Berg, a London-based design firm, was asked to rethink what a receipt is and how it can become something more useful or engaging to consumers. And frankly, I’m a fan! The work they have done so far is really cool.

So what did Berg do that is so cool? What they realized is that receipt machines are already connected to complex systems that report consumer spending and product purchase data. With access to this information, receipts can transition from a sheet of paper with coupons for products you commonly purchase to something that provides news or information that might be useful to you as the consumer. More simply, what if your receipt was more tailored to your life and things that relate to your purchase decisions? By offering more valuable content to consumers, wouldn’t this enrich their overall impressions of your store? I think so.

As a new resident of Chicago, I’m constantly on the lookout for new things or places to check out so I can learn more about my city. If I went to purchase an album from a store in my neighborhood, it would be of great value to me if the receipt had information about shows or street festivals happening in the area. Or if it said something like “Since you like Adele, go to XYX and get one of their killer burgers. Adele loves hamburgers.” It would make me laugh – and I would probably go check out one of those burgers.

As we’ve mentioned before, user experience is something important to consider at all times, regardless of whether or not it’s a design product. I’m jazzed about this because this concept takes a commonly discarded paper item, and redefines the experience the consumer has with it. And that adds value not only to that purchase, but also to the overall experience the consumer has at your store and/or with the products they buy from you.

There are a plethora of opportunities – and so much room for creativity. Receipts could become a tool with which to raise awareness about social or health concerns, rally attendance for community event, promote purchasing local products or simply provide a quip or factoid that might make consumers smile.

Do you think consumers will take note of receipts like this – or will people continue to largely ignore them? We would love to hear your thoughts.

Are Receipts Integration Gold for Marketers? is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Who can pass up a good pun, right? I’m probably one of the least fashionable people out there. However, even for the fashion-challenged like me, it’s likely that you’ve heard about TOMS Shoes.

TOMS was formed by entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie in 2006 on the simple concept that by selling these comfortable, Argentinian-style shoes to consumers – a pair could in turn be given to someone who needs them. Mycoskie’s business concept was rooted in the desire to help those (children primarily) who do not have shoes to protect themselves from soil-transmitted diseases prevalent in developing countries. The TOMS mission is also to ensure these people have access to places like schools or hospitals in their respective communities, for education, assistance and healthcare.

The cool thing about TOMS is that this is not a ’cause component’ of their business – it IS their business. TOMS’ advertising isn’t focused on selling you a pair of their shoes, it hopes to inspire you to do good. Below is a video from their “One Day Without Shoes” campaign and is a great example of their overall brand messaging:

Since the company’s inception in 2006, TOMS has been able to give 1,000,000 shoes to children through its One for One Movement. In addition to being able to donate to over 20 countries around the world, TOMS has also been recognized as one of eight revolutionary socially responsible companies making a difference in the world.

TOMS has a great consumer base that has essentially helped make an impact on the world. But as a brand, what do they do if they want to grow or evolve? And does it put their mission of helping those without at risk?

Apparently not. TOMS recently announced they are expanding into eye wear.

Armed with the same simple One for One business model, for every pair of sunglasses they sell, they will work to ensure that one person receives the eye care they need. Providing eye care is far more complex than shoes – so for this program TOMS is partnering with companies to provide the eye care services needed to fulfill their One for One promise.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this expansion it that it allows TOMS as a brand to grow into, as they say, a One for One company. In other words, regardless of what you buy, your purchase directly helps someone in need. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

So if you want your consumer dollars to make a difference in the world, and need a cool new pair of shades check out TOMS new eyeware line. Their site put their company goal right up front so you know your purchase can impact someone’s life – and they offer a cool virtual try-on tool as well. In fact, we started exploring this new initiative partly because we were interested in the technology behind their virtual try-on tool. We weren’t all that impressed with its functionality, but we love TOMS!

For your continued entertainment pleasure, here is what I would look like in a pair of TOMS shades, courtesy of their virtual try-on tool:

TOMS Building Upon ‘Soleful’ Brand is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Paola Antonelli, Curator for Architecture and Design at the MoMA, did a TEDTalk in late 2007 previewing the exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind,” focused on designs that impact the way we think, and this TEDTalk was published in early 2008.

