Please mind the gap.

One of the first lessons that I learned during my London exchange came to me doing something many of us hate – waiting in “queue” for public transportation (waiting in line for us non-Brits).

“Please mind the gap” is probably one of the most common phrases heard in London after “You alright?” and “Sorry.” If in London, you are bound to use the amazing public transportation and hear this phrase. It is repeated constantly over the intercom every time a train approaches, reminding those waiting to watch their step at risk of falling into the gap between the train and the platform – a far from ideal situation.

Hearing this phrase over and over again for the last week got me thinking that “minding the gap” can be applied to most everything in life. From our professional lives to our personal lives, we would all do well to mind the gap.

Minding the gap means always paying attention to your surroundings

Everyone in this world has a certain goal at any given time. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing – we all have a goal. Company executives are looking to increase revenue and market share. Investors are looking for higher returns. Athletes are looking to maximize their body’s potential and become champions. Tube passengers are looking to reach their destination on time and without any obstacles.

It may seem obvious, but sometimes we get so focused on trying to accomplish a certain goal that we fail to pay attention to our surroundings – we fail to mind the gap.

Whether securing a client in a top publication or hitting a sales quota, tunnel vision can make us oblivious to incoming obstacles and make us miss valuable opportunities along the way.

Take a second to pause on the platform, mind the gap, and survey the landscape – as we say we in PR. You will discover that there are many different avenues and directions available to reach your goal. This could mean realizing that there are other publications that are a better fit for your client or that there are more receptive targets you haven’t considered to hit your sales quota. It might mean taking the next train, because the first one merges off into a separate line.

Minding the gap also means being open and paying attention to people

When traveling, there are times when you may find yourself feeling lost. It’s easy to lose your way in a city like London, where street signs are nearly impossible to read. Having a smartphone and an app like CityMapper definitely helps, but being overly reliant on these aids will mean constantly worrying about your battery life or delaying a journey to find an outlet to charge your batteries. Another option is relying solely on skills and intuition, but you will never be as knowledgeable as the people who live there.

However, by paying close attention to your setting and being genuinely open to the people around, you will realize that the majority of folks will be more than happy to help you along your journey. They offer tips and point you in the right direction. Sometimes, they will even divulge amazing opportunities that tourists and outsiders never get to experience.

Likewise, when journeying through a professional career and through life in general, do well to remember that it’s okay to not have all the answers. It’s okay if you don’t completely know how situations will end up.

Take a moment and reflect – you probably wouldn’t be where you are now without support received along the way. For most, you wouldn’t be where you are today without the support of family, friends, colleagues or the help of kind strangers. You are where you are today because a professor inspired you, a colleague took the time to mentor you, or a person you’ve only had a brief talk with decided to forward your resume. Strangers too, have helped you along the way.

Of course, there are many things to accomplish on your own. But by being open to help from others, you will be able to accomplish so much more.

Be mindful of the gap. Be mindful of the gaps in knowledge existing within you, and be open to having them bridged by learning from others. Mind the gap experienced by others and be open to helping them bridge that gap, without asking anything in return. You’ve received help, so be sure to pay it forward.

Oh, and please do mind the gaps between the platform and the train.

At Eastwick, we are a group of hard-working, fun, and quirky individuals. Above all, we hunger to learn and share our knowledge. We believe that investing in our employees is a priority and have recently been named by PR News as having one of the best education and training programs in PR. Every week, we hold several professional development sessions hosted by our employees and other media professionals looking to share their expertise. For instance, on Tuesdays, we hold “TedTalk Tuesdays” (which I’m a huge fan of), where we gather together to listen and discuss thought provoking talks by some of the most inspirational speakers in the world.

One of the more unique professional development opportunities Eastwick offers, is a month-long employee exchange with AxiCom, our partner PR agency in London. Last year was the first time Eastwick was able to send one lucky Eastwicker to London. Any full-time employee can enter into a raffle to participate. This year, Eastwick is once again participating in this exchange and I, yours truly, was selected as the lucky winner!

I’m happy to say that I’m currently a week into immersing myself into this exchange and I can honestly say that I’m growing personally and professionally in the short amount of time I’ve spent in London so far. I’m making an amazing amount of connections and doing professional and cultural things that I would not necessarily have had the chance to experience otherwise.

