L&S Unscripted

In week 10:

- Jeff Hanson is mortal for one week.

- Jeremy Peters walks his way to a double win.

- Contestants seek Judge’s pre-ruling on drastic tactics for final week.

The details are brought to you by this week’s sponsor, The Keg where “It’s All About the Deep Fat Fried Chicken” which is going smoke free on March 29.

In a week with no big losers Peters (1.45%) took top honors. He was followed closely by Molly Schenkel (1.32%), Courtney Lotzer (1.08%), Kristy Anderson (1.05%) and Derek Soukup (1.05%).

Lotzer continued her late charge into the competition for grand prize money awarded to the top three losers at the end of the contest. She has devised an aggressive strategy for the final week which has received The Judge’s approval. Like grandma always said, whatever doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger. Hanson’s slight gain combined with John Pohlman’s loss tightened the race for first place and Korena Keys moved up one position. Standings to date are: Hanson (11.78%), Pohlman (9.27%), The Judge (7.75%) Soukup (7.60%), Lotzer (7.09%), Keys (5.46%) and Nikki Gronli (5.26%).

Hanson and Gronli’s exit from the Judge’s Club (no weight gains in any week) leaves only three members: Keys, Scott Lawrence and The Judge.

In the footstep race Peters (154,734) became only the second contestant to break the 150,000 barrier which is roughly a 2.5 hour per day commitment over 7 days. Pohlman (104,123) turned in his first century mark. This week’s additional members of the 10,000-steps-per-day club were The Judge (85,060), Soukup (80,475), Hanson (78,147) and Sarah Rindels (76,261).

The Keg Deep Fat Fried Watch  for the final week:

Will Gump hold off Sparky for the top prize?

Will Lotzer’s strategy propel her into the money?

Who will be the biggest loser on the final week?

Reset your pedometers and let the final week begin.

-The Judge

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:10 — 3.9MB)

Webinars are easy to come by. If you’ve shared your email address with any kind of marketing or advertising website you probably have an invitation to one sitting in your inbox right now.

Presenting a webinar on the other hand… that’s a different story.  Preparing, practice and producing a 60 minute “show” can be hard. But in the words of Coach Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own,  “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”

Take a listen as The Extra Minute sits down with John Pohlman, VP of Creative Services at Lawrence & Schiller, to discuss the challenges and rewards of hosting a webinar.

In week nine:

- Courtney Lotzer wins back-to-back
- Jeff Hanson’s pedometer addiction reaches insane new high
- Only two more weigh-ins remain

The details are brought to you by this week’s sponsor, The Olson Twins C2 Diet Plan.

In a performance worthy of comparison to the SDSU Women and NDSU Men’s come from behind Summit Basketball Championship victories, Lotzer destroyed the field for the second week in a row with a 3.14% loss. The closest followers were Hanson (1.88%) and Michelle Adrian (1.47%)

Lotzer’s late charge has moved her into the competition for grand prize money awarded to the top three losers at the end of the contest. Not bad considering that two weeks ago she weighed in half a pound heavier than when the contest started. Standings to date are: Hanson (12.02%), John Pohlman (8.47%), Soukup (6.62%), Lotzer (6.08%), Nikki Gronli (6.02%) and Korena Keys (4.89%).

The contestants still in the “Judge’s Club” by avoiding weight gains in any week are: Keys, Gronli, Hanson, Scott Lawrence and The Judge.

In the footstep race Gump went just plain nuts and became the first to break the 150,000 barrier. I’m not exactly sure how many hours The Floating Brain spent on the Sanford Wellness Center treadmill last night but he did admit to telling his wife she better drive separately to the gym. Jeremy Peters, who was also gunning for 150,000 this week, finished second with 123,400. Melody Morton, who says she has given up the “crazy chase”, logged 110,005.  This week’s additional members of the 10,000-steps-per-day club were Pohlman (89,869) and The Judge (85,599).

Because Hanson has won the pedometer cash more than once before the prize money goes to Peters. 

The Olson Twins Caffeine and Cigarettes Watch for week ten:  

Will Lotzer continue her charge for the cash?
Will the contestants resort to Hollywood tactics with only two weigh-ins to go?
Will Hanson embark on a Gump Run to the coast?
Who will finish in the money as The Judge has declared an ONLY TWO PREVIOUS WINS WEEK*?

*For week ten prize money will be paid to people who have not won that contest three times or more. I haven’t checked the records but this may be the “Hanson Rule”.

Reset your pedometers and let the week 10 contest begin.

