Tom Reid

on August 5, 2010

category: miscellaneous

Chief Healthcare Marketing Strategist

Doing something about data security

Everyone talks about it. But few agencies are doing much about information security.

To be fair, few creative agencies have in-house data processing departments. Because Hacker Group has always taken the approach that data is critically important to the success of our marketing programs, we’ve done our own data processing almost since the beginning of our agency.

And now we’re very proud to announce that we have ISO/IEC 27001 certification.

The non-geek response to this is probably, “Huh?”

ISO/IEC 27001 certification says that our information security processes are under explicit management control. Organizations that adopt ISO/IEC 27001 are formally audited and certified compliant with the standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

What are the benefits to ISO/27001 certification and registration?

• Limits exposure to costly breaches and data loss
• Provides structure for business continuity and growth
• Drives improvements in processes and security controls
• Creates alignment with OECD Guidelines for Security
• Supports compliance with HIPAA, FFIEC, FISMA

This is important to our clients, in particular to our insurance clients, because of HIPAA regulations. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Not many companies can say they are ISO/IEC 27001 registered. So having an Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a real competitive advantage.

Having our ISO/IEC 27001 registration means we are now certified to make sure all of our clients proprietary data processing information and customer information is safe-guarded and protected.

 

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Spyro Kourtis

on June 7, 2010

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

Common sense in a crisis

I’ve been thinking about the BP oil spill – in part because I can’t escape its omnipresence in the news. In fact, this story is so ubiquitous even I was asked  by CNNMoney.com to give a quote about the new apology ad. If you’re interested, you can read my off-the-cuff response here.

Spending $50 million on an apology ad makes no sense to me. Tiger Woods called a press conference. That’s what every scandal-stained politician does, too. This story is enormous. BP would have gotten coverage – without the expense that seems so inappropriate right now. In fact, BP should stop spending money on advertising now.

So what would a good communications strategy be?

1. Certainly an apology is in order – and probably should have happened much sooner.
2. Communicate the plan you have.
3. Communicate that, while you’re optimistic, you have a plan B if plan A doesn’t work.
4. Talk about your timeline.

This approach would help build confidence. Instead of giving your entire communication strategy to the news organizations, BP would take more control.

But, the difficult thing for communicators to deal with is that nothing is going to help this PR disaster until the leak is stopped and the spill is cleaned up.

 

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Spyro Kourtis

on March 23, 2010

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

Win-win agency compensation

A new Ad Age opinion piece, “Why Ad Agencies Need to Embrace Value-Based Compensation,” suggests that agencies should be “compensated above their basic costs if they achieve or exceed results as measured by agreed-upon metrics.”

This is an interesting approach – and my own agency is open to it. Yet it’s almost as full of pitfalls as the current compensation approach.

Most agencies and clients aren’t very adept at measurement. My agency specializes in testing and measuring marketing results – and, believe me, it ain’t easy. When compensation is at stake, people will find ways to game the system. We trust our clients and I’m sure they trust us, but when it comes time for giving out credit for results, we don’t want to have a financial axe to grind.

On the other hand, conventional agency practices are painfully inefficient for the advertiser. The two groups start out with goals, get agreement on how many FTEs that will take, come to a blended rate and – voila! – they have a retainer agreement. If the agency takes more time to do something than was planned, they may bill the client more. They will rarely bill less if they are more efficient. If the client looks like it will not reach the goals, they usually must pay a several-month penalty on the retainer to release the agency.

Hacker Group has always used a different model. We call it our “fixed-bid approach.” When a client comes to us with their goals, we determine how much it will cost to reach those goals and set a budget. If it takes more time or expense to get things done than we budgeted, we don’t charge any more to the client. This includes all outside expenses. We are responsible for tightly managing all outside expenses, so our compensation is tied to how efficiently we buy things.

If the client’s goals aren’t met, they can release us without penalty. In other words, Hacker Group is willing to accept more risk in the deal than most agencies are.

