So we’re in new business mode, diligently working on an RFP for a client we’d all give up our firstborn/left leg/dog to win. That means a lot of late nights. (Keurig, thank you for existing.)

While burning the midnight candle at BG may not be as scandalous as some agencies, taking a short break here and there does afford profound moments of reflection.

Here are three things that caught my attention. What do you think, should I flip the switch?

When starting work on a project for a client, the account team always goes through the same process: open the job, put in a work order, write the creative brief, have a kick-off meeting, and then let the creative team work their magic. Being on the account side is fun because I am constantly amazed by the concept(s) the creative team is able to come up with based on just a creative brief.

Recently, one of our clients, Pierce Education Properties, asked us to design a print ad for their Michigan State University property, Chandler Crossings, that would run during March Madness and would focus on their spring promotion. The mandatories the creative team had were as follows:

1) Sign a lease, be entered to win free rent for a year (a $5000 value)

2) Sign a lease between March 15 – April 5 and have your $174 move-in fee waved

3) Call to action: Visit chandlercrossings.com or the downtown East Lansing lounge

4) March Madness/School Theme

The creative team came up with two different ideas for this ad and we presented both options to the client. One really focused on the “Sparty On with free rent idea” and the other focused on “the party you could throw with the $5000 you would save”. Our department was torn on which one we each liked better and which we thought they’d pick. Now, I won’t say which version the client ended up selecting but, if you had to pick the ad to run in the student newspaper and on flyers around campus, which one would you pick?

The creativity train never stops at Bailey Gardiner, even when it has absolutely nothing to do with our present or future clients. It’s not like a faucet you can just turn off. So the other day when a bunch of us were ripping on the hideous ice skating outfits at the Vancouver Olympic Games, we started laughing about our stylish PR gals and their teetering 6-inch stiletto heels.  I think it was @lizzied that suggested we host our own Bailey Gardiner Olympics, and a silly idea was born.  The creatives took it from there, and the results are pretty hysterical:

Congrats to our gold medalist Katy Harrison, who I think could climb a ladder in her Mahnolos while sipping a Starbucks Fat-Free Latte, collating a client metrics spreadsheet and tweeting from her cell phone with a reporter from @nytimes. Rock on.

What is your hidden talent?  Nominate yourself to be included in our next BG Olympics video  — send us your concept, and you could win valuable prizes and widespread notoriety.  Plus a pat on the back.

*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s Public Relations Tactics series, which highlights tools and best practices to ensure a successful public relations campaign. The series will run weekly.

If you work for a public relations firm, why wouldn’t you do your own PR and practice what you preach?

A while back, Jennifer from our advertising team blogged about Bailey Gardiner’s ad in USA Today. But like she mentioned in her post, advertising is only part of the strategy in branding yourself and working with the types of clients you want to represent. Creating an integrated strategy by adding public relations and social media to the mix is like the one-two punch. Ready? And go.

Here are just a few ways to PR your agency’s work:

Share Agency News

You’re proud of the work you do, right? Announce new hires and share your agency wins with PR trades like PRWeek and Bulldog Reporter as well as local business publications and online. PitchEngine is great service that makes it easy to create a social media news release and your own social media newsroom.

Utilize Social Media Platforms

Whether it’s creating mobile video or doing industry-specific public relations,  showcase your agency’s brilliant thinking on platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, or make it easy for people to find you with a Twitter handle or Twitter hashtag.

Position Key Staff as Experts

Another way you can use PR to promote your agency. Pitch senior staff as experts available for interview and for speaking opportunities.

To a lot of people, paper is just that, paper. But, when you work in an industry that involves printing a wide range of items for your clients, (think letterhead, save-the-date cards, pamphlets, and other such collateral) you quickly learn there are thousands of different types of paper. Out of these thousands of types, there are quite a few options for those who want to print on eco-friendly paper and with companies becoming more and more environmentally conscious, we propose at least one eco-friendly paper option to all of our clients.

Below are the types of “green” paper that we use most often:

1) Recycled Paper: Many brands have “recycled paper” options but the vast majority is not 100% recycled. Usually a portion of it is. This is a good option for companies who are environmentally conscientious, but may not have the budget to print on a 100% recycled paper.

2) FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified Paper: This paper has come from trees that were grown in an area where funds have gone to to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution and violence against people and wildlife. Sometimes you are able to find a FSC paper that has also, been recycled – a doubly green choice.

3) Post-Consumer Material (PCW) Paper: This paper has been used and then separated from solid waste to be recycled into new paper. This paper is made from all types of products, therefore re-using even more waste than a recycled paper uses.

