Atomic PR Blog

Atomic PR is hiring experienced teammates at virtually all levels

2010-02-23T19:34:15Z

Please forward this to anyone you feel is a good fit for our team.

We're hiring

In Q4 of last year, Atomic won several reviews for large brands including Polaroid and Intuit's personal finance group of products. In the first 6 weeks of 2010, we added several more exciting new clients, we've been added to the short list of half a dozen reviews for prominent brands and the queue of potential clients contacting us is growing each week. We added staff in advance of Q4 last year, so we still have reasonable bandwidth, but now it's time to add a few more key teammates to be able to comfortably take on new accounts in Q2.

Growth plan

We promoted several experienced directors to team leader positions last year. Now, several veteran team leaders are growing their teams, while a few others are branching out and starting brand new teams. The new teams are starting with a small core of Atomic people and growing by adding experienced new teammates. That's how we've always done it, and it's worked well for both the new teammates and for maintaining the quality of work and client service Atomic is known for.

This is a good time for new teammates to apply all the things they've learned so far while learning cutting edge techniques inside the lively, supportive culture one of the country's top Tech PR firms.

Qualifications

The right candidates need to be experienced in managing PR at another top agency or in house, for well-regarded technology related brands in deep tech, consumer tech, digital entertainment and Web 2.0. Candidates need to hold a title at, or just below the level they'd like to apply for. They need to have all the experience and skills you'd expect. And they need to be smart, happy, well-spoken, team-oriented self-starters who colleagues and clients love to work with.

Open positions

SF Office

2 Account executives
2 Senior account executives
2 Account supervisors
Social media campaign specialist
2 Account coordinators
Graphic design intern

Los Angeles

Account supervisor
Account executive
Account coordinator
Intern

New York Office

Vice president
Account coordinator

More about Atomic's unique practice approach here:

http://www.atomicpr.com/#content/method-different-approach,

and more about Atomic's culture here:

http://www.atomicpr.com/#content/about-careers.

To chat or apply, please get in touch: work@atomicpr.com.

Atomic's "Hollywood sign" stunt for the Trust for Public Land. More coming...

2010-02-13T01:22:45Z

Atomic LA and Atomic Digital Ops have had to keep mum about this project for some time, but now we're public with our efforts and the news is making headlines around the globe. So far we've seen hundreds of major press hits, broadcast pickups, and social media chatter (1,750+ Facebook fans in 36 hours, a Top 10 trending Twitter keyword in LA, etc).

We're helping the Trust for Public Land in their campaign to save Cahuenga Peak, the land surrounding the Hollywood Sign. Owned by private developers, the land is at risk of having a number of mansions built atop it, forever marring the iconic view of the Hollywood Sign and preventing the public access to the land which people have enjoyed for decades.

Much more to come soon - in the meantime check out our microsite for the latest updates, and feel free to share the widget below and encourage support!

First Trimester Report: Atomic PR | Europe

2010-01-20T00:56:57Z

Setting up a European business during what has arguably been one of the worst downturns for over 50 years may seem like a daunting task. The Bellweather Report from the IPA (Instit. of Practitioners in Advertising, UK) reported a decrease of 7% in Q4 2009, the ninth successive quarter.

So how much notice do you take of the broader macro-environment? Having a strong 'mother ship' with explosive US growth, major client wins and new relationships clearly opens doors in other geographies. The next step is to grab 'low-hanging fruit' whenever the opportunity arises. Miss this, and you might be waiting another 9 months.

The final piece in the jigsaw means that you have to be ready to respond and be sure you're hiring the right people in the right places. Recession often focuses the mind and those with strong business value propositions will flourish. Well, six months on, Atomic Europe is on a roll of sorts. After winning a global account in the first few weeks of our existence, Atomic PR Europe now has several clients, a growing footprint in London, Paris and Munich and a European team with strong sector expertise gained working with the likes of Dell, HP, Microsoft, Symantec and others.

In February, we'll be trotting off to Amsterdam, to launch an innovative large format touch screen technology developed by a little known Portuguese company to an array of European media. Did I mention that you also have to be lucky?

