The Access Point

Access NY Happy Hour

Watch out for the changing of seasons in New York. The start of leaves turning on what trees you can glimpse between the skyscrapers summons the smell of pumpkin spice lattes, the sound of pencils sharpening and for some – the wincing memory of atomic wedgies.

For others, like us in the PR industry, fall isn't really about the plaid shirts and the corn mazes; it's all about dusting off our inner extrovert and sharpening our networking skills in order to build and strengthen our relationship with the media.

Late September not only brought thousands of students across the city already yearning for June, but also an epic happy hour hosted by Access Communications’ New York office. We took over one of NYU’s favorite hangouts, kicked out the freshmen and celebrated the end of summer in style – with a few cocktails, great company and lots of laughs.

Dow Jones, NBC News, New York Times, LAPTOP Magazine, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal, Techlicious, CBS Interactive, AOL Daily Finance, Accounting Technology, UGO and PR Week were among the media in attendance we were able to greet with bright, shiny apples – err, martinis. We touched base on trends, traded gossip, heard what was in their publication’s pipeline and got the chance to dish about what our client roster has planned for this fall. By the time we were through, they were untying the friendship bracelets their BFFs made them in summer camp, and dusting off a seat for us next to them on the bus.

We also had some great giveaways from our clients to share (no, not a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper or Handi-Snack for the ride home) but a basket of gin – including the new Beefeater 24 – and bottles from Plymouth – as well as a collection of video games from 2K.

All in all, we made teacher proud and started the school year off right. We set the bar for future events, strengthened some old relationships and started some new ones. We’re looking forward to a season full of cover stories and placements that elicit gold stars and a prime spot on the refrigerator. Let’s face it – at this rate, we’re headed to the front of the class…and hopefully avoiding any atomic wedgies along the way.

-- Yasmeen Salahuddin

Looking Back on 18 Years

Access Communications just turned 18 years old. In Chinese tradition, the number 18 is 要发 (yào fā), which translates as “that one is going to prosper.” The Hebrew word for "life" is חי (chai), which has a numerical value of 18 and is considered a blessing for a long life. Both of these interpretations of the number 18 apply to Access. We have been favored by strong growth and continued success, as evidenced by the more than 80 people who work at Access in our San Francisco and New York offices. We have prospered working with a wide variety of clients that include Toshiba, Intuit, Citrix Online, 2K Games and 2K Sports, PayPal, Sega, Polycom and Digg. Most important we have always exuded a strong sense of self, and fostered a culture that is anchored in the belief that our greatest strength is our people. As a result, more than 1/3 of our employees have been with Access for 5 years or longer.

I started the agency in humble beginnings – an office in the Potrero Hill district which had no furniture and no clients, yet radiated hope and ambition. Mark Smotroff (a former Ketchum staffer), a temp and I fervently believed that our ability to translate technology from “bits and bytes into glitz and glamour” would serve a great unmet need when it came to public relations. It appears we were right.

Our first client, Revo Sunglasses, wanted its breakthrough lens-coating technology communicated in ways that would get them coverage in mainstream publications and create brand cachet for everyone from celebrities to sports enthusiasts. Our second client, Broderbund, wanted to make moms aware of education software and the benefits of CDs over floppies! And our relationship with one of our current clients, Intuit, started in 1991 when founder Scott Cook was looking to get coverage for a personal finance software product called Quicken in women’s publications and on morning shows. Eighteen years later our passion for strengthening brands with communities on Main Street and Wall Street continues, even as we have expanded our expertise into new forms of social media that were not even a glimmer in an entrepreneur’s eye 18 years ago but which are fundamentally changing the way we communicate.

It’s been a great 18 years, and now, as part of Ketchum, we are stronger than ever and able to offer even more to our staff and to our clients. I can’t wait to see what the next 18 years will bring!

