​This article was originally going to be about developing a production process for video scripts. But because of the way things turned out at our client, this one is taking a decidedly more valuable turn. For you. 
 
We’re going to talk about something that you can create, for your clients, as a gift, which will win you follow-on business. We can’t say “guaranteed,” but pretty darned close. 
 
What’s this have to do with video scripting? 
 
From production to presents
 
A client of ours—incidentally, we typically get our best education and insights from our clients, as they’re a pretty ingenious lot—had tasked us with making a series of videos. 
 
Here’s the genesis: Our client does a lot of similar projects for its clients. And when it completes each one, it ends up with some raw screen-capture video footage, documenting the project. 
 
The job they handed to us: Turn that boring screen-capture footage into a compelling video that sells. We’d anonymize these, and our client would post them on their YouTube channel, since they’re great little sales vehicles which show off exactly what they do, in about two minutes each. 
 
So far, so straightforward. Right? 
 
But here’s the stroke of genius: This same client of ours decided to create a customized version of the same video for their client. Granted, we need to over-simplify here, but think of it this way: Upon completing the project, our client (a consultancy) produced and delivered—without charging an extra dime for it—a custom video for their client, showcasing the work they just completed. As a gift.
 
With our services folded in, the finished video was very “Hollywood”: slick voiceover, music, effects, etc. The V.O. goes something like this: “Working with Consultancy [our client], ABC Business [their client] has been able to do something amazing, which you’ll see, firsthand, in this video.”  
 
And then it would effectively go into the demo. 
 
Private viewing
 
Whereas videos made for YouTube are intentionally created to reach the largest audience possible (BTW, we worked on one which, as of this writing, has attracted 61 million views), this video was for an audience of, oh, about five people. 
 
Yep. That’s it. A slick, high-quality, seemingly big-budget video to be seen by: The CEO. The CFO. The project sponsor. And a couple others. That’s it. 
 
This video was a gift of our client’s, to their client. It said “Thank you for letting us work with you. You may not have been in the trenches for this one, like the Project Sponsor was, but we’d like the Executive Leadership Team to see just what we did for you, and how great it came out.” 
 
Can you guess what happened next? 
 
Roll out the red carpet
 
The Executive Leadership Team audience, you likely won’t be surprised to learn, was positively delighted by this little video. 
 
Do you think they kept it to themselves? 
 
Au contraire. They demanded that it be posted, enterprise-wide, on the company intranet. Sent out to all the zillions of leaders and team members. 
 
And therein lies the gift that keeps on giving. 
 
The Executive Leadership Team felt great. They got a rush from this video… to the point where they wanted more. 
 
Want another video? Sure! Book another project.
 
And what about all those other leaders in the company who now got to see the video? They want their own projects, too! 
 
Some of them, incidentally, ended up leaving the company and going elsewhere. Guess which vendor stuck in their heads as especially helpful when they landed their new gigs? 
 
You can, too
 
This is a shockingly easy deliverable to create. Our purposely anonymized story above should inspire you: You can make these, too. And you should. They’re an absolute killer when it comes to burnishing your brand… and helping you win follow-on work. 
 
Of course, videos like this do require creative scripting and creative ways to make them look like a million bucks, while costing next to nothing. 
 
That’s where we come in. Contact us and let’s talk. 

There’s an old adage which goes like this: What’s the best camera there is? 
 
Answer: The one you have with you.
 
It’s quite true. You could spend a fortune on a sexy DSLR setup with interchangeable lenses and wifi connectivity and all that, and yet it does you absolutely no good when your kid takes her first steps or that goldfinch alights on your railing, if it's not in your hands just then. 
 
Timing, in other words, is everything. 
 
People who don’t work in the creative field might not understand what we’re about to describe, because they’re not under the same pressure to create: Creative inspirations are usually fleeting. Think of that killer concept or idea you recently came up with. It likely came in a flash (with the way there paved by a lot of good old-fashioned brainstorming techniques), and if you didn’t jot it down right then and there, it would’ve been gone forever. 
 
Yes. Gone forever. 
 
Think about that. It’s really kind of mind-bending. As a creative pro, you’re counting on earning a living (and others are counting on you, too) based on fleeting little synapses firing somewhere inside your skull. The right combination wins you awards and accolades. The wrong combination... and you’re just like everyone else. 
 