Some of the highlights from my first week include:

Meeting up with @london and other “Londongrammers” for the Regent St. Christmas Light-on ceremony.

Mr. @london (Dave Burt) himself rallying the troops. He has over 736k Instagram followers!

Waiting with some Londongrammers for the fireworks and the Christmas lights to turn on.

Hanging out with the AxiCom team.

Lunchtime with the AxiCom team. Battered sausages and chips is AMAZING!

Drinks at the local pub. It was freezing, but there was a lovely view of the River Thames outside.

Simply living and working in one of the most amazing cities in the world.

Hanging out with a red telephone booth and Big Ben.

Experiencing one of the most powerful history lessons ever. This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the start of WW1 and each red handmade poppy represents a fallen British and Commonwealth soldier.

I’ve taken in a lot so far, but I know I still have much more to learn. Everything is happening so fast and I sometimes still can’t believe I’m here in one of the most amazing cities in the world. I’m still fighting jet lag, but it’s through opportunities like these where I’m full of energy and feel like I can accomplish anything.

I have more blogs in the pipeline, so please follow me as I blog about my exchange experience, the London tech scene, about life lessons and about the city of London in general. For more highlights, please follow me on Instagram @johnvuwhatitdo.

Cheers!

————

John is an Account Coordinator based in the Sunnyvale office. You can follow him on Instagram @johnvuwhatitdo and on Twitter @john_vu22.

The Art & Science of Event Strategy

Planning an event and don’t know where to start? Or wondering how to make the most of your upcoming events? Heather Kernahan, Eastwick EVP, shares tips on how to plan killer events that deliver real business results. Plus, check out a few of her favorites from 2014 here.

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Analysis: Now Dawns the Era of F2F Events

All communications pros value coverage. How many value face-to-face events? Too few, considering how important they’ve become. However, Sam Whitmore, of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey, predicts that will change in 2015, providing valuable insights into the important role meetings and events play in securing strategic media relationships and coverage. Learn more here.

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Welcome to #TeamEastwick

Kelley Plasterer

Eastwick role – Account Coordinator, Content Marketing

What that means – Organizational hub for client accounts; monitors coverage, develops pitches, identifies influencers, maintains social channels, with a focus on content development and marketing

Previous experience – Apple, Highwire PR, Sunset Magazine

Ninja skills – Problem solver, lightning-fast learner, data nerd, avid reader, competitive Scrabbler, logophile, mac n’ cheese epicurean

Lori Luch

Eastwick role – Resource Planning and Operations Manager

What that means – Responsible for planning and operational management of Eastwick teams, as well as various administrative operations needs of the business

Previous experience – Robin Hood Camp-Maine, Sendell Design Group and Adia Personnel Services (now Adecco)

Ninja skills – Exceptional communicator, strong multi-tasker, skilled project manager, chaos diffuser, photo enthusiast

Roxanna Haynes

Eastwick role – Senior Associate

What that means – Program manager and project driver, media and analyst relations, story and content development, measurement pro

Previous experience – 5-hour ENERGY, Verizon FiOS News, WKRN Nashville’s News 2

Ninja skills – Media maven, branding, social media enthusiast, video director/producer

We are hiring at all levels in our San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York offices. Learn more about our open positions here, or drop us a line.

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Client Highlights

CES 2015—the global stage for innovation—kicks off in Las Vegas the week of January 6. Universally recognized as the largest gathering for technology companies, the show attracts more than 150,000 attendees each year. Joining the show this year are Eastwick clients Ayla Networks, CentraLite, Neustar, Synchronoss, and SmartHome Ventures.

CES can be overwhelming for even experienced attendees, so we’ve broken down preparation into four steps to ensure you’re ready well before opening day:

1. Pre-show plan – Start early. And we mean almost a year in advance if you’re exhibiting. Build a plan with business and marketing goals, and a strategy to achieve them. Think about how to build excitement with media, clients, prospects, and partners.

2. Pre-pitching and briefings – Media start taking CES briefings in November/December, so plan to pitch early. While many reporters won’t commit to meetings on the show floor, CES Unveiled is a venue for a sneak peak of your products for all media.

3. Showtime – Standing out at CES is an art unto itself and can be as wild as your budget allows. Consider unique giveaways, letting people get hands-on with your technology, and deploying standout team members to work the floor and direct people back to your booth. And for those who can’t attend, become a go-to resource and actively post insights, sessions, and images from your social channels.

