In terms of labeling Blast an “ad agency”, I was definitely thinking of your work with BMW and Nike, in which case utilizing multichannels and media… kinda like an ad agency, albeit one focused on interactive and consumer engagement. I actually had a chance to catch Gurval speak a couple of years ago in Toronto & recognize you guys certainly aren’t an Omnicom. ;)

Now down to Sutori…

I like the idea. I do. But I also see it as a USP for Blast and said so. Traditional monetization methods aside, it is a value add and a differentiator which ultimately leads to selling your services. Nothing wrong with that, you’ve earned it. What form it took was my interpretation of how it could work… glad you clarified (I’ll update in the post to reference your response to my suppositions).

Glad to hear you guys are thinking about the potential pitfalls and are working on plans to address… and whew, glad we agree on transparency…

and this is bang on:

Basically, we think the internet has shifted the balance of power away from companies and into the hands of customers, and we think that offering a better, more valuable experience based on what your customers really need is the only way to survive.

Some thoughts . . .

First, I should say that I don’t think Blast is really an ad agency. We don’t do TV commercials, billboards, print ads, or even online banner ads etc. If you wanted to label us, I’d say we’re a sort of a combination between an interactive agency and a strategic consultancy.

I hope this doesn’t sound nitpicky or defensive. The reason I think it’s relevant is that Sutori is tied very closely to the way we at Blast see ourselves.

For the last two + years, our focus has been on the whole idea of customer experience. Basically, we think the internet has shifted the balance of power away from companies and into the hands of customers, and we think that offering a better, more valuable experience based on what your customers really need is the only way to survive.

Which leads us directly to Sutori. In our pitches and marketing materials we talk a lot about customers having more power and companies needing to listen, so for us Sutori is a way to turn those ideas into something real instead of just talking about them.

To address your questions about motivation and altruism, we’re thinking of Sutori as a sort of calling card. It will hopefully be something that sets us apart and attracts a little attention to our company, our ideas, and even our web-development chops.

And at the same time it’s hopefully something that people will find useful.

At this point we don’t have any plans to monetize it beyond that. And if we ever did, they would need to be completely transparent. I couldn’t agree more that transparency is absolutely vital.

As for corporate folks getting in there and seeding the site with stories, this is something that might happen, definitely. We’re considering a few approaches to prevent it, but my hope is that the community will be able to sniff out things that are less than authentic and ignore them accordingly.

And finally there’s the matter of negativity. Yes we would like to encourage some variety and some positive stories, but we are fully expecting lot’s of negativity. If someone posts something that makes one of our clients cranky, we hope they’ll think of it as an opportunity to learn something that might be valuable to know