GIF logo for Spiffly (which apparently does not involve Bogusky) via Colorado designer Dan Lehman
Former agency executive Alex Bogusky is about to start something a little different.
Here’s a semi-cryptic tweet from yesterday:
Excited to launch new social-good agency platform very soon. Imagine an agency with a community (millions) and media distribution built in.
— Alex Bogusky (@bogusky) February 23, 2015
You may notice a pattern in his recent tweets: beyond sharing the “Save the Bros” campaign from “ad startup Humanaut,” he’s been posting quite a few links to Fusion, the joint media venture of Disney/ABC TV and Univision that ended 2014 by launching a cable network and signing a slew of journalists from more traditional publications like The Atlantic, Forbes, New York magazine, and Reuters.
The reason behind that trend, it seems, is that Bogusky’s newest project is a collaboration with the people at Fusion…a sharing of the assets, as it were.
Our contacts at Fusion were mum, and a CP+B spokesperson confirmed that this is NOT a Crispin Porter joint. A Denver Egotist reader claims that the new project is Spiffly, a Boulder-based “community for the natural and socially conscious goods industry” set to launch any day now.
Former CP+B senior strategist Jim Moscou and others will use these pooled assets to bring attention to area nonprofits and, eventually, global companies doing what people in the PR field call “corporate social responsibility” or CSR.
Spiffly reads like a combination agency/B2B social network. From the group’s LinkedIn page, which classifies it as a “partnership”:
“Launched in Boulder, CO. in January 2014 by a small group of entrepreneurs, strategists, and designers, Spiffly believes in the power of products that do good. In turn, Spiffly aggregates online for the first time one of the fastest growing, most innovative, and most influential business communities in today — companies and professionals making and supporting a new generation of consumer products that take into consideration people, planet and profits.”
Here’s more from the Spiffly Facebook page:
“At Spiffly, we believe in transparency and authenticity; a fun and festival atmosphere; to help fledgling and established brands alike to thrive and succeed; and to bring to market the first ever natural products ‘pro deal’, sampling, social/discovery shopping platform (and much more) at Spiffly.is.”
Regarding the venture’s mascot:
“…to manifest this unique vision, we really had to start from scratch and be our own animal. Thus, introducing the one and only, Spiffly!”
The Spiffly Twitter account currently follows one person: Boulder-area “healthy living market expert” Carlotta Mast.
What’s not yet clear is what Spiffly will create beyond the network itself — and how it will partner with green-themed companies looking to exchange their goods and services for some form of legal currency via that social/discovery shopping platform.
But at least it’s not advertising.