Antonelli’s passion for design as art is infectious and the presentation compelling.

As she mentioned, the marriage between design and science is producing some beautiful things and now, some three years later, it’s interesting to see that theories of tagging (like we do on a daily basis with blog posts, videos and other digital content we produce), has become a way of not only tracking the information we create, but also sharing it with others.

Antonelli spoke then about contemporary design becoming more and more collective, evidenced by mashups and networking and multiple people working on interfaces so that things are created or tasks accomplished together. As she predicted, collective design is a more and more the way of not only the future, but really the way of the present. Collective design is very much happening now. I know that when it comes to the work we do for clients, collective design and collaboration throughout every part of the process – whether it’s a web design project or a marketing campaign – are integral to the results we’re able to generate for our clients. So, yes, most definitely, collective design is a part of everyday life – at least as we know it.

Participation of the buyer (or the consumer) in the process – whether it’s manufacturing, marketing – think crowdsourced ad campaigns and/or consumer-generated Super Bowl ads and customer service are prevalent today – and will only continue to be more so.

Antonelli was once a practicing architect and stepped back from practicing so that she could focus on teaching, writing about design, and curating gallery exhibitions. She has received many accolades, including being named as one of the top 100 most powerful people in the world of art, and she is very much a force the art and design world.

In late 2010, The Economist interviewed Antonelli and the topic of conversation was Design in 2036. Her thoughts seem, at least to me, to be wonderfully spot-on.

There are still people who believe that design is just about making things, people and places pretty. In truth, design has spread like gas to almost all facets of human activity, from science and education to politics and policymaking. For a simple reason: one of design’s most fundamental tasks is to help people deal with change.

Designers stand between revolutions and everyday life. When the internet happened, they created interfaces with buttons and hyperlinks that enabled us all to use it. Designers make disruptive innovations manageable and approachable, so that they can be embraced and assimilated into life. And they never forget functionality and elegance.

In 25 years designers will be at the nexus of things. They will not be divvied up according to their reductive speciality (graphic, product, furniture, so 20th-century!). On the contrary, like physics, design will be loosely separated between theoretical and applied.

Antonelli’s TED presentation was terrific – even three years later, and actually very forward-thinking. And I figured that if I enjoyed it, you might, too.

Image Credit: The Economist

Collective Design is The Future is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

As if Toyota hasn’t already had enough bad press in the past year or so, there’s a storm brewing focused on a scheme that pretty much amounts to buying reviews from mommy bloggers. Crazy? You betcha.

Clarification – there appears to be a campaign afoot soliciting mom bloggers to write positive blog posts and reviews, share them widely in the social media space, and “thumbs up” a series of Toyota YouTube videos. And the reward dangled in front of these bloggers for their help (and putting their reputations on the line) – a $10 Amazon gift card.

This story comes to light courtesy of a well-regarded mom blogger, Crissy, at DearCrissy.com. More about Crissy in a minute.

The skinny: apparently there’s an organization called MommyNetworks, based in Tampa, Florida about which not a lot of information is available. Never a good sign. But I’m tenacious. Let the digging begin.

I like to start at the beginning. And your website really does speak volumes about you and your business — I always start there. A quick visit to the MommyNetworks website reveals no “About Us” page, no names, no faces, no connections to ‘real’ people. There’s really no brand story or explanation about what they do, who their clients are, what services they offer, who runs the company – and all those other little niggling details that go to credibility. I do so love a mystery.

Oh, because I couldn’t resist – and just for a giggle, here’s what “Get the Best Deals” section of the Mommy Networks website looks like. Muy impressivo!

Here’s what else I know. The domain MommyNetworks.org is 4 months old, their Whois.com information is protected and the website is, unquestionably, a horrible, embarrassing mess. There are a sum total of three blog posts on the site, the most recent published on December 21, 2010. Impressive! Especially to another blogger – or a brand considering hiring them to do any kind of marketing or PR work. But most importantly, who they are and what they do is really a complete and total mystery.

