UpSpring Turns One!
by Ali Burg on 02/11/12
This weekend marks the one year anniversary of UpSpring and last night I was lucky enough to celebrate with friends and colleagues.
It's been a wonderful year full of self-discovery and learning and I want to thank all the people who gave their time, energy and skills to make this year a success. Also, a very special thanks to all my clients.
In addition to exciting new client business here in Philly, UpSpring is hoping to add some New York clients into the mix. I'm also hoping I can help develop a new co-working space in South Philly, continue to empower women in their professional careers through Dress for Success and continue to educate young marketing minds by lecturing at local universities.
The First Agency Built on the Principles of Crowd Sourcing
by Ali Burg on 06/23/11
The Agency Model is Shifting but what is the Right Balance? I’d like to hear from you.
On my homepage I write: “The agency model is shifting. It has to.” I truly believe technology and the abundant amount of independent agency folk born out of the recession have challenged us to think about how we do business and service our clients. However, exactly how we respond to the challenge is still pretty gray to me (perhaps we use this as fodder at the next PhilaMade event) and the more I read, the more it seems I’m not alone in my uncertainty.
Recently Victors & Spoils (V&S), an ad agency based in Boulder Colorado and founded by Evan Fry, a former VP/Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky created the first ad agency built on the principals of crowd sourcing. From what I can tell, crowd sourcing as defined by V&S, means that the actual agency is made up of only a few key roles: creative director, account director, strategy director and technology director, but the rest of the creative department is in the V&S digital creative database. The database consists of over 5000 writers, designers and produces who have chosen to do work for V&S. V&S puts a creative brief out to the database and those who are willing take a stab at providing the right idea to solve the client problem identified in the brief. If their idea is chosen the client pays them. Also, those who choose to participate and are lucky enough to earn a high V&S ranking will get more jobs and more pay. To learn more about V&S’s model go here: victorsandspoils.com
As you can imagine this has raised quite a debate in the creative community. See some of the debate in the comments section here: Article in the Denver Egotist
Below is what I think. Let me know how you feel the agency
model is shifting and your ideas on the best way to move forward.
There is Room for All of Us
I definitely think there are paying clients for all agency models. Over the years I’ve had several clients say to me, “I don’t care how you manage your business just provide me with smart work that meets my objectives and won’t cost me a small fortune.” Now, more then ever, clients are willing to take risks and work differently. Smaller budgets, the use of technology and the incredible surge of people who have either chosen to work on their own or have been laid off due to budget cuts, is forcing both clients and agencies to find more efficient ways to work and utilize talent.
I’m a perfect example of this. In the past, client service roles were never roles agencies would use a freelancer for but now both companies and agencies are looking for seasoned people who have had years of experience in things like finance, healthcare and spirits to mange specific client relationships and projects.
Talent is Still Worth a Price
I disagree with those that say the best talent is at the big agencies and that a crowd sourcing model equals poor talent. There is a ton of great talent out there in the big agencies, boutique agencies and in independent spaces. However, I believe good talent no matter where it comes from, should get paid for their ideas and that the talent should decide their own value. In V&S’s model it sounds like V&S is determining not only who gets paid, but also how much they get paid and I believe payment needs to be a discussion between both the creative and those engaging with them.
A Happy Medium (my model- the dating game)
I too have
a database of creative talent but I would never send a brief out to my list and
ask the talent to pitch it for free.
Instead, I work like a dating service where I match the right talent
with the right project/client. Before
anyone gets entered into my database I get to really know them. If I haven’t
personally worked with them, I ask around about
their work, I look at their portfolio, I meet with them in person more than once and
I ask them what they prefer to do (web design, event, traditional campaigns CPG
etc) and about their specific style. I then try to match both their work and personality to a
client/project.
I think everyone wins with this model. The clients don’t get whoever isn’t busy on other projects and they don't just get a good idea. The client gets exactly the right person for the job and the creative gets to work on something that they will get paid fairly for and enjoy working on.
To Be, Or Not To Be, Social
by Ali Burg on 04/11/11
What can social media do for B2B companies, that is the question.
