The Perfect Fit

The Same Company For An Entire Career?

I attended a seminar this morning presented by the St. Louis Business Journal, "The New Economy".  Michael Forster, Managing Partner of Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard and Doug Mueller of Mueller Prost PC were the presenters.  The discussion centered around what businesses can/should be doing as we move (slowly) out of the recession.

While much of the discussion dealt with business operating methods and protocols, there were times when issues affecting employees were discussed.  Actually, it was more like how employees affect businesses.  I was struck that there was no mention of the need for programs to support (if not assure) employee retention. 

I've written previously in this blog about how employees have a responsibility to themselves to find appropriate training and grow professionally (The Workplace Has Changed . . . Have You?).  Hopefully, employers are supporting (and paying for) that effort.   I've also talked about the need for the retention of premier employees (Are you Being Taken Care Of . . . Or Taken Advantage Of?)  Employees need to grow in their careers, and employers should want to keep those employees who consistently do that.

There was what I considered to be an interesting observation made by Mr. Forster.  He suggested that in the "new economy", we had to behave more like in the "old economy".  He talked about the need for dedicated hard work for everyone, no matter what you do.  Hard work like in the "old days".  Hard work like our parents and grandparents talk about.  Interesting . . . that seems to fly in the face of theories of accommodating the newest generations X & Y. 

Further, it was suggested that the development of "real expertise" is being eroded by automated systems, and the reality that employees no longer stay with one company long enough to develop or enhance that company's specific expertise.  Another interesting point.  Think about how few people in the workforce now rise through the ranks from the bottom to the top of the same enterprise.  Can you think of any?

Obviously, innovation in any business creates advantage.  Innovation will be essential to fuel the "real" growth of the US economy.  I'm not talking about getting back to where we were, I'm talking about significant, job creating, lifestyle enhancing, growth.  Innovation is the result of happy, experienced employees. 

It seems like the way things are going, we are not on a track to have many of those!

Think about how your existing job and career might change if you decided you were going to become the CEO of your company.  You wouldn't let those little "issues of the day" bother you.  You'd find better ways of doing things.  You wouldn't take "no" for an answer.  You'd become Indispensable to your employer . . . and in so doing, become immeasurably more valuable ("Are You Indispensable Or Vulnerable?").  If all that happened in the longer term, you'd get promotion after promotion. You'd rise through the ranks, until you reached the top.  Interesting . . .

Do you really have a career strategy to reach career goals, or are you just looking for what you perceive to be a "better job" . . . ?  Are you expert enough to innovate?

Just curious . . .!

Art Auction For Heart And Haiti In St. Louis

I just found out that a former employee of mine Julie Campbell,  who owns The Three Sinks art gallery in Webster is planning an art auction this coming Friday.  Here's all the info . . .

"Three Sinks Gallery is hosting a benefit event, St. Louis Artists Benefit for Haiti, with proceeds donated to the American Red Cross and the relief effort in Haiti.

Twenty-five artists have donated work to be exhibited at Three Sinks and previewed here on Facebook. 100% of the proceeds of the event will be donated to the American Red Cross. A silk-screen art t-shirt will be available for purchase online and in the gallery. This limited edition t-shirt will be significant to the heritage and plight of the Haitian people.

The exhibit will be held at Three Sinks Gallery, and will be available for viewing from January 25th through January 30th, 2010. A cocktail reception and silent auction will be held at the gallery from 6 to 9pm on Friday January 29th, 2010.

This event is in conjunction with Finale Fridays, a new happening occurring on the last Friday of each month and designed to give visitors a chance to sip, shop and stroll through unique Webster Groves establishments.

Location: Three Sinks Gallery - 8715 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves MO 63119"

I hope you'll make every effort to attend.  Further, I hope you'll pass this message along to your friends/colleagues and your social network.  Let's get the word out on this auction and help Julie raise some serious money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake!

A partial selection of the art along with additional information can be found on Julie's Facebook page.

Marketing Headhunter Gets Smarter with Twitter

I'm starting to embrace Twitter more and more enthusiastically, as I use it more and become comfortable with it.  I'm an advocate of continuing education and staying abreast of industry news, trends and new ways/ideas for doing something.  I'm finding Twitter to be extremely helpful in that pursuit.