And another difference: We depend on the results to drive our strategy, but we don’t usually depend on it for compensation.

That way, if the client doesn’t reach their goal, they may still continue to use us because we beat past performance. Perhaps the goal wasn’t reasonable. That’s okay. We learned something and we can move on with our relationship intact. However, if it makes sense, and we can agree on the metrics, it’s easy to incorporate an additional performance-based incentive bonus to our fixed-bid model.

We believe this is one of the fairest methods of compensation. The client isn’t stuck with all the risk. No one needs to argue about the details or what was within our control and what was not. Win-win.

 

Comments:

5/11/2010 at 9:42 p.m.
Impressive
I really admire your “fixed-bid approach.” As you mentioned, it's risky, but it shows prospective clients that you're truly confident in your abilities as an agency.
>>Kim, Bellevue WA

Carolyn Hansen

on February 10, 2010

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Agency RFP questions to ponder

We’re just finishing up a HUGE round of year-end/first-quarter agency RFP requests and apparently we’re not alone, according to this semi-rant in Ad Age.

As the person in our company who drafts the initial round for RFI information – the just-the-fact-ma’am part – I’d love it if we could just post answers to those pretty-much-all-the-same questions online somewhere. An RFI FAQ, if you will.

But that will never do. When you look at those questions, even if they’re identically worded, you can’t answer them the exact same way for each potential client. Those questions come with a context. When Client A asks about your approach to branding vs. Client B vs. Client C, they really are asking three different questions. One wants to know how carefully you will follow their brand book, since they’ve invested so much in being consistent. Another one wants to know how you would build their brand from scratch, since they don’t really have a recognized brand. A third wants to know whether you consider a brand position as vitally important.

One size never fits all – especially when your own brand is about flexibility!

 

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David Nova

on September 24, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Director, Human Resources

Tools for retooling

Several weeks ago, I was focused on completing a home project and looked in my messy toolkit for a carpenter’s square, a basic tool for any homeowner.

After searching the garage, I was unable to locate the tool (I would later discover my 6-year son used it for one of his many “construction projects”). So, I used my best judgment and eyeballed it. The end result was a completed project, but with flaws.

Have you ever taken this approach with people?

I believe each of us has a toolkit from which we can select to motivate, correct an employee’s behavior or reward their performance. And no, I’m not talking about a hammer. I’m talking about Management 101 tools that support and guide employees in their pursuit of professional development, compensation, promotion, or whatever the end result should be. When we don’t have the correct tool, we might eyeball it and end up with a result that’s flawed.

Have you examined your toolkit lately?  What’s in it? What’s missing?

As the recession ends and consumer confidence rises, companies will begin hiring. NOW is the time to look in your toolkit to see what you’re missing. Set some goals (and budget) to acquire those tools. They’ll come in handy when you want to attract, recruit and retain highly qualified employees.
 
Managing employees can be tough but also very rewarding. Especially when you have the right tools.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on February 11, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Three kinds of lies.

Few things (marketing-related) raise my blood pressure like the waste of money and energy involved in getting a third party involved in taking a so-called survey on behalf of your pet cause that purports to prove . . . something.

Disraeli said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I think of that quote every time I look at a PR puff piece that tells me how some survey just came up with surprising data supporting the organization that paid for the survey.

Here it is in Brandweek in "Event Marketing’s Importance Increasing." That’s a provocative title. Promoting events is getting harder and harder to do when budgets are being cut. Many of the shows I’m aware of are struggling to fill seats. I’d love to hear that events are somehow more important than before.

Then I saw the big clue. One of the survey’s sponsors is the Event Marketing Institute.

Hey, all you "Institutes" out there! Please don’t waste my time with this stuff. I know you can get statistics to say whatever you want. For example:

More than a quarter (26 percent) of those surveyed said event marketing is the discipline that drives the greatest return-on-investment.

That leaves about three-quarters of those surveyed disagreeing with that statement. I’m guessing 100% of those surveyed would have been hard-pressed to call event marketing a "discipline" without that word being put in their mouths.