4. Post-show follow-up – Exhaustion hits as soon as you’re at the airport to go home, but post-show is a time to stand out. Be sure to blog about the event and connect with media who you met or missed, prospects who stopped by, as well as clients.

See you at #CES2015!

With the historic launch of .nyc, New York has become one of the first cities in the world to have its own top-level domain. The City of New York selected Eastwick client Neustar to operate the technical infrastructure, as well as support the domain with marketing efforts. Through .nyc, the City aims to establish New York as a digital leader, generate revenue, support local businesses, and promote tourism.

To celebrate the launch of .nyc, Neustar hosted an event right in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, and Eastwick was there every step of the way, overseeing the production of an event highlights videofor Neustar to promote on its website and other social media channels.

In October, Unify, a leading communications software and services firm, defined and delivered a new industry category for the New Way to Work and a radical shift in the human work experience in announcing availability of Circuit, the industry’s first and only communication and collaboration technology to bring together voice, video, screen sharing, messaging, and file sharing in a single pane of glass. Designed and developed after two years of intense study of people and work, Circuit functions like the brain, managing information through associations and conversations, thereby removing the burden of app switching so people can focus on collaborating.

Unify announced Circuit from WSJ.D Live, the Wall Street Journal’s inaugural technology conference in Laguna Beach, and an event with design firm frog in Munich. Eastwick spearheaded a global media tour comprising briefings with Unify CEO Dean Douglas, CMO Bill Hurley, and Vice President of Portfolio Management Diane Salvatora. In total, fourteen briefings were conducted across the US, UK, and Germany, resulting in more than 50 unique articles and 48.3M impressions.

On launch day, Eastwick lead CMO Bill Hurley in co-hosting a Twitter chat on the topic of the New Way to Work with GigaOM Research Lead Stowe Boyd. The chat received 180 mentions, resulting in 2.3 million impressions. Eastwick also provided counsel around the October launch of Unify’s #emailfail campaign with a paid focus on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. An executive blog by CMO Bill Hurley explains the rationale behind the campaign.

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Read past newsletters here.

All PR pros value coverage. How many value face-to-face events? Too few, considering how important they’ve become. Here’s why.

• In an era of plummeting CPMs, most publications find more profits in events than in web advertising. Editors often double as event content developers.

• Organizations of all sorts can elevate themselves as thought leaders by successfully recruiting well-known, compelling speakers.

• Social media has enabled fans of an event to promote it to the like-minded, augmenting the organizer’s own reach.

Just as many PR agencies employ media relations specialists who do little account work and a lot of editorial research and relationship-building, so we predict that in 2015, many agencies will develop comparable expertise in not only spotting key events, but also understanding whom to pitch and for what.

Take IDG’s Agenda, for example, set for Mar. 30 through Apr. 1 in Amelia Island, FL. If you’ve got enterprise tech clients, this event will be a big deal. Whom do you approach? We’re sure of three influencers and might suggest a fourth.

• Anne McCrory, VP Marketing & Content Strategy IDG Enterprise is helping to develop the agenda for the event along with

• Rick Pastore, VP of Strategy for IDG’s CIO Executive Council and

• Abbey Weintraub, who spearheads the event’s Digital Edge awards program

One has to figure that IDG chief content officer John Gallant will play an onstage role at Agenda and holds sway as to whom the speakers will be.

We asked IDG, “are speaking opportunities available for vendors who do not buy event sponsorships?”

Its initial response:
Vendors that have a specific message for the audience are advised to consider sponsoring, as we receive many speaker proposals and have limited editorial speaking spots.

Its elaboration:
Regarding how many speaking slots there are – we don’t know exactly yet. We are crafting an agenda now and will then begin recruiting the speakers we want. In the call for speakers, if something comes in that fits a need, we will consider that speaker. Rick and Anne are making the decisions on the agenda, session topics and types and speakers.

So you can see why it should be someone’s job within a PR agency not just to learn the existence of pitchable events, but also their nuances and processes. The event is, strictly speaking, editorially-driven. But if you don’t have a first-name-relationship either with Anne or Rick, you may as well forget it.

An article hit is great and is something the client can understand. But clients come and go, so don’t forget to blaze your own influence path — one that belongs to you. Events are a great way.

***

Sam Whitmore is editor of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey, a consultancy that analyzes business and tech editorial for tech PR professionals.