-- Susan Butenhoff

"Managing Your Boss" The Access Way

A unique aspect of the Access culture is the distinctive approach management takes in helping staff to thrive in a fast-paced, ‘think-on-your-feet’ environment. Recently, Access inaugurated our Article Club, a monthly meeting of management that focuses on the discussion of hot topics in leadership and public relations.

The topic of discussion – a BusinessWeek article titled ‘Managing Your Boss’ – centered on the hypothesis that better managing your supervisor can be critical to growing your career, and can lead to mutual success. It also featured this notable quote from Peter Drucker, “Just as an orchestra can sabotage even the ablest conductor, a knowledge organization can easily sabotage even the ablest, let alone the most autocratic, superior.”

Conversation touched on different approaches to management – the ways that we as supervisors can become better and more well-rounded counselors, and the ways that staff can help us manage their own success. Agency’s leaders discussed our individual management experiences and best practices, focusing on what the core of our agency is – the people. We all agreed that in order for us to continue to grow as effective leaders, we need to remain committed to the transparency and open communication that is a key part of our culture.

Focusing on ‘softer’ skills beyond day to day work is an ongoing discipline at Access. Awareness of the characteristics of a good ‘boss’ that is both trusted and respected is something that the entire management team at Access works to achieve. We provide the skill set training and principles needed to help guide the growth of one’s public relations career and to become better leaders. This ensures that everyone at the agency – from AC and up – has the resources and skills needed to drive results.

Whether it be discussing principles such as leadership or PR fundamentals, we find open communication among all levels of management is imperative to cultivating an efficient and cohesive culture. This has contributed in a major way to the success of Access in an industry that has seen more downs than ups this past year.

Reflections: Dreamcast's 10 Year Anniversary or Why I Hate Potatoes

There are significant milestones in everyone’s life, whether it’s having their first child, graduating college, learning to fashion a shank out of a toothbrush during lockdown, or making it through an entire episode of Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami without a gun to your head. In my life, it would have to be the launch of the SEGA Dreamcast on 9.9.99 (sorry kids, but you were both a close second). 10 years ago today our agency was tasked with bringing visibility to the launch of the console and the efforts behind it were staggering, fortunately with results to match.

1999 was one of the flashier years for the gaming industry, with companies throwing a lot of money into Vegas-styled spectacles. Because of this cash-crazy climate, it was quite the challenge to cut through the clutter, but we managed to do a few things to turn the launch into a successful endeavor.

One little known initiative was a guerilla attack on a Sony event since their PS2 was the Dreamcast’s rival. Prior to either console’s launch, Sony had a media day at a golf course, so we set our sights on taking advantage of the gathering. We ended up hiring a plane to soar noisily overhead numerous times with a banner that read “SEGA Dreamcast 9.9.99.” In addition, we sent in ground troops that included me driving a golf cart around with Sonic the Hedgehog on the back pointing up to the plane as we circled the media. If you are the first to guess which former Access/current EA staffer was in the Sonic costume, I’ll send you a Seaman tin that talks when you open it. As the coup de grace, we had switched out all of the white golf balls with Dreamcast branded ones.

Another event to build awareness was the SEGA Spud Dive held in LA which involved having consumers dive into 2,000 gallons of mashed potatoes to fish out big plastic letters that spelled out SEGA Dreamcast. The winner received a first off-the-line U.S. Sega Dreamcast system, handed to them from Peter Moore, and Sega Dreamcast games for life. There is no greater joy in life than stirring a thick, cement-like pool full of mashed potatoes, except maybe plying a freshly rammed yak out of the front grill of your car with a plastic fork.

Of course the biggest stunts were the retail launch events held across the country. These involved celebrities, like Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer, years before this incident, Baywatch beauty Donna D’Errico, athletes and a lot of party atmosphere. The launch of SEGA Dreamcast on 9-9-99 turned out to be the biggest 24-hours in entertainment history bringing in a whopping $97,904,618.09 and shattering the previous record held by the blockbuster movie Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which achieved $28 million its first day in theaters in May 1999. In your face Jar Jar Binks!

