RepMan

A disruptive technology for the body

Kangoo will be to Zumba what Amazon was to Borders: a disruptive technology.

In case you're not familiar with disruptive technology, the term was first coined by Clayton Christianson, a Harvard professor who penned the best-selling business book entitled, 'The Innovator's Dilemma'. In it, he described not only how business models such as Amazon's were disrupting the status quo, but also what executives could do to ensure their organizations weren't prone to being Amazoned (I know all this because we publicized the book. Thank you very much).

At any rate, I know a disruptive technology when I see one and Kangoo is the real deal. All it lacks is an aggressive marketing campaign.

Kangoo already possesses a brilliant role model in Mario Godiva.

I've worked with Mario, and one of his top associates, Eric Daniels ([email protected]). Together, they've completely disrupted my prior training regimen, and the way in which I think about wellness.

Mario's led Kangoo dance and fitness classes as well as Kangoo runs with many of my fellow employees at Peppercom. And, Eric's working with some of my associates on their overall wellness programs.

In my case, I've literally stopped using sneakers to run long distance. I now do it in Kangoos. And, the training by Mario and Eric provides a post workout high that rivals the very best laughing gas in the world (I know my way around the dentist's chair). 

But, here's why Kangoo will disrupt Zumba and other FOD's (fads of the day). Kangoo was originally designed to help people recover from back and knee injuries. The rebounding/running boots reduce 80 percent of the pressure on one's knees and lower back while simultaneously engaging the core.

It's an amazing balancing act that has captivated kids from eight to 80. I say again, kids from eight to 80.

Kangoo is both intense and a blast. And, unlike Zumba, there's no post workout joint pain. And, there my friends, is the rub. One gets a high without any residual pain. That's disruptive.

I was running five miles in my Kangoo boots just this morning. As I rounded a corner, a guy yelled out, 'Hey, isn't that cheating?' I smiled and said, 'If it is, then I'm the Lance Armstrong of the hood because I love cheating in my Kangoo boots.'

Try them. You'll like them.

Black October

Today's post is dedicated to Peppercom Co-founder, Edward "Aloysius" Moed.

Peppercom opened for business 17 years ago this Friday. That's when two men, burnt out by the red tape and politics of big agency life and chomping at the bit to capitalize on a bullish economy, gave the entrepreneurial life a go.

And, Ed and Steve had a tough slog in the beginning.

The first month was dedicated to creating an infrastructure, so they set up a checking account, had business cards printed and did all the other things an embryonic, two-person business needs to do.

The duo's second month was spent on business development. So, while Steve wined and dined former clients, prospects and the heads of global agencies (asking the latter for any morsels too small for their digestive tracts), Ed was smiling and dialing.

Between them, the co-founders set two new business meetings each and every week of the second month. And, sure as the leaves fall in an Autumn storm, every single prospect canceled at the 11th hour. Ed called it Black October. Steve opted for Bleak October. Either way, it was one grim month to be sure.

Then, in early November, their luck changed like the seasons (this is starting to sound like a Sinatra song, isn't it?). It began with a memorable lunch at The Yale Club. They were there with Ben Case, a former client at Duke University. The entrepreneurs begged Ben to give them his account. He played hard to get, saying they'd be so focused on building their own business that they wouldn't pay attention to his. The trio agreed on a compromise: three free trial months. If Peppercom delivered, Ben would put them on retainer. They did. And, he did.

Being able to name drop Duke as an existing client worked wonders with prospects. Soon, Ed and Steve landed two or three more accounts. And, they never looked back.

Epilogue: I liken entrepreneurship to a roller coaster ride. In fact, we're helping a client right now to build a new website aimed at entrepreneurs. I suggested a roller coaster visual. They agreed, and will be using it as one of their main visuals.

The roller coaster ride came to mind because there are far more downs than ups in business, and resiliency is critical to an entrepreneur's success. So is preparation.

