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I hope you’ll bear with me as a I crow about three amazing pieces of news about SHIFT (after which I will crumple into an exhausted heap). 

First off – we recently won the Agency Of Record honors for the RealNetworks account, but only just today shepherded the release to the wires, so up ‘til now I haven’t been able to discuss it.  A picture of the “signing ceremony” marks this post.

Our first big assignment has been announcing the new RealPlayer.  Way cool.  The new RealPlayer can download almost any type of video from the web, so people can create their own media libraries, and burn CDs (or DVDs, in the Plus version) of video content for offline viewing, much as they would burn a music mix for their friends.  This capability is already making waves among content providers, DRM advocates, other tech companies, etc. – which just makes the PR assignment more interesting.

But for the purposes of this blog post, I wanted to mention the Elephant In The Room.  It’s going to be the single biggest hurdle to regain Real’s momentum.  Let’s face it: over the years, Real made some fundamental mis-steps in user experience design.  There was too much up-sell involved in the installation processes; and there were pop-ups and opt-out issues galore.

The good news is that the team at Real groks these issues.  They admit it.  But they also have mended much of their past practices with the new stuff, and committed to continuing on this trail. 

Because Real execs were ready to face the music, the SHIFT team felt good about driving outreach to the blogosphere.  More importantly, we urged Real to create their own RealPlayer Blog, and, we’ve been helping them monitor users’ comments at other blogs, so that their product team could respond personally.  These were new practices for the PR and product teams at Real, but they embraced it fully.

Initially there was a lot of pent-up anger about Real’s past practices.  But slowly, inexorably, we’ve seen a growing chorus of people in the media and blogosphere who have tried (and liked!) the RealPlayer beta; who have given Real some credit for acknowledging their past mistakes; who are excited by the innovations of the new product; who are wondering “what’s next.” 

Our work is just beginning, but I can tell you from personal experiences – forged over the past few weeks of PR spadework – that the folks in Real’s Seattle HQ are truly nice, caring, smart people who are committed to moving the storyline from “rehabilitation” to “relevance” to “rockstar supernova.”  We’re glad to be along for that ride.

(If you wanna get a taste of the new RealPlayer, let me know.  I have 3 beta accounts to give away.  Let me know in the Comments section, and be sure to leave me your email address.)

Second piece of big news?  SHIFT Communications was named AGENCY OF THE YEAR at the American Business Awards gala, last night in NYC.  We bested both august firms such as MWW and Manning, Selvage & Lee as well as up-and-comers like Peppercom.  This felt like a major validation.  We were honored to be named as a Finalist, and thrilled to actually take home the prize.

Third and final piece of good news?  We also won 2 BellRinger Awards last night in Boston!  Wow.  These awards, sponsored by the Publicity Club of New England, have been around for 38 years.  Winners are based on peer-reviewed case studies of client projects, which makes victory all the sweeter.

Basically, I am not going to be able to sleep for the rest of the week.  I am vibrating with pride.  I feel truly blessed to be working with such an amazing group of dedicated, smart, funny, forward-thinking people.

Thanks to everyone – to my amazing wife and kids, ma & pa, my business partners, my blog’s small cadre of loyalists, to our clients (of course) – and most of all, thank-you to all to the superstars of SHIFT.  If the first 6 months are any indication, the rest of 2007 will be humbling & awesome.