We’re almost two years old now. We’ve got eight full time employees. And, I’d like to think, a fairly impressive pedigree. Yet I understand why potential clients sometimes question, “How will you get all of my work done?”

The answer is our friends—all 450 of them—in the Magnet 360 agency network.

Today we participated in the second Magnet 360 partners Summit. Hello Viking is an inaugural member of the network (which now includes over 20 agencies), founded by Scott Litman and Dan Mallin, who’ve got long, entrepreneurial experience running agencies serving Fortune 100 accounts. 

Our agreement with Magnet empowers Hello Viking to bring in experts across specialized areas of marketing technology, product and graphic design, promotions, direct mail and e-commerce. We’re currently working with AdFusion, part of ARA Net, and have collaborated with Kruskopf Coontz. This agreement solves integration and financial issues upfront. Our clients get the benefit of enhanced services speedily integrated into their relationship with Hello Viking.

We think it’s the wave of the future, in terms of how agencies will collaborate to best serve marketers.

And it’s fun.

Really.

Today’s Summit exposed our team to all kinds of innovative work in cloud computing, CRM, email, automated landing pages and web applications. And must-have iPhone apps for camera fanatics.

You really do need QuadCam on your iPhone. (Thanks, Robb.)

We left David Armano’s recent presentation, from Conversations About The Future Of Advertising, with lots of positive energy. The very nature of marketing and advertising and the role of ad agencies is so clearly going through massive change.

David made an interesting comment about the mutation of advertising agencies, pointing to The Barbarian Group, EVB, Modernista! and our neighbors at Zeus Jones. First, he called them “agencies.” Yet for as long as we remember, our friends at TBG refused to call themselves an “ad agency” (and for good reason). Second, he noted how many of these agencies had become famous for promoting themselves with stunning, rich Flash experiences—yet now they all leverage very functional, very user-friendly, very much non- “flashturbation” websites. 

We’re all trying to be useful.

Here’s a great example: Extendr.com— “Your link to rule them all.”

Concepted and developed by Neil Berget and our very own Joseph Rueter, Extendr solves the dilemma of the modern online person—you’ve got too many URLs and no easy way to share them.

The inspiration came during a job search. If all that you are is spread across the Internet, which link do you lead with? How do you connect them all together to represent a coherent vision?

Neil and Joseph created an elegant, highly customizable solution that’s being adopted by students and professionals with diverse portfolios (multiple Flickr groups, YouTube, Slideshare, LinkedIn) as well as companies like our own.

In our case, Extendr works great for new business or client presentations where we’ve got lots of different links to guide our audience through. Extendr’s “Tour” function (upper right corner of your Extendr page) offers a nifty bit of utility—ushering the viewer sequentially through your links with a small toolbar across the top. 

The advantage here is speed. We can alter our Extendr page in seconds.

This is exactly what David was referring to on Monday. Advertising must now be useful, not to its creators, but to its audience. And advertising agencies must shift their focus towards empowering and enabling the lives of our brand’s audiences. 

If you’d like to know more about Extendr, please contact Joseph via “josephr [at] helloviking [dot] com.”

We’ve got new office space!

Hello Viking just signed a lease on space directly above Sebastian Joe’s ice cream, at 1005 West Franklin Ave., Suite #1 in Minneapolis. Looks like we’ll be moving in around June 1. 

Got any recommendations on office furniture? Wall decals? Exercise equipment?

We’re excited about the space and its proximity to world class ice cream. And public transportation. And the freeway. And dry cleaning. And Lyle’s Liquor Bar.

We look forward to seeing you in our new home.

Clay Shirky’s got the title right.

Oprah’s joined Twitter. Look out world—here comes everybody.

(A hat tip to Mack Collier for his great insights and links on this topic.)

I’ve been involved with Twitter for almost two years now. Like so many others, I’ve offered countless explanations of the service—never mind pitched it to clients as part of a campaign, and encouraged my students to participate. I’d like to think I “get” it, as much for what Twitter can do as what it certainly can’t.

So I’m excited to see how something I’ve integrated into my life (personal and professional) goes mainstream. Maybe fewer people will require this video for explanation.

Mack, Beth and Jeremiah are all offering brilliant insights into how Oprah’s adoption, and Ashton Kutcher’s climb to 1,000,000 followers last week, will change Twitter forever. Fine.

What intrigues me is how this rapid adoption (via the lure of celebrity) will change most of us, and continue to change how we do business together. We’re getting more and more comfortable with technology. I recall working for a CEO not long ago who refused to have a computer—his assistant would print out emails, and he’d hand-write responses, which she would type and send.

Technologies like Twitter will become invisible and expected, much like email more or less has become. We’ll just use it. Our customers will just use it. The process will become ingrained in the marketing landscape. 

But not just yet. First we’ve got to journey through the bumpy parts of the road, where the cultural rules and standards are ironed out. (Hey, maybe Twitter itself will actually become stable.) But we’ll all go through this together, which is both important and meaningful. 

If brands and marketers want to capture the rising sail of social media, and Twitter in particular, it won’t be enough to ride Oprah’s coattails or approach. Like the rest of us, you’ll have to determine your own approach. You’ll have to participate.

Start today.