Can you say “WARNING, WARNING Will Robinson?”

Digging more. (I really should’ve been a PI). Hmmm. Website copyrighted by Care.com, a company that describes themselves this way:

Care.com provides a trusted place for families and care providers to easily connect, share caregiving experiences, and get advice. The company addresses the unique lifecycle of care needs that each family may go through — including child care, special needs care, tutoring, senior care, pet care, housekeeping and more. The service enables families to find and select the best care possible based on detailed profiles, background checks, and references for hundreds of thousands of mom-reviewed providers who are seeking to share their services.

How does all this fit in with MommyNetworks? Still a mystery.

Okay, enough digging. Back to Toyota.

Crissy received an email from Tiffany Lewis, at MommyNetworks, which I imagine is a blogging network that she belongs to – giving  her an opportunity to “work” and get a gift card in return. The email, from Tiffany Lewis, read like this:

Hello!

A new opportunity! Another chance to score a $10.00 Amazon gift card for the mommy bloggers who help out.

There was a big report released about Toyota, by the NHTSA and NASA, stating that there was no electronic flaw found, which was originally assumed to be the cause of all the recalls with the Priuses last year. It actually turned out to be pretty much “user error” that was causing the accelerator to stick.

It’s a big deal for Toyota since this has affected their reputation heavily and they had a lot of negative stigma around their brand as of late, and we’re helping to spread the positive news:

I need you to:
Write a post about the report & good news
In the post, link to a few of the articles or videos below
If possible, share on social networks or “thumbs up” the YouTube videos.

Tiffany Lewis
MommyNetworks.org

There’s a final note that asks:

Please meticulously track your efforts (If you tweet it out, the exact URL) You must do this to receive (sic) the giftcard!!! If you have any questions I will get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day:)

Here’s the things about mom bloggers. Most of them (and I know many) are amazing people. And as much as some of them might like a good deal, a freebie or a fantastic opportunity, they are typically pretty smart cookies. They’re not going to do stupid things, just because someone asks them to. And they’re certainly not going to potentially damage the credibility they’ve managed to build as a result of their blogs, their Twitter or Facebook followings and with their clients, who are often PR firms and ad agencies, by jumping on board a sketchy opportunity like this.

Crissy did what any self-respecting blogger would – she got mad. Then she wrote a blog post about it. It’s a stellar post. Based on the 130+ comments that she’s received since the post was published this morning, there are no shortage of folks agreeing with Crissy’s shock and outrage.

But who’s to blame? Toyota? In fact, did Toyota have any idea this campaign was going on? If so, did they understand how it was being conducted and what was being asked by the blogger outreach team?

As the erudite Alli Worthington, a well-recognized name in social media and the lifestyle blogger community, and co-founder of Blissfully Domestic women’s magazine, one of the most trusted women’s destinations online, says when responding to Crissy’s post, chances are good the answer to those questions is a resounding ‘no.’

In fact, Alli’s response to the post is so good, I’ll share it for you here:

A friend sent me to read your story. Wow. Unfortunately nightmare stories of bad campaigns are not surprising anymore.

I wonder if Toyota even was aware this was taking place. Here’s my guess – Toyota has PR Firm XXX that is hired to help their image. PR Firm XXX hires multiple small boutique marketing companies to do a word of mouth marketing campaign geared at increasing positive regard for Toyota.

The above marketing group took the path of least resistance to achieve their goal of increasing positive regard for their client. I am not an attorney, but paying a (presumptively) bloggers to give positive news stories a thumbs up may be against the FTC guidelines.

The responsibility and bad PR falls ultimately in the lap of Toyota. However, my guess is this marketing group was some tertiary hire by the main PR company. Much of this comes down to a lack of oversight. I advise my clients to know exactly who their firm may be hiring out to do these word of mouth campaigns.

Such an embarrassment to everyone that should have been avoided with due diligence.