© 2014 Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey, LLC. Republished with permission.

My 40^th birthday was earlier this year, and it could have been a disaster. My husband is terrible at planning events, always worried he will under-deliver. My entire family lives in Canada, so 3,000 miles is a natural barrier. I was prepared for cake and a pity party.

To my total shock, I was treated to three weeks of events that rocked my 40-year-old world and took art and science to pull it off.

All events really are part magic and part prescription. After a full month of creating and attending events in Laguna Beach, Dublin, New York City, and now home again to San Francisco, here are my thoughts on combining magic and science to develop the right event strategy, as well as a look at who’s done it best.

Where to start?

• Go big with no boundaries and then work backwards. I always start big, with any project, by doing big. Don’t put limitations to budget and thinking because honestly, you never know what you’ll come up with. Early limitations constrain inventive thinking. Research, seek inspiration, bring in lots of different people and views, cross pollinate ideas from other industries, and then hone it all into a strategy that makes your stomach flip because it’s so good. Starting with a big idea and scaling down always works, but it’s almost impossible to do the opposite.
• Have a purpose. Define your purpose, mission, and theme for the event, so that there is a north star for your team to continuously refer to when making decisions. And there will be hundreds or thousands of decisions that will make it easy to go off course. Though it may sound lofty, having a defined purpose is part of strategic planning.
• Ground yourself in business. At the end of the day, an event is meant to help achieve a business goal – be clear on what that goal is. The event could be to build awareness, change perceptions, attract partners, prospects or employees, or drive leads that turn into revenue. Define the goals and how you’ll measure them. Communicate the plan clearly to your leadership and team members, so the entire group is lined up to succeed.

Who’s done it well?

Wall Street Journal Digital – the inaugural event at the tres lux Montage at Laguna Beach didn’t disappoint, though they were up against some odds. Re/code was holding an event at the same time in Half Moon Bay, so competition was fierce for tech elite to both speak and attend. Eastwick helped its client Unify create a unique partnership with WSJ.D to launch its new Circuit enterprise communications and collaboration technology at the event. After an evening of mixing with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, Unify CMO Bill Hurley joined a global webcast from WSJ.D to announce Circuit, did a TwitterChat with Stowe Boyd, lead researcher from GigaOM, and then hosted a lunch discussion on the future of work with tech leaders from various industries. Big thinking, a sense of purpose, and tying to positioning and product launch goals all came together at WSJ.D.

The Web Summit – now in its 4^th year, Web Summit is a gold studded case study for how to build a global buzzworthy event with values at the center point of strategy. Started as a mission to bring tech companies and attention to Dublin, creators Paddy Cosgrove, Daire Hickey, and David Kelly launched with a 500-person event, and this year saw more than 22,000 attendees from 100 countries invade their city. They put together 10 stages, events that ran from sun up to way past sun down, and brought together everyone in the city and the tech ecosystem – and I mean everyone. There were 250 startups pitching on small stages to VCs, every angle of tech and industry including music and sport tech, and even a students night which brought in 5,000 middle and high school students to experience the speakers and events, plus a night just for university students to get exposure. The Night Summits (pub crawls) moved throughout different parts of the city each evening, so that the entire city could take advantage of all the people in town. The event producers literally thought of everything, making The Web Summit a true model of event success and inspiration to others. I’ve already signed up for next year and encourage everyone who can to attend.

#EWNYLaunch – knowing that all great events have a compelling reason for being (beyond getting together), we celebrated our launch in New York by hosting a panel of technology and business media to discuss and debate the similarities and differences between Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley. Media from Fox Business, New York Business Journal, New York Times, Re/code, TechCrunch, and WIRED joined moderator Sam Whitmore and more than 75 attendees in a night that saw Eastwick properly introduced to the NYC tech scene.

We see the importance of events increasing and more possibilities for marketers to partner and deliver outstanding experiences that leaving attendees wondering—“how did they do that?”

Read more of Heather’s Eastwick blog posts here and follow her on LinkedIn and on Twitter @hkernahan.

With changing technologies and increasing consumer expectations, the world is experiencing a shift in the way we do business, interact with brands and plan for a future of globalization. Design thinking, innovation and creative problem solving are at the core of this shift – all fundamental skills that designers use regularly to solve everyday tasks.

