N.I.A. FINGERPRINT KIT: Net Intelligence Agency's Private Revolution?
January 28, 2007

Who is Net Intelligence Agency? And what's the story on their enigmatic new N.I.A. Fingerprint Kit, often cryptically referred to by N.I.A. as "The Package"?

Last week we received an email, asking what we knew. Which provoked us to do a little sleuthing of our own. Oddly enough for an internet marketing firm, Net Intelligence Agency seems to delight in flying under the radar. Little is known about this mysterious "cabal," which seems to have dropped out of the sky. Though one gets the feeling that they've been lurking in the fringes for some time now, spying on the rest of us.

Rumors continue to swirl about this mysterious trio of self-professed internet marketing revolutionaries. What are they really up to? Is "Net Intelligence Agency" actually a cover for some internet marketing guru that we know? We don't think so. But stranger things have happened.

In response to our request for information, N.I.A. politely but warily gave us a logo and a sneak peek at an unfinished draft of the infamous N.I.A. Fingerprint Kit Black Paper. The Black Paper is honest, thought-provoking and well-written — an educational document in its own right.

Here's what we can reveal so far…

N.I.A. Fingerprint Kit is slated to hit the streets in early April. The Package will be a comprehensive brand strategy guide, focused on teaching internet marketers how to build a unique corporate identity. (Hence the logo) The Fingerprint Kit will include differentiation strategies for the 2007 internet marketing economy and a step-by-step process for crafting a unique trade name. Other aspects include "the contagion factor" and "Trench Marketing."

One rather intriguing aspect of the Fingerprint Kit is The Brandshops. N.I.A. let us see a snapshot of one workshop — pretty cool, we must admit. N.I.A. claims that the Fingerprint Kit will teach anybody (no matter what your level of marketing experience is) to craft a brand name of Kleenex/Coca Cola/Google caliber.

We'll say this: Anyone bold enough to tackle what N.I.A. has termed "the internet marketing identity crisis" deserves applause. Let's face it, it's true that affiliate marketing brands, as a whole, suck. There are notable exceptions, of course, but most are unoriginal and undifferentiated. In other words, they're not brands.

You can download an N.I.A. Black Paper at http://NIAFingerprintKit.org. They're currently recruiting operatives (a.k.a., affiliates). And for what it's worth, an N.I.A. "agent" emphasized that N.I.A. is serious about limiting the number of affiliates it accepts. Who knows? With this outfit, it may actually be true.