-The Judge

For the Social Media Boot Camp season finale, we brought in the ratings boosters –a.k.a. VP Dan Edmonds (@monkeyboy5280) and VP John Pohlman (@johnpohlman) to discuss the impact of social media on our design world.

For those not familiar with the history of social media design, let me give you a brief overview.  In the mid-1990’s we entered the era of Early Static Websites. These websites allowed users to view the website’s message but only accounted for one-way communication, similar to traditional advertising. The era of Early Web Applications was soon created and those applications allowed online users to interact solely with the propriety content on the website, but two way communications started to take hold; Oh No! What’s an advertiser to do! (j/k J)

Today, we have entered into the golden era of Social Web Applications, which allows for multiple-way communication, promotes interactions and connects people together. This is why design is so important, people are using these websites to interact with other users and the brand, and users don’t need a poorly designed website getting in their way.

To succeed in the current era of Social Web Applications there are two important rules to follow:

1. Don’t Do Anything without a Plan

2. No Need to Invent the Wheel Twice.

These may seem like very basic rules to follow, but it’s good to remember that though the medium of interacting is new and different, the design concept behind the interaction is at the core, the same.

The Best Practices of Social Media Design (summed up in webinar 10): Make Interacting Easy. When a user comes to a website they need to be able to engage quickly and without a long search for the content they want, or thought they would find. Think of how many times you have gone to a website and quickly wanted to make a purchase, upload a file, or find a link, but the icon seems to have disappeared from the site!  I know I get irritated when I spend too long on the website; for some reason my frustration “rope” is much shorter when working with technology than in the off-line world. Technology is here to make life easier, not more complicated; a website should be designed with the users’ intentions in mind.

In the era of Social Web Applications, users want to become a part of the website, so it is important to design and support the development of online communities. Everyone always wants to feel connected and a part of something, so design your website as a place for members to share interests, join groups or post blogs. As we have entered the web applications era, we want users to become part of the site and have it be a place to communicate and connect with others of similar interests.

At the end of the webinar, @johnpohlman and @monkeyboy5280 didn’t leave any cliff hangers but they did leave some words of wisdom: Make sure the experience belongs to the user!

Thank you for participating in our webinars, and see you next season!

South Dakota’s Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center Network provides programs and services to help businesses start, grow and succeed. This month, the small business education series will venture into marketing and how, in today’s changing business environment, it can help your small business survive and thrive.

“Marketing Matters,” a four-week educational web series, kicks off July 9 to educate business owners on the value of marketing plans, social media and other ways to better position themselves in today’s economy.

As a leading regional advertising and marketing firm, Lawrence & Schiller is proud to support the: South Dakota’s Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center Network to help lend insight and experience to the conversation.

Thursday, July 9: Roadmap to Marketing Success: Simple Steps to Writing a Successful Marketing Plan

• Courtney Davidson and Micah Aberson, Lawrence & Schiller
• Wayne Wagner, CFGear

Thursday, July 16: Google Matters: How Does Your Website Measure Up?

• Krista Gussiaas and Eric Ellefson, Lawrence & Schiller
• Greg Jasmer, DAKOTACARE

Thursday, July 23: The First Impression: Building a Positive Customer Experience

• Natalie Eisenberg and Courtney Lotzer, Lawrence & Schiller
• Michele Slott, Prairie Berry Winery

Thursday, July 30: Social Media Marketing: How to Start Your Online Conversation

• Robin Temple, Lawrence & Schiller
• Paul Ten Haken, Click Rain

Sessions are free and begin at 10:00 am (CST) via webcast. Learn more and sign up by calling the SBA at 605-330-4243 and press 0.

River City Racin’ – they’ve got the prime location, 150 mph hydroplane racing craft, headlining entertainers and thousands of fans. Now all they needed was a cool website to let everyone know about it.

L&S designers and programmers got to work, creating a new site that features online ticket and parking pass purchasing, a Snapshot Contest designed to encourage photo sharing, videos, race standings and a lot of information on the world of hydroplane racing. All of this functionality is complete with a live feed on race day and links connecting River City Racin’s various social media channels, like Twitter and YouTube.

While the site is a great example of accelerating web design for usability and visual appeal, supporting television, radio, web banners and print materials back up the message.

Get your tickets today for this national event, July 11 & 12 in Chamberlain-Oacoma, SD. We’ll see you on the sidelines.