Fixation
 
The U.S. Copyright Office has a good definition of something that can be protected by copyright. It’s the fixation of a novel idea into a medium.
 
Let’s repeat that. You need to “fix” the idea. Not as in “fix it because it was broken,” but more like affix it to some kind of medium that’s durable and effectively tangible. In other words, write it down.
 
You’ve surely heard the countless stories of some poor slob who “had the idea for Star Wars before Star Wars,” or whatever. We have no sympathy for these people. And neither does the Copyright Office. These “claimants” have no ground to stand on. You cannot copyright an idea. It’s like dividing by zero: It’s undefined. 
 
You need to fix it in a medium. Such as a written document (novel, screenplay, sheet music, brochure copy), or photo or artwork or layout or recording or movie. 
 
So where are we going with this? What does this have to do with our headline of “old and new tech”? We’re certainly not intellectual property, or IP, attorneys here at Copel Communications. 
 
Snatch it out of the ether
 
Just as an idea is worthless to the Copyright Office if it’s not fixed in a medium, it’s also worthless to you if it’s not, well, fixed in a medium! 
 
The synapse fires. You get this great idea. The phone rings. And then... you lost it. What was that idea? You never wrote it down. And, tragedy: You’ll never get it back.
 
We know about these tragedies because we’ve experienced them firsthand. And done our best to learn from them. Hence these lessons: 

• Don’t pick up. Ages ago—back in the days of telephone answering machines—we were working on a really thorny creative problem, and had just solved it! when the telephone rang. We still had the idea in mind, but didn’t write it down, as the phone kept ringing, and then the answering machine picked up. We listened through our outgoing message. Then we heard the caller start to leave a message, and—tragically--we answered the phone. That was the end of it. The great idea was lost forever right then. All we really needed to do was to write down the great idea, and then call that person back. It would’ve taken all of two minutes. 

 

• You won’t remember it in the morning. Ever been beset with a tricky creative challenge, and you lie down, either for the night or for a nap, and you solve it, right then and there? (You know where this is going, don’t you?) But you’re so sleepy that you can’t find the energy to get up, find a pencil and paper, and write it down. “I’ll remember it in the morning,” you convince yourself as you nod off. But you never do. The only thing you end up remembering is that you had had a great idea. But not the idea itself. 

 

• Down the drain. You take a shower, or a bath, and decide to give that latest creative challenge a thought. And Bang! just like that, you get an idea for it. If you repeat it to yourself enough, you’ll remember it long enough to write it down after that shower or bath. So why is this a problem? Because, inevitably, right after you get that idea, you get another one. And then another one. And then another. And another. It’s a barrage, an onslaught. And, killer consequence, all of them are great. Unfortunately, your brain can’t multi-task to the level of repeating/memorizing all those ideas, and keeping the creative floodgates open at the same time. So more often than not, you forget all of them. 

 
There’s a common thread in these stories. It’s the element of relaxation. When you can effectively let go of your daily distractions, you’re infinitely freer to create. So whether you’re “in the zone” at your desk, snuggling under the sheets, or luxuriating in the the steam of a hot shower, you’re naturally more predisposed to ideate incredible amounts of astonishingly good creative content. The whole idea of “being in the zone” is the topic of one of our most popular blog articles, “On Self-Hypnosis and Finding ‘The Voice,’” which you should read. It’s a fun article. And you’ll profit from it.  
 
There’s an app for that
 
All of this gets back to “the camera that you have.” It’s why, not terribly long ago, all the major camera manufacturers stopped making point-and-shoot cameras. How insane is that? Camera makers stopped making cameras.
 
You know why. It’s the iPhone. In its first few years of existence, more photos were taken by the camera on the iPhone than had been taken in the entire history of photography.
 
Timing, as we said, is everything. 
 
So you need to “iPhone your life,” in terms of the ability to capture creative inspiration on the fly. The iPhone (or any smartphone), by the way, is one of the very best tools for this. Indeed, when we got the idea for this blog topic, we were out on the road somewhere, and simply launched the Voice Memos app and recorded the basic idea for this article. There: Fixed in a medium.
 