While the launch was significant, so was the console’s death. It was a system that was home to so many titles that defied categorization at the time, such as Jet Grind Radio, Seaman, Space Channel 5, and Typing of the Dead. There are still games today that push the boundaries of convention, but nowhere near as many as back then. The Dreamcast also went head to head with the PlayStation 2 in terms of quality, with some games even looking better. While there have been many debates about the death of the console, it ultimately came down to SEGA not moving enough units to make it profitable. And why didn’t it sell? Sony had a tremendous base of loyal PlayStation owners who were convinced that they should hold out for a PS2 based on it offering the same features, most prominently a non-existent modem. Sure, the modem was teased by the company in 2000 and 2001, but it didn’t come out until 2002 and by then it was too late. There was also the lack of support from EA which you can read about on Peter Moore’s blog and which I’ve always equated with that scene from Braveheart when William Wallace is waiting for the Scottish noblemen to join a critical battle, but instead turn their backs since they were bought off by the English. I will say this much though, I never met a Dreamcast owner who didn’t love the console. Myself included.

Chase
Official member of the Dreamcast Launch Team

The New Power for Brands is in Letting Go

The old saw attributed to former House Speaker, Tip O’Neill that “all politics is local” may be in need of a refresh. After the 2008 presidential election, you could argue that all politics is social and we might attribute some of that shift to Jonathan Kopp, Ketchum’s new Global Director for Ketchum Digital.

Jonathan would know. As a partner for SS+K, he served on Barack Obama’s national media team and was tasked with reaching and registering 18-34 year old voters. Last night in San Francisco, Access co-hosted with Ketchum a conversation with Jonathan on lessons corporate marketers could learn from the campaign. Jonathan outlined four strategic imperatives the campaign used to engage this target audience and change the rules of the game:

1. Involve brand advocates by engaging them where they live psychologically and physically.
2. Inspire then empower them to believe they can do it, they can have it, they can be it.
3. Amplify the effect by giving the audience the tools to act.
4. Respect your audience and your respect will be rewarded.

When it comes to political campaigns, Obama changed the rules of engagement and Kopp believes that the Obama campaign can provide many lessons to brand marketers. “Let the game come to you and don’t over-push the brand,” recommended Kopp who claims that in as much as Gen-Yers want to discover and share, it is important to start small and “avoid doing an open mic with the biggest megaphone”. 

In addition to discovering the message, consumers, especially younger audiences, want to personally relate to the message and that means that they want to feel that they were involved in the evolution of the message. They want to hear their words, in their voice and in their medium of choice. Many of the most powerful headlines that fueled the Obama campaign marketing came from the users. Of course the market at large has learned the power of user generated content, and Obama is the first politician who truly empowered the youth demographic to register, act and vote.

As social networking has overtaken email as the internet activity used most, brand owners may be concerned about the shift in power to the consumer, but Kopp believes successful marketing lies in giving consumers the tools they need to have conversations about their brands and let those conversations happen without interruption. Kopp pointed out that there is a lot of power in letting go and embracing the distributed power of the consumers (or in the case of Obama, the voters), but it requires a shift in thinking, and dare I say, some hope and change?

- Susan Butenhoff

Digg Meetup and Live Diggnation

More than 3,000 Digg fans, bloggers, media and music enthusiasts crowded Webster Hall on Thursday for the Digg Meetup and live Diggnation show. For those of you who don’t already know, Digg (www.digg.com) is the leading destination for people to discover and share the best content from anywhere on the Web, and also the biggest online news site, by traffic This was a special occasion, as it was a part of Internet Week here in New York. The Access team helped out with event logistics, welcoming attendees and hooking VIP guests up with their all access passes. We also got to enjoy great music from bands such as Fort Knox Five and Ursula 1000 as well as catch the live Diggnation show hosted by Digg founder Kevin Rose and his Diggnation co-host, Alex Albrecht.

