So, there’s this other thing that really separates us from agencies – aside from all this mumbo jumbo about only doing project work, taking on a production model, etc. We are an Internet shop. We love the Internet. Oh my god, you don’t even know how much we love the Internet. Remember all that gushing people like Wired and Nicholas Negroponte were doing in the 90’s about the potential of the Internet? They were thinking small as far as we’re concerned. Seriously, we’re part of that whole “the Internet will save humanity” school of thought. It’s the single greatest invention of our era. We could go on for hours and hours. We should probably write a book one-upping Negroponte and call it Being Wicked Digital.

Now, we’re not going to go and try to convince you that the Internet rules the school. I mean, it would be awesome if you agreed, but you know, it’s okay if you don’t. We figure that’s why you’re hiring the Internet people for your Internet needs. So you don’t need to worry about it. Fine by us.

Although there are people at The Barbarian Group that are passionate about these various things, you’re not going to see us get into broadcast advertising, or fashion, or footwear, or little vinyl dolls, or filmmaking (well, not in the traditional sense). There’s not going to be a Barbarian line of clothing (don’t think we haven’t talked about it, though). We’re not looking right now for an agent to get us script deals (well, no more than anyone else, I suppose). We have a lot of plans, and a lot of ideas, but they’re about interactivity. They’re about using technology and networks and creativity to engage people. Like we said back in that aborted mission statement.

The secret of The Barbarian Group is that we are really a big translation layer. We understand how nerds and geeks talk – we are nerds and geeks. We understand how ad people talk – we’re ad people. We understand how the Internet populace talks because we grew up with it as it grew up. We understand how artists and designers talk, because we’re artists and designers. Each of these groups has different languages, and a huge part of what we do is get them all to talk to make something greater than the sum of the parts.

For the Internet, for the people who live there. This is our audience. This is our passion. This is who we’re doing this all for. The Internet.