On October 23-24, AIGA’s biannual GAIN Conference gathered hundreds of designers, managers and business leaders in New York City to discuss the future of design and business. As Nathan Schedroff, chair of the MBA in Design Strategy program at California College of the Arts and GAIN Conference chair, explained, “Rather than a conversation on the business of design, I think we need a conversation on the redesign of business. This century is going to see incredible change, but it doesn’t make sense to merely let it happen undirected or unprepared. We need a thoughtful and deliberate approach to designing that change.”

Over the course of the two-day conference we heard from government innovators, policy makers, economists, futurists, educators and design leaders about how we, as a multidisciplinary community, must use our different skillsets to solve problems that surpass our traditional scope of work. Changes in systems, processes and relationships across different verticals are bound to happen, though traditionally, designers have not been involved in shaping these changes.

Design thinking, service design and visual storytelling skills are those most in demand to help shape the future. Many leading brands understand this, which is why some have created strategic foresight groups, turned to design-led strategies and created positions like DEO (Design Executive Officer) and Design Strategist. The general consensus at the conference was that regardless of your title, now is the time to get involved and help design the future of business, government, education and everything in between.

Below are some key takeaways from this year’s GAIN Conference – via tweets from fellow attendees and myself.

1. Be human. Design is a human skill that cannot be automated.

“Design is a human skill that, for now even google can’t automate” #GAINconference

— Justin Seeley (@JustinSeeley) October 23, 2014

As WSJ bestselling author of Moments of Impact and professor at CCA’s DMBA program, Lisa Kay Solomon declared design is a skill that cannot be automated. Sure, elements of visual design can be simplified and introduced to mass markets via powerful online platforms and mobile apps, yet human aspects of design like empathy and questioning to connect dots and build solutions based on context – those cannot be achieved by any algorithm. These are the type of skills that will be most important and helpful in designing a future of human-centered innovation.

2. Figure out where your professional and personal passions overlap. Do that.

Don't just love your job, love your life. People, purpose, progress. @kaarenhanson #GAINconference @AIGAconference

— Mario Mejia (@mromja) October 23, 2014

Another key insight came from Kaaren Hanson, Intuit’s former VP of Design Innovation who took a career risk and jumped from established giant to lean startup, Medallia. During her presentation, Kaaren spoke of blending personal and professional passions and beliefs to live a life you truly love. Though separation of personal and professional lives has been a long time best practice, she asserted that the only way to live a truly fulfilled life is to blend the two. By surrounding yourself with like-minded people, working together towards a purpose, and celebrating progress (big and small), your paths will blend. Focus on purpose-driven work that resonates with personal passions. Not only will your personal wellbeing benefit, so will your work.

3. Do something. Pick one thing around you and make it better.

Do 1 thing different. Just 1. Hunter Lovins #GAINconference pic.twitter.com/3NRxvcwOVi

— Liz Armstrong (@fleurdeliz81) October 24, 2014

Movements of change start small, and if the right conditions are present, can snowball to massive proportions. Hunter Lovins, promoter of sustainable development, author, and professor at several sustainability MBA programs, reminded us that it only takes one thing – anything, really. She stated, “wake up in the morning, and do one thing differently – pick one thing around you, and make it better,” whether that means going to your colleague’s desk for feedback instead of sending an email, or simply smiling at the homeless man on your walk down the street. If everyone did just one thing differently in support of something they are passionate about, the world would have a lot more positive energy. This too is design: making purposeful decisions to solve a problem and make things better. Remember, change can start with kindness.

Though AIGA’s GAIN was a design and business conference, there was very little talk of the business of design. The dialogue in the venue was at another level. It’s clear now that businesses are finally giving design a seat at the decision making table, it’s up to the designers – whether the word “design” is in their title or not – to ask the right questions that will help shape the future, keeping real human needs at the forefront of every decision.

As I left the conference on that last day, heading to dinner with new acquaintances met at the conference, I felt reenergized, inspired and excited for the change that is to come. With passionate leaders and determined designers at will, the future is in good hands.

Read more of Mario’s posts here and check out more of his tweets from the conference at @mromja.

Last night, Eastwick hosted an open house to celebrate the opening of the company’s New York office. To kick off the launch, Eastwick put together a panel of media experts who discussed the innovations and developments shaping New York’s tech scene. More than 100 people attended the event; it was a packed house with people out the door! Among those celebrating were clients, prospects and members of the media including influencers from Re/code, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The Daily Beast and Financial Times.