What I found most fascinating was how much this event resembled a rock concert. Granted, some of the event was comprised of music, but the majority of it was technology talk - delivered by two total geeks in a legendary NYC venue with screaming fans…but tech talk nonetheless! I found it amazing how electrified the crowd got when Digg CEO Jay Adelson got on stage to give an update on Digg happenings and throw some swag out into the crowd -- they literally screamed and waved their hands like he was a rock God. They were begging for Digg t-shirts and other giveaways. Actually, I was pretty glad I was upstairs in the VIP section, as I was afraid I’d be squished down below in what was quickly turning into a mosh pit (although the crowd was definitely better behaved than a rock concert – no one wanted to sprain a wrist or break a finger and keep themselves from tweeting or Digging the latest story!).

For those of us who have grown up loving both rock music and the latest, coolest technology, the cultural implication that’s most compelling here is that tech gurus and geek elite like Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose at Digg are quickly turning into the next rock stars. Being a recent Bay Area transplant, I’m happy to report that it’s not only happening in Silicon Valley, the trend is also moving east, to Silicon Alley.  

- Meagan McCrystle

E3 2009 – Access Gaming Practice Mixer

The reborn E3 of 2009 marked a return to the booming, bustling style of the show’s heyday, and the spirit of the revitalized event was evident in the energy and enthusiasm of the 41,000 attendees. And while the hundreds of games on display in elaborate booths (often promoted by celebrities and attractive booth models) are the main focus of the week’s festivities, the chance to meet face-to-face and share a pint with distant colleagues, old friends and new contacts is surely one of the best parts of E3.

On Wednesday evening, June 3rd, the Access Gaming Practice hosted a mixer at the Moroccan-themed Hotel Figueroa, where top members of the gaming and consumer press rubbed elbows and reminisced with executives and game designers from some of the industry’s top publishers and development studios. Writers and editors from outlets like the New York Times, Kotaku and GamePro shared stories and enjoyed drinks and taquitos with the folks from Disney Interactive Studios, SEGA, 2K Games and 2K Boston (famed creators of the original BioShock) while the Access Gaming Practice team mingled with old friends and forged new relationships.

It’s hard to overestimate the value of these rare, casual, face-to-face meetings between press, publishers and PR professionals. Too often, busy schedules and crushing deadlines can cause the relationships between media and the PR people who pitch and assist them to devolve into cold, “just business” associations – which ultimately hamper the opportunities for inventive games journalism. Events like the Access Gaming Practice mixers offer a fun and informal way for people on both sides of games journalism to learn about the people they work with, but rarely get to see (mostly without the burden of media being pitched or PR folks being prodded for secret information). When media and PR people get to know each other (which games they are playing these day, what they’re looking forward to most, and even who they’re rooting for in the NBA finals) a professional bond is formed that allows both sides to be more creative and ambitious in their collaborations. 

The Access Gaming Practice will continue to host our media mixers at E3 and other industry events like GDC, so look for your invitation. We’re always eager to talk about games and enjoy making new friends – especially when food and drink are involved.

You can check out the invitation to the E3 mixer (featuring our trademark beer dispensing robot) here:  http://www.accesspr.com/acc/e309/

- Ryan Jones

  

Access Bowling: Split Happens

When the New York office heard about Ketchum's bowling league we had three questions right off the bat: What's the policy on drinking (are we talking open tab here?), exactly how creative can we get with our team name and where do we sign up? 

So just like that – Access became a part of Ketchum's bowling league. First order of business: Team name. We tossed around a few names; XXX, Archie's Army and Split Happens (the latter, eventually won out, pending that we name Archie the team's official mascot).  

Our first league game we made the crucial mistake of not taking the game very 'seriously' and lost by a slim margin. On the upside, we really perfected Split Happens’ high-fives (and Ashley perfected her celebratory high-kicks), cheersing and we explored the fine microbreweries of Brooklyn.

Our second trip to the alley we put our game faces on and proved to be much more successful. We mustered up that classic combination of Access competitiveness, camaraderie and cocktails (or the “Three C’s” as I like to say). Oh, well, the Three C’s helped but we also bowled a helluva lot better.