4) Seed Paper - The coolest new trend is that people are starting to print on seed paper which is a type of paper that is embedded with an array of wildflower seeds. You can actually take this paper, plant it and grow flowers. And the best part is this paper isn’t even made out of trees. We often go to Green Field Paper in San Diego where they specialize in 100 percent tree-free products. They make their paper out of recycled uniforms from Seaworld, mixed with 100 percent organic cotton and an array of other ingredients that would have been thrown out in the trash. I think this is my new favorite type of paper. Such a cool concept!

Everyone is used to Powerpoint, but Keynote is PPT on steroids. Of course, it is made by Apple! It is user-friendly and there are endless options for creative presentations, but many aren’t using it yet because they don’t want to have to learn a new program. Here at Bailey Gardiner, we use Keynote for every client presentation so we’ve put together a few pointers to make using Keynote a little easier. 

• Add a Slide

• Select “Slide”
• Select “New Slide”
• From the Masters drop down in the toolbar, select the master slide you would like your new slide to be

• Add A Picture

• Drag a file into your keynote OR
• Go to “Insert” and “Choose” and you can browse for the image to insert

• Frame a Picture

• Select the “i” inspector icon
• From the inspector menu, select the image tab
• With your image selected, from the “Stroke” dropdown, select frame

• Sizing an Image

• Select the image
• Use the squares on the corners and edges of the image to drag in or out
• To size proportionally, drag a corner of the image while holding “Shift”

• Cropping or “Masking” an Image

• Select the image to Mask
• Select the “Mask” icon in the toolbar
• Drag the crop marks or use the sliding bar in the edit mask box to the desired crop
• Click anywhere else in the slide to accept

• Multiple Images

• When using multiple images on one slide, Keynote will show yellow lines from image to image to help you center all of them
• If images overlap, you can bring an image to the top of another by selecting it and choosing “Arrange” and “Bring to Front.” The same applies to back, etc.

• Embed Video

• Drag the video into your keynote
• Size as needed
• It will play when you turn to that slide in presentation mode

• Embedding a Link

• Select the text or image that you want to link to a website (note: during the presentation, you must be connected to the internet for it to work)
• Select the hyperlink tab from the inspector box
• Check “Enable as a hyperlink”
• Select “Webpage” from the Link To dropdown
• Type the URL you want to link to

• Creating Presentation Notes

• Select “View” in the menu and select “Show Presenter Notes”
• Add notes where shown.

• Presenting

• Select the Play button in the toolbar to begin a presentation.
• Click your mouse, press space bar or use arrow keys to advance the presentation
• If you are connected to a larger screen or projector, select Play from toolbar and select Customize Presenter Display. Check the following: Current Slide, Next Slide, Notes, Clock

Every once in a while, a potential client – often one we would really like to work with — asks us to participate in an agency review. Initially we are thrilled to hear we are on their list, until the RFP arrives and we learn they want us to do spec creative as part of their process.  Groan. Deal killer.

Maybe at the big agencies where multi-million dollar brands are pursued by companies with inflated egos and gargantuan overhead expenses, this would be considered de rigueur.  In fact, according to AdWeek, 154 major accounts shifted agencies in 2009 to the tune of $20.6 billion in billings. Presumably, those big agencies have the resources to commit to a freebie speculative assignment from a potential new client.  And perhaps, they are willing to use their considerable creative talents, strategic brainpower and billable hours (or in this case non-billable hours) to devote on the “if-come.”

Smaller shops like Bailey Gardiner cannot afford to do that for a number of reasons. And actually, the cost issue is not the most important among them.  Here’s some reasons why we don’t think spec creative works for anybody:

• Unlike some of the bigger shops, boutique agencies do not have people sitting around waiting to be devoted to the latest new business effort.  We have to schedule it, just like any other job that gets trafficked through the system.  Since we try to employ the right amount of talent to match the current workload, the teams are usually pretty well booked with paying client work, so…. the result is added workload on already stressed team members.  This is not a recipe for top-quality creative results.
• Many creative ad agencies like ours believe in the strategic branding process, and this provides the basis for all creative assignments.  We spend untold hours researching, planning, meeting, planning and strategizing WITH THE CLIENT to reach a point where we are mutually clear on a marketing direction.  Only then can we embark on a well-informed creative process that will fulfill those goals.  How could we just pull all that out of the air in the spec creative process? To do all that in the dark, often with only a few weeks time, is not optimum.
• This business is not like you see on TV.  Mad Men and Bewitched are entertaining and amusing, but Larry Tate and Don Draper are not true depictions of how good creative ideas are hatched.  You do not get good creative work by staying up all night, sketching a concept at the last minute, presenting to the client the next morning all jacked up on coffee, and winning the account because the client loves your BIG IDEA. Oh wait, that sounds like a regular work day after all.  Never mind.
• In past negative experiences with spec creative, we have seen the potential client put all their eggs in one basket, so to speak. By this I mean that the client bases their agency decision solely on whether or not they like the creative idea they see – not the team, their expertise, their ability to deliver, their longevity, their smarts or anything else they like or hate about them.  This can be a dangerous road for a client, since there is no way of knowing whether the creative they have fallen in love with was a one-time stroke of luck.
• Some agencies (disclosure: we have done this, too) bring in outside talent to help with spec creative and new business assignments.  If the client chooses this work, the agency team they are ultimately working with may not be the team that originated the creative they chose.  In a classic bait and switch, the agency may have won the account but now must live up to creative their team may not be able to replicate.  Plus, you have an in-house team that resents having to work on a creative direction designed by freelance talent.  Creatives want to own their work, and this direction does not allow it. Bad internal juju ensues.
• Plus — and this is a big one — spec creative is actually kind of insulting. We get paid as professionals for the hard work it takes to create compelling, creative and most of all, successful, marketing campaigns.  It’s really not right to ask for that for free. It devalues the considerable talents of the entire team, and all the many hours/days/weeks/months/years/decades we have put into our craft to become among the best there is.  A client should hire us because they are convinced we are the right partner to lead them with creative and strategic solutions.  Not because we made a pretty picture and wrote a great headline on the fly.

