Although the work’s already started, it’s only now that I can tell ya’ll about a recent Big Win for the SHIFT team.

As noted in a recent PRWeek article (sub. req’d), SHIFT was recently named as the Consumer Agency of Record for Quiznos.

We’ll be handling both consumer PR and Social Media assignments for this well-known, edgy brand.

We’re delighted by this hard-won victory.  The Consumer AOR piece is significant to us: while Quiznos joins other large brands like Bing, J&J and Wells Fargo on the SHIFT roster, these mega brands tend to retain us for distinct ongoing assignments and project work.

While I can’t quote at length from the PRWeek article, certainly the best part of the piece was the closing paragraph, quoting our client Ellen Kramer, EVP of Communications at Quiznos:

“We hadn’t had a consumer AOR with this kind of strategic plan before,” Kramer said, when asked about the length of the new PR contract. “We all entered this relationship thinking this was absolutely a long-term relationship.”

I’ll toast to that!

Some of our clients have asked us to serve as moderators on their Facebook Fan Pages.

I know such pages are a dime-a-dozen on Facebook, but we are talking about some big-league brands in this case.  Names you know.  “Fan clubs” of which you may well be a member.

Although we strongly adhere to a full-transparency ethic when it comes to Social Media, the clients simply do not want SHIFT’s name to be explicitly affiliated with their Facebook sites.

“Too confusing” … “Brand dilution” … “Won’t ever get approved.”

To be clear, approximately 90% of the posts are approved in advance, by the client.  In addition to helping respond to user inquiries, we also  often have a pre-developed “editorial calendar,” created in cooperation with our Marketing contacts.  We’re not running amok or anything.

Additionally, when a SHIFTer responds to a user’s query, they typically do so from their own Facebook account (“on behalf of” the client), so that if the user were to click on their profile, they’d quickly discern that they are interacting with an external PR representative.

In other words, there is a fair bit of transparency, but, our team members’ roles are not always explicitly called-out, nor is there 100% compliance: sometimes our people are moderating/responding using the client’s name/account info (when requested).

The clients trust us to do so; the posts are generally pre-approved and always innocuous and on-message … but, yea, “authorship” in such cases is not always clear.

Have we crossed a line?

I don’t lose sleep over this one, though it could represent an egregious breach to Social Media purists.

I would understand their complaint: Social Media Marketing’s power stems from the ability to spur direct dialogue between brands and consumers.  Inserting an agency representative in the mix (with not-always-clear distinctions about their role or employer) begs the question, “how is this any different from the crap marketing foisted on users in the first place?”

There is still more transparency than in the past.  There is still a direct connection to the brand (trust me, the clients care VERY MUCH about feedback we report from Facebook and Twitter).  Any and all “major” responses, i.e., to user complaints, are truly drafted and posted by client representatives.  Ninety-percent of the posts are pre-approved by the client.

Although our agency brains get involved in terms of the core digital strategy, including how-to improve our clients’ interactions online with consumers, at this tactical level we are essentially serving as the execution arm (and listening post) for the clients.  It’s all “on-brand” activity in terms of the messages, and if anything our aid ensures that our busy clients can never be accused of not being engaged at all times — a metric that is increasingly important to them, yet is incredibly hard to scale.

Got feedback?  Accusations and plaudits are both welcome.  Help me figure this out, if you feel we’re taking a wrong-headed approach!

I am truly excited to welcome Melanie Collins, formerly the top sales executive at Marketwire in Boston, as SHIFT’s new Director of Business Development.

Melanie is a master networker who eclipsed sales quotas during her tenure at the wire service.  In her new role — which we created for Melanie — she will focus on attracting major B2B and consumer brands to SHIFT’s New York and Boston PR offices.

In this gloomy economic climate, where do we get off “creating new roles” for people?  The answer is not dissimilar to the one I gave those skeptics who questioned our opening of the SHIFT-NYC office last month: we are investing in the downturn, positioning ourselves — via everything from “geography” to “talent” — so that SHIFT is among the first agencies to take advantage of the rising tide that’s sure to come.

As Jim Collins noted in his seminal business book, “Good to Great,” first you want to get the right people on the bus, and then figure out where to seat them.  We are confident that with Melanie Collins on the SHIFT bus, we’ve mapped out a surefire route.

