Meeting with Jeff Barrett

 When I met Jeff Barrett on Twitter, I wondered, “Who is that man?”

I googled him and got to know about his job, his participation in Barack Obama 2008 campaign and what he was doing now.  I admired his passion, the way he lives his life staying true to himself and his will to help other people and connect them through Internet.

I was amazed. I wanted to know more. Thousands of questions popped up in my mind. I asked for an interview. He accepted. I danced with joy. And here we are.

I’ve known Jeff for a little while (a few weeks actually) now and reading this interview, the answer to the question I asked myself when I first met him is so evident to me: Jim Barrett is a great guy.

In your own words: who is Jeff Barrett? 

I can’t go more than 15 minutes without making a joke. I have been timed on multiple occasions. It’s just not possible. I have found my passion and every day I make sure to live it. Everyone has a job. Mine doesn’t feel like work.  

Where does this passion for communication and social media come from and how did you started in the industry? 

I started crowdsourcing events and communications on MySpace in 2003. That led to private consulting, community management for large brands. I began to work on bigger projects as social media became more prevalent.  

Your work for 08’ Obama campaign was very impressive. How did you approach the challenge? 

There was a great plan in place. I went in to it hoping to learn something from Blue State Digital and test assumptions. I gained invaluable experience. 

That social media campaign has now become a case study many professionals refer to, did you know when your started that your work will play that big role or did you just thought “let’s try and see what comes out of it”? 

I was one of many. I was executing a strategy that I believed would work. It’s nice to look back on it today and apply the lessons learned to current projects.  

What is the biggest hurdles you’ve encountered then? 

Changing perspective. At that time it was new and different. There was a learning curve.  

According to you, why were you chosen for that job? 

Because I would work for free. I volunteered my services in order to gain experience on a large scale.  

Did you doubt sometimes of your ability to achieve what was expected from you? If yes, how did you overcome those doubts? 

I never do. I know that sounds unrealistic but it’s true. If I have doubts, I don’t act on something. I’m aware of my surroundings certainly. I take in to account all possible outcomes. I’m very thorough and reasoned. When I move on something, I act and don’t look back. 

At the end of it, you know, the night Barack Obama won the elections, what did you think? 

I thought it was the beginning. His win validated how important it is to have a social engagement strategy.  

Now, tell me about Status Creative and the birth of the “greatest music video ever made” as praised by Roger Ebert. How did all this adventure with Rob Bliss and Scott Erickson started? 

Rob came to us with an idea. Our skill sets matched up perfectly and everything fell in place from there. Individually we all had success but collectively we are unstoppable.  

I went to the website and the blog is still under construction. Some hints on what it will be about? 

Instead of starting a blog, Rob and I will be writing featured columns for The Washington Times. We’ll start linking them on the site. 

What are you up to now? I’ve heard of a project called You Matter?

We are working with multiple clients, expanding, bringing on more help and strategic partners worldwide. We also have one TV show in post-production and one in development.  

 5 Questions Chrono....To Jim Barrett

"5 Questions Chrono" is a brisk interview with cheeky...well, questions to an outstanding achiever we would like to know from a different angle.

• What do you usually read every morning?

Mashable, theCHIVE, The Washington Times, Agency Post and AdRants.  

• Are you a workaholic, “half work/ half fun” or “all about fun”?

I’m a workaholic but I love what I do. I made my passion my work. I’m very fortunate.  

• What are you the most proud of so far?

Writing for The Washington Times. My Mom was a writer and I like making her proud.  

• Any advice to the be successful?

Find your passion. Create a very specific niche for yourself. Network. Provide value in relationships.  

• Did you ever play the “do you know who I am” card?

Never. I’m not famous enough for that. I’m pretty sure I can’t pick up a woman by saying “I have 35,000 twitter followers.” 

You don't always get what you wish for, you get what you work for 

- @AmirKingKhan

6 stages of procrastination

While wandering about Pinterest, I found this funny drawing from  Jennifer Barnes Boards. How true is it?

4 Reasons to join in the fun of Made Up PR

Made Up PR is a competition to be held fortnightly on PR Examples, a renowned website where you can find the best stunts and campaigns of the industry. The contest targets students as well as professionals and the rules are very simple:

A fictitious PR scenario is published on the website. Participants propose solutions based on that scenario in the comments section and the site readers vote for the best answer. Not only will the winner receive congratulations but he will also win (interesting) prizes.

I've participated in the first ever Made Up PR that started today and that was a lot of fun. Here is four reasons Made Up PR worth it for a PR (future) pro:

1- Be part of a global brainstorming.

I mean come on, there nothing to explain here (but I'll do it though). This is an incredible opportunity for a student, a newly graduated or a job seeker. It's a case study and PR pros from the world are solving it with you.

 2- Test your abilities in PR strategy

Are you creative enough? What is your level compare to other students or professionals? Are you thinking out of the box? How can you challenge what has already been done and propose something new, original?