That's why I advise any Mark Zuckerberg wanna-be to read 'The Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell. It describes the importance of first logging 10,000 hours of practice before grabbing for the brass ring.

Mozart, the Beatles and Steve Jobs, among others, all put in countless hours of blood, sweat and tears before they achieved their success. Ed and I did the same at two prior agencies, where we amassed our 10,000 hours of practice.

As a result, we already knew who would do what and how we'd differentiate ourselves on day one. It made all the difference in the world. It also enabled us to survive Black October.

An Uncorporate Image

Guest post by Kendyl Wright - Fellow Peppercommer and "Uncorporate" Senior Account Executive

When I moved to NYC in 2006, I had big dreams and expectations of PR greatness. I took a job immediately with one of the world’s biggest PR firm and set out to succeed in the corporate world. Since this blog is about reputations, I will say that this firm had one of the best “corporate” reputations in the public relations industry.

The CEO was responsible for giving Coca-Cola the infamous classic tagline. I should have been in PR heaven. But as my resume will quickly tell you, I was not. I left after six months and moved to a midsize, privately owned firm. I was much happier and felt that this firm fit my work style so much better. But as young New Yorkers often do, I was lured back to a big firm almost 3 years later by the client list, the promise of more money and the appeal of running some of PR’s biggest launch events. About 2 weeks in, it clicked. I am UNCORPORATE. 

It would take me 2 more years, another job and a 5 month sabbatical to land at Peppercom. When my friend Rebecca asked to submit my resume, I hesitated. “I don’t want to work at a PR firm. I hate everything about them,” I told her time and time again. After a little convincing on her part, (and a lot on my parents’ part…where I had been “temporarily” crashing during my time off) I decided to take a job at Peppercom. 

We talk about image crises a lot in the PR world, but we rarely talk about the culture image of our own firms. Based on my experiences, and those of various friends and colleagues within the industry, corporate life inside the walls of most PR firms is less than encouraging.

In an industry centered around communication and creativity, there’s little brainstorming, less collaboration and not a whole lot of fun. I have friends that work at agencies big & small all over the country and they have countless horror stories of account management, career support and day-to-day lifestyle. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “I’m just over PR. There’s nothing I like about going to work.” It makes me sad that our industry is so corporate and cold. Why is it that we consistently hear about the creative and inspiring cultures at ad agencies, but PR environments are structured more like banks and law firms?  

Two days after I started at Peppercom, the agency hosted our annual “Uncorporate Challenge,” a fun run followed by a happy hour. The slogan of this challenge is “Peppercom - Keeping it Uncorporate since 1995.” Over the next few weeks, those knots in my stomach about working for another PR firm started to subside - I knew I had found a home. And while the out of work activities we have here are definitely fun, it’s my day to day uncorporate experience that has helped me embrace PR again.

Over the past year, I have learned that just because you have the big client names doesn’t mean you have the best job. I’ve learned that working at a place that values the individual and encourages them to flourish as they are is a wonderful and amazing thing. I’ve learned what it means to have a team, in every sense of the word. What it’s like to collaborate and trust those team members and be proud of the work you accomplished together. There’s very little individual blame at Peppercom, and for an industry that seems to always pass the buck, that’s pretty incredible.

I’ve learned that there are managers who listen to you and encourage growth in the areas you are passionate about. I’ve learned that it is possible for the most senior people at a company to know your name and actually care about what happens to you as an individual. But most of all, I’ve learned what it’s like to love coming to work each day. I do better work, I’m a better person and most of all, I don’t miss “corporate” life at all. 

CFOs LOL?

Today's guest post is by Peppercommer and RepChatter co-host, Deb Brown.

 

CFOs and a sense of humor?  Seems like an oxymoron, right?  Our CFO at Peppercom has a great sense of humor, but, in general, I don’t equate CFOs with a sense of humor.  So, imagine how surprised – and pleased – I was to find out that 79 percent of 1400 CFOs surveyed said “an employee's sense of humor is important for fitting into the company's corporate culture.” 