But that’s my bias. I hate fake surveys. They give real surveys a bad name.

 

Comments:

2/19/2009 at 2:14 p.m.
Three Other Kinds of Lies
Lies can be statements of false facts (e.g., Obama lost the 2008 presidential election); lies can be incomplete statements of true facts (e.g., over a quarter of respondents said event marketing drives the greatest ROI); and lies can take the form of an omission of some relevant truth (e.g., not mentioning to a brand audience that event marketing is most effective for local businesses like retail boutiques and restaurants rather than say a Coca-Cola soda pop festival or conference for soda pop drinkers). Robert A. Heinlein came up with this taxonomy of lies. Or his character Lazarus Long did - maybe Heinlein just wrote it down...
>>Steve, San Francisco, CA 2/13/2009 at 5:50 p.m.
List bias
Yes! It's not just asking leading questions, it's asking the wrong people that makes a survey biased. Designing proper surveys is a difficult discipline. I have great respect for those who do it well.
>>Carolyn,  2/13/2009 at 5:30 p.m.

Here, here! I completely agree, Carolyn. It drives me nuts when web-hosting firms (I've been searching for one) trumpet that on the site you can build with their help, you can have SURVEYS! I don't see the point in having a survey that asks how many of my patients have indigestion . . . they should be telling me that in the consulting room, not on a public site! Unless I begin seeing thousands of patients a day (not likely in my current office), I won't be using the results to trumpet "Forty percent of my patients have indigestion at some point every day!" Thanks for your blog!
>>Laraine Crampton, Santa Monica CA

Jürgen Stephan

on February 9, 2009

category: miscellaneous

Executive Director, New Business Development

Specialization vs. broadening out.

For those of us who like our decisions to be cut and dried, marketing can sometimes be messy. When looking for success models, you can always find counter-examples to your examples.

Should you specialize and "stick to your knitting," like Radio Shack? Or should you broaden your appeal and pursue a more all-things-to-all-people approach, like Amazon.com? Which is feasible? Or credible? Which direction promises sustainable success?

Either approach can work. That’s why consulting with an agency can often be very helpful to an organization. An outside observer with experience in multiple businesses and industry verticals can help you sharpen your focus and broaden your scope.

As an agency, we have to be careful to keep our eyes open, as well. It can be easy to fall into a trap of believing that what worked before -- especially, what worked for another client -- will work again. Each client is different. Each client has its own history, distinct customer base and unique appeal.

That’s the challenge of working with new clients. That’s also what makes it fun.

 

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Spyro Kourtis

on December 23, 2008

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

We're (still) hiring smart marketers.

I have enough self-confidence to know my company has done well -- and has always done well, even through some sticky economic downturns. But I’m of Greek heritage, so a small shiver of panic hits me if I think I might be bordering on hubris.

That’s why it takes some guts for me to come out publicly now and say Hacker Group is hiring.

I just read an article in ClickZ about staff cuts in the digital marketing space. We’ve been hearing about layoffs in general advertising agencies for a while. But everyone seemed to think digital would continue to grow in the new year.

There might have been a little hubris in that thinking. The truth is that digital is still a small portion of most advertisers’ budgets. And, worse, the income from digital marketing is -- for most marketers -- tiny.

Our company has been around since 1986. You might remember a stock market crash in 1987. We survived that -- and continued to grow. While the dot-com bubble expanded, we did, too. When it burst, we kept growing, because we had a diversified client list and weren’t that dependent on technology. We still have a diverse client list. When terrorists attacked in 2001 and someone was planting anthrax in letters, our company was much more direct mail focused than we are now. We managed through that crisis and grew in 2001.

We’re still planning to grow in 2009. I mean we’re planning to grow. We’re not assuming it will happen. We focused on making smart plans and working those plans. It won’t be an accident.