@AlliWorthington

My take – this isn’t something dreamed up by Toyota. It was an idea hatched by someone so eager to make a good impression with a client that they didn’t think it all the way through. They didn’t think about little things like ethics and the fact that you really can’t – and certainly shouldn’t – try to buy good reviews. And someone so absolutely ignorant about the mom blogger community as a whole that they tricked themselves into believing that moms – or bloggers anywhere – would be supportive of something so obviously wrong.

Due diligence. Understanding marketing and PR and ethical practices. Understanding the importance of full disclosure (not only a good idea, but required by the FTC) and, most importantly, realizing that whether you’re a brand, a PR firm, a marketing firm, consultant or blogger there can be major ramifications and potentially massive reputational damage done as the result of poorly conceived campaigns like this one.

And thanks to Crissy and the ethical thinking that led to her indignation and subsequent blogging about this issue, and to legions of other smart mommy bloggers, brands and agencies can learn some valuable lessons.

Know who you’re working with. Check them, and all of their resources out, very carefully. Ask for references and check them. Insist on being a part of all campaigns and approving content before it’s disseminated. Don’t be so anxious for results that you don’t first stop to determine how you define ‘good results’ – at least for purposes of your campaign and your goals. And also have a good handle on what you’re asking people to do.

And, for heaven’s sake, don’t think you can be unethical and pull the wool over the eyes of anyone – especially mom bloggers. They’re moms – they’ve probably already seen every trick in the book.

And mom bloggers, there’s a lesson here for you, too. Value yourself, above all else. Before associating yourself and your personal brand and credibility with an organization like MommyNetworks, do your own homework. Surely if you took the time to visit their website, you’d have some warning bells that things weren’t right. And if someone asks you do to something like MommyNetworks asked of Crissy and others, don’t hesitate to stand up and cry ‘foul’ … because that’s really the only right thing to do.

What did I miss?

Update:  Crissy just updated her original post with the following information from Samantha Snyer, owner of Mommy Networks.

UPDATE:

Samantha Snyder, owner of Mommy Networks, emailed me saying that she is in no way affiliated with Toyota. I don’t know how someone wakes up one day and decides to pay a bunch of mom bloggers to post good news about a brand out of their own pocket, but, that’s what Snyder says she was doing:

I am a toyota (sic) owner, that saw this come out last week and I thought that it would be a good case study. Honestly, look at my FB page. I really thought that I could bring up something as large as this recall and create a portfolio for MommyNetworks.org.

There was absolutely no mention of any of this in her original pitch, and I can only assume that the other bloggers involved were under the impression that there was some affiliation with Toyota, too. Might want to run this stuff by the brand, especially when you’re paying people.

And my final thoughts, as a marketer regularly helping brands protect and maintain their brand reputations, this is a perfect argument for the use of social media monitoring and business intelligence gathering tools as a critical component of business operations. People will do amazing things. And if you’re not listening, you might not have any idea.

UPDATE: 9:08pm, CST, The following was posted on MommyNetworks tonight, as an explanation and an apology:

To Crissy and Toyota, I am sorry

My dream has been to own my company since I was a little girl. I started MommyNetworks.org in August with the idea to help moms find work, and advertising.

Mommy Networks recently began some harmless outreach to other moms in order to build a portfolio, and increase our scope with Mom’s. I own a Toyota-Lexus and with the recent news that came out I wanted to base some outreach and case study development around this topic. I often have fun contests and give aways on Facebook.

I had a big #FAIL.

I went into a realm that was not my own. I am not a PR person, I have a background in HR, and want to help get Mommies jobs and help them find routes to advertise.

I #FAILed.

I truly apologize to everyone for this issue, and I am closing down MommyNetworks.org in order to reevaluate whether I am built for this kind of endeavor. Crissy was someone that said that she would be interested in future campaigns for advertising and reviews and this only reason I contacted her. I would never cold contact someone.

As for the Care.com issue, my designer and developer left that on my theme when I bought it.

I am responsible for going into this without experience and I am paying the price now.

I apologize to Crissy, Toyota, and everyone else. I messed up, and I hope everyone will leave this as a last comment from my side. I am open to answer questions, but hope everyone will respect my decision to simply fade away and deal with this huge #FAIL in my own way.