Here are a few key takeaways from the panel discussion, which was moderated by Sam Whitmore, founder and editor of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey.

• Silicon Alley is not the same as Silicon Valley. The community is still too young to mirror the reputation of The Valley. There is potential for the New York tech scene to reach that point as companies continue to grow and make exits, but it will take time and infrastructure. Katie Roof, reporter at Fox Business commented, “New York is a different stage of its tech scene, it hasn’t seen a lot of exits yet, not seeing giants like Google and Facebook… We are at a different stage. Investments are just gaining steam.”

• What works in The Valley, may not work in The Alley. There is a difference of tradition, talent and culture that effects how the communities develop. Ben Fischer, reporter at New York Business Journal stated, “It’s proof that you don’t need the unique confluence of the Silicon Valley, you just need early winners and a centralized industry and time.”

• New York VC reporters are skeptical and cynical while Silicon Valley VC reporters are optimistic. It is perceived that expectations are set higher in NY than they are in The Valley. As Mike Isaac, reporter at The New York Times put it, “out in The Valley the VC reporter scene is tight nit which is dangerous, and it seems like there’s more distance here. In The Valley there is wide-eyed optimism that can affect the reporters who are out there. Here, in New York, there is skepticism and cynicism, and that’s good. Basically, NY reporters are a**holes, and SV reporters are optimists – the reality of it all is somewhere in between.”

• Where companies are headquartered no longer influences whether or not New York reporters will cover them. The method in which New York reporters do business shows us how different and unique the community is. Arik Hesseldahl, senior editor, enterprise at Re/code believes that in order to be successful, a company has to make it NY. “Every one of these companies can be based anywhere but they have to sell their sh*t here, if you can sell your stuff here, you’re done” Hesseldahl said.

See more of the conversation online with #EWNYlaunch and learn more about Eastwick’s bicoastal presence here, and view photos from the event on our Facebook page.

The Crazies 

This Guy:

Saw him every day in the same suit. Not sure what he does, but if his goal was to stand out in a sea of geeks, mission accomplished.

Kinda felt badly for these guys, who thought this was a really cool idea to get people’s attention about a local event app they were promoting. People were so creeped-out by the look that they never looked them in the eye. #marketingideafail

Animals were definitely a key theme at this year’s summit. These crazies were everywhere. Again, I have no idea what they do but I do know it takes a lot of guts for grown men and women to prance around a tech conference in knitted fox and skunk outfits.

Only in Ireland will you find sheep dyed the color of the conference logo center stage at the conference campus. About three or four times a day, 22,000 people walked by these guys as they made their way between the 10 different stage areas. Non-toxic dye was used—I checked.

Now for the Cool People…

Always fun and insightful to see Robert Scoble. He was all over the summit – from speaking on panels about the branding opportunities with wearables, to judging fledgling startups in the pitch contests. Despite the thousands of people at the show we managed to bump into each other between sessions.
John Sculley was another familiar face around Silicon Valley, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen him. Interesting to hear what he’s up to with his new book, new company and investments. He looked a lot more Steve Jobs-like in his ripped jeans and Henley long sleeve shirt than I remember.

My expectations were low for the Eva Longoria session, only because I thought she was being played as the celebrity draw. Boy was I wrong. She’s pretty bad-ass. Got her master’s degree while shooting Desperate Housewives, started a foundation to help Latinas better the lives of their families through education and entrepreneurship, knew her politics (don’t be surprised if she runs for office one day) and was very articulate, interesting and knowledgeable. #dontjudgeabookbyitscover

Before the Web Summit, I had never heard of Maelle Gavet, CEO of Ozon, Russia’s largest online retail group, but she quickly became my conference favorite when she was asked to defend her company’s decision to not start their business in Silicon Valley. The panel she sat on was called “The Tech Revolution Outside Silicon Valley.” Sitting on a panel with three male CEOs moderated by another male, she boldly declared, “that would be like working with a bunch of white guys talking to other whites guys about white guy problems.” Not surprisingly there was an uproar of cheers and clapping from the 100 women in the audience (unfortunately there were only 100 of about 3,000 in the room).
Ben Jones from AKQA made a big impact on me for a couple of reasons. First, he was the only speaker out of many, many speakers I heard over the course of three days that swore on stage. And he let ‘er rip, f-word and all. What I loved about Ben was his passion, his willingness to share his personal story and his way of challenging everyone in the audience to be remarkable in some way. I’m a sucker for that kind of challenge…and I’m a bit fond of swearing myself :).