I am not sure about anyone else, but when I heard the words ‘gaming’ and ‘online’ used together I automatically thought of World of Warcraft and Second Life type sites that consume the user’s lives. So I was very interested to attend our ninth webinar, “The Games We Play” led by Julie (@flanneryallen) and Micah (@micahaberson) to see past the stereotype and to the future of gaming, social media and marketing.

The big question that everyone wants answered is why should I invest time, money and resources into gaming and how do I measure its effectiveness?

These statics from Omma help prove that gaming is a fast growing segment:

• 57% of AT&T wireless customers play mobile games on their wireless devices
• 50% play games during work
• 15% of all mobile users have purchased games

Most importantly though, is that more time is spent on gaming than any other form of social networking. Think of how much time is spent on Facebook and Twitter- now increase that and it becomes a large period of time that a consumer is having direct interaction with your brand-what more could be worth the investment?

Julie and Micah simplified the gaming concept into three categories: Branded Applications, Game Games, and Social Networking Games.

Branded Applications occur when companies start in the digital world and from that create a new product. Nike did this with Nikeid, which allows consumers to customize their own Nike shoe online, have it manufactured with their exact specifications and then shipped to their home. A few years ago I purchased a pair of Nike tennis shoes this way- it was actually one of Oprah’s Favorite Things that Christmas season. The point is I never thought of myself as a gamer, when it turns out I was participating in the gaming world without evening realizing it! Dominos also incorporated its brand into an online game. The concept is very easy: create ‘your’ pizza, register it online, and if the pizza is ordered more than any other registered pizza, you win! This becomes a fun competition between friends when they register pizzas against each other, and turns into a great incentive to order Domino’s pizza and to spread positive word of mouth so others order ‘your’ pizza.

Game Games, simply put, takes the old favorites and reinvents them in a social media way to bring together a company’s brand and the consumer. Brick Break and Mortal Combat (or in Mento’s version Kiss Fight) can be re-used so the game will connect back to the brand. A really innovative way movie theatres used this idea was creating an interactive group brick break game while movie goers were waiting for the movie to start. That sounds much more entertaining than watching the same commercial every few minutes or the movie reals which give the same uninteresting Hollywood facts.

Social Networking Games are most common. Think of all the ‘which character are you’ quizzes that have been taken on various social networking sites- or anywhere online for that matter. When brands create a game or quiz they are essentially bringing consumers to them and creating a fun way to interact together. Volkswagen used the social networking concept in creating a ‘What Volkswagen are You’ quiz to inform users of the Volkswagen family in a fun non-traditional marketing way. A great example given of gaming during the webinar was the ‘Whopper Sacrifice’ which made Facebook users ‘sacrifice’ or de-friend 10 of their friends in order to receive a free whopper. Burger King wanted to emphasize how much America loves the whopper and what we would sacrifice to have one. Eventually Facebook kicked the whopper game offline, but not before the whopper made a lasting impact on the gaming community.

Twitter has even entered into the gaming world with celebrities like Eminem and Shaq creating games their fans and followers can play to win free tickets to their events. This could be a good place for smaller business to test out gaming by creating scavenger hunts or other fun games for customers to play.

So what are the values of gaming?

Consumers are actively engaged in making a connection to your brand, you’re able to build databases for future marketing, and it drives repeat visits to the brands website. Gaming effectiveness is fairly easy to measure by looking at how many sales can be connected back to the game and by how many consumers routinely visit the site.

So who now isn’t a gamer?

Your brand’s message matters but more importantly, what is the message the consumers are sending? Word of Mouth conversations, and advertising, are becoming one of the most influential and credible forms of publicity for a brand, in part to the growth of social media. Session 8 of our L&S Social Media Boot Camp kicked off with a discussion led by Jeff Hanson and Molly Schenkel.

Long before blogging was available, consumers relied purely on the message the company was delivering to make informed purchase decisions. Gradually, consumers started talking amongst themselves about what they liked and disliked about brands, but there wasn’t a way to spread the information very quickly and consumers still turned to the brand for the main message. In today’s world, consumers and brands have the ability to talk together and create a message that matters.

Think of the last time you purchased a new brand or product, most likely it was because you heard from someone that it was worth a try. Companies have quickly realized that consumers are turning more towards digital influencers and bloggers than “ads” for product information. For these influential bloggers, some companies have begun to send thank- you’s and sometimes have even tried to provide incentives for promoting the product. But do so carefully . . .even with a relationship or incentive, the messenger doesn’t work for your brand – they will act on behalf of the consumer, not you.