I still read about six or eight trade and professional publications a month.  That has always been my way to know what was going on, hear about new ideas and the like.  I'm starting to find that the lead times for publication make that media almost dated by the time it's published.  Even weeklies like AdWeek and Ad Age print content that I've already seen or actually read through with all the electronic updates I now receive.

I created my Twitter account maybe two or so years ago with the username @HeadhunterBob (I encourage you to follow me!).  I had no idea what to do with that account for the longest time, yet I kept having people follow me.  I couldn't figure it out, I'd never sent one tweet, yet I had followers!

Over the past few months, I've started tweeting more frequently and I'm feeling very good about that for two reasons.  One, I feel like I'm "giving something back" . . . I've been told that followers appreciate the content of my tweets and enjoy reading many of them.  Second, I read more . . . a lot more.  I now read articles from literally scores of sources, including blogs, and articles of others I follow on Twitter.  It's enlightening.  I feel like I have a much better idea of what's going on, much sooner.

I'm sure you know that Twitter now integrates with the LinkedIn update box in your profile.  You can send tweets right from LinkedIn!

I tweet about issues related to recruiting, employment, employee retention, employer culture, marketing and advertising trends, etc.. In short, content that should be of interest to most in our marketing/employer/employee communities.  There are several other applications that have grown up around the world of Twitter, that I've found very useful.  I'd like to share some of those.

The most important is probably Tweet Deck.  Tweet Deck pushes the tweets of those you follow.  On Twitter.com, you have to refresh the page to see new Tweets.  Tweet Deck also allows you to follow several of (your own) accounts at the same time, as well as notifying you of any "direct tweets", or mentions of your username.  It's flattering to be "re-tweeted" and Tweet Deck tells you when that happens.

TweetChat is an application that lets you use the #(hashtag) to find people to follow in particular categories of interest . . . in my case, marketing, advertising, media, etc..  Twitter itself has an advance search capability that isn't so easy to find (you could look for users in your city).  If you'd like to tweet a photograph, use Twitpic.  Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts, with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people who matter to you.

The last tip I have goes beyond Twitter.  It's a preferred method for shortening urls.  The reason it's preferred is that bit.ly tracks the number of times a particular url that you've sent has been clicked.  It's very cool and far superior to tinyurl, for example.

Go to Twitter, create a username and profile and get out into the Twitterverse!  It's fun and you'll actually learn something!

For those of you already using Twitter, do you have any stories of it's benefits?

McGowan-Crain & Mozaic Rivet REBUS

I attended the first REBUS meeting for 2010 last evening, hosted by McGowan-Crain and Mozaic . . . what an event!  The 70+ attendees shattered previous REBUS attendance records and their enthusiasm was contagious!  Those attendees were entertained by Ben Crain and Todd McGowan's informative presentation of several case studies of their agency's work.  Ken Reece gave an overview of Mozaic's capabilities and Bill Freeman helped with post presentation tours.  Brian Handrigan of Gramatter, wrapped the presentations with a case study of a direct marketing effort on behalf of Royal Canin. 

Thanks to Modesto for being so kind as to provide the snacks for the evening.

Ben and Todd took turns presenting case studies on McGowan-Crain's work, across a variety of channels.  They explained their internal process for understanding and delivering brand positioning and appropriate marketing communications solutions across channels. They explained their "Smart, Simple, Strategic" foundationing and approach to all their work.  From Rosa Mexicano, an upscale Mexican food franchise, to Black Velvet Whiskey, and highlights of their 14 year run with Corona beer, Ben and Todd gave an open presentation of how they work for and succeed with their national clients.

They showed a very interesting video about "How an idea evolves".  The video does a wonderful job of showing how the addition resources of Mozaic (photography, pre-press and high end re-touching, online, and direct) can be utilized for their clients' benefit.  Check out that video and click here.

Todd delivered a final case study on one of the agency's pet projects, 1860s Genuine American Vodka.  The idea for the spirit was hatched in a local Soulard bar (1860 Saloon), when the owner told Todd that he's always wanted to create "his own" vodka to sell.  The resulting story of the brand positioning, development and launch  was fascinating to hear.  Apparently it worked, as it's now selling in six States, with more to come!

After the formal presentations members of the host staffs provided portfolio reviews for those interested.