Padma Warrior is arguably one of the top women in tech and also one of the most interesting. Not only does she direct innovation and technology at one of the largest tech brands on the planet, Cisco, she brings soul to the whole industry. Padma was one of the early tech execs who took to Twitter. She’s racked up 1.5 million followers. She obviously has some important things to say. When asked how she keeps her thinking fresh, she admitted to meditating 20 minutes every night before bed and practicing digital detox at least one day a week. #igottolearntomeditate

And a bonus! 

Shervin Pishevar & Scott Stanford, the guys behind Sherpa Ventures. Yes, they’re worth a lot of money and yes, they were one of the first investors in Uber (which apparently took place in a pub at one of the early Web Summits), but they came across as refreshingly humble, good guys who truly love entrepreneurs and want to help them see their dreams come true. They looked like they couldn’t have been happier being in the middle of thousands of them. Second best quote of the conference, “Do it because you can’t live without this idea coming into the world.”

Connect with Barbara Bates on Twitter or LinkedIn. Read more of Barbara’s posts here.

Recently, Eastwickers from our San Francisco and New York teams had the opportunity to volunteer with Jumpstart, a national early literacy non-profit, for their annual Read for the Record campaign. Across the globe, preschools and volunteers teamed up to break the world record for the largest number of people reading the same book, Bunny Cakes, on the same day. Taking the time to step away from the office and connect with our community allowed us to gain perspective and re-energize our day-to-day activities.

Eastwick is proud to support a culture of philanthropy, and encourages employees to volunteer with causes that interest them. For example, challenging other communications agencies to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and participating in Agencies Rock the Earth, a project to improve the health of Mountain Lake in San Francisco. Spending time volunteering for employee-suggested philanthropic causes allows staff to correlate their passions with increasing positivity in their community and workplace.

Agency-wide, we recently set out to read The Happiness Advantage, a book by Shaun Anchor that aims to retrain the brain to seek the good in situations first. This was the theme of our annual summer kickoff retreat – a time when we gather as an agency to connect, reassess our priorities and refuel for the months ahead. Shawn bases his ideology on the notion that to improve success at work, one must find outlets to pursue other interests that create a mindset of positivity, which in turn maximize workplace performance. As a positive psychologist, he touts that one must start from a place of positivity to then achieve workplace success – opposite of the traditional “success first, happiness later” path. Volunteering with causes we’re passionate about is a good example of a starting point to achieve this pattern.

Earlier this year, Forbes echoed this sentiment by reaffirming the benefits of encouraging employees to volunteer during work hours. Companies that foster a volunteer program have a trifold benefit: employee morale is boosted, leadership skills are sharpened and recruitment and retention improves. They cite the 2013 Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey, stating that volunteerism paints their company in a positive light.

Eastwick Senior Associate, Emma Wolfe, commented on the importance of tapping into the interests of employees and what drives them after gleaning wisdom from the Inc. Women’s Summit in NYC last month. She stated that employees need to feel open and comfortable expressing their passions, which in turn strengthens the “zen” of the company’s culture.

Taking a moment to examine another point of view has lasting benefits to one’s outlook. After volunteering at Read for the Record, Eastwick’s Executive Administrator, Quinn Morrison, was reinvigorated by a student’s curiosity and creative process. During the activity, crafting paper cupcakes, she contemplated his method, “watching this young boy think about his approach, consider placement, specific colors and truly engineer his tissue paper cupcakes was intriguing. His curiosity was refreshing and inspired me to observe my own approaches at everyday activities,”

Eastwick Associate, Conner Gordon, reflected on the digital divide that exists across socio-economic groups. His takeaway from Read for the Record, was the importance of mapping back access to information for all age groups. “If ACCESS to educationally enriching activities is a problem, especially in an internet-driven society of unlimited access to information for adults, more attention needs to be given to ensuring our future is stronger than our present. I think Jumpstart is a perfect example of the “pay-it-forward” mentality coming to life for underprivileged kids and caring volunteers,” said Gordon.