 

This is GREAT news because if CFOs can understand the importance of a sense of humor in the workplace, then, ideally, the rest of the C-suite should as well.

This is especially important because a company’s culture always starts from the top…whether it’s fun or fearful.  For example, at Peppercom, we have a fun, collegial culture that incorporates comedy because the co-founders of Peppercom set that tone.  A client we had in the past worked for a CEO who was the definition of hell.  She set the tone of fear throughout the organization so that the only choice employees had was to flee.  And, so they did, until she was finally given the boot by the board (since they were pretty much the only ones left).

However, when we’ve conducted Comedy Experience sessions, attendees have asked if they could influence and change the culture in a division if they don’t have influence over the entire company.  The answer:  absolutely.  If you’re a manager, you have control over setting the tone of the work environment for your direct reports.  And, a positive work environment in one division can start spreading to others.  Employees will talk and that could, potentially, influence other managers.

It seems counter-intuitive for bean counters to appreciate a sense of humor.  I would like to borrow Stephen Colbert’s “Tip of the Hat” and tip mine to the 79 percent of CFOs for acknowledging the importance of humor.  Now, if we can only get the other 21 percent to at least smile.

What do you think your CFO and C-suite think of humor in the workplace?  Were you surprised by this survey?

Novartis needs to listen harder

Hats off to Sheldon Jones, head of corporate communications at Novartis, and his boss, CEO Joe Jimenez.

As Jones writes in an informative PR Week Op-Ed, Jimenez recently challenged him to 'enhance the corporation's reputation in its significant markets.'

Jones responded by creating '...the Novartis Reputation Advisory Council, a board of outside members, experts in corporate reputation, healthcare policy, public affairs and CSR from Europe, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.'

NRAC provides guidance on everything from social media engagement and global perspective to telling the organization's story in emerging countries and delivering on their core values.

The advisory board is a great idea, but it suffers from two fundamental flaws:

- The group think that permeates any and all focus groups. Having created and helped managed other advisory councils, I can tell you the meetings are almost always dominated by the most outgoing personalities. As a result, some very real and critical POV's may never surface.

- While they provide a critical external perspective as Mr. Jones points out, advisory councils are populated by incredibly, talented and successful executives. They do NOT reflect the multiple constituent audiences with whom Novartis MUST engage in the most authentic and transparent ways possible.

For these reasons and others, we've created an offering called Audience Experience. We've partnered with an audience advocate, journalist and customer service consultant named Emily Yellin. Under Emily's aegis, we essentially put ourselves in our client's audiences' shoes and experience the product, service or organization in real time, the way an employee, customer, regulator or any other constituent might.

And, we do so online, offline and every other way in which an audience may interact with an organization.

We then compare and contrast those real-world experiences with the brand promises being communicated by the organization's marketing, advertising and PR programs. Sometimes, the gaps are subtle, but have profound effects; others are wide enough for a Mack truck to plow through. The end result, though, is a better alignment of what's being communicated vs. what an audience or multiple audiences actually experience. And, that in turn, enhances trust and reputation.

Jones and Novartis are to be congratulated for taking an outside-in approach to reputation management. But, they can elevate their efforts and fine-tune their results even more by taking the time to walk in their multiple constituents' shoes. As the Chinese proverb advises us: the longest journey begins with a single step."

                                                  # # #

Culture check

Happy days are here again. Or, so it would seem according to the latest jobs and unemployment news. The economy added nearly a quarter of a million new jobs and unemployment levels dipped to 8.3 percent.

I know lots of small and midsized PR firms are hiring, but I doubt the big guys are (as I noted in last week's blog).

