Welcome the world of Grok, which despite its rather questionable name, explains, “comes from a word in Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, which means ‘to communicate with deep empathy; to understand
(someone or something) profoundly or intuitively.’” So, who founded this shop, you might ask? Well,  Julie Bauer, Steve Landsberg and Tod Seisser, the last of which served as CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Seisser, if you need to know, spent six-plus years as CCO of Saatchi NY, while Bauer was a client/strategy exec at the likes of Ogilvy and Saatchi.

Here’s a statement from Bauer, which reads, ““Our very first assignment as an agency was a small project for Estroven, back when it was owned by Amerifit Brands,” said Bauer. “Amerifit was acquired by Martek which was, in turn, acquired by DSM. Throughout all these changes our responsibilities grew based on a record of outstanding sales results and a relationship built on trust. Today, they’re one of our most valued clients.” The full-service Grok, which resides in NYC’s Flatiron District, says it “saw their company grow from three to 20 employees and nearly $80 million in billing.”

The plot of R/GA ACD Paul Malmont‘s new book is simple: Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard and other famous science fiction writers and editors go on fantastic fictional misadventures while fighting Nazis during WWII. Of course, as fun as the concept sounds in print, marketing the book on television is another thing altogether.

So, Malmont decided to round of some of his fellow ad peeps and used the Google TV Ads service to get his third novel The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown some views during DishTV broadcasts of Falling Skies, Attack of the Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Among those trying to pitch Malmont their awesome marketing ideas are R/GA ECD Carla Echevarria, HUGE CD and author of Martian Summer Andrew Kessler, and from BBDO ACD Todd Brown, CD Jeff Greenspan, copywriter Sarah Crawford and project managers Michael Gentile and Kelly McLaughlin. Put that cast together, and you have a book spot that (gasp) doesn’t suck. Learn more about Malmont’s new book here and see a review from those amazing folks at the A.V. Club here.