This was the kind of event that REBUS strives for . . . An entertaining and educational presentation, presented in a very hospitable, creative atmosphere.  There's plenty of time to network with friends and meet new ones.  It's a unique opportunity to see what other agencies are doing, and what's more important, how they do it and why they do what they do.

For those of you who attended, thanks!  For those of you who missed it, we'll be announcing our next event on February 9th, very shortly.  For additional info, follow us on Facebook, or LinkedIn!

REBUS Needs Writers . . . And A Leader For Writers

Writers in St. Louis, MO: Are you looking to enhance your portfolio? Want to be a blogger without having to worry about growing a following? Want to write about what interests you in marketing, advertising, creative, social media, and the world of copy and messaging? REBUS St. Louis is a fast-growing network of young advertising professionals in St. Louis, MO, sponsored by the AdClub of St. Louis. We've recently launched a blog at www.REBUSstl.com that we will be promoting at monthly events and across social media outlets online. If you're passionate about your industry and want to grow your online professional reputation, become a blogger with REBUS. Please contact us. We have immediate openings available.

We are also looking for an experienced marketing communications writer to lead/mentor the REBUS writers.  If you have more than five years of writing experience, let us know you'd like to join the REBUS leadership team.  We'd love to have you . . .

Additional details:
We currently do not pay for content, but the blog is lead by social media experts and online advertising gurus working at St. Louis agencies, and we're all looking forward to working with you to put out compelling and relevant content about local events, professional experiences and industry trends. We'll post your name and photo next to each of your posts and get links posted on Twitter, Facebook and other places where we have hundreds of followers. Get your name out there, and join our team!

To apply:
Email Kirsten Sanders (kirstens@propaganda-inc.com) and Danny Elchert (danny.elchert@yahoo.com) with your name, phone number, email address, LinkedIn URL or resume, as well as 3+ writing samples by November 15th. We will be in touch shortly after we hear from you.

China's Feeling Better, How 'bout You?

I was reading the newsletter of a fellow member of the International Retained Search Associates, and liked what he had to say about one of the reports we heard from a fellow member. Ted Konnerth, Managing Partner and owner of Egret Consulting.  Ted and his staff at Egret specialize in retained executive recruiting for the Electrical Manufacturing and Distribution industries.

Here's Ted's re-cap and thoughts on what's next.

"I recently attended the International Retained Search Associates fall conference. As a board member for this organization, we try to attract members from around the globe to our semi-annual conferences. Our China delegation was in attendance and updated us on the trends in Asia. It appears that Asia has completely recovered and is back in strong growth mode. Our member from Shanghai is in the process of hiring an additional 23 recruiters for his large firm. China has invested trillions of dollars in infrastructure and construction is everywhere. His firm is busy across most industries, including manufacturing. He felt that China was about 6 months ahead of the US in recovery and felt the worst is well behind us. Of the entire organization, all but one attendee had experienced an upsurge in business in the past 3 months. Although recruiting may not be a pure bellwether of the overall economy, since we focus mostly on executive hiring, the overall attitude and confidence was up strongly from our Spring conference.

I recently read a survey of employees that reported that 78% of 'satisfied' and 39% of 'extremely satisfied' employees were open to looking for a new opportunity. The irony of this report is that just 30 days earlier, those same two groups of employees were 45% and 20% (respectively) open to looking at new opportunities. So what happened?

It appears that with signs of the economy recovering that employees have changed their career mentality from riding out the storm in a bunker and hoping that they wouldn't get caught in the 5th RIF to seeing positive trends and beginning to assess where they'd like to be for the future; which apparently isn't with their current employer.

This recession has been brutal. Companies have cut deeply into their employee ranks, including wholesale reductions in some of their most tenured employees. When employees see the loss of significant company tenured assets, it becomes clear that longevity and loyalty is no longer valued when times are hard. The definition of 'career path' becomes obscured when they see long-term employees struggling to come to grips with the possibility of moving from a community or accepting a significant reduction in responsibilities.

International Retained Search Associates Fall Conference

I returned yesterday from the irsa Fall Conference in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  The event was held at the Inns of Geneva National, adjacent to the 54 hole Geneva National Golf Course.  This was a spectacular venue where 15 of irsa's 24 members gathered to share information about retained recruiting's best practices, industry trends, business trends, etc..  Members came from every corner of this continent, and from as far away as Beijing!