The best part? We’ve had the chance to meet, laugh and cheers with the Ketchum folks, and while we have a lot to learn in the ways of the bowling league – I think they can learn a thing or two from Access’ awesome high-fives (and certainly the high-kicks!).

Ketchum: 1,  Access: 1.  6 weeks to go.

2009 Team Roster: 
Tom (Curly): You can count on him
Will (Mo): Bow-tie bowler
Keith (Larry): Cool and collected 
Ashley (Junior): Most improved 
Jenna (Sonny): Wii skills don't translate 
Alex (Big Al): Secret weapon
Beth (Leroy): Jersey's biggest cheerleader 
Brian (Boss): The ultimate rec league enthusiast

Stay tuned for more from the lanes of Split Happens…

-- Jenna Galloway

A Homecoming of Sorts

I want to share some very good news with all of you. Today Access Communications has been acquired by Ketchum Communications, where it all started for me at the beginning of my career in public relations 24 years ago. It is an exhilarating, bold, dynamic step for Access. We join a company with renowned and recognized culture, a similar track record of impeccable client service, and a global footprint with complementary practices to our own. Ketchum gains a company with 17 years of unrivaled B2B and B2C technology expertise and proven ability to go above and beyond for our clients, many of whom have been with us for five years or more.

I started Access seventeen years ago, after leaving Ketchum as a VP in the consumer marketing practice. From the beginning I wanted Access to be a special place to work. I wanted it to be a place where our people would have a strong sense of belonging and accomplishment: where they would be passionately engaged with their clients and with their peers and managers; challenged to do great work in a collaborative environment, and feel fulfilled at the end of every day. Because of that we've become known as a rather special public relations firm. The "Access Culture" is well known in our industry and beyond. Some points of reference: we're a 2004, 2006 and 2007 San Francisco Magazine "Best Place to Work" award winner (we didn’t enter in 2005); we consistently have the lowest staff turnover in the industry (15% vs 34% as of last year); and our senior management averages 10+ years tenure with the agency. None of this will change with the acquisition. We still maintain the same single minded focus on the two most important assets we have: our clients, and our people.

So why make this change? I thought long and hard about making the next logical – and right – step for Access, to ensure our continued growth and success, to enhance our ability to serve an ever more globally-minded client base, and to further deliver on my promise to keep our people engaged by giving them more professional opportunities. After considered due diligence it was clear that the answer was simple – to return to my PR roots. With Ketchum we can now offer our clients and future clients a global network on demand and additional expertise in other domains. We can offer our staff industry-leading professional development training that we would never be able to offer as a mid-size firm. What is most important to me, and in fact was non-negotiable, was that in joining with a larger firm, our name would not go away, our brand would stay prominent in the marketplace, and most importantly our culture would be untouched. Access is and always will be Access, only now we are Access plus and we are ready to take on the world and win. Congratulations to Access staff and our clients.

Meeting the New Generation

As we go about our daily jobs, constantly trying to grow our agency, clients and careers, it’s important to remember that the future of our industry does rely heavily on recruiting new talent. To do our part for a thriving profession, we try to make regular outreach to those eager college students who think there just might be a future for them in public relations.

Recently, Access Communications hosted a group of soon-to-be college grads from San Jose State University’s PRSSA chapter to give them a glimpse of life inside a Bay Area high-tech PR firm. Twenty students toured our agency to learn about a day in the life of a PR professional and ask questions about how to break into the industry. Access staffers, including Senior Vice President and fellow SJSU alum Matt Afflixio, shared tips on the importance of internships in helping decide what part of the PR world is right for them, as well as how to turn an internship into a full-time job and a successful career. We learned a few things from this group too, especially some astute predictions on how they perceive the PR business as traditional media gives way to UGC and social media.

For those who are wondering…Access is hiring! Access is currently filling positions for summer interns and entry-level Account Coordinators. Complete job details are available by clicking here.

-- David Conner