Year: 2014

Creative Challenge: Tracy’s Story

Dana PhelpsBlog, Professional Development, Raleigh PR Agency, , , 6 Comments on Creative Challenge: Tracy’s Story

A Simpler Time

Tracy Lathan

We are all just too darn busy. This topic has been on my mind a lot lately, so the timing of this assignment seems a bit serendipitous. What struck me when I first looked at this photo was how significantly life has changed in the past 100 years, and what a crazy world we live in today. How complicated things have become!

It’s hard to remember a time where there were no cell phones, no Facebook pages and no text messages. Today we read books on electronic devices, keep our to-do lists on iPhone apps and shop for groceries online. And while I can’t imagine living in a world without some of these modern conveniences, I long for a time where people actually spoke to one and other, wrote letters and enjoyed nice long meals with fine wine and good conversation (as opposed to eating hunched over the kitchen counter before dashing out the door.)

I am a wife, mother of two young children, part-time employee, board member, volunteer, friend, sister, cook, CEO of my home… you get the picture. And what it feels like lately is that our family is overscheduled – running from point A to point B but not really appreciating the moment. This photo reminds us of what life used to be like…it was a simpler time.

It is spring 1918, the flowers are starting to bloom and the days are getting longer. Woodrow Wilson is president, and the Spanish Flu is reaching pandemic status. The Adams family is one of the most prominent in Boston. Henry and Elizabeth Adams have five daughters, Louise, Margaret, Catherine, Mary and Cecelia.

At 20 years old, Louise is the eldest daughter. She is a smart young woman and spends most of her days reading. There is a lot of pressure for her to marry, although no suitor has come along yet that she has found to be an intellectual match. Margaret is the second eldest and is the true beauty in the family. At 18 she will have her pick when it comes to her future husband. She has a sweet spirit but can also come across as a bit arrogant. Catherine is 15 and has a true adventurous nature. She is happiest riding her horses or exploring the estate. Mary, who is 13, has always been a wild card and gives Henry and Elizabeth the most worry. Although she does not have a devious heart, she often winds up in a great deal of trouble. And then there is sweet Cecelia, the baby in the family at age 10. She looks up to her big sisters and is struggling to find where she fits in the family dynamic.

Life for the Adams girls is quite charmed. They attend school, visit with their friends and enjoy spending time on their beautiful estate. But they also have many of the same concerns and worries as modern day young women. They feel societal pressure and burdens from family. They are trying to find their identity and where they fit in the world, as well as in their home. They are trying to find love. They feel they must keep up appearances. They are learning that money and status will not solve all problems.

Any of this sound familiar? So, although in 1918 it was a different time without as many obligations and commitments, and with a little less transparency, we realize that not that much has really changed in terms of the pressures and demands on women today.

The take away is this…we might think we long for the old days when people sat on porches, drank iced tea and watched the storms roll in from the horizon. But what really makes good sense is to embrace the technology and tools we have available today, but try not to be a slave to them. And learn to say no! Just like the Adams sisters, we are all trying to find our purpose and our voice. But we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. Women are incredibly strong creatures and we can learn a lot from those who have gone before us.

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Creative Challenge: Sarah’s Story

Dana PhelpsBlog, Professional Development, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , 42 Comments on Creative Challenge: Sarah’s Story

Taking a Closer Look

Sarah Hattman

Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a phrase we have all heard at one time or another as a way of being told we shouldn’t base our opinions solely on what we see on the surface. Quite often, after we take a closer look, we find the person or object to be very different than we expected.

The above photo is a great example of why you should not “judge a book by its cover.” At first glance you might look at the photograph and assume the ladies are sisters and that it was taken at the turn of the 20th century. None of them look particularly happy, which might lead you to believe it’s because they were growing up and living in a time period much different than today.

Yes, you might draw any number of conclusions based on what you see in the photograph, but none of them are likely close to the truth. The picture was taken just last summer, and the ladies in it had not met until minutes before the image was captured. This picture exists because a mother, named Erin, was looking to pass along a bit of family history.

It all began when Erin’s young daughter, Charlotte, came home one day talking about how much fun she had looking at old family pictures and videos at her friend’s house. It might sound odd, but Erin was heartbroken. From the moment she found out she was pregnant with Charlotte, she knew that one day she would have to tell her child that she did not know anything about her family history. That’s because when Erin was only a couple of days old, she was found on the doorstep of an elderly couple’s home. She arrived with nothing more than a blanket, a bottle and a mystery.

Thirty-two years later, as Erin sat at the foot of Charlotte’s bed and listened to the excitement in her voice about her friend’s family, Erin knew that the time had come to start the conversation about her mysterious past with her four-year-old daughter.