The thing that makes these meeting so incredibly valuable is the willingness of all of the members to share every piece of their business strategy, workflow and documentation with other members.  Some of these guys have been doing this for more than 25 years.  You can imagine the value I get, as someone who's been recruiting for eight years.  Each of these recruiters is at the top of their profession, with many having been executives in the industries for which they now recruit.  They are experts in their area of specialization and the art of recruiting.  I can ask absolutely any question, and there will be several of these pros willing to help.

The format of the meetings is to start early, and spend five hours on the topics of discussion.  In this case the topics ranged from "What's the single best idea I've implemented since the last meeting, and what else didn't work", to hearing Eddie Lou, a partner in OCA Ventures (a venture capital firm) talk about how recruiters can work with VC firms to help build executive leadership.  The discussions are interactive and insightful.  These are conversations with peers that are difficult to have in the industry.

We spend the rest of the day on the golf course, talking more recruiting and of course golf, and all the other things guys talk about when they play golf and have fun together!  We rotate playing partners over the course of the weekend (generally playing at least three rounds), so that we get to know each other better. 

The only alternative to an organization like irsa, is to attend the industry trade shows presented by recruiting and staffing associations like the Natinoal Association for Personnel Services (NAPS), or our local Missouri Association for Personnel and Staffing Services (MAPSS).  While those events have value, and at the very least facilitate the comraderie of a profession, they take too broad a view, and are too similar to each other to have high level value.  Irsa is special, I consider myself very fortunate to have been invited to join.

One of the other topics of conversation was how best to educate clients on the difference between retained and contingency recruiters, and the the additional value clients receive from the retained recruiters.  I've previously written about how "Retained Recruiters add Value", and will no doubt do it again.

I'll be writing more about the discussions of the weekend in the next days.  I now have to start implementing some of the ideas presented, before the real work of the day starts.  I encourage you to visit the irsa website, and check out the "Insights and Resources" tab, for information on the job search, how to work with a recruiter, etc..

Bob Lachky Delivers St. Louis Advertising To The World

I’m glad I decided to attend the Ad Club’s Bob Lachky honorarium lunch last Wednesday on the campus of St. Louis University.  I was inclined not to go, as I felt the whole event was rather self-serving on the part of the Ad Club.  Let’s have an event where we honor someone who’s going to sing the praises of St. Louis agencies . . . It just somehow felt disingenuous.  As it turns out, it wasn’t.

I started feeling more hopeful when I read an article in the Post-Dispatch Wednesday morning, written by Jeremiah McWilliams, “A Real Man of Genius”.  McWilliams wrote a very nice article about Lachky’s, successful career, retirement, and what he’s doing now.  The line that really struck me was, “Now, one of Lachky’s unofficial roles seems to be chatting up the potential and track record of St. Louis agencies.”  Wow!  What a good idea!

While the event itself was rather pedestrian from a “staging” or decorating perspective, it turned into a fun, enlightening couple of hours where the value delivered by St. Louis agencies was truly celebrated.  The agencies that were featured included Waylon, Momentum, Cannonball and Shaw.

Bob Lachky did a wonderful job of deflecting the accolades from himself to his agency partners.  In listening to Bob and some of the Creative Directors of the featured agencies, one couldn’t help but to be proud of being a member of the St. Louis creative and marketing community . . . especially if you were even a soldier in “the beer wars”.  There is some very fine work being delivered by St. Louis agencies to world class clients, of which of course, AB is one.
 
The St. Louis advertising community has historically had very low self-esteem, starting when Gardner closed over a period of about 10 years , culminating in the closing of D’Arcy, formerly one of the world’s (yes, world’s) largest agencies.  The city just never had the confidence or felt respect in the industry that it had once had . . .

There have been historic efforts to promote the city’s quality of work and the advertising community, but when local companies that could stay in St. Louis to support the home team agencies and don’t (I don’t need to provide a list, they’re all too familiar and way too prevalent), it’s obviously going to be a tough sell outside of the region.  There has been little if any success in these efforts.
Bob Lachky and Anheuser-Busch have managed to keep St. Louis on the map for consistently superb marketing and advertising.  As it turns out, much of that work (probably more than you really know) is being proudly produced here, but the local agencies mentioned, and (by Lachky’s admission) many, many others.  Here’s to beer!