We're looking to fill any number of slots in financial services, social media and general PR. But, as our culture has evolved, we're being extra careful to make sure we don't:

- Make an offer to the social media prima donna who, no matter how gifted, believes she is the only one who understands the medium and refuses to play nice with others.
- Hire that really nice guy who seems to be everyone's best friend, constantly pats you on the back, praises everyone and everything, but ends up contributing next to nothing to the work product.
- Employ an erstwhile holding company middle manager who, halfway through her first week, storms into our president's office and demands to know where the research department is located (er, ah, you are the research department).

I undertake my own culture check with prospective senior level hires. By the time they get to me (and are about to be interviewed by Ed), I know their work ethic and accomplishments have been fully vetted. So, rather than ask the asinine, 'Where do you see yourself in five years' or 'How would others describe your management style' questions I probe, instead, to see how seriously they take themselves.

We have a very informal culture that is driven by our insistence that every employee be trained in stand-up comedy. We don't do it to torture them but, rather, to help them improve their presentation and listening skills as well as enhance overall morale. And, it's worked so well that we now provide it as a service offering to clients.

But, back to my culture check. As I'm wrapping up my interview, I'll lean forward and suggest a few tips that will help the candidate with her upcoming interview with Ed. These include:

- Alerting the candidate that, since Ed has lost all of his hearing in his left ear, they'd be wise to sit on his right side and shout their questions and answers.
- Alerting the candidate that Ed worked his way through college as a professional foot model and, if it's summer and Ed's rocking a pair of mandals, they should be sure to compliment his shapely ankles.
- Alerting the candidate that Ed means it when he says he expects our senior executives to roll up their sleeves and do many of the same tasks performed by junior staff. I mention that Ed's incredible work ethic is a direct result of having labored as a coal miner in West Virginia for several years. That one almost always elicits the following response. 'Really? That is so inspirational.'

Anyway, the candidates are quickly told by Ed that they've been set up by me and shouldn't take anything I say seriously. We can often judge how well a candidate will fit in by their reaction to our playfulness. Most take it in stride. Some don't care for it. But, a few get a huge kick out of it and, if everything else is equal, the latter person will be offered the job.

So, what's your firm's culture check? How do you determine if a prospect will fit in? And, for those of you on the job search circuit as we speak, what sort of culture checks have you been subjected to? I'm always looking for fresh material.

Remember Me and You (Part II)

It was 16 years ago yesterday that I washed up at the front door of Ed Moed's squalid, one bedroom apartment and we began building what was to become one of the nation's top independent strategic communications firms.

To mark what is a very, very Sweet 16th anniversary, I thought I'd create a two-part blog (Part I ran yesterday) that captures the 16 events (good, bad and otherwise) that are permanently seared on my brain. Note: I suggest you listen to Rebelution's “More Than Ever” as you pour over the remembrances. Written as a love song, it works equally well in a business context.

Here, then, are the second set of memories from our first 16 years:

9.) The dotcom crash brings the PR world to a complete standstill. We lose one $35k per month account on eight successive days, prompting Ted Birkhahn to ask me, "Steve, what's going to happen to us?"
9A.) Ed's very own dotcom, PartnershipCentral, goes belly-up and we lay off 26 hapless employees.

10.) 9/11. Ed and Ted are in Houston. I'm in Manhattan. Chaos reigns for a few days. Ed and I hold a staff meeting the following Monday telling employees we have no idea what the future holds for us, our industry or our country (note: phone and e-mail traffic literally died for two weeks because no one was sure if PR was 'still appropriate under the circumstances').

11.) Peppercom rebounds from the dotcom crash and post 9/11 blues and is hired to publicize GE's 'Imagination at work' campaign. Nonetheless, Alex Constantinople, our client contact, refuses to let Ed or me meet with GE's CEO, telling us we weren't 'Jeff ImmeltWorthy'.
11A.) Chris 'Repman, Jr.' Cody and Catharine 'Goose' Cody do stints as Peppercom interns. The experience convinces them they have no interest whatsoever in following in their dad's footsteps. Nice.

12.) A Northeastern University intern twice flips Ed the bird at a holiday party, ensuring her simultaneous demise and immortality in Peppercom folklore.