Digital communities are another great way of getting the message out there. By creating a community in the digital world it allows an infinite amount of users to discuss how they use the product, new ideas for the product, or to simply connect together with a common interest.  These forums or chat areas are a great avenue to gain feedback from consumers, which can lead to new product developments or a more user friendly version of existing products.

An example given in the webinar was on Barilla Pasta. As an incentive for consumers to try the new line of pasta’s, Barilla gave consumers a sample of the product to host their very own ‘Pasta Party’. The party thrower was then asked to simply blog about the party, the pasta and the fun. This was a perfect way to connect the brand and consumer together to create a positive message.

For your message to be heard however you also need to make sure you are using the right channel so your audience will be able to find you. Do your homework and start with a keyword search on your company or brand to see how relevant you are, where you rank, and review what others are saying about you – is it how you want your company to be portrayed?

You want people talking about you, and hopefully, its in a positive light. Make sure the message you are sending matters to your audience but don’t forget to listen to the messages your consumers are sending you!

In week eight:

- For the second straight week, a first-time weight-loss champion

- Jeff Hanson’s pace slows amid steroid testing threat

- Walking his way to work and a pedometer victory

The details are brought to you by this week’s sponsor, Lee’s Meats “The Champions of Cheddar Injecting.”

In the weight loss contest Courtney Lotzer destroyed the field with a 3.77% loss. Her secret? Go on an indulgent vacation, gain a bunch of weight and then cash in the following week. The closest followers were Derek Soukup (1.55%), Billie Jo Waara (1.26%), Laura Mitchell (1.19%) The Judge (1.14%) and Kristy Anderson (1.06%).

The contestants still in the “Judge’s Club” by avoiding weight gains in any week are: Korena Keys, Nikki Gronli, Soukup, Hanson, Scott Lawrence and The Judge.

The grand prize for the contest will be based on total percentage weight lost over all 12 weeks. Top performers to date are: Hanson (10.34%), John Pohlman (8.27%), The Judge (7.22%), Soukup (6.86%), Gronli (5.64%) and Keys (4.60%). The top three will finish in the money and The Judge is not eligible for cash awards.

Jeremy Peters won his second pedometer championship with 109,395 steps. He may want to watch out for a silver Nissan as he walks back and forth to work as Melody Morton was right behind with 107,682.  This week’s additional members of the 10,000-steps-per-day club were Pohlman (93,555), Hanson (92,328), Keys (79,892), Michelle Adrian (77,680) and The Judge (79,601).

Because the top four placers had all won before, Keys took home the pedometer cash prize.  

Total steps this week were down about 110,000 to 869,451.   

The Lee’s Meats Cheddar Injected Watch for week nine:  

Will Gump bounce back?

Who will finish in the money as The Judge has declared an ONLY ONE PREVIOUS WIN WEEK*?

Will we see changes in the top three as we move into the home stretch of the contest.

*For week nine prize money will be paid to first or second time winners only. If someone has won the pedometer contest they are still eligible to win the weight-loss challenge and vice versa.

Reset your pedometers and let the week nine contest begin.

-The Judge

It’s not quite as infamous as the chicken or the egg, but a compelling question nonetheless for marketing folk. Should your company use an in-house marketing department or advertising agency to reach its goals?

For a lot of businesses, the answer is both.

Why agencies bring your “A” game:

The outside perspective. When people look at the product through the eyes of the company, they don’t always see it through the eyes of the consumer. That’s where an agency comes in. Their job is to represent your customer with an outside perspective and objective voice.

The quality. Not all agencies produce the same quality of work. But a good one knows how to knock a piece out of the park. When it comes to web, broadcast or anything else we call “Tier 1” advertising (that solely communicates the feel of a brand and emotional connection behind it), you want the quality a great agency can provide.

The collective experience. With an in-house marketing department, your experience is limited to your team. In an agency, marketing is everyone’s job, from the web designer downstairs to the AE in the corner office. Their collective years of experience can tally in the hundreds. And they spend all day mixing it up with other ad pros to collaborate and provide more valuable critique.

The new media. Without an agency, in-house marketing departments face the danger of becoming institutionalized and missing out on new media opportunities. Your agency’s job is to keep up with the latest trends that can propel your brand forward. 

The measurement. Above all, CEOs are looking for ROI – proof that this advertising thing really works. Your agency should provide reports on campaign effectiveness using dashboards, web analytics and other measurement tools so your marketing department can quantify ROI for management.

Why in-house staffing is smart:

The cost. Advertising is all about ROI…and that includes the cost of an agency vs. hiring an in-house department. While investing in an agency is a smart strategy, for some businesses it’s also smart to have a lean and agile internal staff for projects.