If Bob Lachky truly wants to talk up St. Louis creative, let’s support him in doing that!  We should put Mr. Lachky on the road for the benefit of the city’s advertising identity and growth . . . and self esteem!  Who better than someone with his credibility could speak to the capability, creativity and results delivered from home town agencies.  Who has more credibility?  Who can get in front of the biggest and most important prospective client audiences, with more to say than Bob?  It’s a no-brainer!

I think back on all the various efforts to promote the city,.   They’ve all been well intentioned, locally focused and unfortunately unsuccessful.  Let’s hire Bob and put him on the road with a killer reel, some AB product and let him loose on the world (or at least the Midwest).  Once again, "Making friends is his business!"   I’m betting he could have more impact with one media tour than all the previous efforts combined.  It can’t be very expensive.  Considering the possible results, it’s downright cheap!

Proud To Be In IRSA, International Retained Search Associates

Remember that club in high school that you so wanted to be a part of, but were never invited?  Or more recently,  that exclusive professional organization or association that so attracts you, but membership is by invitation only . . . and you aren't so presumptuous to think you'll ever be invited?  Well, IRSA is just that sort of association for me and Bishop Partners, LLC . . . IRSA stands for the International Retained Search Association, and I was invited to be a member in January of 2008.

Since that time, IRSA has been refining its role and value to the members.  I'm pleased to have lead the drive for a new identity and positioning for the organization.  The re-branding effort was lead by St. Louis' own branding and design consultancy, Yank and LImey.  My good friend Ben Franklin, who in my opinion is one of the best designers of brand identify anywhere, created our new logo and identity.

I'm also proud of the new website we've just rolled out.  To view it, click here.  My fellow IRSA members trusted me to direct the design and development of the site, which is intended to highlight the value that IRSA members consistently deliver to their clients.

IRSA is a group of about 25 retained recruiters, all of whom are leaders in their specialties.  Most have been retained recruiters for decades, and know exactly what they're doing.  Many are such accomplished recruiters, that they are routinely chosen to train other recruiters at national association gatherings, like the NAPS (National Association for Personnel Services) event coming up in Las Vegas.  To get an idea of what those events are like, you can check it out here.

From the moment I heard about IRSA, I was hopeful to become a member.  We meet twice a year to intensively discuss and share best practices with each other.  Since there is no "right" way to succeed at recruiting, different people have different approaches.  The glory of IRSA is that the members are very willing to share all their methodology with fellow members.  The value of that open sharing and mutual support is absolutely immeasurable.  It's not an exaggeration to say that every IRSA member is a better recruiter as a result of their involvement.

This association also helps each member recruiting firm provide additional support and capability to all of our clients.  Since the organization is truly international, with firms from every continent except Africa and Australia (at the moment), existing client relationships can be leveraged to provide those clients with additional capabilities and service all over the world.  The client can rest assured that they will be dealing with an experienced retained recruiter with the highest ethical standards and success rates.

I also work with a number of candidates who are interested in working in other countries.  IRSA will give Bishop Partners a far better opportunity to be able to move those candidates to spectacular opportunities in other cities from Beijing to Paris.  It's an exciting additional capability.

I'll also have the ability to provide candidates for our partners in other cities, who are looking for premier performers in the areas of marketing, advertising and corporate communications. 

AIGA Celebrates 20 Years in High Style

Last week, AIGA St. Louis celebrated their 20th Anniversary as a St. Louis Chapter of the renowned National organization and held their Annual Meeting.  In a reception hosted by Ferguson-Katzman studios, over 150 designers, photographers, artists and design professionals attended the event.  In addition to honoring the 2009 AIGA St. Louis Fellow, the profession was honored by giving everyone an original piece of art created by local artists specifically for this event.

Cherie Fister is the 2009 St. Louis AIGA Fellow.  Additionally, Buck Smith, Sarah Birdsall and John Heaney we designated as "Local Legends" and each spoke while showing an overview of their work. 

I was impressed by the sheer scale of this event in several ways.  I can't ever remember seeing so many St. Louis design luminaries in one place at the same time.  If you name the best designers in town over the last 20+ years, those who couldn't make it could easily be counted on one hand. 

In addition to the veterans, there was a huge contingency of younger designers and creatives . . . a group often very difficult to get to an event like this.  The simple numbers of the event were eclipsed by what I thought to be a pride and incredibly powerful and positive emotional force.  To look at the work, generally focused on St. Louis, and beautifully created art, all the attendees could feel a sense of pride and optimism about St. Louis Design.