This question continues to be asked in client meetings, digital forums and media circles. If you’re asking this question and social media is not part of your overall marketing plan, let’s change that. This fiscal year, try integrating social media into your overall strategy and you'll notice results. You’ll increase brand awareness, deepen your customer relationships and you might even save a little money.
When considering social media, a few words of advice; the exact mix of social tactics should be determined by your business goals and remember, social media offers you a platform to engage not just sell.
The following are just a few ways in which social media can provide value to your B2B company:
Brand Awareness: Jeffrey L. Cohen the Managing Editor of SocialMediaB2B.com said it best. “If other companies can’t find you, they can’t consider your products or services. By taking an inbound marketing approach and creating sharable content, you allow prospects to find your B2B company via search and social networks. That is how to get noticed in a social media environment.”
Positioned As A Thought Leader: Sure, you publish white papers and you say you’re the best at what you do on your website but how do you show it? Ask yourself, are you getting everything you can out of your “Ask the Expert” webinars? Are you leveraging your trade show representation? Are you participating in industry relevant groups online? Social media can help you get the most out of your thought leadership content and receive real time feedback on hot industry topics.
Save Money: from Social Media Examiner There are a number of case studies that have shown that using social media for things like product launches can save money and enhance customer loyalty. My favorite example is Cisco’s router launch. By using social media Cisco had 90 times more attendees to their launch event then in the past, saved 42,000 gallons of gas, received more press and their social launch was one-sixth the cost of a traditional launch.
Deepen Your Relationships, Show Your Human Side: Customers want to know who they’re doing business with and social media allows you to show your company’s personality. It allows your customers to see what other customers feel or say about you. Ask yourself, what are you doing with your customer testimonials? Is your company involved in cause marketing, if so, could you be leveraging those efforts socially? If your customer has a question, can they find you in real time?
Social media can provide real value to B2B companies. But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself and see the results first hand.
Lady web developers where are you?
by Ali Burg on 03/30/11
When I was in junior high there was a mad push to get more female scientists into the workplace. This was before shows like CSI and Bones made science cool for women. I remember taking a field trip with a bunch of girls from my class to some sort of laboratory where they showed us how finger nail polish remover can make Styrofoam disintegrate. (No crazy stereotyping there…I mean nail polish remover for a girls-only field trip…really)?
Now I’m all grown up and working in the advertising and marketing industry (The aforementioned experiment was just not convincing enough to commit me to science) I’ve noticed a huge imbalance in the web development world. Sure, the Mad Men agencies of years past are no longer, we now have a lot of female account directors, copywriters and designers but web developers/programmers are predominately male. I work with a number of small digital shops and almost always, I’m the only gal in the room.
Does ColdFusion, .NET and Ruby not excite us?
Why aren’t there more female web developers? Reader, I’m curious to know your thoughts.
· Why don’t women choose to become web developers?
· What can be done to recruit more into the field?
Five Reasons I love working with Philadelphia's Self-employed
by Ali Burg on 03/24/11
According to SimplyHired, 4% of Philadelphia workers are self-employed and of that 4% I’m willing to bet over half are designers, developers, photographers, copywriters and digital start-ups. Under “business services” on my website I write that I know really nice people who make cool things but that is an understatement.
There is an entire world (not just a few)
of talented, driven people filling crowded coffee houses and co-working spaces
all over Philadelphia. Teams gather to develop e-commerce solutions for big
brands, provide smart SEO solutions for small businesses and create mobile
games for preteens. Philly is a large enough city to pull great talent but has
a small enough community that you can literally be two degrees away from every
talented person in the industry and I couldn't be happier to work with the best of them.
So the next time you grab a coffee at Ultimo, ChapterHouse or Elixr or see a posting from IndyHall Labs or Alliance Equals just think of all the great work getting done by all the self-employed in the city of brotherly love.
Five
reasons I love working with Philadelphia’s self-employed:
1. There is a HUGE sense of community. Almost everyone is willing to help any way they can. If one succeeds, we all do.
2. Meetings are always conducted with the door open (if the weather permits)
3. Given the diverse talent pool, you can always assemble the right team to meet a client’s needs
4. I live and work in Philadelphia proper and so do most of my collaborators, it’s nice to work with your neighbors.
5. No one every uses marketing buzzwords like “outside the box”
