Today Fast Horse is unplugging.  No email.  No Facebook.  No Twitter.  No Google.  No YouTube.  Nothing digital.

How the hell are we going to be productive?

Well, we’re going to channel our inner Don Drapers and Peggy Olsons, that’s how.

Today we’re walking away from all of our digital crutches and lifelines as a gentle reminder that we can still be very productive in this business away from the keyboard, and that our business depends on doing so frequently. It’s Lose the Laptop Day at Fast Horse, and that means from 9-5 you won’t find us doing our thing digitally. Instead, we’ll be out in force, meeting with clients, new-business prospects, job candidates, influencers, friends of the agency and even our colleagues.  Face-to-face. The way people used to communicate in this business.  We’ll go to the Walker for a little creative spark. Some plan a little trend-spotting  and secret-shopping.  Some will doodle. With pencil and paper. Others will head to the library and lean against the stacks, flipping through trade journals and, yes, books.  The kind with spines.  Might even go to the microfiche. (Do they still have microfiche?) We’ll learn things the way they used to learn things in this business — by leaving the building and getting out into the real world.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re not anti-digital. And it’s not like we don’t ever do the things we plan to do on Lose the Laptop Day.  Quite the opposite. The point is, shops like ours can’t afford to fall into a digital rut. The internet is the great equalizer, and that is very much a double-edged sword for a creative boutique in Minneapolis competing against behemoths everywhere.  So, today is Lose the Laptop Day at Fast Horse, and we’re going cold turkey.

What would Don Draper do? What would you do?