This is the sort of event that should have been celebrated by the entire St. Louis creative, advertising and marketing community.  I understand that this was an AIGA event, their annual meeting and celbration of their first 20 years of existence.  I would have liked to have seen it more like a typical birthday party, where you invite all your firends . . . no matter what organization they happen to belong to. 

I couldn't help but notice there were likely less than 10 Ad Club members at the event (or AMA, or GIMA, or ASMP or any one of several other creative organizations).  I believe that anyone interested enough to attend would have been welcomed and felt very "at home".  Even the email blasts highlighted "Free and Open to the Public". 

I continue to hope that in the very near future, the leaders of the various local organizations/associations find a way to get together and get their groups working together and playing together.  There is strength in numbers and without doubt mutually enhanced value.

FK Studios were kind enough to provide the above images.  If you'd like to see over 100 additional photographs from the event . . . go here!  Regrettably, I don't know who shot these additional images, because I don't know her name.  She did a terrific job.  If anyone would like to add a comment with appropriate attribution, I'd appreciate it.

Support Your Marketing Community And Colleagues

Those of us in the business of marketing, advertising, sales promotion, graphic design, etc., form a community.  We work together, even though we may be competitors.  In some cases we're at different agencies or firms, yet working for the same client.  Our clients rely on us, and we rely on each other.  We work together, play together, network together . . .

I was heartened to receive an email from Jeremy DeWeese, a St. Louis photographer and reader of this blog, who responded to my comment that for the first time in this headhunting business, professionals I had recruited and placed were laid off. 

I was thrilled when a member of our community, who happens to be a photographer, volunteered to help not only those two people, but anyone else who's recently been laid off and might need some photography of materials for their portfolio, a headshot, whatever.  If you need some photographic support to help in your search for that next career opportunity, just ask Jeremy.  He wants to help.

Prior to writing this blog, I sent Jeremy an email asking if he was ready for what might be an overwhelming response.  His comment:

"I'm prepared for the response. I open it up to any creatives that have been laid off and need photos of their work. It's time for action, and those who stand together now will emerge from the storm united and stronger than ever. Feel free to use my name in your blog if you would like, or  talk with people personally, you choose what you are most comfortable with. Let's make some new friends, I can't think of anything more rewarding or fun right now. I appreciate all that you are doing Bob, your commitment to the people in our industry succeeding is worth mentioning and is inspiring. Keep it up, talk soon.   Jeremy"

What a wonderful attitude!  It makes me wonder what else we can all be doing to help each other out in these historically difficult times.  Maybe the Ad Club, AIGA or even the St. Louis Advertising Exchange or AdSaint could start making an effort to find how they might be able to help those unemployed through this time . . . and not just "creatives", but account service, media, new media, etc.!

There could be support for portfolio reviews/counseling, mentoring of those out of work by those who still have their jobs.  Agencies or clients could offer spaces for these meetings to take place.  Maybe there's a way to help with high quality digital output to help portfolio creation.  Maybe those who have mastered online portfolios could help those who need the help to figure it out.  It seems the possibilities and potential are phenomenal.

 

This is Jeremy, asking for some help for himself!

One of the side effects of any of these efforts could (shouild) be the St. Louis marketing and advertising communities being closer, stronger and inevitably "better".  That would have to benefit the industry, the clients and most of all, those people who feel there's no place to turn for help, when they need it most.

Who's got some ideas?  Who's willing to spend a bit of time for someone else's benefit?  As Jeremy says, what could be more rewarding or fun right now?

REBUS at TOKY and Marketing For The Community

The February REBUS event was hosted by TOKY Branding and Design, in their new offices.  For the second month in a row, there were over 50 attendees at the event.  The TOKY staff collaborated and delivered a 'hands on" event that not only celebrated the virtues of creatively contributing to the community we live in, but utilized REBUS to contribute over 50 hand made Valentines for a local charity.

Eric Thoelke, Jeff Insco and others TOKY staffers proudly showed a new way to think about an old topic (using marketing for the benefit of the community).  They presented some of their work over the past year for area charities, non-profits and the St. Louis Community.  Projects like "Art Fix" an art auction benefiting Rebuilding Together, "Art the Vote" a Statewide get out the vote effort, and their efforts for "A Tasteful Affair" for St. Louis' Food Outreach, of which the REBUS Valentines were a contribution.  Cjeck out some of those Valentines . . . they're really pretty impressive!

