Tag

company culture

Awkward Team Photos

By Communications

We’re getting ready to get some professional photos done of the Jaggers Communications team. Our friend, photographer Sarah Cramer Shields will be behind the camera, charged with making us look cool.

Poor Sarah.

Clients of ours recently had a team building exercise at a company retreat. They shared with one another, (and eventually, with us) some awkward photos of the executive team as gangly adolescents and nerdy middle-schoolers.

For some of them, those photos were from a year or so ago. (I kid!)

If you’re unfamiliar with the inspiration for this exercise, http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ you really must go.  I think that this was a hilarious way to strip off the veneer and get to know other people on the team. We were all kids, right, and all had those awkward moments along the way of becoming the incredibly well-adjusted people we are today.

Ahem.

In the spirit of disclosure, I’m gifting you with an awkward photo of myself at 13. You’re welcome.

When Communications are Client Driven

By Communications

I’ve worked in communications for the better part of the last 16 years or so. My experience on the agency side has consistently pointed to the same truth. Communications that are driven wholly by the client are rarely strategic and often misguided. When an agency or other outsourced communication provider becomes the order taker, taking direction from the client without questioning whether what’s being directed is what’s best for the business.

In public relations, marketing and communications, I think it’s our job to always do what’s best for the client. Sometimes that means there’s less work available for the firm. Sometimes that feedback causes friction in a client relationship. But above all, I feel strongly that it is our role to be looking out for the client’s best interests.

We speak up, speak out and will speak on our clients’ behalf because we believe in the message they deliver.

We also won’t hesitate to disagree, redirect or be frank and honest in the face of your communications challenges.

We like to think we’re easy to work with (we get that feedback a lot) but we also have put our stake in the ground to be clear and open, to guard your business as if it were our own, and to be always thinking of you and ways we can help your communications improve.  While it may feel foreign to some organizations engaging with a strong communications partner for the first time, or for those used to directing and managing marketing and PR efforts to an order-taker, the outcome is so much greater for the whole, the adjustment to the collaborative nature of our work ultimately becomes what most think is a refreshing change.

We’re different. We’re a little loud; we’re not shy, and we’re as passionate about our own work as you are about yours.