Getting involved with our communities and encouraging employees to tap into their personal passions strengthens the type of culture Eastwick is creating and fostering. Helping a rambunctious group of preschoolers beat a world record at Union Carver Child Care Center in East Harlem, New York was the perfect way to accomplish this for this new, New Yorker!

The way we consume content is rapidly evolving, and with that comes an array of challenges and opportunities for marketers. Posting new, unique content regularly is no longer enough. It’s becoming increasingly important for marketers to incorporate purposeful content that maps back to their overall inbound marketing strategies. Check out these tips from Sahana Jayaraman, Head of Digital & Content Marketing at Eastwick, to ensure you’re developing purposeful content that will help break through the noise.

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How to Extend the Moment with Good Online Content

We all know the importance of leveraging social media to extend engagement. It allows consumers to rally around companies and products, and extend the life of events and campaigns. Christine Deakers, Content Marketing Associate at Eastwick, shares three must-read tips on how to leverage social media to maximize content, promote engagement, and create meaningful and lasting conversations.

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Welcome to #TeamEastwick

Pearl Tam

Eastwick role – Associate

What that means – Program manager and project driver, media and analyst relations, story and content development, measurement pro

Previous experience – Gorkana, Yext, Nike, Hugo Boss, Bikram LES

Ninja skills – Media relations pro, social butterfly, Cantonese speaker, fluent in Spanglish, yogi

Molly Bing

Eastwick role – Account Coordinator

What that means – Organizational hub for client accounts; monitors coverage, develops pitches, identifies influencers, maintains social channels

Previous experience – Santa Clara University Emergency Medical Services

Ninja skills – Strategic communicator, detail-oriented go-getter, practiced researcher, lover of shoes and labradoodles

Kristin Skliba

Eastwick role – Account Coordinator

What that means – Organizational hub for client accounts; monitors coverage, develops pitches, identifies influencers, maintains social channels

Previous experience – Google, Madison Salon

Ninja skills – Master of organization, analytics aficionado, tech gadget guru, dance party starter

Conner Gordon

Eastwick role – Associate, Content Marketing

What that means – Program manager and project driver, media and analyst relations, story and content development, measurement pro, with a focus on content development and marketing

Previous experience – Ethos Magazine, Oregon Pit Crew, Oregon Hockey Broadcast Department (Founder), Bleacher Report

Ninja skills – Communications maven, guerilla PR enthusiast, feature writing and editing pro

We are hiring at all levels in our San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York offices. Learn more about our open positions here, or drop us a line.

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Client Highlights

An effective blog is one that actually gets read, and doesn’t just live on a website without activity. It is engaging content that keeps brand evangelists abreast on what’s happening with the company and the market. It can also serve as a lead generation tool. Working with our clientMatterport, the 3D cloud platform and media company, we partner to use micro content in tweets and LinkedIn and Facebook posts to drive additional interest to the blog posts, expanding reach to further channels and influencer communities. To keep a regular cadence of posts on The Matterport Blog, Eastwick provides editorial counsel and works with Matterport to develop stories behind the company’s innovation. A rule of thumb to keep a blog alive? Think outside the blog!

Launched this past August, PEQ,SmartHome Ventures’ flagship brand, offers a comprehensive, sophisticated, and easy-to-use smart home system for the everyday consumer. Working towards its debut at Best Buy and on the Home Shopping Network, PEQ partnered with Eastwick’s integrated communications, content, creative, and digital teams to introduce the brand to the market, raise awareness, and build consumer affinity. Some highlights included: securing a live interview for CEO, Ted Schremp, on Fox Business’ “Countdown to the Closing Bell”with Liz Claman, securing 85 media placements in impactful publications such as SlashGear and Engadget, increasing social communities’ audience sizes by triple digit percentages, successfully activating multiple influential blogger advocates, and developing and executing PEQ’s first online user generated contest, which increased fan engagement with the brand by nearly 25 percent.

Spotzot connects on-the-go shoppers with the best local offers from retailers and brands through its location-based mobile advertising platform. In October, Eastwick worked with Spotzot on an infographic showing mobile technology’s major role in driving online and offline sales. A major factor in this growth is stitching together ecommerce and in-store offerings with easy-to-use and accessible mobile coupons. Working collaboratively across multiple practice areas, Eastwick developed a storyline and visuals around industry and company stats. The infographic was placed in Mobile Marketing Watch.

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