The TOKY presentation was unusual and refreshing because they didn't talk about their highly regarded work for clients.  Instead, by showing how effective creative marketing can be for those causes of interest and social responsibility, they gave every attendee something to think about.  Frankly, TOKY did more than that.  I think they inspired the attendees to find ways to contribute to those charities and non-profits of interest to themselves and/or their employers.  It was exciting.  It was beyond the normal response to REBUS hosts.

The presentation showed how powerful strategic thinking, backed up by powerful creative can positively effect outcomes . . . whether for a national client brand, or the neighborhood non-profit.  The effort can be relatively inexpensive, yet powerfully effective.  In short, there are no excuses for more agencies and individual creatives to find ways to give back.

The pro bono arm of REBUS, fREBUS is doing just that in its own way.  Over the past two years, fREBUS has utilized the volunteer efforts of almost 60 young professionals to give back over $50,000.00 in deliverables to St. Louis non-profits.  Check out fREBUS to find out more, and perhaps contribute.  The effort to help support St. Louis non-profits is continuing, and growing!

The next REBUS event will be held at Rob Grimm Photography on Tuesday evening March 10th, starting at 6:00 PM.  The topic will be "What To Expect When You are Expecting A Photo Shoot".  I hope to see you there! 

REBUS Visits NGAGE

What a spectacular event last Tuesday's REBUS meeting at NGAGE was!  In addition to the hospitality and sharing of social marketing insights and execution by Dan Curran and Dave Johnson (Creative Director), for me there was a sort of renewal, or "passing the torch".  NGAGE's new space at 411 North 10th, is just being finished . . . literally.  Apparently, the carpet was laid in 24 hours prior to the REBUS visit  The space is spectacular and distinctive . . . in pristine white.  By the way, check out NGAGE's new website!
 
(later Dan was at the door, shaking hands and welcoming everyone to the new digs.  I couldn't help but feel like I'd been here before, and I told Dan so as I shook his hand, looking around and marveling at the reception area.  Well, I actually had been there before, literally standing in exactly the same space, getting one of my first advertising photography assignments from Harold Jones, a Creative Director at Batz, Hodgson, Neuhoener (later re-named BHN) that was 1975.  It's now almost 40 years later, and there's a new agency with a new approach.  It felt like a wonderful renewal of historic passion, energy and competence and leap forward, all at the same time.  It all seemed "just right", somehow tapping into and taking advantage of part of St. Louis' storied advertising history and moving it into the next century.

Somehow, it all tied together with the topic for the evening's presentation "How Innovation and Optimism Can Prevail In A Struggling Economy". 

While Dan was presenting case studies to the attendees, I did a headcount.  I counted 52 attendees without counting the NGAGE folks who were there.  I think that's a new REBUS record!  Next month's meeting will be at TOKY Branding and Design, on February 10th.  We're looking forward to that event.

fREBUS Gets Organized at RT

fREBUS, the pro bono arm of REBUS, both sponsored by the Ad Club had our second organizational meeting on Tuesday evening at RT.  I was thrilled by the enthusiasm shown by the more than 35 young advertising professionals who were interested in hearing more about donating their time and skills for the benefit of St. Louis charities.  RT was in the middle of a huge pitch, but nonetheless made space available for us.  Thanks to everyone at RT for their support.

Sarah Waters, Emily Shearon and Kendra Pennycuick were instrumental in organizing and promoting the program.  Actually, they're the ones who are driving all the projects fREBUS is currently working on for clients like the Gateway Men's Chorus, the Better Business Bureau, Coro and Lydia's House.  fREBUS has also committed to do all the identity, promotion and interactive work for a project next Fall, The World Record Baseball Game.  This group of men aims to play for 48 hours in hopes of claiming the title in the Guinness Book of World Records. But more importantly, they aim to collect over $250,000 for Cardinal Glennon. In 2007 they raised over $100,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis.

Currently, there are more than 60 young professionals working with fREBUS and local charities or non-profits.  It's exciting!