13.) To test my theory that Ed is ADD to the max, I arrange for his couch to be moved to my office, and vice versa. We then hold an office pool to guess whether he'll spot the switcheroo in a day, week or month. After a month, we begin switching my family photos with his. Then, we trade artwork from his wall to mine. Finally, three months later, we hear a loud, 'WTF!'

14.) Peppercom wins the triple crown of industry awards in 2006, being named agency of the year by PR Week and PR News and 'most innovative' by The Holmes Report.
14A.) Fifteen months after hiring us but refusing to allow us to announce the win, Yahoo announces our termination in a PR Week front-page article. Classy.

15.) Dawn M. Lauer and Darryl Salerno debate the existence of god in what would become the most incendiary podcast in Repchatter's six-year history.

16.) Peppercom's one-of-a-kind stand-up comedy training program is featured on MSNBC, WNBC, Ad Age, the Council of PR Firms 'Forum' and Inc. Magazine. It's now become a service offering that, after 16 years, enables us to say we're now literally laughing all the way to the bank.

These are my 16 most memorable moments. But, quite a few Repman readers are current and former employees, as well as clients, former clients and friends. I'd love to know if you have a particular memory of Peppercom that you'd be willing to share. I know I'd appreciate it. And, I think Ed will too (as soon as he moves his couch back into his office).

Remember Me and You (Part I)

It was 16 years ago yesterday that I washed up at the front door of Ed Moed's squalid, one bedroom apartment and we began building what was to become one of the nation's top independent strategic communications firms.

To mark what is a very, very Sweet 16th anniversary, I thought I'd create a two-part blog for today and tomorrow that captures the 16 events (good, bad and otherwise) that are permanently seared on my brain. Note: I suggest you listen to Rebelution's “More Than Ever” as you pour over the remembrances. Written as a love song, it works equally well in a business context.

So, here then, are the first eight recollections from the early days:

1.) It's September 5, 1995, and I enter Ed's one bedroom apartment. He has a beaten-up desktop computer on his dining room table and a fax machine. That's it. We divide up responsibilities. I'm assigned to smile and dial. He sets up our first phone line and bank account. (FYI, we started the business with a $5k loan from my brother and another for $7.5k from my mother-in-law).

2.) Our first fight. Ed wants to name the firm after his decrepit building, the Andover. I lobby for something a tad more cutting-edge and suggest, instead, we name it in honor of my black lab, Pepper. As you'll read in point #6, the winning name turned out to be a multimillion dollar stroke of luck.

3.) Our first employees are hired. Peter Harris brings professionalism. Karen Cleeve brings passion and Efrem Luigi Epstein brings a pair of world class shoulders needed for ongoing grunt work.

4.) We win Take Good Care, a health care superstore whose goal was to be the Wal-Mart of wheelchairs. Needless to say that didn't happen and we were fired faster than one can empty the contents of a colostomy bag.

5.) Valerie Di Maria takes a huge gamble and hires us to publicize GE Financial Assurance. The win establishes Peppercom as a player.

6.) Our firm's name inadvertently begins to attract droves of dotcom clients who have no clue we have no clue about technology. We begin growing at a clip of 100 percent annually.

7.) The era of employee entitlement arrives and is best personified by a junior AE named Kenny Juarez who, after a mere two months with us, marches into my office and DEMANDS a raise. I turn him down.

8.) Manish Mehta is fired days after embarrassing Ed in basketball at a summer outing. New employees are thenceforth warned to never, ever embarrass Ed at a company event. As you'll read in tomorrow's blog, someone forgot to forewarn a Northeastern University intern.

(Read tomorrow's blog for the next eight milestones.)

The Wild Bill Hickok of PR Firms

Lest you think otherwise, I'm about to whine about a high-class problem.