I had a discussion with Liz Polay-Wettengel about this this evening and she made a very good point. Bloggers – mommy bloggers in particular – must realize how important it is that they be more responsible about their content. Doing anything for a free gift card or some other perk gives an entire genre of bloggers a bad name – and that’s a bad rap.

To my way of thinking, reputation, integrity and credibility are always our most important assets (at least from a business/blogging standpoint) and if you will say or do anything for a gift card or an invitation to a party or for a free product, well then, what does that say about you?

I’m sorry that this blogger did something that she now regrets. And sorry that Toyota had to suffer some slings as a result. Once again, these are good lessons for us all. The Internet – it’s a very powerful thing.

Toyota Buying Mom Bloggers? is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Web analytics are a critical data component (or at least they should be) for marketers. And today, URLs are what matter – as much as cookies always have in the past. The analytics provided by URL shortening services are a marketer’s goldmine.

In today’s app-obsessed society, it’s becoming harder for marketers to track their consumers. Each app consumers use to access the Internet is like its own room within a giant hotel – when your customers access via an app, all you can see is a new visit. The inbound link is lost, along with the context of their visit.

Marketers and app providers alike have long relied on cookies to track consumers – the problem is that cookies have to be stored through a web browser. Since the tendency is now to share links via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter, these cookies are rendered useless. To compound the situation, consumers have also begun to revolt against intrusive toolbars and cross-tracking cookies.

Marketers and web analytics companies know that URLs survive sharing and allow them access to the engagement and behavior data they want – and need. So, with URLs being so important, how does the rise of URL shorteners like the ones developed by Twitter and Facebook impact our ability to track?

Emerging technology enthusiast and entrepreneur Alistair Croll says it best, “whoever owns the shortener sees the engagement between your consumers and the content you are producing, no matter where it happens.”

For instance, if you use Twitter’s built in URL shortener, t.co, THEY see your traffic behavior data – not you.

Hmmmm. What a treasure trove of valuable information that is. The spin on these kinds of URL shorteners is that they help combat spam, which is not inaccurate. But there’s more. So much more. The people who have the data win. Just about every time. And, in the case of Twitter and Facebook, they stand to benefit tremendously because of the value they can bring to their users – read that ‘brands’ – and advertisers – in the form of that data.

Here’s a snippet from the Official Twitter Blog on it:

In addition to a better user experience and increased safety, routing links through this service will eventually contribute to the metrics behind our Promoted Tweets platform and provide an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting to users. We are also looking to provide services that make use of this data, an example would be analytics within our eventual commercial accounts service.

Google recently rolled out its own URL shortener, goo.gl which allows developers to integrate the service into their applications. It not only allows for shortening and expanding URLS, but provides access to history and analytics as well. The access to the analytics via the API is a big deal, because applications can monitor traffic and usage – which is something that’s not readily available if you use other shorteners. For instructions on how to get started using the Google URL Shortener, here’s the scoop.

Do you think social media properties like Twitter and Facebook (specifically their Facebook Connect service) gaining the ability to produce aggregated reports for marketers will make them more valuable analytic tools? Actually, that’s not a question – we pretty much already know the answer.

Which shortener do you like and why? Or does it matter to you at all?

URLs Are For Tracking. Cookies Are For Eating is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of an information junkie – no big surprise to any regular reader. And finding new resources, tools and generally awesome stuff – whether it’s for the V3 team to use, for our clients, or for our friends, just makes all the time I spend trolling the Interwebs seem justifiable. At least that’s what I tell myself. (Shhhh, don’t burst my bubble).

We’ve written recently about free PR resources that you should check out, and also about how social media makes life easier, in a myriad of ways, for PR pros. And in that post, we highlighted some of the many groups, chats and other things that happen on Twitter a regular basis that you can participate in and learn from.

We’ve also written about Press Wiki, which is a terrific media database filled with info and contact information of reporters and media outlets, created and edited in true wiki style, by and for the people. We love Press Wiki!