Part of the plan is not to lay anyone off. We won’t need to lay anyone off, because we’re doing everything possible to keep the business we have -- and to get more business. Since 1986, Hacker Group has never laid off an employee due to lost business. When we’ve lost clients, we’ve been able to replace them before resorting to layoffs. That philosophy has served us well, because the result is a smart, well-trained staff than understands our culture and our work methods.

I’ve had enough experience to know that everything doesn’t always go according to plan. Twenty-two years of continued growth doesn’t guarantee a twenty-third year. But this is important to me and the 153 other people here at Hacker Group. If we have anything to say about it, we’re going to keep hiring smart people and keep our business growing through the new year.

 

Comments:

8/24/2010 at 11:00 a.m.

Spyro, You should repost this, updated for 2010. It's a powerful statement and helps to differentiate Hacker from others in the market. Maybe it's worth folding this kind of message into your general website. Look forward to meeting you today.
>>David Camp, Seattle WA1/2/2009 at 3:25 p.m.
Great to hear
That's great to hear that your company is still hiring. I've recently applying for the Project Manager position and am glad a company of your caliber is still willing to hire. I love your company!
>>Arnold Arnan, Kirkland WA

Carolyn Hansen

on October 21, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

When CMOs despise their agencies.

Ow! Got a little burned by the acid in the CMO comments in an Ad Age article today.

Agencies are getting "in the way" of advertisers, rather than smoothing the path with online media companies. Advertisers have to do their own strategic briefings with the online ad networks. Advertisers are laying down the law and calling in representatives from 20 ad networks . . . and the law "included no reselling, serving ads only on sites that have a direct relationship with the publisher and full transparency, and the ability to audit every site where its banner ads appear."

Tough stuff.

When you have a client who is ready to deal personally with 20 vendor relationships to that level of detail, rather than work through your agency, it’s clear you’re in trouble.

One of the comments from agencies on this article indicated that the solution is to make sure you add value, come up with new ideas and be sure you stay a few steps ahead of your client.

The tone I got from the article is that the clients wish their agencies were on top of things they should be doing. The clients weren’t asking for new ideas. They wanted competence.

Another commenter threw up his or her hands and wondered why we should bother, because clients are never happy.

I can’t bring myself to agree with that either. With so many hungry agencies out there, why would we see any long term client/agency relationships?  And there are many of those.

Clients are rational and they can be pleased.

 

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David Nova

on October 17, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Director, Human Resources

New talent. Old challenges.

There’s no guarantee of life-long employment at the same company. Our economy is becoming increasingly challenging and employees are looking to go where the jobs are. As the recruiter for Hacker Group, my job is to look for qualified and, often, experienced people. And sometimes those experiences bring baggage. Heavy baggage.
A recent management study at NYU examined hundreds of employment applications and the hiring records of many companies. The objective of this study was to assess the cognitive and behavioral aspects that employees developed during their previous stints of employment. In other words, if the job remained the same, what characteristics/attributes did they acquire? The stunning results were called “Cross-Corporation Baggage”—a fancy term meaning that people get weighed down by the baggage they bring from past experiences. Of particular interest were the interviews with executives who noticed that those hired from the competitor came at a premium price. And they turned out to be the least successful hires.
What does this mean?
From where I sit in the niche industry of DM, it means a company should invest in training fresh recruits with little experience so the company has more control over how an employee “fits” and becomes part of the team. They’re not “molded.” Also, the values and culture component need
to be considered.
Values, norms and politics become part of the on-boarding experience as well. They shape us and influence our decisions and actions.
Hiring someone with experience does not diminish the urgency or necessity of training. An employee’s many years of experience will not translate to an immediate high return on investment.
As the technologies and rules of effective marketing evolve, companies will have to consider more than just experience in prospective employees. Experience may not have as much effect on your direct marketing as the type of experience combined with the right attitude and fit. Creativity will foster bigger ideas when the right mix of these intangibles is in place. In considering candidates for any direct marketing positions, make sure they carry the right kind of baggage, whether they travel heavy or light.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on October 9, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Is behavioral targeting evil?