Here, then, are some other ways you can keep tools handy, and never lose another idea again: 

• Diver’s slate. We’ve advocated these for years. It’s a little rectangle of white plastic with a slightly rough, sandpapery finish. It comes with a pencil. You can write on it, underwater. And then erase it afterward, either with a regular pencil eraser or one of those “Magic Eraser” sponges. (Here’s a diver’s slate on Amazon.) Keep one in your shower. It’ll pay for itself a zillion times over. 

 

• IPX7 earbuds. See? We told you we’d include some high tech. Mind you, we haven’t tried this ourselves, but have read of plenty of others who have. The idea is to wear waterproof earbuds in the bath or shower, with your smartphone within Bluetooth range. When you get an idea, simply say “Hey, Siri! Send an email to myself,” and then rattle off your new idea. 

 

• The illuminated ballpoint pen. Yes, these exist. (Here’s one on Amazon.) Keep this, and a little note pad, on the nightstand. You’ll be able to write down anything, without waking your partner to dictate into your phone. 

 

• Other phone apps. There’s email (to yourself). The notes app. Voice memos. Text messages. Even video recording. A smartphone is a veritable Swiss army knife for capturing creative ideas. 

 
Have some others to suggest? Send them our way. We’d love to hear them. 
 
And if you need help with that next creative challenge, contact us. We practice what we preach, so we never let good ideas go to waste. 

Creative people are often credited with having amazing imaginations, and having it all “in their heads.” But the best of them draw inspiration from outside their heads. Sure, you can look around the office—or the office parking lot—for things to inspire that next creative piece. But the best input, even in this tech-enabled age, comes from Mother Nature. 
 
In this article, we’ll explore the value of exploring. We’ll give you good places to look and listen. And we’ll see how these natural wonders—some of them huge, others minuscule—can improve everything from layouts to logos to literature. 
 
What’s “natural”?
 
For our purposes, “natural” is anything that’s not man-made. Sure, you can be pretty awed by a skyscraper, a soaring suspension bridge, or the flowing lines of an exotic automobile, but the fact is that someone else beat you to it. And there’s a very good chance that they weren’t looking at other man-made objects for their inspiration. They were going back to the original source. Back to nature. 
 
Engineers do this all the time. They busily study spider webs for both their structure and their chemistry. They look at birds and insects to devise airplanes and drones. They peer into plants for new sources of medicines. 
 
This is not to say that artists have ignored nature! But when you get into the business of art—the profession of creative services—it’s much easier to get sidetracked. You’re designing a logo; what do you do? You probably scour the internet for other logos. You need to choose its colors; what do you do? You probably consult a color wheel or Pantone swatch-book.
 
But what didn’t you do? Set foot outside your office.
 
The discipline of looking 
 
It would be nice if you could book a jungle cruise for that next layout assignment. But no one does; it’s impractical. Still, even if you’re in a high-rise office in a major city, you can find natural inspiration, because nature refuses to be walled off. 
 
But before you venture outside, grab a notebook. (You can use the note-taking app on your mobile phone, too. Whatever’s comfortable for you.) And write down, at the top of the page, what it is you’re seeking to inspire. What’s the broad-strokes vision for this assignment? Do you seek a calming tone for a layout or copy? Are you looking—or rather, listening—for organic rhythms to apply to a jingle or soundtrack? 
 
The point is, this is not, literally or figuratively, a walk in the park. It’s an assignment. It’s work. Your time will be limited. You have things to accomplish. You need to get good input. Importantly, you don’t want to be distracted or have your mind wander from the task at hand, which is especially easy when you slip away from your desk to, say, a secluded spot in a park. 
 
Vary your scale
 
Where you go for your observations will depend upon your workplace. It could be the aforementioned park. If you work from home, it could be your backyard. If there’s a body of water nearby, whether a river, lake, or the ocean, that can be ideal, since so many habitats converge at that spot. 
 
Now, get ready to observe, and take notes. 
 
A convenient way to go about this is to divide your “search area” into categories or sectors. Examples include: 

• Big and small. “Big” things include clouds, trees, expanses of water or tracts of land. “Small” means details like veins of leaves, blades of grass, grains of sand, the locomotive patterns of ants. 

 

• High and low. “High” will keep you focused in the sky or among the treetops. “Low” will aim you toward the ground. 

 

• Left to right. Like a movie camera, you can “pan” your way across your environment. 

 
All of these are ridiculously simple. That makes them easy to follow. Thing is, they represent discipline. They’ll keep you focused on the task at hand. 
 