My new favorite find is Media on Twitter. It’s exactly what the name implies (how clever) — a comprehensive database of media on Twitter. The database includes media contacts, writers and prominent bloggers from all over the world – goodness but I start to swoon just thinking about the power of this lovely tool. But then, I’m prone to swooning. In all seriousness, Media On Twitter is an amazing resource. Oh yeah. It’s a big, beautiful database.

So, whether you’re a fellow Twitter lover like this bunch of geeks at V3, or a someone who’s always looking for more great PR and social media resources and tools, Media on Twitter might just be for you. Here’s a little screenshot to whet your appetite.

What about you? Have any good resources that we need to know about? If so, bring it!

Media On Twitter – Another Great Free PR Resource is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

We recently wrote about about how social media and things like Twitter, LinkedIn and other social mediums have and are changing the relationship between PR professionals and journalists and media outlets. If you missed that post, you can read it here (and of course we hope you will) (because it’s good) and also because it contains information and links about chats and PR groups on Twitter that you might find helpful.

Social media, combined with the business community’s growing comfort level with the Internet (God, I love the Internet) (don’t judge me) have led to a lot of very smart people realizing that they can quickly and easily create their own databases, reference guides and sometimes even tools, often for free is, well, pretty awesome. Power to the people.

Peter Shankman and his Help A Reporter Out is a great example of a free online source that is used daily by reporters and writers to find information, experts and sources on things they want to write about and/or when they need quotes. There’s much more to HARO than we’ve mentioned here, and if you’ve not yet nosed around there, we encourage you to do so. In our opinion, HARO is nothing short of brilliant. Thank you Peter.

Another one of our favorite tools created in By the People, For the People mode (there’s that Internet again) is PressWiki. PressWiki is a media database that includes an ever-growing list of entries about reporters and media outlets and their contact information. Bonus!

It’s easy to create an account or edit contact info and the Wiki often includes handy dandy information like Twitter handles, links to past articles and tons of other great info. The database is editable by anyone and contains a wealth of information about news directors, editors, publishers and reporters and is a not only a tremendous resource for PR pros, but for small business owners, too.

We also use paid media distribution services (we’re trying out PRNewswire right now) and have used Cision in the past. One thing that many of our prospective clients have in common is that we find they’re often overlooking the power of PR in their marketing and communications efforts and, when we get involved, we do all we can to try and remedy that if the situation warrants. PR is an important element of just about any integrated marketing effort. Period.

We also love Jason Kintzler and Pitch Engine, which he developed sitting in the mountains of Wyoming. Pitch Engine offers a free option that you can use to test drive the service and, if you do, we’re pretty sure you’ll like it as much as we do. Pitch Engine allows you to create and share press content that includes images, videos and attachments and helps you craft releases that are not only SEO optimized, but which look killer, too. We use Pitch Engine’s paid service and find it well worth the cost, so give it a test drive, but if you like it, consider the benefits of the paid service. Another bonus!

What are other great tools or products have you discovered and/or are experimenting with? We’d love to know some of your secret sauce. And there might be some cupcakes in it for you if you share. Red Velvet. Mmmmmmm.

Photo Credit: The Very Talented Veronica Miramontes

3 Free PR Resources You Should Be Using is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

I love Zappos. I have twin girls. And, while I’m not so good at math, here’s one thing I do know:

Zappos + Twin Girls = LOTS of Shoes

Why do I love Zappos? I love their selection, the fact that they remember what I like and let me know when they’ve got more of it. I like Tony Hsieh and the culture he’s created. He’s a smart guy who’s built an empire based on common sense and being real. And managing to grow Zappos to over $1 billion in gross sales annually, while also regularly landing on Forbes’ list of Best Companies to Work For list are no small accomplishments. Gini Dietrich wrote a great post about Tony. it’s here if you’d like to read it. She likes him, too.

I really like Zappos because they make me smile. On a crazy busy day, when I’m wading through hundreds of emails and see an ad like this, well, I stop. After all, it’s about SHOES. And we chicks, we’ve got shoes in our blood. But when the ad copy actually makes me smile, that’s what I call winner winner, chicken dinner. That’s when I know that my love for Zappos is deserved.