Next Monday I am moderating a panel on “Entrepreneurship” at RSA Conference, the world’s largest IT Security tradeshow (and a long-time client).  In preparation for the session, I’ve been having some brief 1:1 meetings with the panelists, all of whom are successful company founders.

One theme has threaded across all these calls: the need for ongoing customer validation.

As an entrepreneur, it is easy to get “stuck in the weeds” of running the business.  For as many decisions you may need to make about the company’s strategy, there could easily be a dozen small-bore decisions, e.g., “We’re running out of offices — where are we going to put that new exec’s desk?”

It’s important to rise above all that.  You don’t become an entrepreneur to play small ball.

As an entrepreneur myself, I try to continually raise the question, “What do MOST clients care the MOST about?” Invariably, as a PR agency, the answer has been “Media Coverage” although in recent years the meaning of “media coverage” has morphed due to Social Media: for some clients, “tweets count as coverage.”

So if MOST clients care MOST about “coverage,” we must ask ourselves: are we providing stellar training to the SHIFTers responsible for garnering the coverage?  are we scheduling specific blocks of time for each of these employees to work the phones/email?  are our pitching practices consistent across all teams?  are our monitoring systems up to snuff?  are our measurement guidelines properly aligned across all programs?  etc.

It’s not enough to ask these questions once, or even once per year.  Because “coverage” is so important to our clients, these are questions we really need to ask ourselves every month.

And it gets pretty tactical (because it needs to).  For example, on a semi-regular basis, I will gather the junior staff in a conference room and have them “Pitch the Principal.” I act as a jerky reporter/blogger and challenge each person in the room to pitch me on one of their clients, in front of their peers.  Each account pro is then “coached in the moment” by me, and by their colleagues, about how they can be more relevant and impactful.

Such sessions can be harrowing for newbies, yet we keep it positive and by the end, most folks agree it’s been invaluable.  Everybody wins in the end — especially the clients, who can be confident that the SHIFTers charged with carrying their banner to the media have been through the wringer!

I offer this as just one example of how agencies must keep a pulse on what’s important to clients.  Just as we abhor it when clients chase after shiny objects, we can’t make the same mistake; we must stay focused on what counts most, to most clients, and align our processes towards successful outcomes.

Meanwhile, yea, I’ve got to find a place to put that desk…

I was in St. John last week. Glorious. Recommended.  (That’s no postcard or Google Image Search Result attending this blog post – it’s a photo from my very own Flickr stream. Blissful!)

Although we headed to the Virgin Islands to escape our work and daily routines, I am so glad I brought my iPhone with me.  I can’t tell you how often we wound up consulting the Web to decide on restaurants (“did you check Yelp?”) … excursions (“did you check TripAdvisor?”) … beaches (“how early do we need to get up to nab a parking spot at Trunk Bay?”) … and basic travel tips about everything from buying groceries to feeding the island’s wild donkeys (don’t).

If you’d told me before our departure that I’d be “on the web” that often, I would have grimaced.  I was looking to disconnect!

Yet I realized that the Web (in general) and Social Media (in particular) are now so interwoven in the fabric of our lives and decision-making that it really only made our vacation more enjoyable.  We didn’t lose any of that sense of discovery you search for when visiting a new place; rather, we had a chance to learn from others’ experiences and steer our course toward the most worthwhile adventures, which we “made our own” once we got underway.

I’ve been on planes, trains and automobiles ever since our return.  Not only haven’t I been able to simmer in that post-tropical zen-like state that typically comes after a vacation, I’ve barely been able to sit at my desk (much less blog)!  Yet I’ve made a promise to myself to “give back” to the Web community.

As soon as I have some free time, I’ll draft our family’s Yelp reviews of the kick-ass egg scramble and gracious hosts at the Donkey Diner … I’ll tell eager beachgoers on TripAdvisor to get to Trunk Bay before 9am if they want a parking spot … etc.  I’ll add our voice of experience to aid the next wave of visitors to that lovely Carribean jewel, with thanks to those who went before and did the same.

It wasn’t just the much-needed dose of sunshine that made me feel optimistic about the future. I was truly inspired by the wealth of shared knowledge I held at my fingertips.