Charlotte asked, “What did my great-grandmother look like?”

Instead of answering, Erin asked Charlotte, “What do you think she looked like?”

Charlotte immediately responded with “‘Grammy’ had brown hair like me. She was smart and funny. Oh, and she was very pretty!” From there, Charlotte’s imagination ran wild. “She had a large family and was the youngest of five girls. They all lived on a farm and Grammy’s best friend was a pig named Huckleberry!”

Charlotte’s story continued on this way for 20 solid minutes. When she finished, Erin told her that was the way she imagined “Grammy” too. She went on to explain that she never had the chance to meet her mother and therefore did not know anything about her great-grandmother.

Charlotte asked, “What about Nana and Papa?”

Erin explained that the Nana and Papa Charlotte had heard stories about was a kind couple who had taken her Erin into their home and loved her like their own. Charlotte listened and seemed to understand what Erin was telling her, but it did not seem to upset her.

Later that day, Erin found herself thinking about Charlotte’s “Grammy” tale and smiling; so she decided to create a photograph to go along with the story. Erin turned to her friends, colleagues and social media, and in a matter of a few hours had found a woman and four girls to play the roles of Grammy and her four sisters. The following weekend Erin met the ladies at Flashback, a store that specializes in creating photographs that look antique. She was thrilled with how it turned out and could not wait to give it to Charlotte.

Charlotte unwrapped the box, and as soon as she saw the photograph, she squealed with delight and pointed to the young girl at the bottom of the picture. She said, “Ah, it’s Grammy.” Charlotte placed the photograph on her bedside table where it remained for many years. It then went to college with Charlotte and on to her first apartment and eventually her first home. Not only does it now hang in her hallway alongside a large collection of family photos, but it also is the photo she most often points out to people saying, “Have I ever told you the story of my Grammy?”

So the next time you look at someone and find yourself making assumptions, remember the photograph of the five ladies. Let it serve as a reminder to you that things are not what they seem at first glance, and you should never judge a book by its cover.

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Clairemont’s First Creative Challenge

Dana PhelpsBlog, Professional Development, Raleigh PR Agency, , , 1 Comment on Clairemont’s First Creative Challenge

This technically isn’t the first time Clairemont team members have participated in a Clairemont Creative Challenge, but it is the first time we’re going public with one. Oh, there was the time when Clairemonters frantically scrambled to be the first to get the word moxy approved in client copy and the time we had to write hundreds of words about a client’s beach-inspired furniture collection without using the terms beach, coastal, seaside or shore. Who could forget the day that $500 in cash showed up in the middle of our conference table as a prize?

But this Clairemont Creative Challenge is the most exciting yet. Why? It involves many of the components that as creative PR people, we at Clairemont pride ourselves on offering to our clients each day – all through an imaginative lens. Creative writing. Editing. Tapping into your imagination. Teamwork. Time management. Social media. Maybe even stepping outside of the comfort zone. In this case, it also meant trusting “the boss” for what might have seemed like a wacky assignment.

Next week, you’ll see three very different stories posted on our blog that were all inspired by the same photograph. We want to know which one is your favorite. On Thursday, June 12 after all the stories have been posted, voting will open. Please leave the word “vote” in the comments section of the story you like the best. Only one vote per person per story will be counted. Since social media is an important part of this challenge, please also feel free to share the story on your social channels so that its writer has an increased chance of winning our Clairemont Creative Challenge grand prize.

Thanks to our team members who participated in this challenge. I appreciate that you trust that I will never ask you to spend time on something that doesn’t have a point. I’m a big fan of fun. I’m not a big fan of forced fun. (Because that typically really isn’t fun.) I love that we are a team that can combine fun with professional development (such as this assignment), achieving client successes and serving our community. Keep up the great work! I really like y’all. A lot.

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Instead of Giving “The Finger”

Cherith AndesBlog, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

Facebook “Poke” Dies, Raising Another “Pointed” Question

After what might possibly be Facebook’s shortest-lived app, the infamous Facebook “poke joke” died a silent death on Friday, May 9—sans headstone, eulogy or even so much as commemorative post.

And rightly so, you’ll agree, after a quick peek at the facts.

As legend has it, Zuckerburg developed the new Facebook Poke app (not to be confused with the original poke feature)  in less than two weeks. This “new” version touted the ability to grace your friends with videos and photos that self-destructed after 10 seconds (yes, you got it. A direct Snapchat clone.) After its premiere in late 2012, Facebook’s iOS poke app zipped around the market for a whoppin’ 16 months before fizzling into the social media graveyard (accompanied by loud Zuckerburg family drama).

Sad Day.

