Curious how funny our co-founder Steve Cody and president Ted Birkhahn are? Along with a few other Peppercommers and a wonderful group of A-list comedians, you can catch both Steve and Ted on stage this Wednesday night, May 2nd at The Broadway Comedy Club in a special fundraising show to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
To learn more about this, check out Steve’s latest RepMan post. And if you’re interested in joining, RSVP here.
Memes and animated GIF blogs with clever taglines and phrases have been taking over the internet. It’s an interesting trend. You have a few funny breakout ones and then the knockoffs and less funny inside joke ones that follow suit.
What’s their purpose and how do they relate to the industry? Well, for starters, the funny ones can give you a chuckle during your break and help de-stress.
The second purpose? It’s a constant reminder of our need to stay on our toes and on top of the latest trends. The first innovative/funny memes hit the internet and everyone is taken aback at how clever it is. Then everyone and their mother are making memes for everything. It’s a good look at anything innovative we do. Are we one of the first memes or are we simply following the trend? It’s something good to think about and a path that anything new can potentially take.
Oh, do I have any favorites? I thought you’d never NOT ask (perfect use of a double negative):
- PR Meme (created by fellow Peppercommers)
- Texts from Hilary
- Funny or Die’s compilation of the 25 best Ron Swanson GIFs
- What Should We Call Me
So what do you love or hate about memes and animated GIF blogs? Have any favorites?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve sat through several intern interviews and had the pleasure of listening in on an interview where the above comment was made. Working in PR for a few years now, first in Asia and now in the US, I know the interview process can be an extremely nerve-wracking experience where you accidentally say the wrong things or the person interviewing you isn’t exactly pleasant to talk to. As interviewers, we’ve all been in that position and usually overlook the occasional stutter or nervous hand twitch of a pleasant potential candidate. Yet, talking negatively about your previous positions or supervisors is definitely the quickest way to close the door on any job interview.
Bashing your last company at a job interview not only demonstrates your inability to stay positive and adapt in less-than-ideal situations, it ultimately shows a lack of self-reflection and unprofessionalism. While we’ve all had our share of unpleasant work experiences and may sympathize with you during the story of how your horrible supervisor made you quit your last job, nobody wants to hire Negative Nancy who openly criticizes her previous employers just because it did not work out.
In a fast-paced industry like PR, we are constantly under intense pressure and tight deadlines. Working as an intern at a PR agency can often feel extremely stressful when your supervisors are too busy to go into detail about a specific task and you have no idea what is going on. Like everything else in life, you’re bound to find things about your work environment and the agency hierarchy that you don’t particularly like. Yet, unless you plan on being unemployed, it pays to maintain the highest level of professionalism by doing the best you can and leaving your negativity behind.
For the past 20 years, April has been designated as Stress Awareness Month, with April 16th’s tax day not surprisingly known as National Stress Awareness Day. Since stress is
Beware: Prolonged stress can lead to printer violence.
something we experience every day, most people are unaware of the possible health problems associated with prolonged stress.
As interns or entry-level AEs in a fast-paced industry like PR, it is important to know when you need to step away from what you’re doing and take a breath. While studies have shown that a little stress can boost your adrenaline and improve performance during a long day at work, too much of it and over a long period of time can actually become counterproductive and work against you.
Excessive stress can also lower your immune system, disrupting your body’s natural balance and leaving you more susceptible to a range of health problems that include heart disease, dementia, and obesity. This, in turn, creates a vicious cycle where you are increasingly unable to focus and perform at work, which causes more stress and inevitably leads to burnout. Therefore, as an aspiring PR professional looking for a long and fulfilling career in a fast-moving industry, it’s important to find ways to relax even when you are neck deep in deadlines.
Take a walk: When you feel increasingly unable to focus and find yourself making careless mistakes left and right, step away from your computer. Stop thinking about work for a moment and focus instead on that fabulous dinner you have planned with friends this weekend. Taking short breaks when needed and clearing your mind have been proven to boost productivity and enhance the quality of your work.
Stretch it out: After finishing a grueling two-hour conference call with a demanding client, take a few minutes to stand up and stretch out your body before starting on your follow-up emails. Stretching, like any form of exercise, releases endorphins that help reduce tension in your body and improve your mood, promoting stress relief.
What happens at work stays at work: After a long day at work, it’s understandable to want to vent to your friends or family about how annoying your clients are. Yet, repeatedly recounting your stressful day might actually cause more stress as you relive those negative events again and again. Learning how to effectively reduce and manage your negative emotions at work will allow you to enjoy time with friends and family when you’re at home.
To find out more about how you can relax and the health benefits associated with relaxation, check out Sarah Klein’s article in The Huffington Post.
If you’re a college senior, chances are that you’ve settled in to quite a panic by now.
Your last semester is starting to wind down and soon you’ll be entering *gulp* the REAL world.
No worries. You’ll be fine. Trust me.
Even if you feel light years behind your fellow graduates, you can get right back in the game thanks to a handy-dandy tool called the smart phone.
