This post was written by Aquent's Alex Weaver. This is a picture of him.
Over the past couple weeks, the only thing that's been jammed down my throat more than the relentlessly ridiculous Snuggie ("The Blanket with Sleeves!") are the ever-demanding "25 Random Things" lists popping up all over Facebook (where, in case you didn't know, Aquent too has a page).
I've been wearing my bathrobe backwards for years now, so I've got the Snuggie thing on lock. What I haven't done is put together a "25 Random Things" list, so I thought I would do one for Aquent. Then it struck me that we've been around for 20 odd years and tens of thousands of people have participated in the Aquent story along the way. Thus, I decided to start with a mere "15 Random Things About Aquent" and invite y'all to add to it and pass it along. Here goes....
- Aquent" is pronounced "ay-kwent."
- Our company band, TNEUQA played at the House of Blues in Cambridge, MA.
- Former Aquent talent Jim Infantino sang the national anthem to open a Red Sox game.
- Al Gore spoke at Aquent's Cre8 conference in 2007.
- Our bi-annual Talent parties are generally "themed," with recent themes including: Mustache Party, Aquent Prom, and Taco Truck Night.
- Longtime Aquent employee Kim Schaefer was a featured voice in the original Grand Theft Auto. Ben Weaver, brother of Aquent employee Alex Weaver, was the voice of the pizza delivery guy in the "Liberty City" edition.
- Our CMO was Aquent's first employee and our CFO was Aquent's first temp.
- The Los Angeles Business Journal and the Boston Globe recently recognized our LA and Boston offices as "Best Places to Work."
- For you parents out there, Aquent recently placed talent at the company that created Club Penguin.
- Employees get free use of a waterfront beach house in Hawaii (after the house in Florida was wrecked by a hurricane).
- Our creative director proposed to his wife online via an Aquent job posting.
- We represent Gino Bona, the copywriter who won the NFL's 2007 "Write an ad for the Superbowl" contest. (View clip)
- An Aquent talent designed the Massachusetts custom license plate featuring the "Right Whale."
- Erin Bloom, Aquent's Director of PR, directed her junior high school's production of "Cats" after beating out Grammy-winning artist Pink (a.k.a Alecia Moore) for the lead. See for yourself.
- Our LA office keeps a running tally of their candy supply via resident Blogger, Propagandist, and Stuff Coordinator Tim Donnelly's blog.
So, what random Aquent-ness can you chip in?
16. Aquent Detroit's Interactive Creative Recruiter, Mariam McCarthy, is a singer/songwriter. She will have 2 songs featured in an upcoming Rosie O'Donnell Lifetime Original Movie "America,"
Mariam goes by the name of Silent Violet
http://www.myspace.com/silentvioletmusic
17. The team in Vancouver have a silver party horn that they blow to celebrate filling an order. (Often accompanied by a little jig!) - Photo coming shortly : )
14a. I should add to #14 that Aquent Talent Chris Gatto (Philadelphia) also appears in the "Cats" photo! He's the guy wearing glasses in the top row.
Several of these are in the category of "really cool things done by Aquent talent." Let's not let that fade away. What can we do to uncover more of these cool things, and learn about new ones as the occur?
8a. Our Australian and New Zealand offices were selected as the region’s favourite specialist recruiter and also best multi-national recruitment firm.
18. Aquent was nominated for a British Academy Award in 2000, Interactive Factual category, but we lost to the BBC.
19. A former Aquent talent in Japan came up with the name “Wii”.
20. Aquent’s CEO has driven the same car for over 20 years, a 1987 Toyota Tercel.
Whoa. John is still driving that Tercel? I did not know that.