We are still looking for additional volunteers, so the workload is properly spread out and we can get as many involved as possible.  We are always looking for young talented professionals to contribute on our pro bono teams. Positions include:
Sr. Creative - Design
Sr. Creative - Copywriting
Sr. Account Exec
Jr. Account Exec
Jr. Copywriter
Jr. Designer
Programmer/Web Developer
Interactive Designer
Videographer/Editor
Public Relations

If you might be interested in working with fREBUS to network with peers, learn more about the business and build your book by doing "real" work, I encourage you to send an email to Kendra@geileon.com.  She'll be happy to help get you started.  We want and need your help and support. 

Agencies and Brands, Principles and People

A couple of weeks ago, I made the decision to attend an all day conference presented by AAAA, "What Separates the Best from the Rest? . . . What the Best Agencies Do Differently".  Essentially a day spent hearing about the best practices of agencies in the U.S., including operational, creative, account and business growth related issues.  Phenomenal . . . I might add that the same principles that were applied to agencies can certainly be applied to brands and/or companies.

I was impressed with Tim William's presentation, experience and obvious grasp of the subject.  Tim is the President of the Ignition Consulting Group in NYC.

I'm so glad I decided to spend the (rather significant) amount of money to participate.  About an hour into it, I knew that I'd made the right decision.  It was interesting to see what agencies attended and which didn't.  If I could list the attendees, I would because I was impressed that they would make the commitment of one full day to improve (or at least hear about) better ways of doing things.  A few agencies sent multiple representatives.

I mention all this, because I was just going through my notes.  I'm going to share some thoughts here and probably more at another time.  I hope you find some of these notions as interesting as I did.  There was so much substance that I'm hoping there is benefit in taking some ideas out of context.

“A big problem with working at ad agencies is that management is too often unwilling to stand up for their own people if it means taking on the client.”  74% of Euro RSCG (global behemoth, check out their site's opening animation . . . ) agreed with that principle.  What do you think?  How about your agency or employer?

"The basic principle of what separates the best from the rest is Owners know that there’s something more important than making money.  It's what they do with that knowledge that separates the best from the rest."

As Bill Bernbach said, “If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you.”  “If you stand for nothing, you will have nobody for you and nobody against you”   The point obviously being that you can't be everything to everybody!  The world’s strongest brands are polarizing.  People have feelings, either for or against them, but people are engaged in them.

Appealing to everybody is not a strategy . . .  Strategy is a series of trade-offs.  What are you willing to be good at?

Some examples of icons that have probably gotten to their position of leadership because of their fanatic adherence to their own guiding principles.  For example, design hero Bruce Mau's Manifesto . . . or Strawberry Frog's "Frogisms" (at the home page click "about" > "frog versus dinosaur").  There are others.  Too few organizations have sincere principles that guide their activity.

These companies understand that commitment to themselves and how they conduct business is paramount.  As long as they stay true to their principles, good things happen.  Seems like a simple idea.  You have to wonder why more organizations don't have the belief or strength to do it too.

It is the foundation upon which clients are won and the foundation upon which employees are inspired, recruited and retained.

REBUS Visits Geileon . . . Hospitality and Creativity Rule

I walked into Geileon last evening for the October REBUS event, to the aroma of freshly grilled tube steaks, all the fixin's and lots of icy cold beverages . . . what a wonderful way to set the stage for what was to come!

Sarah Waters, one of the REBUS Co-Chairs made an announcement about the opportunities available through fREBUS and their pro bono efforts on behalf of regional non-profits.  fREBUS needs Young Guns and Ad Club members in positions like Sr. Designers, Sr. Writers, Sr. Account Execs, Web Developer/Programmers, Interactive Designers, Videographer/Editors and PR folks. 

fREBUS' next big project is to develop and execute all the branding, promotion and marketing for the "World Record Baseball Game" (according to Guinness) to be played in St. Louis in November, 2009.  It's an exciting opportunity for professionals to get involved in a world class project, build their books and give back to our community.  Proceeds from the game will go to benefit local Charities.

Back to Geileon . . . Kathy Leonard was kind enough to move her clients out of the main conference room, to her office and the presentation was lead by agency principle, Tim Leon.  Tim took questions from the group and explained the value of the discovery process with a client, prior to starting any creative.

Thanks to Tim Leon, Del Schwinke, Kendra Pennycuick and the other GL staffers who made everyone feel so welcome.  Hospitality coupled with openness and creativity . . . what a wonderful combination!