Now you can manage your job search on the go with the help of different mobile apps. Use them on your own or at your next PRSSA networking event and you’ll be sure to WOW a few employers and better your chances at getting your foot in the door.
Here are some of our favorites, but there are plenty available!
LinkedIn- Chances are you’ve already created a profile, but now you can set your status update, browse through your LinkedIn connections , search for jobs, integrate your address book, and connect with professionals or friends wherever you go. Better yet? It’s free.
BeamME- A free and universal business card exchange application on the iPhone. It allows you to send your personal or business card from your iPhone to any mobile device or computer, including BlackBerry devices and Macs- you can even track info on everyone you’ve met through rmbrme.com (neat, huh?). Heads up- there’s a premium version with a cost attached, but compared to the cost of printing your own cards, it’s worth it.
LunchMeet- This one helps you find other people who want to network in your area using your LinkedIn account and existing contacts, with the help of geotargeting. Did someone say coffee or lunch?
A startling new trend has hit the interviewing world—asking job applicants for his or her Facebook username and password.
Speakeasies aren't the only ones asking for passwords.
While it’s certainly not uncommon or unreasonable for prospective employees to see what a candidate may be saying in a public-facing social media outlet, it is interesting that some employers find it acceptable to ask for such private information.
In this job market, many are reluctant to deny such a request. My question is: Would you work for a company that would ask for that information?
Personally, I am not embarrassed of anything on my Facebook page (though maybe I should be since anyone who is friends with me now knows my affinity for Meatloaf and Hall & Oates via my status updates). I am also connected to most of my coworkers and even managers—those who I am not, are those who have just not popped up on my list of recommended friends. I keep my profile private merely because I do not want the entire world to have immediate access to anything I am tagged in, including photos. Is that unreasonable? No. Is asking for a password? In my opinion, yes.
Requesting to see someone’s private profile is the equivalent of asking someone if you can go to their house and go through their closet and drawers. It’s unnecessary and an invasion of privacy. Perhaps there is a place for this type of behavior in different industries (i.e. whatever industry Jason Bourne works in—amazing spy/agent)—but this may be where employers have a strict social media policy which would require one to not be active in this sphere.
This is an unprecedented issue for the ever-evolving ways of social media. Check out the Boston Globe’s piece on this subject.
How would you react to a potential employer asking you for any username and password information? What are your feelings on this new trend?
In today’s blog post, meet Allie Meyer, future PR star and current Peppercom intern.
1) Let’s get the low-down. Where did you go to school, where are you from and how did you end up in PR?
I am from Locust Valley, a small town on Long Island. In 2007, I left the small town to go to a semi-small school, Marist College. While at “Harvard on the Hudson”, I majored in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Psychology. I graduated on May 21st 2011, ironically the day the world was said to end.
To be honest, I really don’t have an exciting or inspiring story about how I ended up in PR. When I was younger, my friend’s older sister was in public relations and seemed to work on very exciting projects. It was because of this that I left high school unsure of whether I should study public relations or law (pretty much the same thing, right?). During my time at Marist, I learned what PR truly is and was interested the wide array of work you can do and the useful skills it teaches. My classes, projects and internships allowed me to see how much I enjoy planning events and finding strategic ways to handle different situations. To date, I have had more than six internships in many aspects of the communications/business field involving agency work, non-profits, social media and development.
2) What area of the industry do you find the most appealing?
Consumer, Travel and Business to Business are the areas of public relations I find most appealing. There are many different and creative ways to handle each client and product, and I enjoy the team driven atmosphere.
3) What’s your biggest revelation about the industry so far?
My biggest revelation about the industry so far is the amount of work that goes into every project. I have heard before that two years in public relations is equivalent to five or six years in other industries and I would have to agree. PR is extremely fast-paced and requires a lot of hard work, which is what makes the industry so exciting.
4) Tell us about your proudest moment in the internship program so far.
My proudest moment so far was when I secured an ongoing blogging opportunity for a client. I personally think it was all luck but the recognition felt great.
5) Any favorite/inspiring case studies and why?
I would have to say I agree with fellow intern, Alex. My favorite case study so far has been Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turn 25. A huge fan of TMNT myself, I thought the concept of an experimental campaign was bold and clever, especially considering the pervasiveness of social media in our society today.
In today’s intern spotlight, meet current Peppercom intern and future PR star, Nicole Hall.
1) Let’s get the low-down. Where did you go to school, where are you from and how did you end up in PR?
Aside from the fact that PR runs in my blood (my aunt has been with Peppercom for 12 years), my interest sparked in PR when I visited Peppercom when I
was 17 and had the opportunity to sit in on a client conference call. Hearing them discuss their plans for coverage and events, I knew I had found my niche.
Originally from Dallas, Texas, I attended college at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in the small Texas town of Nacogdoches where I studied communications and graphic design. As a student, I held three internships—SFA Office of Public Affairs, SFA Alumni Association and Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital Community Relations—where I learned the ins and outs of repositioning, crisis management, social media and writing press releases.