Lots of behavioral targeting start-ups are going away or slowing down, according to Online Media Daily until "Congress sorts through the rulings."

Part of the problem is fear -- privacy issues haven’t been completely addressed -- and part is that BT hasn’t proven its worth to advertisers.

One proposed solution is a bit bizarre if you’re trying to prove you’re legitimate (and I quote):

Traveling to the United Kingdom to offer the service might be one option for companies offering ad targeting. A source requesting anonymity says Adzilla plans to pull up stakes in the U.S., move to the U.K., and use whatever capital they have left to refocus the technology on a more conventional business model.

Leave the country?  Even if you "refocus" on a "more conventional" proposition, you’ll look like you’re trying to avoid the new rules. I think most advertisers would not want to be associated with that.

Beyond the privacy issues -- even if the whole world opted in -- as we’ve discussed in this blog many times before, behavioral targeting is not ready for prime time. The behaviors being measured have to be associated with the behaviors marketers want.  You can try to sell a neat little what-if scenario that assumes people behave the way we hope they will. (Take a look at my July 22, 2008 post.) In the real world, things often work out differently.  This is the scientific way to approach marketing.

I honestly don’t believe behavioral targeting is, by definition, evil. In fact, as a tool, its power could be used for good -- for marketers and consumers.  But for now, we have to wait and see whether anyone will be allowed to practice BT and, if they do, whether they can find the key to making it work.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on August 21, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

How's everyone doing?

Nothing seems to have been posted here in a while.  I can testify that it’s because our agency is in the middle of one of those high-pressure crunch periods.  We seem to have several campaigns that need to drop by October 1 to impact fourth quarter numbers.  Yoiks!

So I feel particularly out of touch when skimming through Ad Age and seeing "agency execs mired in malaise."

Oh, those measurable goals.  It may not be a great time for the economy in general, but it’s a good time to be a direct marketer.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on April 9, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Would you rather be smart or lucky?

Smart people tend to depend on their smartness and don't necessarily think about luck. Since none of us is perfectly smart all the time, a little good luck is a wonderful thing. Being smart can't always help you with things like timing.

No one is lucky all the time either. In that case, having brains can pull you out of some scary-bad situations.

And intuition is something else altogether. But if you read Blink, you know that some intuition may be based on having a lot of experience.

One of ways I'm lucky is that I work with smart people -- people who catch my mistakes before it's too late. (That's one of the wacky things about posting to this blog. I don't have any proofreaders or editors looking over my shoulder and I feel like I'm working without a net!)

So . . . smart and lucky may be related. Some will tell you that persistence is another part of what looks like luck.

When it comes to marketing, you can look at your competitors, heave a sigh and consider them lucky if they're getting all the business you want. Or you can focus on the parts of the lucky-smart equation that you have control of -- consistent, persistent selling . . . surrounding yourself with smart advisors . . . continually learning so you hone your instincts. And by doing that, you may be able to create some of your own marketing luck, regardless of how smart you are.

 

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Carolyn Hansen

on January 2, 2008

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Marketing

Work resolutions

Do you make work-related resolutions for the New Year? I asked my co-workers about theirs and Maria responded with an article quoting a survey that says 55 percent of professionals never make a career-focused New Year's resolution and 85 percent said they did not make one last year.

Does that surprise you as much as it does me? I don't think I'm career-obsessed and I know I'm no workaholic, but I spend about a third of my life at work and I'm proud of what I do here. I always want to improve. Early last year I read Getting Things Done, by David Allen and it made an enormous difference for me — and my formerly haphazard (okay, nonexistent) filing system.

Continuous improvement is something of a mantra around here, so I'm not surprised that lots of us have work-related resolutions. Some are more serious than others. And some that aren't precisely work-related come from the most dedicated folks. In no particular order, here's what people were willing to go public with...

