Chicago branding agency Lisa P. Maxwell announced the launch of its new agency website. While I would normally shrug my shoulders and move on to something more pressing, this one caught my attention for a few reasons. Namely, the site features an "uncut look inside the agency, where you can watch live, unedited, streaming video of agency employees and chat directly with them as they work."

While the streaming video is grainy at best and most of those agency workers are too busy to chat (just mouse over to see who's available), it does actually give you access to the employees themselves. This morning I exchanged a few lines with one of their Web developers who was busy with some AJAX and PHP scripting. When I asked whether this interfered with productivity, he replied with a casual "not really," which I tend to believe as the agency gives its employees the ability to disable chat. This open access however does (even in passing) lend itself to an air of transparency. Whether it's too much (for the employees or for prospective clients looking to hire a branding agency) transparency is yet to be seen.

Either way, an interesting campaign from a creative agency.

Is your organization this transparent or do you aim to be? Comment below now...