From there, I moved to another small town in North Carolina, whose claims to fame were the birthplace of Pepsi and Nicholas Sparks. I worked as a Communications Specialist for the Single Marine Program at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. I genuinely enjoyed planning the trips and events for the Marines who did not have families in the area and was able to network with professional sports teams, such as the Yankees and Carolina Panthers, to provide special events for the Marines. It had always been my dream to work in NYC, so it seemed like a natural next step to move to the PR capital of the world and work for the company that piqued my original interest in the industry.
2) What area of the industry do you find the most appealing?
I love event-planning, but crisis management is the most appealing aspect of PR to me. While I was an intern at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, the first swine flu death in the area occurred there. Although the patient was not from the area, the hospital was hit hard with the media and a paranoid public. We, however, were able to turn the negative press around by offering a free vaccination clinic and positioning the hospital as an advocate for preventatives. As I searched for newspaper clips the next day, all of the local papers had mentioned the hospital’s efforts to educated and vaccinate the community. The ability to turn something tragic into a positive light for a company is something that is unique to the PR field and requires quick and creative thinking. It’s always interesting to see what ideas PR executives come up with in similar situations.
3) What’s your biggest revelation about the industry so far?
The best description I found about the PR culture was in Patrice Tanaka’s book, Becoming Ginger Rogers. Regarding the evolution of email and the internet and the speed at which information could be processed, Tanaka expressed that new technology was both a curse and a blessing for clients, but either way it meant more work for the PR executives. PR is not just a 9-5 job with the occasional event to attend. Not that I expected it to be that way—I knew PR required a rigorous work ethic and to be accessible at all times—but I have come to realize that PR becomes who you are, not just what you do. Aside from receiving emails at all hours of the day, I find myself constantly scanning the news for references to my clients or their competitors, reporters who I can pitch a story to or current events for which I could offer my client as an industry expert to comment. Shopping now consists of looking for business casual attire that I can wear for work. I even write my text messages in AP style.
4) Tell us about your proudest moment in the internship program so far.
A current Peppercom client needed some extra bodies pitching to publications in California, so I volunteered to help. After a few phone calls and emails, I already had interest from four publications in the story. I am still keeping in touch with the reporters to arrange interviews with the sources, so my fingers are crossed that I get a story or four published from them!
5) Any favorite/inspiring case studies and why? (This does not have to be limited to Peppercom)
I recently saw a picture with the caption “’That’s a cool pair of Crocs,’ said no one ever.” It made me think of the case study about the YOU by Crocs launch that I had read on Peppercom’s website when I was researching about the company. Nearly 40 press representatives from big names such as Redbook, Cosmopolitan and InStyle indulged in lunch and spa treatments while learning more about the high-end Crocs. To transform the ugly duckling of the shoe industry into swan-status is the work of some very creative PR professionals. I like this case so much because it shows that no brand has to be stuck in a rut. With some creative event planning and media relations, anything is possible.
I’ve noticed a trend with many entry-level professionals in this field—the resistance against taking a sick day. I’m not sure if this has always been a trend or is a product of the current economy, but I find it to be problematic.
I get it. No one wants to create more work for their teams, appear weak, show a lack of dedication, etc. (the list of reasons can go on and on). However, I think recognizing that you are ill and need to take time off to make yourself stronger and not pass along germs shows maturity and more dedication to one’s craft.
I recently was quite ill and had to take a sick day. Why? Because I was sick and possibly contagious and further, would be ineffective. If you’re sick, your work is definitely not up to 
snuff and it is nearly impossible to concentrate, not to mention you may even make yourself sicker. On the flip side, why would you want to spread your illness around the office?
As a person who has the immune system of someone from the 1800s (I’ve had scarlet fever as a teenager, whooping cough, two types of pneumonia), I do not want Jane Smith coming to work when she has a fever and stomach bug, because I will likely catch it. Selfish, but true.
If you’re an intern and you come in with a fever and you seem like you’re high off cold medicine trying desperately to stay awake during a team meeting, you’re not going to be commended for your actions for coming in even though you barely have enough strength to use a pen to take notes. You’re going to be treated like a leper! No one wants to be sick.
So take this from someone who knows and who was once that person who refused to take a sick day. If you’re sick, stay home. You will feel better quicker and not spread a disease in your office.
After being in this industry for a while, you’ll certainly begin to notice the importance of awards and being recognized for your talent by your peers and colleagues. It means your hard work is not going unnoticed. It’s also great for your company to have someone from their team to be honored or to have an account team win an award for the work that they did for a client—it shows that the company has invested in the right people and talent.
That’s why we’re excited to have our very own Mikinzie Stuart mentioned as one of Arik Hanson’s 15 up-and-coming PR pros to watch this year. Mikinzie is a rock star at Peppercom and it’s great to see that being recognized outside the company.
Read Arik’s full post here and learn more about Mikinzie and the others he says to keep an eye on.