Remember: Your time is limited. This is like a brainstorming session, and one of the cardinal rules of brainstorming is “Go for volume.” You want to walk away from this with a lot of notes. 
 
We think written notes are ideal, because they capture what you’re thinking while you’re observing. Of course, you can supplement them with photos you take, videos you shoot, or sounds you record. But they’re more like raw data (devoid of your interpretive input), plus they’re now converted to a technical format, effectively separating you, by one layer, from the source. So they’re good, but not great. 
 
Put your work to work
 
Once you have your notes with you back in the office, compare them to the assignment at hand. You’ll be impressed by what you discover. Here are some examples to whet your appetite for this type of approach: 

• You’d originally considered consulting a color wheel or swatch-book for that logo. But then you saw the clever countershading of a bird in the park: a bluebird has a buff gray chest, with a rust-colored band, complimenting its nearly iridescent blue back. It’s a beautiful combination, one you wouldn’t have found otherwise. And yet there it was, right in front of you. 

 

• You’d started blocking out that page layout quite literally, with rectangles as placeholders for the big sections. But seeing how that tree grows up (predictably), with that one huge bough growing out (surprisingly), and the way that gravity pulls down on the smaller branches while their leaves pivot in one direction to face the sun, you see an entirely new—and better—way of laying out that page. 

 

• Seeing the cap of a cumulus cloud growing in the hot sun, you get exciting new ideas for a video transition effect. Ditto for the way that entire trees seem to ripple in the wind when their leaves all bend in synchronized waves.

 

• Squinting at the sunlight glinting off the surface of a puddle, the light is refracted by your eyelashes, suggesting both colors and a crosshatch pattern you can apply to that pending project. (See our entire article on "Squinting to See Clearer.")

 

• That mockingbird—showing off for a prospective mate—just reeled off ten different original tunes, which you recorded on your cell phone. Five of them are jingle-worthy. 

 
One other way
 
Some people might think that “slipping outdoors to observe” is either a luxury or an excuse to goof off. But the quality of the results is inarguable. 
 
If you can’t afford the time or effort to do it yourself, there is another way. Ask us. The examples we cited above are real; and we can harness just as much creative energy from Mother Nature, for you. Contact us today to discuss that pressing creative challenge. 

Some rules are really, really good
 
We recently worked with a vendor to create a client’s website. They insisted that they could create all of the visuals simply by writing code.
 
Guess how it came out? 
 
Guess how many change orders we requested? 
 
If you’ve ever tried to build something like a website page without a layout (or at least a template), don’t. If someone tells you it’s a faster way to proceed, don’t believe them. 
 
Interestingly, the visual reasons for creating a layout also apply to verbal media, such as the copy for that exact same website. In this article, we’ll explain why this age-old concept is as fresh and useful today as ever, and how you can make it work for you. 
 
What is a layout?
 
Glad you asked. We never like to assume that everyone has the same definition, so here’s ours: A layout is basically a sketch. It’s something that quickly, albeit roughly, conveys the overall look and feel of the finished product. Back in the day, these were actually drawn, by hand, with markers, on a pad of what was actually called “layout paper.” (How do we know? We drew tons of them!) 
 
We don’t know if anyone is using markers and paper to do layouts anymore, and that’s kind of sad. While computers offer tons of advantages over hand-drawing (the ability to simply “Save as...” and create multiple versions leaps to mind), computers are, well, too perfect. It’s easy to mistake a computer-generated layout for the final thing, creating all kinds of confusion, and undermining the purpose of the layout in the first place. 
 
You can’t make that mistake with a marker sketch. It looks quick and rough, and it automatically shifts the viewer (read: “Client”) into the proper mindset for providing feedback. 
 
(To this day, here at Copel Communications, we still hand-draw layouts. We do them monochrome, often in ballpoint pen, and then scan them in black-and-white, so they look like pencil sketches. We’d love to post some of those, here, with this article, but they’re all client-confidential. Alas.) 
 
Why do layouts exist?
 
As we’d hinted above, the purpose of a layout is to get everyone—from the client to the art director to the knob-turning web programmer—on the same page. Glancing at a layout, you can see what’s big, and what’s small. You can see how real estate has been allocated. You can see the colors used (although not in the scans we described above!). You just get a good, quick feel.
 
