Since launching Grabba Beast a few days ago, we have been getting a large portion of traffic from a surprising source: teachers. 

I first came by Larry Ferlazzo's blog post that reads:

Grabba Beast will be a big winner in any ELL class. Students can easily and quickly create their own unique monster and then have several ways to share it. If they choose the eCard version, they can describe it and get a unique url address to post. If they choose “save to gallery,” it appears that they can get an embed code for it.

I’ll certainly be including it in the next installment of my “The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly.”

Grabba Beast for English as a Second Language students??? Interesting…

Well, Larry seems to be a fairly popular fellow. Other teachers from Sacramento to Australia are jumping on the make-students-use-Grabba-Beast bandwagon and are creating coursework for everything from ESL to computer applications/Web 2.0 students.

Pete Lane developed a multi-day plan that starts with simply building Beasts over a two-day period before they will learn how to share them (via our share services). Curiously, they even plan to explore the site's Terms of Use (possibly because of its policy to be 13 or older to register).

His post reads:

I am pleased to introduce you to Mesostylin. He is the newest addition to my online community of friends. You, too, can create an online friend to share with others my visiting the site Grabba Beast.

There are a multitude (a lot) of ways you can share your creation with others; however, over the next two days I just want you to spend some time finding out what you can do with it. So have some fun trying out different body forms, mouths, arms, legs, etc. and modifying the colors and backgrounds of your beast.

Next week we will explore the different ways in which we can send our creations to others. Additionally, we will take a look at the Terms of Service that need to be agreed upon to create an Grabba Beast account.

On a forum called ESL Printables, an anonymous English teacher in Spain known only as "mjotab" says:

(w/r/t Grabba Beast & sic)
I am prepairing a collection of monsters for an oral activity about parts of the body and description, though I can’t share it here just in case is against copyright, but you may want to use the link to create your own activity.

The trend doesn't stop at blogs and forums. On Twitter, @feedtheteacher (via @larryferlazzo @ShellTerrell, @dannymaas, @educatoral, @iteachgrade2, @rpetersmauri, among others, and hashtags #edtech and #teacher) says:

@GrabbaBeast it's awesome...we have to teach lessons that are totally 'monster oriented', lol, so your site will be a sure hit!

@GrabbaBeast I will show your site to some fellow teachers, and if it is of your interest we can send u feedback :)

@GrabbaBeast great 2 know that u are open to feedback...I am sure great projects can come out of this...#welovemonsters

This isn't just a few teachers talking to each other on Twitter. In the past two days, we have seen a 50% day-over-day increase of traffic strictly from education sources. And we're starting to see student pages linking to Grabba Beast (although this one calls it "Grab a Beast").

The marketer in me can't help but laugh about the idea of teachers, of all people, forcing teen students (our primary demographic) to use the site. I can only assume this will fuel a trend and make my job of marketing Grabba Beast a breeze.

But the thought of Grabba Beast being valuable as an educational tool really has me thinking about what more we can do to help teachers facilitate these unique platforms. I'm curious to see how this use evolves and what more we can do to get Grabba Beast in front of more teachers. Ideas?

DigitalNext, October 13, 2008
Advertising Age (online version)

A long-running debate in creative circles has centered upon who deserves the credit for award-winning digital work: the agencies who execute it, the agencies who originate the idea or both.

The dialogue this summer hit a crescendo in the wake of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival when Michael Lebowitz, co-founder and CEO of Big Spaceship—a shop instrumental in executing the “Voyeur” campaign for which Omnicom Group’s BBDO took home a slew of prizes—condemned both BBDO and the awards system for not giving due credit to his firm for its role in a campaign that crossed from outdoor to digital to film.

Here, weighing in on the issue is Merrick (yes, that‘s both his first and last name), president-executive creative director at Lakonic*, a digital creative and production agency with offices in Chicago and Portland, Ore.

*Lakonic is now Tangible Worldwide.