They get me. And I want to buy more of their shoes.

Note to: Zappos Marketing Department + Ad Agency → Mission Accomplished!

Want to Sell More Stuff? Humanize Your Brand is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

I discovered the brilliance that is Kendall Allen a few years ago. For me, her MediaPost content qualifies as ‘must read’ and it’s a good thing I live a few states away, because if I didn’t she’d have serious stalker issues . I’m a fangirl of the highest order and, although she’s a bona fide hottie, I have a massive girl crush on the gray matter that’s between her ears. Oh, and when I see her posts, I want to stop what I’m doing and read them. Holy crap, why she’s not paying me for that kind of devotion I seriously do not know.

I’m a huge proponent of collaboration in the creative process – actually, I think it’s great in just about any process – and if you’re not doing it, well, that’s your bad. Personally, I collaborate every chance I can. It allows me to produce better results for my clients and learn from the massively intelligent people I’m lucky enough to know and who deign to work with me. Enough about me.

Having read a great AdAge article recently about The Google 5, and being fortunate enough to have a creative client (T2 + Back Alley Films) who gets collaboration (which means I get to live it), Kendall’s post An Old Love Comes to Town on a Rainy Day really resonated with me.

The Big Ad Gig is brilliant. Powerhouse agencies creating opportunities for young minds and fresh talent to work on and present a multi-dimensional campaign and, in the process potentially parlay that into an ad agency creative job ROCKS. It not only allows talent to be crowdsourced and the opportunity to spread through both traditional and non-traditional channels, it supports young talent in the best way possible. It gives them a chance to learn, a chance to shine and has a big, fat reward at the end of the tunnel. And, I’ll give you dollars to doughnuts (what does that mean, anyway?) that there’s not just one winner in The Big Ad Gig. I’ll bet that all the participants get serious consideration (and jobs) as a result of the exposure that participation in the event brings.

The competition is over. I shared the YouTube clip because it made me laugh. Four women and four men gave it their best shot and, given the tragic events surrounding Tyler Clementi’s suicide, made more compelling by the the fact that the client was Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

According to Kendall, their presentations were nothing less than “professional poetry.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see the outcome. But no matter the official “winner” — all the participants, and the process itself, are winners in my book. And a hat tip to Kendall for the back story. Oh, and if you’re not reading her MediaPost column or stalking her on Twitter, you don’t deserve her. ‘

The Big Ad Gig OR My Love Affair With Kendall Allen is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Although tools like Cision and Vocus have proven to be great resources for finding and building media lists and distributing story ideas to outlets – the greatest issue for PR pros today is that oh-so-precious and ever elusive commodity: Time. Often reporters neither have time nor interest in wading through e-mail and voicemail and getting to them can be tricky, for even the most tenacious journalist. As an added wrinkle for PR folks, knowing which sources prefer which medium of communication is a bit like predicting what time my dog will wake me up in the middle of the night wanting to go out — nearly impossible!

Enter social media. With the rise of social media, other avenues have opened up for PR professionals to maintain and, in some cases further develop their relationships with reporters, peers and thought leaders in the industry and Twitter is but one of those channels. But it’s the one I’m focusing on today and hope to give you some resources that you might not yet know about, or add to the list of resources you’re already using.

On Twitter, there are ongoing chats for PR folks and journalists like JournChat, identified by #journchat, started by Sara Evans and held on Monday evenings from 7-10pm CST and Web Journalist Chat, #wjchat, focusing on tech, ethics and the journalism business, held on Wednesdays at 5pm PDT. There’s SoloPR, #SoloPR, a weekly chat moderated by KellyeCrane and held on Wednesdays from 1-2pm EST. There’s also PRChat20, #pr20chat, hosted and moderated by Justin Goldsborough and Heather Whaling and taking place on Tuesday nights from 7-8pm CST.

Those are just a few of the weekly chats taking place on Twitter focusing on journalism and PR – what other resources am I missing?

Social Media: Making Life Easier for PR Pros is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency