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This post was written by Laura Murray, a talented young intern at SHIFT.  As her tenure draws to a close, I asked her how it went, what she’d learned, etc.  She provided a written reply that we decided to turn into a blog post.

If you like what ya read here, remember that we’re still hiring at all levels.  In fact, at 3pm today we’re hosting a live chat if you’d like to interact directly with our HR folks.

Here’s Laura:

Like most PR students at Auburn University, the only thing left before graduation was my internship. After deciding to make the move from sunny Alabama to still-chilly-in-May Massachusetts, all I needed to do was send out a few applications and rock my interviews, right? Ha! I was up to my eyeballs in cover letters, resumes and agency Web sites. Some called, some e-mailed, but SHIFT did something much different.

I was recommended to SHIFT by one of my professors. I did my homework, too. I began following the company on Twitter and PR-Squared. Before I had even sent in my resume, SHIFT contacted me via Facebook wanting to set up an interview. Although a little disconcerted that I was being looked up on Facebook, I immediately realized the SHIFT difference.

After an interview, a few phone calls and a 19-hour drive, I was ready to show SHIFT how much I knew about PR.

Remember what it was like transitioning from the cool eighth grader to a freshman nothing? Well, it was a little like that. I went from a PR education know-it-all to a know-not-so much intern.

As the summer progressed, I transitioned into my role and into the company dynamic. I began attending training sessions and company meetings and started receiving projects from my teams. I enjoyed being around the happy SHIFTers, who were all eager to answer my questions and explain anything from agency lingo to database formatting.

There was only one problem. Where was all the glamour?

Most PR isn’t all that glamorous. Neither is being an intern. I wasn’t out hosting events and rubbing elbows with Boston’s finest. I was sitting at a computer researching, reading and writing. I was working on the press lists and briefing documents that no one else had time to do. I was researching blogs and publications for days on end.  It turned out that these tedious and (let’s face it) boring tasks are vital to an agency’s success. SHIFT employees who I work closely with have been great at showing me what these intern projects do for the client in the long run.

So, at times things can get a bit redundant for an agency intern. However, I have no doubt that my internship at SHIFT will help me in my future job search. I have learned how to pitch in ways most agencies would never think of. I have learned how to write better and pay attention to detail. I have worked under strict deadlines and time-crunches. I have juggled researching and writing for one client at the same time I am building a database for another. I have been included in team meetings, company brainstorms and have sat in on client calls and PR workshops. I’ve come in early and stayed late to get projects done. I’ve been so busy I could pull my hair out and so bored I could cry. But, hey- at least I wasn’t fetching coffee and dry cleaning.

My advice for any intern is to ask questions and get involved in the organization. You won’t learn anything by only doing what you’re told. At SHIFT I have already had many doors open for me and have had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most creative minds in PR. I look forward to my future in PR and know I will be taking a rocking portfolio and resume with me.

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I’ve been meaning to write a post about Monday’s launch of Cuil, the so-called Google-killer search engine.  But then Erick Shonfeld at TechCrunch wrote it for me.

“The hype cycle now lasts less than a day. Take yesterday’s over-hyped launch of stealth search startup Cuil, which was quickly followed by a backlash when everyone realized that it was selling a bill of goods. This was entirely the company’s own fault. It pre-briefed every blogger and tech journalist on the planet, but didn’t allow anyone to actually test the search engine before the launch.”

So I am not gonna join the hordes who have dumped on Cuil and its launch.  I wanna talk about the PR/Agency relationship in launch situations, using Cuil’s launch as a lesson plan.

First off, while Shonfeld is spot-on, it is also true that Cuil garnered some highly favorable traditional media coverage, e.g., in Reuters and Associated Press stories.  Those positive articles will get wide play in mainstream media outlets.  Most of the negative press appeared in blogs, which plenty of mainstream readers are not reading. 

Thus an Old School Marketer could look at the stack of positive and negative clips and decide, on-balance, that this was a successful outcome:

“Sure those wingnuts in the blogs demand perfection and like to get all wound up.  But most people don’t read the blogs.  They still read the newspaper (online and offline), so those AP and Reuters hits alone will outweigh the negative perceptions of those bloggers.” 

I think, however, that we can all agree that that Old School Marketer is off base.  Which leaves us not with the question of “Was this a good launch?” (it wasn’t; unless you’re one of those “all PR is good PR” types) but, “How the heck did this even happen?  Who was in charge?”

Obviously, the client is in charge.  The buck stops there.  Pulling the trigger is their call.

But what is the Agency’s responsibility?

At a high level, it’s essential for the Agency to strategize for the launch and to make honest suggestions and arguments to the client when their suggestions don’t match up to the client’s demands.  The Agency should have seen these troubles on the horizon and advised the Cuil team to snatch the reins.  Maybe they did.

The Agency should have insisted to Cuil’s management that their media contacts get a chance to play with the technology.  Within 2 meetings they’d have known they had a problem and could have re-tooled the approach.

The Agency should have insisted that Cuil slap “BETA” all over the site and any other outbound communication.  I checked lots of different sections of the Cuil site, and never saw any hint from the Company that they might not be ready for prime time.  The messaging is marked by ambition and (in retrospect) arrogance.

The Agency should have enlisted the Search community’s aid.  There are plenty of Search Algorithm experts, SEO experts, Online Marketers, etc., who might be willing to offer free advice for such an ambitious start-up.  Taking on Google is a big, hairy, audacious goal: this community could have gotten excited about collaborating on something so audacious.  This longer-term, inclusive approach could have cushioned the launch with some built-in compassion for the Cuil engine’s lapses.

It’s a complicated process, launching a company.  The entire team must be in-synch and well-coordinated on many fronts.  It doesn’t always work and it is always sad to see the rocket blow up the launching pad.

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Sorry to have to post this video so soon after the “Friday Fun” video, but if I had to choose between the two, this would be the clear winner.

I’ve watched this video half-a-dozen times in the past year, and it always inspires.  Professor Pausch passed away today.  R.I.P., sir.

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Apparently the “game wizards” at Sierra Entertainment whipped up this charmer while producing a video game for the upcoming Hobbit movie.

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I was honored to address the Chief Marketing Officer of a FORTUNE 500 corporation. 

In the course of the presentation, I pulled up some videos from YouTube in which the creators attacked the company by remixing the company’s slickly-produced television advertisements.

A spirited debate ensued.  “Why would we dignify this with a response?” was the CMO’s troubled question.

The core points of my response (as long-time readers will expect):

“Control of your brand is an illusion.  You might know that you’ll never, ever convince the video’s creators that you are not an evil empire.  You might know that the majority of the people who find this YouTube video are likely predisposed to agree with that negative opinion.  But that doesn’t mean that it won’t be worthwhile to engage: by humanizing the corporation with a candid response, you ensure that ‘your side of the story’ is appended to this hateful video for as long as it’s findable online.  It’s easier to abhor a faceless corporation than a helpful human.”  Etc. 

(Along with many other smart folks, I discussed this topic of so-called “brand ownership” with Chris Brogan during the 2nd Radian6 twebinar, if you care to see me bloviate in-person.)

For all of that “typical” talk about branding, I felt it was also important to note the humanity in the room.  Along with the CMO, there were about 15 additional Marketing staff in the room.  These were human beings who have largely dedicated their careers to protecting and improving the reputation of this American institution.  Quite simply, it SUCKED to watch that video with them.  They were crestfallen.  Not shocked.  Just sad.

It’s okay to acknowledge that pain, if you ask me – even online.  While I hope to make a strong case for engagement-for-engagement’s-sake, part of that “humanization” means being actually and truly human.  If I were the person tasked with responding to that video, I’d want to acknowledge, “Wow.  That video was really well done.  I know that because it actually hurt to watch.  Now, I hope you don’t mind if I share some information about some of the not-even-close-to-evil stuff that we’re doing?”

I don’t think that most corporate community relations types would feel comfortable acknowledging the sting caused by flaming comments or content.  Folks like @comcastcares and @RichardatDELL seem preternaturally patient in the face of withering criticism.  That’s good for their brands, but having had good experiences with these (very real) people, I sometimes feel a desire to stick up for them.  I secretly wait for the moment when they crack (just a little; these guys are pros) and acknowledge the “ouch.”

What do you think?  Must corporate community relations pros remain unflappable, or does showing their humanity make them – and their brands – that much stronger?

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (29) | TrackBacks (0)

“Who ‘owns’ Social Media?”  This question spawned a fascinating debate over at Jason Falls’s Social Media Explorer blog last week.  Jason posited that the PR group is best positioned to take the lead on a corporation’s Social Media outreach:

“…Social media is essentially public relations in the online world. Divide the category up by component — blogs, social networks, microblogging, podcasts, Web TV, wikis … — they each ladder in some way to a component of public relations — writing, corporate communications, community relations, media relations, event management.”

While I don’t think Jason’s thought process precludes the participation of other corporate insiders, such as customer service reps, HR supervisors, tech geeks, legal eagles, etc., he does rightly note that these folks will need to be both tech savvy, and, literate communicators (and will likely need simple guidelines from the PR team).

Regardless of whether “PR takes the lead” or not, it is an unescapable conclusion that these employees will find creative outlets.  If blogging is too much of a time sink, there’s Twitter, Utterz, Seesmic, YouTube.  Mostly, this will be awesome.  It will truly humanize the faceless corporation.

But every now and then, one of these employee content creators will screw up: they’ll pass on a corporate secret; or post a libelous comment to a blogger’s harsh expose of their company; or they’ll TwitPic a latter-day Xerox-style photo of their butt-cheeks.  And they’ll get fired and/or the Corporate Clamp-Down will occur, chilling the air for all employee content creators, for a bit.

There are purists who suggest, however, that these antics are the essence of The New Way of Doing Things.  To them, any and all “Marketing/PR” programs are, by their nature, false and doomed to fail in the Social Media era.  They only want to see blog posts, tweets, etc. from those “regular” employees.  They want the marketers to tag-out of The Conversation all together.  These purists want all news to be blogged – without further outreach – and expect that the relevant representatives of mainstream and amateur media will find their way to the newsworthy items, buoyed by the wisdom-of-crowds.

Stuck in the middle (literally) are Advertising and PR firms, along with new specialist agencies like The Conversation Group, crayon, and Social Media Group (the latter now bolstered by the mad skillz of Geoff Livingston).  These latter don’t aspire to be “PR agencies” yet don’t shy from the suggestion that they help companies “influence the influencers.”

TCG says they “help brands listen to and engage with influencers and customers in traditional and non-traditional ways.”  SMG suggests that its “team of Blogger Relations Specialists have the skills and experience to identify and engage with the online influencers that have the greatest reach and impact…”  That’s fine, and they’re better at it than most traditional PR agencies, I’d warrant – but that doesn’t mean it’s not Public Relations. 

As for the “traditional” PR firms (and in-house PR folks) – they are just now beginning to figure out that “social media is essentially public relations in the online world.”  The good firms are realizing that it’s not enough to hire a few (newly-graduated) bloggers and check-off the “Yea, we do Social Media” box.  Following this realization (and diligent action), the combination of traditional mainstream media savvy with newfound blogger etiquette skills is formidable. 

Granted, this process has taken too long and is still far from complete.  We’re turning battleships here, folks.  PR has always been about inspiring relationships between brands and consumers, but until recently did not have the tools to do so: mass communications required mass media.  It was an imperfect if unavoidable model that caused the industry to lose its way. We’re groping for the right trail again.

Meanwhile, while many have bemoaned the travails of Advertising types who thrived on “interruption marketing,” my gut tells me (and others) that these very creative people will figure out how to play in this sandbox. 

Where am I taking you on this ramble?

To the place where we all acknowledge we don’t know what the hell is gonna happen.  And that’s okay.  We can’t make rules about the unknown.  We’ll just have to figure it out as we go.

 "My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared." (P.J. Plauger, Computer Language, 1983)

Posted by Todd Defren at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

The blogosphere is still considered the lunatic fringe by the mainstream. 

You can see this in some recent comments by both of the Presidential candidates.  McCain noted that he “hates the bloggers” earlier this month, and, when PBS’s Gwen Ifill suggested that Obama had “raised hackles among supporters” recently, the candidate carped, “Well, raised hackles amongst some in the blogosphere.”

