Need royalty-free music for a small project, maybe a Web video like this one? Then check out Incompetech. The cost is minimal or free, and the music is pretty good. “Malt Shop Bop” is the one I used in the link above. And be sure to check out the Gallimaufry when you’re on the site, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there.

Click here for four minutes and 55 seconds of fascinating and sobering perspective. You won’t be sorry.

Jeez, how could I have missed this one for so long? (Thanks to Barbara at BP Media Relations for forwarding this my way the other day.) Did You Know? has been around for two years in various versions, courtesy of Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman. Superb work, gentlemen.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak.”
—Jay Leno

“Conversational, not corporate” is a mantra I invoke often when talking about the best way to connect with customers and potential customers. That means dropping the buzzwords and communicating like a real person, whether it’s on a Web site, in an ad or in email.

Yesterday, I received a remarkable example of a conversational email. Quick preface: This is not a political blog, so this should not be taken as an endorsement of one point of view over another. I am on more lists than I can count. I get email from both the Obama and McCain campaigns.

With that caveat out of the way, here’s one of the most conversational emails you’ll see this year, presented in its entirety without any editing. I’m guessing it got the job done and then some.

Dear MoveOn member,

Can you volunteer for Obama this weekend?

Hint: the answer is “Yes.”

Have plans? Cancel them. Can’t cancel? Postpone. If you got sick, you’d find some way to reschedule your other stuff. And this is way more important than illness. This is the, uh, FUTURE OF THE WORLD—and it could come down to 25 people in Ambler.

You know how to click a mouse, right? Sure! You clicked on this email. Perfect. So all you have to do is click this link:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=1

Seriously, this is game time. This race could be much, much tighter than people realize. The Obama campaign is telling its staff to work like they’re 20 points behind. If you sit this one out because you think it’s a lock, and then we lose . . . um, wow.

So . . . why haven’t you clicked yet? Does the idea of volunteering make your stomach clench into a knot? No problem. Take a deep breath. What we’re talking about here is walking around on a Saturday morning in Ambler, holding a clipboard. There are about 100,000 things that are more scary than that. And if McCain wins, a lot of those things will happen.

Maybe it’s the going-outside part that makes you nervous. Idea: Call your two best friends and ask them to go with you. They can defend you if you’re, I don’t know, attacked by squirrels. See, now there’s nothing to be afraid of! Click the link. It’s right there. Just click it. Click, click, click.

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=2

Hey, did you just click that link? No? Oops! You must have kept reading instead of clicking it. Maybe you missed it. Here it is again, twice:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=3

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=4

Listen. I promise: On the other side of that link is just a sign-up form for volunteering. No viruses, nothing to fear. It’s the safest, happiest web page you’ll ever visit. Also, it’s the page where you can sign up to rescue the country and the planet. How awesome will it be to visit a page like that?!1

Okay. You’re ready. You’re going to click. I can feel it. Yeah! Click!

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=5

And again!

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=6

That was great. Thanks! Thanks for all you do.2

–Adam

1.ǝɯosǝʍɐ ɹǝdns ǝq p1noʍ ʇɐɥʇ :ɹǝʍsuɐ

2If you’re reading this, you might not have caught the link to the volunteer signup page. No worries! Here it is: http://pol.moveon.org/obama/volunteer/?office_id=310&id=14567-4616795-kkTJXWx&t=7

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 4.2 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

Takeaway for marketers: Be conversational. Every fiber of your business being may be telling you otherwise, but fight the inclination to pepper your copy with too many buzzwords and too much formality.

That’s just one of the many thought-provoking questions asked over at The Atlantic Project. Here are a few others: Is porn adultery? Is Google making us stupid? Is America still the land of opportunity? Are good books bad for you?

As intriguing to the eye as it is to the mind, The Atlantic Project raises the bar for the presentation of content online with its smart and snazzy packaging of articles, blogging, video and art. Given the recent redesign of The Atlantic, I suspect and hope that the Project will become a vibrant cornerstone of their site.