Sandeep Kalsi is Managing Director of Atomic PR | Europe

Atomic PR named Agency of Record for Intuit's Personal Finance Products

2010-01-15T22:36:48Z

Atomic has been named AOR for the Personal Finance Group at Intuit, following Intuit's acquisition of Mint.com; extending our responsibilities to include Quicken's range of personal financial management solutions. We're working with Intuit's Personal Finance Group on umbrella strategy, positioning, messaging, media relations, social media and video, event support and product promotion. We can't talk about budget, but the scope of work has increased significantly.

According to Atomic's co-founder Andy Getsey, "We're incredibly excited to partner with Intuit's Personal Finance Group to increase adoption of personal financial management software - this is a time when making the most of your money, setting and sticking to budgets, and getting financially fit is more important than ever."

Atomic was selected as Mint.com's agency of record prior to the company's launch in 2007. Atomic's collaboration on initial positioning, competitive messaging, and spokesperson coaching helped Mint.com win "Best in Show" at TechCrunch40 - and momentum built quickly from there.

A thoughtful authority program established CEO and founder Aaron Patzer as a recognized expert on topics ranging from finance to entrepreneurship; social media and SEO thinking helped Mint.com grow more quickly than any other financial software brand, and orchestrated outreach to traditional consumer and lifestyle media made the product more successful with young people and women than anything that has come before.

Since the acquisition of Mint.com by Intuit, a combined communications effort for Mint and Quicken has continued to generate strong media, blog and social media traction and user adoption of both products has accelerated significantly.

Related media coverage: PRWeek O'Dwyer's

A Holiday donation from our clients to the Zeum

2009-12-23T21:49:11Z

We're sincerely grateful to our clients for their business this year. That thankful sentiment really counts, but gift baskets and such probably don't matter that much. We think that the funds normally spent trading gifts of snacks, beverages and such between relatively affluent professionals during the holidays could be put to a higher use that might make a difference to someone. So this year, in addition to the pro-bono work we did for a variety of causes, we took the $ five figure sum we would have spent on a client party or gifts and donated it to the Zeum in the name of the Clients of Atomic.

The Zeum is a SF-based foundation, museum and workshop environment whose mission neatly overlaps the fields represented by our client list. The Zeum promotes computer, multimedia, arts & entertainment industry literacy to under served youth. So thanks to all of our clients for their business and camaraderie this year, and best wishes for a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Communicating with video (it's more than viral)

2009-12-07T20:17:35Z

Producing video can do a lot for a brand. While going 'viral' is clearly one potential benefit, I think most of us are well aware of what that is and what it achieves. But beyond virality, how else can video be of value to a brand?

How about playing on the NASDAQ screen in Times Square? More in this in a minute...

Producing video can do several things. In some cases, it can make complex ideas simple and intuitive. For example, trying to communicate the benefits of a networked power grid can be a tough sell for people outside the utility industry. Knowing that, we worked with our client Echelon, a leading provider of smart grids and networked power solutions, to produce a series of videos highlighting the cost savings and environmental benefit of the technology. In addition to making the message accessible to consumers, these short videos also helped clarify their position to journalists and instantly illustrate what exactly they do.

In other cases, it can be helpful to introduce and build trust for new companies. When Mint.com launched in 2007, we produced a series of videos around the holidays centered on personal finance for 20-somethings, such as holiday budgeting (BTW, Mint was recently acquired by Intuit for $170MM). These videos served several purposes beyond the obvious consumer appeal. They also helped introduce the product to journalists and analysts, and they also served as a showreel for Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer, ultimately leading to a screentest with CNBC to appear as a regular contributor on personal finance issues.

Video can also be used to raise awareness on macro issues. ArcSight, a leading security and compliance management company, helps companies from the private sector all the way up to the military and intelligence industries protect themselves against cyber threats. To help raise awareness on the issue, we produced an animated typographic video highlighting some disturbing statistics on cybercrime and major cyber incidents. The piece was so well received, it was used in the opening keynote of the Protect09 cyber security conference in Washington DC, and also played in Times Square when ArcSight rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ.

Lastly, video can provide a search benefit as well. With universal search, videos and other content sometimes appear in search results alongside the usual ten blue links. A strategically produced and optimized video may rank well for relevant searches (as it did for our client Ingres during their 'Vectorwise' product launch) which both supports client messaging while helping to defend the first page of results against competitors or off-message content.