The barn burner. In the course of business, things move fast. Many agencies may not offer the quick turnaround needed on certain projects where an in-house can deliver.

The buy-in. Creating advertising in-house helps build up your team and generate buy-in on marketing projects almost immediately. If your team is a part of the creative process, they are more likely to fight for the work and take greater stake in its success.

The control. Companies that employ their own design team have complete creative control on projects from start to finish. This can be both empowering and limiting, as it might result in a narrower pool of creative options than what an agency might provide.

We can all just get along.

Choosing an in-house or agency depends on your company’s size, budget and overall goals. For many businesses, their ad agency is their competitive edge. But one thing is clear: agencies and in-houses can definitely co-exist.

-          Have your agency create a sound strategy and position to base all your marketing initiatives on. That way, your in-house can be the voice of the brand while your agency pushes that message to new levels.

-          Communicate and collaborate. Let the agency into your inner circle to learn your function, just as your agency should let your in-house staff in on creative collaboration, trends and new media.

-          Enter the process with an open mind. You know more about your business than anyone, but keep in mind the same goes for your agency and their business – advertising.

-          Become partners instead of superiors and subordinates. If everyone feels they’re on equal footing, you can avoid the fear or mistrust that hampers relationships…and good creative.  

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.6KB)

Which browsers are your website visitors using? Are they upgrading as new versions are released? And why should you care?

If you are responsible for your company’s website you should be able to quickly answer all three of these questions. The answers  tell you how visitors see your site and literally view your brand.

This edition of The Extra Minute discusses the marketing value of staying on top of the latest web browsers.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:19 — 1.6MB)

As the number of cell phones capable of surfing the Internet grows, so does the need to deliver content that is optimized for mobile devices.

What does it take to develop a site that plays nice with mobile web? What should it include and what are some of the obstacles you make encounter along the way?

The Extra Minute has the story of Sanford Health and its move into mobile web.

Today’s webinar was led by Miles and April, who did a great job of showing the uses of social media tools for both advanced and neophyte social media users. The ‘tools’ they spoke of were different software applications that make it possible to connect your different social networking sites all into one convenient browser.

If someone has multiple Twitter accounts (for personal and business uses) it would be helpful for them to use Twhirl, Ping.fm, Tweetie, Twitterific, Splitweet or Nambu -just to name a few! All of these tools are programmed a little differently so it is important to try a few and see what will work best for your particular needs. Personally, I only have one Facebook and Twitter account – which I’m still getting used to- so I would use Tweetdeck or FriendFeed, and for my phone, TwitterBerry or TinyTwitter since they all only accommodate one twitter account.

To get specific on some of the mentioned connectors, Twhirl displays your Twitter stream as a single column, the replies are color coded, the Twhirl screen dims when you are switching between applications, you can use multiple twitter accounts on it and it integrates with ping.fm. What is ping.fm? It is a tool that allows you to connect up to 40 different social networking sites together to be able to send out one status reply, instead of writing separate ones for all of the different sites you are on.  TweetDeck connects Facebook and Twitter together and can help you categorize and organize your followers into columns to give a dashboard display of the news feeds from both. Twitterific is a great application that works on the iphone and can support multiple twitter accounts. FriendFeed pulls from multiple social networks and creates a custom live stream of your daily updates, tweets, videos and social bookmarking. Even if one of your friends does not accept to be on FriendFeed you can make them an ‘imaginary friend’ and still see all of their updates.

Using these connecting tools is the most time saving way to stay connected with as many friends or followers as you want. There is software for any type of social networking user, whether it is someone who would like to have phone updates, computer updates, or even updates on others updates, there is a tool for you to make your social networking easier. And with all the free time you will gain with adopting one of these tools, is time you can use trying out a new connector or new social networking site!

To view our schedule of upcoming webinars visit www.l-s.com/bootcamp

@robintemple and @ericellefson lead our sixth webinar about the marriage between SEO and SMM – both strategies are equally important to making sure your website, and ultimately your brand, is visible and relevant to your core customers as they search online. As a site owner, you need to understand how the search engines of tomorrow will rank site content and give engaged sites/consumers the upper hand.

Here’s a brief overview of how build a great foundation to support your digital search strategy:

Make Your Website Relevant: Content is King

On-page Elements (Techie-details)

SEO – Understand that your title tags, headers, image title, bold text and use of keywords are all influential on search engine rankings.
SMO – Coding and tags are not so important, while visual attention grabbers make a bigger impact.

