PJA Scratch: On launching an internal innovation blog, and what we've learned
In January, we launched PJA Scratch (as in money, or improvisation, or scratch pad), an internal blog for our advertising agency. The launch was quiet, and our expectations modest. Simply put, we wanted a better way than email for collecting and sharing ideas within the agency.


After six months, Scratch has become a small but important influence on agency strategy and culture. It is a relatively active–and broadly participated in–forum. There have been 273 posts, or an average of just over two a day. 29 people, or just over half the agency, have submitted a post.
The top category for postings is inspiration (75 posts), which gives you a pretty good capture of the spirit of Scratch. The plurality of posts are on tools, technologies, marketing and media applications that have captured someone's imagination as interesting or relevant–or indeed, inspirational. But inspiration can also mean something less applied to marketing, like fund raising efforts to support a cause, or notes about an art exhibition. Advertising (55), Social media (54), tools, (25), and research and analytics (36) are also popular topics. Looking at the tag cloud is a pretty good capture of what's important to the agency at any given moment.
Scratch has been most successful as a repository for cool ideas. When we want to remember where to find that really good e-book about how to write an e-book (right here, by David Meerman Scott, in case you're interested), or the cool texting/graffiti mash-up (Wiffiti), or the quite useful free Web site evaluator (websitegrader.com), you can find it here. Scratch has become a window on our culture. I have shared it with people I'm recruiting and new employees, because I think it particularly revealing of the agency and its cast of characters.
And while we don't have particular expectations around its immediate relevance to our client work, there are several examples of cool applications that someone has posted that have shown up in our recommendations for clients. (web video applications and Wiffiti, to name a few).
Where has Scratch disappointed? It is not a conversation. There have been 73 comments, roughly one comment for every four posts. The most fertile posts get 3-4 comments. This is hardly Cluetrain Manifesto territory.
Overall, I think we would call it a success, and here are a few factors:

We chose the right platform. Scratch is authored as a WordPress blog, but we explored a couple of applications before we started. We thought of our file server, or our intranet. Both felt like they were too cumbersome. A number of us thought an internal wiki would be the way to go. We looked at the wiki software, and honestly, basic tasks like posting and editing looked a little complex. Besides, there is something intimidating, I think, about trying to create, then refine, something definitive. I think the reason Scratch works as well as it does it feels dashed off. Here's a quick thought, vs. here is something really interesting that has passed a serious self-editing process.

We have a champion. Our head of interactive production really championed this, figured out the technology solution, rules for participation, etc. And he seeded it with posts for the first two weeks, to give it some momentum and to suggest an editorial point of view. And he has been Scratch's most prolific contributor.

We have enthusiastic buy-in from the top. All the partners are regular contributors, and our agency president is one of the top posters.
We promote it. We stump for Scratch regularly, sharing interesting posts at office meetings. And occasionally send out emails reminding people of their log-ins and encouraging them to contribute.
I would welcome any thoughts on how to improve on what we've done, or any tips or best practices. One question: is it worth making something like Scratch visible to the world? I don't think there is anything incriminating, or embarrassing to the agency. My only worry is that people will become inhibited, and Scratch will become a less vital place. Anyway, I'd love to hear any suggestions.