Kicking Sand

The recent news of Saul Hansell’s joining AOL as programming director for Seed.com and recent round of journo layoff bloodbath has re-sparked some interesting conversations.
Everyone I’ve talked with shakes their head in sadness over media’s current demise. Some of my favorite tech journalists have been laid off and several I know personally are surveying non-reporting options: business school; marcom or “PR” jobs; total change of industry; not worrying about it until half the severance is gone… Continue reading →

I arrived in San Diego last night and to start my prep for the International PRSA annual conference I took a look over the agenda with great curiosity.  The theme is “Delivering Value” with the conference broken up into four main tracks: innovation strategies; effective tools and techniques; specialization and practice areas; and finally, the business case for public relations. Continue reading →

I recently saw 500 Days of Summer and was particularly impacted by the way one scene was written and shot.  At this point in the movie Tom has fallen for Summer and they have now broken up.  They run into each other at a wedding, catch up, share a dance and she invites him to a dinner party she’s having the following weekend.  When the big day arrives he bounds up the stairs to her apartment as the screen splits with one side labeled Expectations and the other Reality. Continue reading →

In a much tweeted and blogged about mis-fire, Nikon lost some love from the mommy blogger empire at the BlogHer conference this past weekend in Chicago.

When I read the first blog post about the big #fail I felt sympathy for the PR team and for Nikon, both who truly had the intent of providing a fun experience for a key audience.  This is a perfect example of a big brand trying to connect with its audience but missing the mark by just-this-much.

Instead of re-capping the tweet-by-tweet play, here are the highlights:
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Today I received a call from a friend that I’ll call, “ValleyCEO,” that started something like this, “I’d like your advice. I’m not sure what I should have the PR agency doing for (insert company name.)”

I knew where this was going. Continue reading →

@UCSantaBarbara reached out asking what advice I’d have for graduating seniors. I don’t want to repeat the same things everyone else says — Make sure and network! Attention to Detail! – so I thought about what I would say to a student if they were sitting in front of me. This is what came to mind… Continue reading →

Last December, Jennifer Leggio (@mediaphyter) was conducting a survey aimed at in-house professionals that managed an outside PR agency. The goal was to delve into client satisfaction and spotlight areas of disconnect that would expose areas PR agencies could improve or adjust their business to keep up with shifting demands.

I remember thinking, “How nice it must always be for clients and press to share their opinions about how much their agency/agency people suck. How come the PR agency side never gets to have its say? Aren’t there two sides to this discussion?” (The answers to those questions are: 1) Because no one cares if the PR person is disgruntled and 2) Sometimes but not often enough.) Continue reading →

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A month ago I was at dinner in New York with Kara, my VP of Marketing.  I was relaying how my recent attendance at NATPE to learn more about the state of broadcast, especially as it relates to advertising, had inspired me on many unexpected levels. It provided me with new insights and angles for work, resulted in new industry connections around common interests and it lit a fire to focus back on writing and examining the changing PR industry.

I shared with Kara something I heard my senior year of college while at the University of Oregon.  I attended an awards ceremony for Allen Hall Advertising (the J-school’s student-run ad shop) and a former student and AHA member gave a short speech.  Something he said was very wise and has stuck with me ever since.

“When you work in any creative industry where you are forced to constantly output it is crucial to have constant input.”

It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day but it’s important we remember to extract ourselves from the bubble once in awhile for fresh insights.  I am always more motivated and full of ideas after attending talks, exhibits, conferences, interviews, co-working, etc. I’ve learned it’s optimal if I can keep the input equal with the output.  When I don’t is when I start to feel like I’ve run out of steam.

I encouraged Kara to go to more events related to what she’s interested in. Take a day and get some input before the well runs dry (because it does happen and re-filling it is usually sleeping for a weekend and not an adequate replacement.)

Input is crucial. In whatever form it takes for you.

For me, my next major input dose starts later this week with SXSWi. I’ve never been and am beyond excited to go.  I’ve already built out my calendar with a lot of attention paid to digital media, advertising, privacy and data.

There are so many people I’m looking forward to connecting with for the first time. I’ll be armed with Twitterberry, Zannel and a Flip so I just might corner you for a convo about PR, advertising, digital media, or the best place to get a drink in Austin.

Look forward to seeing, and meeting, you there.  Now go get your input on!

Todd Defren reached out asking if I’d do a guest post for his series on the value of PR Agencies. I was much obliged, especially since SHIFT was my former agency (see note at bottom of post.) You can find the original post here (404′d).

Being a former client of SHIFT’s and a fellow PR blogger, I welcomed the chance to contribute to Todd’s series around the value of PR agencies. The majority of my career was spent in high-tech PR agencies, so having the shoe on the other foot is definitely an enlightening experience. Continue reading →