Check out a short snippet of the ArcSight video in Times Square below. Questions? Feel free to send a note to our Digital Ops group at digops@atomicpr.com.

Re-introducing SIEM and ETRM leader ArcSight to the UK media

2009-11-16T22:06:50Z

ArcSight approached Atomic's UK office after a five month engagement with Atomic in the US with a goal to launch its latest security products in the UK.

In eight short weeks, Atomic PR UK successfully launched two ArcSight products, generated total of 27 pieces of coverage (compared with 11 articles in 6 months prior to hiring Atomic), and has began conversations with trade, national and business press. Unlike in the US, ArcSight has had a low profile in UK media and the security information and event management (SIEM) industry has not been frequently written about.

Atomic PR UK is now working on continuing the momentum through additional introductory media interviews and educating the press, reaching out to the analyst community, placing contributed articles in trade publications and submitting ArcSight for industry awards/speaking opportunities. ArcSight is now on the right track for increasing its brand awareness outside the US and has since hired Atomic as agency of record for the UK and Europe.

The case for brevity when talking

2009-11-12T18:43:45Z

Human beings are very bad at retaining what they hear. On average, people forget more than 75% of the info they take in each day. On top of simple memory decay, add distraction - email, alerts, text messages, social network profile updates, tweets, multimedia, phone calls, cell phone calls, meetings, hallway conversations, etc. Oh, and then there's actual work; multiple assignments, multi-tasking, etc. Plus all the inputs from life away from work. This is the baseline of noise level into which company spokespersons enter when talking with influencers, journalists, bloggers, business development associates, sales prospects, etc. And yet, most spokespeople say too much.

When a lot of ground is covered, most of a conversation is forgotten and takes on no particular shape in the mind of the listener. To cut through today, you need to go short. Think of conversations as opportunities to focus on the very few select topics that matter most to the particular interaction (especially with regard to what the listener is most interested in), and organize your content into short, discrete clusters around those topics - think in terms of a very short paragraph per topic. And stay high level. Get the big picture right first, then let the listener ask for or deliver more detail next. Avoid sub-referencing and tangents. Focus exclusively on the 25% of the content that matters, and give yourself a better chance that they'll remember any of it.

Nina Velasquez joins Atomic PR as account director in New York: adds to agency's core of tech, consumer and social media kung fu

2009-10-27T17:50:07Z

Nina has worked with companies in the consumer electronics, mobile PC, online publishing, professional services, server computing, retail and green-tech industries for more than ten years. She was previously at Kwittken & Company, where she directed media programs for multiple clients including The Sharper Image and CPower, an energy management company. Before that she was with the Red Consultancy, where she managed media and event programs for Microsoft's advertising group. Prior to Red, Nina spent more than eight years at Text 100 in Seattle and New York, managing media campaigns for global technology clients including IBM's System Group and PC Division, as well as Lenovo.

Most recently, Nina provided consulting services to New York-based Web 2.0 companies, supporting online marketing, brand development and social media strategies. Nina holds a BA in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Between her classical PR experience across high profile technology and consumer brands, and her substantial working knowledge of social media and SEO, Nina's a great fit with Atomic's growing team in New York.

The broader power of search

2009-10-21T23:23:55Z

Search engine optimization is often thought of as having a singular purpose - driving traffic to a website - but in the modern communications landscape, SEO goes far beyond traffic building. Enquiro, a research firm commissioned by Google to study the brand effect of search, produced a report that shows just how influential search can be.

Also consider a Nielsen Net//Ratings study released in April 2009 on how trustworthy various forms of advertising or marketing were, in which "recommendations from people known" and "consumer opinions posted online" ranked as #1 and #2 respectively, with #4 being "editorial content posted online". Ouch. It turns out that sometimes the best search results for a brand may not be that brand's website at all.

And even if a brand website is ranking well, having lots of other touchpoints out there doesn't hurt, and can help you defend the valuable first-page results against off-message content. Ensuring that your brand is well placed in the search ecosystem is mission-critical. The goal is for your brand to be easily discoverable, whether it be through your website, positive press, blog, or social media content.