My partner Kevin and I gave away 17 video iPods to our staff as a holiday gift. Big smiles all around.

The reasoning for this largess was two-fold. First, we had a great year, our team worked very hard and while we also gave out very nice bonuses (a tradition here), we know that cash can be ephemeral and a good solid gift is remembered.

The second reason is more important. We need to get all of our staff on the same Podcast page. We are a “traditional” hybrid ad/design agency and while we do interactive programs it isn’t our dally bread. It has to become more daily if we are going to survive in a world where the growth of interactive marketing is way outpacing traditional programs. We are moving a couple of clients this year into the Podcasting space and we are creating a seperate Podcast business and group here. The iPods are the signal of change.

Now, just imagine if BBDO gave EVERY employee a Video iPod. This would be a huge story covered in both ADWEEK and Advertising Age. So keep in mind that we have vision with teeth (sic) and they, big agencies who don’t usually walk the talk, do not. We hope we payout this vision. Stay tuned – we’ll be launching our Podcast business in first quarter.