Except not. Originally, the 2004 inaugural Facebook poke started as a little digital tug on the sleeve: “Don’t forget about me.” “I’m here…and thinking about you.” “NO, REALLY. MESSAGE ME ALREADY.”

And for the last half-decade, social media apps have followed suit, morphing into one big sleeve-yanking trick after another to garner the attention of our family, friends and followers. Snapchat, the obvious rival for the Facebook poke, appeals to our miniscule attention spans while Instagram satisfies our unspoken yen for endless visual stimulation.

But recently, social media has done an about-face. Rather than eliciting attention, we’re desperately trying to silence the noise.

Shut up? There’s a button for that.

Twitter, for instance, just introduced a new button that enables you to “mute” chatty followers from your feed. Zap. Instant silence. Another app, “Shut Up! The Red Button” available on Google Play, allows you to tell a nearby friend to pipe down with the tap of a  button. Enjoy a similar, albeit slightly more jarring, experience with Smosh’s “iShutUp” that yells “shut up” in response to any nearby noises.

We’re dying for ways to unplug with apps like Freedom or Anti-Social that impose timed internet blackouts on your laptop. And just think: after decades of inventing ways to burn the midnight oil, we’ve now created systems like SleepStation to force us to quiet our minds and nod off.

The Newest Craze: Nothing.

We can’t help but crave it: blessed, golden silence.

So the death of the “new” Facebook poke is certainly nothing to mourn. (Did anyone even know it existed?) Rather, the shift is a reminder for us to invest in meaningful communication. Meaningful communication: this self-defined concept bequeaths us with the freedom—the permission—to step back and reevaluate our time.

You may find that tweets truly are the glue in your long-distance friendships. Or your evening Facebook chat and random Snapchat streams actually strengthen the bond among your best girlfriends. That’s all ok. Better than ok.

Tweet it. Mean it.

The medium can be irrelevant; the message is critical. So don’t bother adopting every latest app fad (the Facebook poke being a prime example). Instead, choose whatever Insta-Snap-Book-Tweet-a-gram actually works for you and your friends, and then do it: invest in meaningful messages to those who matter.

And if you’re ever in doubt, I’m pretty sure the post office still manufactures them good ‘ole postage stamps (and Target has quite the collection of chic personal stationery). Just pointing that out.

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iMedia Day at Elon University

Tracy LathanBlog, Professional Development, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , ,

I recently had the pleasure of serving on a panel at Elon University for the iMedia Day of Professional Development & Networking. It had been many years since I visited the Elon campus, and I was blown away by how charming it is. Equally impressive was the School of Communication’s facility. Within its School of Communication, Elon offers a ten-month M.A. Interactive Media program – what a great way for communication professionals to add to their skill sets in a short amount of time!

The panelists for the event included myself, a representative from another Raleigh PR agency, a recruiter from a firm in Atlanta and a former graduate of the program (now employed by an interactive agency in California.) We collectively answered questions from the moderator and then fielded questions from the students on the topics of interactive media and successfully navigating the job search.  Questions included…what does “interactive” really mean? What are the most relevant tools we are using today? How do agencies incorporate interactive departments?

What really stood out to me during this discussion was the realization that there is very little we are doing these days that is not interactive in some way…and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Whether we are launching a Facebook campaign, providing hashtags for a client event so attendees can share via their social networks or creating animated graphics to be used on a trade show floor, we are interacting with our audience on some level.

The other topic we discussed at length with the students was best practices – the do’s and don’ts – for trying to land a job, and making a good impression once you have been hired. While some of these tips might sound like advice we have all heard before, what came out of the discussion was that even though things have become much more complicated, the importance of simple, basic courtesies have stood the test of time. Here are a few things the panelists shared:

  • Follow up! Don’t ever hesitate to call and follow up after sending in a resume. And please send a hand written thank you note.
  • Differentiate yourself. Bring samples, create a personal website, share your personal blog. We want to see your personal brand.
  • Do your homework. Come prepared with questions about the company and what your specific role will be.
  • Clean up your online presence. That means no graphic spring break photos!
  • Proof your correspondence. Make sure e-mails and cover letters are free of grammatical errors.
  • Present your best self in the interview. You have one chance to shine and make a good impression. Be professional but also be likeable. After all, people hire people they want to work with.
  • Look people in the eye and dress the part. Even if the company has a casual dress code, dress up for the interview.
  • Once you have started your new job, have a positive attitude! Be willing to jump in and tackle anything.

A big thank you to Maggie Mullikin for organizing the event and hosting us. Hope to join the group again next year! Whether you are a professional or a student, what does interactive mean to you, and how has it changed your role as a communicator?     

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