“You look different from your cartoon avatar.”

.. is how most of my digital connections greet me “IRL” for the first time. I’m never sure how to take that — Did I lose or gain weight? Did I get a haircut? Did I do a bad job of drawing myself? Did they perhaps think that I was a living cartoon? (I’m not, though I can be animated.)

Once people get past the ‘toon, they see that I’m a passionate advocate of modern marketing and product development based on our digitally-driven world.

I’ve been called a strategist, experience designer and a social media guru (I really try to avoid that last one).

More than titles, it’s what we do that matters, and what I do is build passionate communities around ideas, products and brands.

This means creating rich, positive, elegant experiences from the moment the idea (or product benefits or brand message) is passed to you by a friend to the moment you tweet about just how great your customer service experience was when you called to complain about the purchase you made.

I share knowledge via Twitter, Google Reader, Facebook, and this blog, CraigRitchie.com. Please follow or friend me.