It is actually true that the greater portion of bloggers occupy real estate along the fringe.  But, the candidates are gravely mistaken if they believe that all online content is created by “those pesky bloggers.”

In Obama’s case, for example, the most vociferous criticisms of his FISA vote occured at his own website.  The so-called bloggers (12,000+) whose hackles were raised were just ordinary citizens contributing to a group blogging site, powered by the Obama team.  The vast majority of contributors do not run their own blogs.  This is not the lunatic fringe – these are simply ordinary Americans who give a sh** about their civil liberties; the folks whose passion needs to be harnessed, not brushed off. 

Both candidates would be wise to remember (or learn) that the power to share our thoughts – freely, easily, globally – is, indeed, something to be concerned about.  The paradigm shift is just beginning.

When Gutenberg invented the movable press, it made mass publication a feasible reality.  According to Wikipedia, “Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and is considered a key factor in the European Renaissance.” 

That renaissance was built on ease-of-distribution, i.e., printing became cheap enough that ideas could be cost-effectively and widely spread.  But, paying for that original print job was still beyond the reach of most citizens.  

The printing press’s original ease-of-distribution benefits are now being compounded by the web’s ease-of-creation benefits.  “Blogs” are just the tip of the spear when it comes to how people will be expressing themselves online in the future.

Which means that the “fringe” is drawing ever closer to “the center.”

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I am home from yesterday’s successful shoulder operation and a friend sent me this to boost my spirits during the convalescence.  Maybe it’s the painkillers but this video made me laugh.  (Then again, an entire section of my blog is named after The Jedi Way, so the drugs are really no excuse for my geekiness.)

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Tomorrow I am undergoing surgery on a torn labrum in my shoulder.  This is the first time I’m having any kind of “big” surgery, i.e., requiring general anesthesia.  In the grand scheme of surgical procedures, it’s still pretty minor. 

After that, I’ll be carrying my arm in a sling for a while, and participating in 4–6 months of physical therapy.  I’m not looking forward to any of it.  Then again, I’m sick of wincing with pain all the time.

The requisite Google Image Search on “torn labrum” accompanies this post.  Looks weird, eh?

Anyway, I’ll be doped up on Percoset for a few days – and while I’m sure that the drug-addled blog posts might make for a nice change of pace, I’ll take a pass on blogging for a week or so.

Keep on socializin’.

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

While you were sweating over a rack of BBQ ribs on the grill this past weekend, Chris Brogan was blogging.  And on his way to writing a July 4^th treatise on the emergence of mobile knowledge workers, Chris also touched on the theme of “Loosely-Joined Employees.”

“The age of half-owned brands is upon us,” Chris writes, citing Robert Scoble as the impetus for this trend.  “…Is Jeremiah Owyang about Forrester, or is he a half-owned brand that Forrester can claim for the time being?”  (emphasis added)

It’s an oft-cited maxim at SHIFT that “we run a talent agency, not a PR agency” – so Chris’s words rang true for me.  Think about some of our most recent hires: Doug Haslam (@DougH, with 4,000 Twitter followers), Chris Lynn (rockstar blogger), Amanda Gravel (blogger), Sandy Kalik (tweeter), et al. 

We’ve made many more hires than this handful, of course, and expect great things of all of them – but, specific to these “well-known” people and their personal brands?  We consider them to be “on loan” to SHIFT for the duration of their tenure.  And I expect more and more of our employees (and future employees) will have their own personal brands either well-established or on the rise.

In this scenario, what is the responsibility of the Company?  What is the responsibility of the Personality?

The Company’s responsibilities:

Job #1 – Protect itself. 

The Company can’t slavishly cater to the Personalities: it is unfair to the scores of people who work doggedly to help the Company succeed without a single thought for marketing themselves publicly.  There are plenty of hard-working, mission-critical employees who will never blog or tweet or otherwise participate with true intensity.

The Personalities must also make it clear that their writings do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employer.  Again, the Corporation must think about the entire team.  If the Personality inadvertently causes real trouble, they won’t get much sympathy from the many colleagues whose livelihoods are now in jeopardy.