"More kick ass creative." (Kimberly Cobban, Designer)

"To try and stay caught up!!" (Debbie Stockham, Accounts Payable)

"Take up yoga, as a stress reliever as well as exercise." (Susan Wall, Account Manager)

"To finally write that one great Hacker blog post which will gain me literary immortality." (Maria Niskishyna, Project Manager in Training)

"I definitely want to create a Hacker MSA (Marketing Services Agreement) to replace the T&C’s added to each contract." (Dick Summerhays, VP/Chief Financial Officer)

"Get organized.
Purge my old files and junk ancient papers, magazines, samples.
Network with colleagues.
Keep my desk clean.
Manage my email inbox better.
Hit all my deadlines.
Maybe best summarized by DO IT NOW!" (Brian Gilbert, VP/Integrated Marketing)

"Dan says it should be 'stay current on eTime,' but I say that’s unrealistic. So let’s go with 'kick ass all year long.'" (Tara Scot, Web Developer)

"Develop managers into leaders. And, using the Team Approach, craft the most competitive employment value proposition for our candidates." (David Nova, Director of Human Resources)

"To finally defeat the unrelenting and fierce Dust Bunnies, which have plagued my home away from home for far too long. I shall end this battle once and for all using my secret weapon, which can’t be named (so as to avoid tipping off my enemies, and thus, possibly continuing this battle even longer)." (Paul Jenulis, Proofreader)

"To master...........timing." (Donna Tschantz, Project Manager)

"Get more done in fewer hours spent." (Jürgen Stephan, Executive Director/New Business Development)

"Keep track of the number of miles I walk per day at the office." (Ben van Avermaete, Traffic Coordinator)

"Ensure management is engaged and prepared." (Tom Reid, Account Director)

"Finally visit the gym in our building." (Matt Witter, Executive Director/Account Management)

"To take it to the next level." (Michelle Schmoelzer, Account Manager)

Does any of this strike a chord with you? Let us know.
 

Comments:

1/2/2008 at 10:01 p.m.
Resolutions
It's great to see others thinking about this, as I set out my goals! Web coach James Ray says "Energy flows where attention goes," so it just makes sense to pay attention to some resolutions/goals. Love the dustbunny one . . . ya gotta have whole life goals.
>>Laraine Crampton, Santa Monica CA

David Nova

on December 12, 2007

category: miscellaneous

Director, Human Resources

Inspiring your people

How do you create an organization that inspires people to do their best? I'll give you a few tips:

1. You need an inspiring goal. Something everyone can relate to; get excited about and channel their passion. Be it DM print or interactive. Help your employees to cultivate that goal. Reaffirm it on a daily basis (e.g., we do what's best for the client). A mantra.
2. You need people who believe the goal is attainable and they'll stop at nothing in order to attain it. They might need to stretch and get creative to figure out how to get there. Some of these people you'll find in house, others need to be hired.
3. Finally, develop a system for measuring, tracking and rewarding their efforts. When I joined Hacker, one of my first lessons in direct marketing was: "What gets measured gets done". Rewarding desired performance, including innovation and risk taking, shows you trust people and gives them a sense of empowerment to be more accountable for their future actions.

That's a unique aspect of Hacker Group. We're always looking for smart, talented people with a passion for reaching their goals. They try something, measure it, fix it, and try again.

Sure, the money is nice. But if you ask them, they'll tell you they're part of something special. They reward the client and themselves.

That's how you inspire your people!
 

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Spyro Kourtis

on November 21, 2007

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

Be thankful for your customers.

Everyone loves Thanksgiving. This is a holiday no one can object to. You get to enjoy lots of great food with none of the pressure of gift–giving.

Lots of us will be giving thanks on the big day. But once a year doesn't go far enough.

A sense of gratitude — every single day — is a tremendously positive way to make your company grow.

I start with customers. The minute you start taking customers — or members or donors or voters or whatever your constituency — for granted, your organization begins to die. Even if your product is essential or addictive, people have a choice about whether they buy from you. Even if you have a monopoly on a vital service (and if you do, you're probably not reading a marketing blog), when you make enough customers unhappy, the government eventually steps in. Even government dictatorships get overthrown.