The Meat of Your Page: Rich Content

SEO – Quality content is important in order to rank well.
SMO – Quality content is important in order to hold the readers’ attention and win their approval.

Socialize Your Website: External Content

SEO – Trusted domains will have a positive effect on all pages, including new pages.
SMO – Power profiles on sites like Digg can keep traffic flowing with new submissions.

Relationships with the Right People: Targeting

Know Your Audience

SEO – Provide keyword-rich informational content
SMO – Starting/joining conversations that lead to building relationships.

Research

SEO – Research and Analyze to apply changes that will impact (positive or negative) site rankings.
SMO – Research and Analyze to know what types of content draws interest.

Defining Success:

SEO – Success can be achieved by applying the same practices every time.
SMO – Success lies in knowing the social media audience and engaging in a unique strategy every time.

Measuring Goals

SEO -  In-house URL tracking.
SMO – External content engagement tracking.

Plan Your Attack: Engagement

SEO – Success can be achieved by applying the same practices every time.
SMO – Success lies in knowing the social media audience and engaging in a unique strategy every time.

Integrate and Improve Your Content: Link Building

Be Linkable:

SEO – Inbound links lead to success.
SMO – Links are a result of success.

Capitalize on titles and descriptions by making sure they relate to the content. Doing so increases relevance and increased relevance = your message will spread.

Accept Failure and Try Again

The truth is, even after you’ve followed the rules faithfully, your first dozen (or two) attempts probably won’t work. It takes time to create the momentum you need to establish yourself in the various communities. However, once one of your message does resonate, you’ll understand what all the fuss was about and why social media optimization is worth all the hard work.

You also can’t let up once you get that first taste of success. If you want to maintain the traffic you are receiving, you have to continue to participate. Your success in search engine rankings will wholeheartedly depend on user engagement within social media spaces.

In week seven:

- A first-time weight-loss champion

- Jeff Hanson reclaims pedometer crown (steroid investigation pending)

- Celebrations, vacations and illnesses derail top performers

- Contestant narrowly escapes with her life after pedometer malfunction leaves burnt spot on her hip

The details are brought to you by this week’s sponsor, Balco Labs.

In the weight loss contest Krista Noren edged the field for a first-time victory with a 1.35% loss this week. It appears Noren’s strategy of leaving tasty treats right outside of the The Judge’s door on weigh-in day finally paid off. Half a dozen competitors also claimed celebrations and/or illnesses hindered their performance this week.

The closest followers were Jeremy Peters (1.24%), Nikki Gronli (1.17%), The Judge (1.13%) and John Pohlman (1.08%).  This week marked the first time the contestants collectively gained weight with a 4.5 pound increase over last week.

The contestants still in the “Judge’s Club” by avoiding weight gains in any week are: Korena Keys, Gronli, Derek Soukup, Hanson, Scott Lawrence and The Judge.

The grand prize for the contest will based on total percentage weight lost over all 12 weeks. Top performers to date are: Hanson (10.34%), Pohlman (7.66%), The Judge (6.15%), Soukup (5.39%), Gronli (4.89%) and Keys (4.31%). The top three will finish in the money and The Judge is not eligible for cash awards.

Hanson reclaimed his pedometer championship just weeks after double surgery. After intense questioning about his quick recovery The Floating Brain admitted to taking steroids in weeks two through four, saying they were legally obtained by his cousin from North Dakota. Hanson says he is now more mature and has been clean since then. However, all contestants will be forced to submit urine samples at weigh-in for the duration of the contest.

Jeremy Peters followed up last week’s win by finishing second with 107,959 steps.  This week’s additional members of the 10,000-steps-per-day club were Pohlman (97,650), Melody Morton (85,146), Sarah Rindels (77,213), The Judge (74,417) and Soukup (70,625).  

In the most severe injury reported so far, ask Keys to show you her hip. While plugging in a laptop at home her pedometer came in contact with the computer and exploded, leaving a black spot. President Obama has launched a federal investigation into the safety of pedometers.

Total steps this week were up about 143,000 to the second best week of the contest at 978,724.   

The Balco Labs watch for week eight:  Will Gump continue to dominate in this new era of steroid testing? Who will finish in the money as The Judge has declared a NEW WINNERS ONLY WEEK*? Will we see changes in the top three as we move into the home stretch of the contest.

*For week eight prize money will be paid to fist time winners only. If someone has won the pedometer contest they are still eligible to win the weight-loss challenge and vice versa.

Reset your pedometers and let the week eight contest begin.

- The Judge