3- Sharpen your skills

You  never know  how good you are if you have not compete against your (best) peers. Made Up PR will challenge your talent and make you even better.

4- (Winning) The prizes

Obviously. I have to confess that a signed copy of "Brand Anarchy" by Stephen Waddington and Steve Earl is very motivational. Winning is great but it's even sweeter when you have proofs.

Now, you just need to join the fun! Don't forget to tweet #madeupPR

Any questions, contact Rich Leigh by emailing rich@PRexamples.com or tweeting either @PRexamples or @GoodandBadPR

Does PR really need a definition?

Lately, the industry was shaked up in its roots with a great debate on the definition of PR. 

The Public Relations Society of America’s attempt to define what is PR almost got the whole industry confused.  After a research phase, PR professionals were asked to choose amongst three final propositions, the official definition of PR. Problem: no one seemed to agree with any of these definitions. The debate went viral and a bunch of meanings were found to PR. However, people has spoken and PRSA’s definition of PR is:still  were creating it everydayanche et de la nuit ainsi quee.cte le public avec l'rte une touche le dimanche et la nuit, nous  

“ (…) a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

I find this definition quite vague.  I’m not sure it would be meaningful to “non-professionals “, my mum for instance. I understand the initiative of PRSA since we want the public - and the clients -  to understand what we do as a profession, we want to have an all-ready answer when our family and friends ask what we do exactly for a living but I don’t think this definition reached the target.

PR is not easy to define and thinking about it, I’ve come to wonder if PR can be defined and if PR even needs a definition for three reasons:

1-    PR was shaped by itself along the years. I don’t think Edward Bernays and his fellows ever sat down to put into words what their job was going to be about, simply because they didn’t know it yet. They were still creating it, with every new challenge.

2-  PR is everchanging. Trying to put PR in a box, to determine what exactly makes it different from marketing or advertising or any other discipline related to brand and media is useless. We don’t know what our profession is going to look like in ten years. The clients’ demands are incessantly evolving and it doesn’t matter if the tools we used to satisfy them are the ones of marketing, journalism or advertising.

3-    We do a lot of different things. No one masters the art of multitasking like a PR pros. We have to continuously expand our skills to remain efficient.

 

PR is about communication, media, public, reputation, conversation, promotion, protection, relationship, (fill the blanks). Any pro can arrange these words as he likes to come up with his very own definition of PR.

No, Ad is not PR

As an intern in an Ad agency with a degree in PR, I've been in a good place to live from the inside the differences between these two disciplines. Here are some of those I've noticed.

• We don't pitch the same people

This is the first thing that makes a big difference between Ad and PR.  The only people Ad pros have to convince are the clients.

• There's not the same amount of writings

Sure, as a copywriter, I still have to write slogans and texts but compared to what I've done during my PR's internships, this is a breeze.

• No Social Media

My work is not related at all to Social medias. I don't know if it's just in our agency or if Ad doesn't care about Social Media. May be this has to do with the seal of secrecy that marks each Ad campaign or the fact that they (may be) have nothing to tell the public.

• Ad is "Look at me now" 

Ad is about showcasing the brand under its best profile. Even if this means exagerate a little bit. Ad is very narcissic. 

• Journos who?

I don't think I've talk to a journalist since I work here; Actually, I'm sure I haven't  said a word to a journalist on a professional purpose since I'm here. I think since Ad is paid publicity, there is no need to build lasting relationship with journos. You paid, they publish. That's it.

• No media monitoring 

Don't get me wrong. When I said, no media monitoring, it's except of checking the newpapers, magazines, watching TV and listening to radio in order to make sure the message that was transmitted is published.

• Message control

Ad is a control freak about message. I don't think PR could ever control its messages the way Ad does. In the agency, they know exactly what each billboard, each TV, each radio, each website is going to be showing/telling, at what time and for how long. 

This is definitely not a complete list and as I read on many websites and blogs, there's a lot more to say on what makes PR different from Ad. Going through one of these blogs, Spinsucks, I found a good article with excellent comments on the subject. This one that totally hits the point according to me:

I agree with most everything you say, Gini, but I also come at the question from another perspective.

I think we all agree that advertising is paid publicity while public relations is free (or “earned” if you like that feel-good euphemism) publicity and a whole lot more, as you note.

Beyond that, I think the core difference has more to do with purpose than price. Advertising is, for the most part, a marketing tool designed to generate sales or other desired transactions and in some cases to build brand awareness. Public relations seeks to create lasting relationships, increase visibility and build reputations. It does not generally seek to generate immediate transactions. It is not marketing, although it has increasingly (and unfortunately in my view) been subsumed under a marketing umbrella in most organizations.

If you’re wondering what the difference is between a “brand” and a “reputation” it’s this: a brand is how an organization sees itself; a reputation is how people actually see an organization and they think of it.