Job #2 – Get the hell outta the way.

There’s a reason why that Personality was hired.  They are rockstars.  They are passionate and opinionated.  Let them do what they do, and empower them as much as is possible – without risking the completion of workaday assignments.  Give them a Flipcam, some tech support, whatever.  Beyond some simple guidelines about what’s OK (or not OK) to blog about, don’t censor them.  Invest and trust in their talent.

While their personal brand is affiliated with the Company’s brand, shore up the Company’s weaknesses.  Make sure that Training and Service Quality are up to snuff, so that the positives of the Personality’s brand are only augmented by the marketplace’s subsequent experiences with the Company.  This helps y-o-u, as well as the Personality.  It becomes a virtuous cycle.

The Personality’s responsibilities:

Job #1 – Stay humble.

The Personality is part of a larger entity.  Whether working in a Company with a dozen or a thousand employees, it’s critical to realize that the quiet contributions of these employees make everything else possible.  The Personality must avoid being a diva at all costs.

Job #2 – Boost the Company’s brand.

Chris tackled this topic in his own post.  It can often happen that the Personality is far better known than the Company where they are employed. 

While their brand is on-loan to the Company, it is the responsbility of the Personality to ensure that the Company derives substantial and long-lasting business benefits from the affiliation.  Yes, the Company is thrilled to be working with the Personality – and the Personality should be equally delighted for the stable income.

This promotion of the Company’s brand need not be overt nor too frequent.  But the Personality ought to find ways to talk about their work with the Company – successes, lessons learned.  Maybe post the Company’s logo to their blog in a “My Employer” section.  Post valuable content to the Company’s site and link back to it from the personal blog, etc.

The loose melding of Corporate and Personal Brands will get complicated, but, it is going to be an important part of the future of Marketing.  Better to start thinking about it now.

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (1)

From bonafide marketing genius Marta Kagan.

| View | Upload your own

(Best tidbit: “Social Networking sites are more popular than porn sites.”  And they said it would never happen.)

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is a big day at SHIFT.  Today is the day I handed the tiller to somebody else.

Some background:  I worked at SHIFT’s predecessor agency in Boston for many years, and after I hit “VP” I started to feel stale.  I needed a new challenge.  So, I raised stakes and moved to San Francisco with a handful of loyal colleagues, to start a new branch on the West Coast. 

This was soon after the Bubble burst, so as you can imagine, that “new challenge” turned into a Herculean task.  Ultimately we were successful in San Franciso.  But in the 5 years I spent out west, the East Coast organization had started to run aground.  In 2005 I moved back to Beantown to patch things up. 

In the past 3 years, our SF office has been run by Mandy Mladenoff, a woman who started with us as a twenty-something Account Coordinator.  She’s truly grown into the role and is doing a kick-ass job.  Her loyalty, depth and passion have kept SF on a strong and steady course.

Meanwhile, the Boston office’s 2005 travails are ancient history.  And while scores of talented SHIFTers contributed to turning things around, during the process I seemed to grow a new “right hand.”  With increasing frequency, when I needed help on an important task I found myself turning to Amy Anderson. 

Amy started out with us as a Senior Account Executive about 8 years ago.  In the course of rising to VP, she impressed everyone with her quiet competence and good humor.  Today we promoted Amy to Managing Director of our Boston office.  Hurray!!

We are thrilled to have two such talented women helming our two offices.  We are doubly happy about the fact that Mandy and Amy are such stellar representatives of our culture.  We never had the slightest considerations for bringing in outsiders for these critical roles.  Whenever possible we like to grow our biggest stars from within; we like to know that they have taken a big swig from our pitcher of Kool-Aid!

But – now what?  What do I do now?

Well, as much as I’d like to relax a little bit, there are exciting new challenges for me to tackle now that day-to-day management “stuff” will be off my plate. 

SHIFT is growing at a very healthy clip.  With growth comes operational challenges, as well as a host of unforseen, unexpected (but wholly welcome) opportunities to wrangle.  There are new services, new geographies, new partners and new priorities to sort through, develop and maximize. 

As someone else takes the tiller, I find myself increasingly excited about new ways to chart the course.

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)