We're Back

Hello, marketing geniuses! Yes, we're back. It's really me, Skip Lineberg, from Maple Creative. If you've been here lately, you have undoubtedly seen some weird stuff at this URL. "Blog Not Found" messages. A spoof image of our blog. SPAM ads. All kinds of weird, unauthorized junk.

But now, we are back. The real deal. I wish I could tell you how great it feels to type these words. It feels great for several reasons, but primarily because for the last 10 days, I had no blog. Marketing Genius was taken away from us about 10 days ago. It feels great to be back blogging again. Thanks to many, many people who helped us through this miserable episode, we regained control of Marketing Genius today around 3:30 pm (8 hours ago) today.

So what happened? And how did it transpire?

It's a long, complicated story. I still do not have all of the answers; neither does Blogger, or Google. We probably will never know all of the details. That's irrelevant. We have nothing to hide. And I promise to share this story with all who want to know.

The hijacking of Marketing Genius is a story of copyright infringement. It involves confusion and misinformation. Conversely, it's a story of the true power and real, inherent beauty of social networking. It's a story of friendship ... of strategy and decision-making. And finally, perhaps more than anything, it is a story of the Power of the Press. We battled back, utilizing a two-fold strategy of legal and media tactics.

There are lessons here for everyone. So come on back tomorrow, and learn more, as we reveal this frightening, complicated series of events. What happened to me could happen to any blogger.