Jonathan's "outing" of this blog, it had been my intention to let some posts build for awhile before going "public" with the existence of the blog. However, the cat is out of the bag and things are already progressing.

So without further delay, here is a brief introduction to the contributors here;
Donna Tocci- Donna is the Public Relations Manager for Kryptonite. She's a damned smart lady with a lot of incredible experience and knowledge in the PR/Marketing world. On top of it, she's also incredibly nice. One of the main reasons I wanted to invite her to the party is because of her non-cycling background. For all of her cycling knowledge, passion and experience, she doesn't "come from the cycling world" so to speak. Thanks to that, she has the unique perspectives of somebody who is simultaneously on the inside and on the outside of many issues. It is my belief that she will be able to lend some great perspectives.
Chris Cashbaugh- Chris is currently the "Marketing Guy" at SOG Knives. However, before you get nervous about the whole knife connection (even though I love knives and SOG products especially), he is also a devout bike nerd. Chris was one of the founders of the currently being reborn iheartbikes magazine and also worked with me at NiteRider Technical Lighting Systems years ago. Chris is a fantastic graphic artist on top of it all. The magazine was a wonderful project, which I wrote a piece for, and I really enjoyed getting to work with Chris again during that time. This blog is another excuse to get to keep working with him in some fashion.
Karl Wiedemann- Karl was introduced to me by Donna. They have known each other for some time now and Donna swears he's smart and funny. So far, I have to agree with her. Though I have yet to actually meet the guy, I am already happy to be getting to know him and work with him. Karl is the "Marketing Guy" over at Pedro's. If you've seen that distinctive black and yellow Pedro's logo around, he might have had something to do with that fact. Karl's view on things will be cool, since Pedro's has been very good at their marketing efforts for such a long time.
Jill Hamilton- Jill is one of the smartest people I know and has the misfortune of working directly beside me in the next cubicle. Jill is the Brand Manager (same position I have with Masi) of Haro ATB bikes. Prior to taking that role a few weeks ago, she was the Marketing Manager for Haro and also handled all of the teams and riders. Oh yeah, and she's got a Bachelor's degree in Marketing (she's a certified smarty pants). Jill also raced very successfully in downhill, almost turning Pro (Ed; I stand corrected- Jill was the #1 women's DH Expert rider in the nation in 2001 and then rode Pro in 2002), and in BMX. Let's put it this way- she's braver than me. I have more power than Jill, but she still kicks my ass on a mountain bike. Since Jill is a true Marketing professional, her contributions to this blog are going to be pretty evident, pretty quickly.
Tim Grahl- Tim is amazing. He runs/operates the Crooked Cog Network of cycling blogs/sites. He's also got a few other projects and is another damned smart fella. He will be adding a lot of great angles to things here. Maybe I can even get him to help with the technical stuff that I don't know how to do, since I am one of the least tech savvy people on this planet. Tim's Blue Collar MTB is one of the most trafficked and influential ATB/MTB (which is it anyway- maybe Tim and Jill can figure that out for us all) sites around. Since his post today, mentioning this blog, the site traffic here has nearly doubled. Apparently he has a few fans.

Those are the current actors in the play. There are others who will remain nameless until they are no longer in hiding and a few more on the radar who are "thinking about it". All in all, I'm thrilled with the crop of contributors we have now and will always look for more people to play a role here, whether as a full time contributor or as a guest contributor. If you have something you wish to share, please feel free to let me know.

So there you are. The Kool-Aid Krew is up and running now. We'll be posting when, where and how we can. Some times, it might be a lot of posts from me and other times it might be a lot of posts from another member. Maybe it'll even go quiet from time to time. Regardless, this is going to be fun and hopefully will serve as a good forum for all of us to share ideas about Marketing/PR as it relates to the cycling world or other ones that choose cycling to pitch their ideas.

For all of the other contributors here, I want to thank you all for visiting us recently. I hope you'll add us to your favorites and keep coming by to see what we're babbling about now.

Tim

Posted by Tim Jackson at 10:30 PM