Now watch, a great opportunity will come through for a new  client I’ve been dying to work with, and I will end up approving a spec assignment and win the business.  Maybe then I will get off my soapbox on this topic, but right now I still say it’s not worth it for either side.  Done deal.

So our holiday caroling video was a bit of a hit. Feedback has been good for our purposely “bad” execution.

When I first presented the idea of all of us butchering a song, there was a lot of nervous laughter in the room. Everyone at Bailey Gardiner seemed to think it was funny. But an important question remained. Would we all be willing to make asses out of ourselves? Well… clearly that was well within our skill set.

Nothing teaches like the act of doing. And in the course of filming, I learned a few things. I learned that…

- Sticking a camcorder in front of someone can severely limit motor skills.

- Some of us can actually sing (Katy and Jason). Yo, Susan Boyle- watch your back.

- Exiting a bathroom stall – while singing and eating a candy cane – wasn’t nearly as cool as I thought it would be. Perhaps bathroom humor is best left to the experts.

Without much further ado, here’s a short clip of outtakes and bloopers, as well as the original, just in case you missed it. Enjoy.

*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s Public Relations Tactics series, which highlights tools and best practices to ensure a successful public relations campaign. The series will run weekly.

Media relations and writing successful pitches are two skills that get better with practice, much like how wine and cheese get better with age – two of my other favorite things, in addition to public relations. My first successful pitches were written during my days as a PR intern at Bailey Gardiner, and I’ve since learned a few tips on writing pitches that work and deliver results, like one to LA Times’ Brand X for Electra Bicycle Company.

Electra bikes featured in LA Times' Brand X

• Consider starting with a question and keep the intro brief. I started this pitch by asking, “Are you familiar with Electra Bicycle Company?” Then, I summarized what the company is known for in one sentence. Reporters are people. Have a conversation.
• If what you’re pitching isn’t new, make it sound new. It’s all in the delivery and how you phrase your sentences.  Are you pitching a story angle the publication has not yet covered? Can you offer the reporter an idea of what’s to come next from your client and when?
• Pick one angle and stick to the point. Electra has four bike lines and more than 200 different styles of bikes. Where to start? I picked three bikes and explained in three bullet points why readers would want these specific bikes.
• Be specific in your ask. Instead of closing with something general like, “Please feel free to contact me with questions or more information,” try closing your pitch with something more specific. Offer photos or an interview.

Now, it’s about landing the PR hit by following up and calling the reporter. What other tips do you have for writing successful public relations pitches?

Each year it gets better. The Annual Bailey Gardiner White Elephant/Yankee Swap/Santa-Gone-Bad gift exchange has become the thing of legends, and 2009 was a year to be remembered.

Last Friday night, we gathered at my home for our company holiday party, and as tradition holds, the evening topper was the gift exchange.  This is the type of gift swap where you draw numbers, choose a wrapped gift from under the tree, and then spend the rest of the evening trying to either protect it or get someone to steal it.  Mind you, the price limit on these gifts is always $20 and being the creative folks that we are, our team makes that twenty bucks go a looooonng way.  A few favorites from this year’s sampling:

• Liter of Jagermeister (actually there were MANY bottle of booze exchanged)
• Yodeling Pickle (yes, really)
• Selection of Disneyland lollipops
• A mini fridge that holds one can and plugs in via USB
• An automated reindeer that does sit ups to workout music
• An Air Supply cassette tape (who has a tape player anymore?)
• A DVD of The Golden Girls greatest moments
• At least three Snuggies
• A beach trash pick-up grabber thingy
• And my personal fave, a live beta fish in a bowl

So if you see any of these items under your tree this year, you can probably guess they have been regifted by one of us.  Or perhaps you were inspired by our creativity and followed our lead to purchase for yourself!

Happy Holidays!