From there, a talented team will improve upon the layout. We did a layout for a mailer recently which featured an anthropomorphic robot on its cover. The robot was supposed to be thinking; we drew a closeup of a robot with a somewhat knitted brow. Searching the stock libraries, our graphic artist actually found an image of a robot scratching its chin in deep thought! That became the “hero image” immediately. 
 
The piece went through multiple revisions on the road from sketch to printing press. But if you compare the final product to the original layout, you can see its original spirit, intention, and energy. And you can see how it was improved, along the way, by talented team members like the graphic artist we just mentioned. 
 
What is a non-visual layout?
 
A “non-visual layout” is a term we just made up. But what it represents is something that’s been around for a while. It’s an analog to a visual layout: any kind of “sketch” that helps an internal team to perceive what’s inside the mind of that creative person, prior to any big investment in labor or production. 
 
For a writer, this would be something like a narrative concept description—we do these all the time. It’s like a written paragraph that describes, for example, what a printed piece might look and feel like: its form factor (e.g., an 8-1/2" x 11” trifold), its key headline, descriptions of the types of visuals employed (“a perplexed robot”), any cultural references, the thrust and tone of the copy, etc. 
 
We’ve worked with jingle artists (although not enough, recently; see this article) who would submit a musical “sketch” of a proposed composition: Just a quick keyboard-and-drum-machine demo, which would let us, and our client, get a feel for the hook of the tune, and, if the lyrics existed at that point, how they would play. That's a "non-visual layout," too. 
 
Why this rule exists
 
We’re big fans of creative rule-breaking here at Copel Communications. But we always issue the caveat that you can’t break a rule unless you know it inside-out first, and why breaking it, in that instance, would be better than following it. 
 
We can’t think of any good examples of breaking the “do the layout first” rule. Consider our experience with that web-dev firm. Or, better yet, try and imagine any of the projects we’d just described, proceeding without the benefit of a layout. Do you think that that jingle artist could simply bring a bunch of musicians into the studio and expect them to start playing? 
 
Layouts exist for one simple reason: Efficiency. While we’re in the creative business, it’s still a business. This is not art. This is art-for-hire. You need to keep tabs on your budget, and your time. Because they’re not your own. Someone else is paying for them. 
 
Need help with that next layout or creative concept? Contact us. We’d be delighted to help. 

Not sure about you, but 2018 positively flew past for us. In what has by now become an annual tradition, here’s our roundup of the year’s top best-practice blog posts for creatives, replete with links to each. 
 
Use this handy list as a refresher, or to simply check out any you may have missed. Enjoy! 

• The V-8 trick and other creative brainstorming techniques. Some really good tricks for squeezing more creative ideas out of you, than you’d thought you’d had in you. The “V-8” portion is way cool. 

 

• Screw ups, flubs, and outtakes. By all means, learn from our mistakes! To err is human, to profit from it, divine. Plus you’ll enjoy some good laughs, at our expense. 

 

• Help with creative assignments: New approaches to stale stock images. We love this post. It shows you how to get super creative with super un-creative input. And it helps you save money, too! 

 

• Jingles need to stage a comeback. In this article, we make a strong case for bringing back the motivational power of one of advertising’s most proven techniques. Plus it contains a dose of trivia: How many of the jingles that we mention, can you remember… and sing? 

 

• Good riddance to old tech. Some people get nostalgic about the pre-digital world. We don’t. Find out why—and find out which single tool from the old days still works as good as new. 

 

• Choose the middle name last. Here are some really important ways to keep that creative challenge of yours on track. The title of the blog comes from a real-world analogy. 

 

• How to build business by breaking the rules. It’s often said that rules are made to be broken, but if you don’t know the rule in the first place—or why it exists—you’ll simply fall flat by breaking it. This article will help you with everything from visual composition to copywriting. 

 

• Don’t be so literal! Know what “slide-show creative” is? Better yet, know how to avoid it? “Slide-show creative” is the antithesis of synergy; this article tells you how to avoid the former, and leverage the latter. 

 

• Tag your characters. Why is it not just desirable, but necessary, to draw your reader in? This article explains why storytelling is an essential tool for business-building. 

 

• Spooky creative. Know what “FUD” is? Know when it’s downright appropriate to make your audience uncomfortable? We timed the posting of this article to Halloween, per its title, but its lessons are applicable—and valuable—all year round. 

