A few days ago I posted a blog entry that was somewhat critical of the VW GTI “Make Friends With Your Fast” ad campaign. I did so because I really hate those ads, and I thought it was a poor concept for a series of advertisements. But, it’s just my blog. Who would care about my opinion?

Well, apparently SOMEONE does. Today someone surfed to that blog entry, specifically. When I pulled their detailed stats, their ISP was Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Crispin Porter & Bogusky, by the way, is the ad agency that developed the “Fast” icon.

The link that was followed to get to my blog entry was a google blogsearch for the terms ‘gti’ and ‘fast’.

“Cool!” I thought. “They’re trolling blogs for real feedback from real people. Maybe my opinion will make a tiny difference.” Warm fuzzy feeling.

Interesting thing is, I had a devil of a time finding my own blog entry. I clicked the blogsearch that Crispin et al. used to find my blog entry, and my post wasn’t on the first page of search results. It wasn’t on the second page of search results. It wasn’t on any of the first 22 pages of search results. That’s pretty unusual. When someone comes to PAgent’s Progress from a search, I’m usually on one of the first three pages of hits. I wondered two things: Was this guy some kind of masochist advertising wonk that just slogged through hundreds of pages of hits?

Then I couldn’t find that particular blog entry no matter what kind of search I did, including a search for the phrase “pagentsprogress”, which should have turned up every single entry I’ve made. Go ahead, try it yourself. So, how did the guy/gal from Crispin find it? Curiouser and curiouser.

Finally, I did an advanced blog search, with the keywords ‘gti’ and ‘fast’ again, and my blog entry popped right up on the first page.

So, I don’t understand why that particular post doesn’t show up on a standard blogsearch, I’m fighting with every fiber of my being not to lapse into muttering incoherent conspiracy theories, about shadowy ad agency operatives eliminating every negative comment on their ad compaigns. Instead, I’ll assume it’s a glitch in the Matrix.

But if I should vanish mysteriously, the truth is out there.