As marketers, we're more aware of the fragile hold we have on our customers than, say, Papa Doc Duvalier. But we can still get complacent. Just because revenue flowed into our accounts last month doesn't mean it will next.

We're grateful for our clients. We're delighted to be working with them. We're excited about helping them grow their businesses. I hope it shows every day.
 

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Spyro Kourtis

on November 15, 2007

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

Where do you want to work?

If you could pick the perfect work environment, what would it be?

Hacker Group has a distinctive work culture. It works extremely well for some people. It's a little too intense for others.

Since the beginning, we've focused on win-win -- for our clients, for ourselves, for our employees and for our vendor partners. We do this by throwing ourselves into client service. That's where the payoff is. If we can help our clients solve their business problems, our company will be profitable too. Then we can compensate our employees. And our vendor partners benefit in the same way when they help us produce error-free work.

Our contract with our employees is about more than just money. Hacker Group is also a place to learn and grow professionally on a daily basis. Expectations are high. We want people on our team who will move us forward. We've had people wash out who were plenty smart enough and even worked hard, but were unwilling or unable to commit to the high standards of our company.

Here, even the big picture, strategy development people have to be able to focus on the details. And the detail-oriented need to be able to look up and get the full perspective, so they know they're going for the right goals.

I look around and see we have a great group of people, a very accomplished team and I'm proud I'm working with them.
 

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Jon Bell

on November 14, 2007

category: miscellaneous

Senior Copywriter

Conflict resolution.

Some people run from conflict. Others will tell you they love a good argument -- often because they take no prisoners and always win. They make the rest of us hate conflict.

I don't win every argument. Not by a long shot. And I despise compromise. But I don't hate disagreement.

In the creative world Hacker Group has built, conflict usually means my work is about to get better. Whenever a colleague disagrees with my point of view or dislikes the copy I've written, I figure I'm about to learn something. After all, I understand exactly what I meant when I wrote the words. But I don't know precisely how it reads to someone else. That's the information I get from disagreement.

Conflict does not necessarily imply compromise.
 

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Jill Kaufman

on November 8, 2007

category: miscellaneous

Vice President/Account Services

Who do you look like on Facebook?

Advertising Age recently asked its readers whether people tell the truth about themselves on Facebook.

Does it really matter?

I guess it would be helpful for marketers to know who they're talking to — warts and all. We may have wart remover in our product line-up, after all. (But maybe Facebook isn't the place to be marketing wart remover.)

If Facebook or other social networking sites are about aspirations — looking like who you want to be, rather than who you really are — direct marketers LOVE tapping into those emotions.

In my opinion as a marketer, sometimes you take people at face value and sometimes you assume your target audience has flaws, fears, hidden agendas and unspoken desires. Just like the rest of us.
 

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Spyro Kourtis

on September 20, 2007

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

What this space is for

I work with some smart people. I’m not just talking about Hacker Group employees – I mean our clients as well. I like hearing from them all. That’s a huge advantage for me. I get to soak up some wisdom and pass it along to my team.

The reason for this space on our Web site is to get some smart people to talk about what they know best in marketing. It’ll come in bite-size chunks, so you can take it in, incorporate it into something you’re working on or decide it’s not helpful to you, all without taking a lot of time.

Some of the things we’ll talk about are tried and true. Some are opinion or speculation. We’ll let you know the difference!

The good thing about opinion is that they inform our hypotheses. Hypotheses are what direct marketing tests are all about. At Hacker, an interesting opinion doesn’t stay opinion for long. We test it. We get an answer. And, often, we’ll double-check our answer – or fine-tune our hypothesis.

So we’ll be letting you know what we’re thinking and what we’re testing. If you want to join in the dialog, you’re welcome to comment here in this space – or pick up the phone and call me. I enjoy talking with smart people about marketing issues.
 

Comments:

9/26/2007 at 4:46 p.m.
Congratulations
Nice job on your new site. I'm looking forward to reading more.
>>Ross Arnold, Seattle WA