 

• Creative turkeys. Yet another holiday-themed title with info you can use all year. This article points out common creative pitfalls that can impair your impact—and how to avoid them. Take advantage! 

 
Which of these articles was your favorite? Which ones might warrant a sequel? Let us know; we’d love your feedback. We’d also love to help you with that next creative challenge, taking advantage of all of these powerful lessons learned. Contact us today to get started. 

​One of advertising’s most powerful tools has fallen by the wayside
 
Jingles have fallen out of favor lately.
 
You don’t hear them very much any more.
 
This is wrong.
 
It’s more than wrong. It’s egregious. In this article, we’re going to show you why jingles are one of the most powerful tools in the advertiser’s kit—and how you can take advantage, to grow your business. Even in today’s “non-jingle” world.
 
One-hit wonders
 
What is a jingle? It’s a short tune, usually with lyrics, employed to make a brand or campaign memorable. Ideally, it’s catchy: an “ear worm” that you can’t get out of your head.
 
We’re not composers, but we’ve worked with lots of talented jingle artists over the years. And we mean talented. In many ways, jingles are even harder to write than hit songs. Since they’re inherently short, there’s no time to build. You need to launch in fast, establish the hook, dig in, repeat if possible, and leave your audience breathless and moved. That’s a tall order for something that may only run, say, ten seconds, and get produced on a less-than-lavish budget.
 
Jingles used to be everywhere. See if you’re old enough to recall some of these classics, based on the hints below:

• Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is…

 

• Hot dogs. Armour Hot Dogs…

 

• You deserve a break today…

 

• I’d like to teach the world to sing…

 

• Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese…

 
Admit it. You’re already singing some of those tunes in your head right now. Aren’t you?
 
As we’d mentioned above, writing jingles takes real musical chops. It’s little surprise, then, that some of the most storied songwriters have cut their teeth in the jingle world. Barry Manilow, for example, penned “I’m stuck on Band-Aid” and the “Like a Good Neighbor” jingle for State Farm. Rumor has it that he was paid a flat fee of $500 for that composition.
 
If Mozart were alive today, he’d have gotten his start writing jingles. Guaranteed.
 
Why they work
 
It’s simply astonishing to us that jingles have fallen by the wayside. The so-called creatives helming major agencies these days are anything but. What, after all, is more creative than music? More importantly, from a business standpoint, what can possibly make a more visceral connection to your audience? Telling you that jingles don’t work is like telling a baker that her shop’s aroma doesn’t bring in passers-by.
 
Music is hard-wired within us. It’s with us before we’re born: we each carry our own internal metronome—our heartbeat—all our lives. And a tune with a hook? It’s irresistible. There’s an old truism from the ad world which needs more attention these days: “No one hums the announcer.”
 
Make jingles work for you
 
It’s been said that jingles are “less relevant” these days, because we live in a world of small-screen instant gratification. That’s a lame excuse. If anything, we’re even more open to jingles and their magic, given their minimal bandwidth requirements, and the ubiquity of Facebook videos, websites, satellite radio, and more. AM and FM “terrestrial” radio are still with us, but they’re no longer the only games in down.
 
And while the need for talented composers and singers can never be replaced by computer, the digital tools available to composers these days have truly leveled the playing field for the budget-constrained.
 
So how do you make a jingle work for you? First, you’ve got to have a good foundation upon which to build: a solid grasp of your target audience (do they prefer classical or rap?) and a strategy to reach them. Then reach out—search online, get suggestions from professional groups and web forums—to actual jingle artists, and get the ball rolling.
 
Not all jingles are “jingles.” Think of it: There are jingle elements you can leverage in other applications. A good tagline has a rhythm—and even rhyme—to it (“Amazon: And you’re done.”) A rhyming phone number is easier for your prospects to remember.
 
Incidentally, we’ve produced, on the ad agency side, dozens of jingles over the years, working with ingenious composers, musicians from chart-topping rock groups who sometimes moonlight for their producer friends, and gifted singers who have breathed life into our lyrics. We’re grateful for the experience.
 
Need help getting your mind around that jingle project? Need lyrics written? Have a new jingle you’d like to share with us? Contact us today. This is a topic we’re—excuse the pun—well-versed in.