After touching down in LA and picking up my new set of wheels, I noticed something rather interesting throughout the drive to my temporary home in Venice.

While stopped at a light, up ahead on the right I saw what I thought was a teenager spinning a surfboard above his head. When the light turned green and I got closer, he put the board horizontally across his chest and directed it at me and the rest of the oncoming traffic. The sign read “Electronics Sale” and had an arrow, which directed my attention to a small electronics store a few feet ahead.

I have seen the occasional “human billboard” advertising everything from car washes to furniture sales back east, but the individual never caught my attention in such a unique way. So I began to wonder if this kid was some kind of a professional sign spinner or if he just happened to do something eye catching with the sign at that moment.

As I pulled up to the next light, to my amazement, there was another sign spinning ahead! This time the ad was for a shoe sale and the teen spinning the sign looked like he could outperform one of the Harlem Globetrotters with his sign spinning skills; twirling it on the tip of his finger and then quickly bringing it down to a readable position.

Of course, after settling into my apartment, I needed to investigate. Is this a California thing? Do sign spinning workers make more than static sign holders? Are there any statistics that point to the effectiveness of the extra measure?

Well, as it turns out, I’m not the first to discover this phenomenon. A simple google search for “human advertising signs” led me to find that not only are there companies that can hook you up with a sign spinner, but there was also some recent legislation passed that actually banned sign spinning in Poway, CA.

These “sign spinners” are also referred to as “human directionals”, “sign twirlers”, “sign flippers” and “banner shakers” according to a few articles and sites that I read through.

A few deeper searches led to this company, which claims to have started the advertising vehicle back in 2002 right here in southern California. I even found a job posting for a spinner!

I’d be interested to know if anyone on the east coast has seen this kind of advertising and what your thoughts are on the potential distraction claims that some are making.

Ok, I have an RFP to get back to…more on this (maybe even some photos or an interview) soon…

Well, I think that I’ve found an opportune moment in my life to start writing about the things that I do during the majority of my waking hours…

Tomorrow is my last day in Temel’s New Jersey office, where I’ve worked along with, befriended and simply observed from a safe distance- quite a fun and inarguably interesting cast of characters during the last two years that I spent in downtown Boonton. From good ‘ol Mr. Venturini, who finally started serving english muffins at his deli just weeks before my departure- to Donna, my office neighbor (and master dessert maker) that doesn’t hold anything back.

I’m heading out to California this weekend. (Any idea why one way tickets would be much cheaper than half of a round trip flight?)

Anyway, I’m going out on a limb and switching coasts in an effort to find a more forward-thinking interactive movement, which seems to be emerging in LA. Exciting times.

I plan on using this blog to keep track of the upcoming westward movement and my ongoing adventures in interactive marketing, cyber space surfing and beeyyyoooond…ok, back to packing…

We’ve all watched as Google quickly gained market share and began it’s domination of the search space. Recently we’re seeing attempts at moving into other areas, mostly through acquisitions with whopping price tags.

I’ve had my contacts at the search giant push their print, radio, TV and online display advertising capabilities, which I really haven’t bought into. A recent announcement shows that they are driving forward with their display advertising efforts in a big way. By acquiring DoubleClick, they have access to solid relationships with major industry players and a suite of enabling technologies that will surely help them get a foothold in this arena.

Exciting? Scary? Only time will tell…