We've been on a real, new business run this year and our billings have increased by at least 20 percent. So, what's my issue? Just this: We have a real knack for winning clients who simply won't let us announce the business. I wouldn't mind if that were the case across the board, but I cringe each and every morning as I spy the PR industry trades announcing one new business win after another.

Our radio silence makes me think that others think that Peppercom's moribund. Please don't think that. We're vibrant and growing like a weed. We just happen to have worse luck than Wild Bill Hickok who, after drawing pairs of black aces and eights in a game of cards in a Deadwood, S.D., saloon, was shot to death by a jealous gunslinger. I feel just like Hickok. We draw a great hand and then, boom, we can't show it to the rest of the world.

There also seems to be a real double standard when it comes to announcing new business wins. I'll never forget our disappointment when, after nailing a $1 million win with Yahoo! a few years back, we were informed “…company policy forbade any new business announcements by vendors” (and, boy, do I ever despise the V word).

Sure enough, 15 months later, when a new top dog arrived at Y!, we were not only fired, but the news was spread near and far across the industry trades. I bit my tongue when a reporter asked me, “So, Yahoo! just announced they'd be replacing you as B2B AOR and Golin-Harris as B2C AOR. Any comment?” I had quite a few choice comments, especially one about their double standard on announcements. Instead, I took the high road and echoed G-H's CEO, Fred Cook, who said, “Clearly, it was time for a change for both parties.” I liked that. You go, Fred.

So, dear reader, do NOT read anything into the dearth of new business news from Peppercom (and other great firms who have been dealt the same dead man's hand). We're doing very, very well, thank you very much. We just happen to be doing very well with extremely introverted clients.

In the final analysis, I guess I'll take the billings and the opportunity to create award-winning campaigns over a headline in PRWeek anytime (especially when the client ends up breaking its own rules about announcements). Now, someone cut the cards. I'm feeling lucky.

Great whites need not apply

Here's a sure sign the economy is picking up (at least for PR firms): large holding companies are  once again poaching fast-track managers from fleet-footed, independent shops such as mine.

It happened during the dotcom era, again in those zero interest rate, “Hey honey, let's buy a house even though neither of us has a job,” pre-market crash days and, blossomed again this spring and summer.

Sure as rain, one of our senior executives will stroll into Ed's, Ted's or my office and announce, “(Weber's) just made me a great offer.”

We'll sigh, ask about the particulars and, frankly, depending on the individual's real value, either wish them well or ask for time to prepare a counter. Sometimes they'll stay. Other times they'll split for what holding company executives tout as “the big leagues.” That line always makes me laugh.

I mention all of this because we're recruiting right now for various positions. But, guess what? We never (well 99 times out of 100) poach from holding companies. They'll take our senior people, but we won't touch theirs with a 10-foot pole. Here's why:

- Holding company executives are used to working within multi-layered, multi-department offices. In other words, they're great administrators, but depend on minions to do the heavy-lifting for them. I'll never forget a recently hired H&K alumnus innocently asking me where our research department was located. I told her SHE was the research department. We bid her adieu within three months.

- Large agency executives are incentivized, first and foremost, for serving the C-suite executives at WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic and Publicis. We need folks who live, eat and breathe the business of our clients' business.

- Last, but certainly not least, big agency types are political sharks. They have to be in order to survive. Political astuteness is a prerequisite to success (whereas it's a ticket out the front door at Peppercom). We should actually add a line to our help-wanted ads: 'Great whites need not apply'.

So, we know Andy and Richard and Patrick and Ray have unleashed their recruiting types into our waters. And, we know we'll probably lose one or two fast-trackers. But, that's the price we pay for developing smart, entrepreneurial-minded executives.

Aircraft carrier-sized firms need P.T. skippers to help them at least try to inject some innovative thinking. Whereas, staffers from the S.S. Enterprise almost always flame out on the Good Ship Peppercom.

And, that's a fact more clients and more trade publications should note. Agency recruiting is almost always a one-way street. And, great whites need not apply to our lagoon.