Some people decide to adopt a new pet. We went a step further recently and decided to adopt a whole menagerie. One new pro-bono client is Animal Care and Control, the San Francisco city agency that rescues and finds homes for a veritable Noah’s Ark of animals. Cats, dogs, birds, rats, snakes, bears (yep). . . every creature out there, including, of course, chinchillas, like Tobin.

The ACC faces a big challenge in getting recog- nition for the amazing work they do. By contrast, everyone knows of the SPCA. Yet few people know that the SPCA only accepts dogs and cats, and only in limited numbers. The ACC is the only organization in San Francisco that accepts every

kind of animal, with no limit to the numbers they accept. Our mission is to get the word out—drive awareness of the incredible work the ACC does. And drive donations at much higher levels, as well.

While we’re offering our services for free, a client could hardly be more rewarding. Or dangerous, as the ACC clients usually arrive at meetings with at least one impossibly adorable, eager-to-be-adopted creature in tow.

So the next time you’re visiting, don’t be surprised if you see an office python, parrot, kitten, and puppy.

Just not all together.

There’s a lot of bad advertising out there. But I was blessed to be able to find my pick for the worst ad for all of 2011 right across the street from our offices. What good fortune!

Now, journalism is a tough gig these days. My empathy for the news bureaus, local or otherwise, is significant. Ratings are down. On-demand video is crushing. Kids don’t know what News is. We get it.

But, and excuse my francais, what the hell were they thinking?

At this point, I should mention, I have this dream, probably illusory, of having this post circle the globe enough times so that it finds its way to the desk of the actual, not 30 Rock, head of NBComcastic. (Hopefully, the real CEO’s reaction won’t mimic Baldwin’s character, which is to say, fuel up the company jet, fly west and take Christina on a date.)

But let’s get back to this so-called advertising. Channel 11 is, or was, what I thought was the Bay Area’s Quality Bearer, the well-funded local NBC affiliate. Do they leverage their Peabody awards? Their local Emmys? The quality of that investigative report on BALCO labs? Their homegrown reporters? Even, how they rank #1 with their interns?

No, no, no. We’re Channel 11. Home of the Hotties.

Ignore how this is playing externally (at least, in the School of Thought offices). Let’s consider how this fine campaign is going over internally, with the rest of the team:

Laura Garcia-Cannon, one of the morning news anchors, was recently the Associated Press Reporter of the Year. She’s won multiple Emmy and AP awards for her reporting and writing.

Jessica Aguirre has earned Emmy awards for her series on the struggles faced by migrant children and for a series on child molesters. Her series on Cuban boat people trying to make it to the U.S. won an Associated Press award. She’s on the boards of numerous charities and is a member of the National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences.

Yes, yes, that’s all well and good—how do they look in an evening dress?

No doubt, the team’s morale is soaring.

And yes, I’m not oblivious to the fact that there’s an enormous double standard at play in broadcast journalism. It’s an ugly market dynamic. But who in their right mind would make it the lead?

I’ve worked at agencies, and I’ve worked in-house. Obviously, my skills and experience are the same in either location.

But there’s a slight but important distinction. On the outside, one gains perspective. There’s the critical separation between the teams. If the Emperor shouldn’t be wearing underwear—I don’t mean, go Commando—you’re often more able to raise the hand and say so.

That should be the role. What’s best for the client.

Somebody please drop us a note, when Channel 11 learns how to do some good-looking advertising.

Trade shows are a fact of life. I can’t count the number I’ve attended. No matter the industry, it seems like a virtual certainty that booth traffic is never quite as high as anybody would like.

Recently, our client Milliman asked us for some ways to improve their presence at a conference in Chicago. These professional events are particularly challenging, because the environment is constrained, and attendees are there principally for the breakout sessions, rather than the exhibits. (Economists and lectures, who knew?)

In any event, School of Thought was asked to come up with a better solution that either the worthless 87¢ pen giveaway, or, on the other end of the spectrum, the $20k sponsorship of an equally forgettable lunch.

We had our work cut out for us, to be sure.

Our solution was threefold. First, we designed an elegant invitation that was delivered under the door of any hotel guest attending the symposium. The twist? Our invite was to a Black Swan Event—the economic equivalent of the Perfect Storm: a 50% market crash, combined with runaway inflation and a class 5 hurricane thrown in for good measure.

It was catnip to many of these economists.

Second we created the TheBusinessofRisk.com, where Milliman consultants live-blogged the event, providing their unique take on each day’s events.

But the center of our effort took place on the floor and hallways of the Symposium, as we invited people to participate in a brief survey on economic trends in business.

There was, after all, no shortage of opinions in the room.

Of course, nobody likes to be bothered with a survey while they’re busy. So we added some interesting elements. Like using an iPad as our input device—and letting people fill in their own entries.

The other intriguing aspect of the survey was that when each respondent was finished, their entry was immediately beamed back to the booth over a Bluetooth network. The live results were presented in dynamic animated graphs on a large flat screen.

To see how their responses compared to everyone else’s, survey respondents were encouraged to drop by the booth. Turns out, economists like to see how their answers compare with their colleagues, because traffic at the Milliman exhibit was up significantly.

Our expectations were modest. We weren’t sure that an asteroid striking the convention center could affect this jaded, hyper-educated crowd. But all told, nearly a third of all Symposium attendees took our survey, and nearly half visited the blog. Meaning more than half had an active engagement with the Milliman brand. Milliman consultants received new leads (the year before they got none), and there was even industry press coverage.

No sweepstakes. No cheap tchozchkes. Just some information…of value.

Proof perhaps that thoughtful communications still work. And that occasionally, it’s still possible to get economists to agree about something.

And the camera. Which is great, because now we can share with you the magnificence that was the School of Thought Anniversary/Launch/Holiday Soiree – without a debilitating hangover.

In a nutshell, it was everything a party should be: full of friends, who are full of delicious food and alcohol, in a space that makes you feel cooler than you are, with a DJ spinning tracks that perfectly capture the mood. If pressed to pick a highlight, we might say that having gourmet brick-oven pizza prepared on site by Rosso was tops. But it’s hard to decide.

The Catherine Clark Gallery provided the ideal backdrop to our affair with an aptly titled exhibit, Everything Will Probably Work Out Ok (you have

no idea how often we say this), by local artist Anthony Discenza. Our two “Mad Men” gave heartfelt speeches. There was even an RSS feed projecting amusing tidbits about our guests along the back wall (which, we might note, was not as easy as anticipated).

As the night came to a close and we all stumbled, blurry-eyed, out into the night, we unanimously agreed that it was perhaps one of the best parties ever thrown. But maybe, like any proud parent, we loved it especially because it was ours.

The complete photo gallery can be found on the School of Thought Facebook page. Well, those suitable for public consumption anyway.