Insights from Nebo

I was recently on Ragan’s PR Daily reading an article about disruption in PR. I agreed with a lot of what the author had to say, a CEO of a start-up PR firm in Atlanta, and I felt compelled to tell somebody about it. So, where was the first place I went? Twitter, of course. Not only did I think the piece represented my beliefs about the industry, but I also wanted to put it out there for others to read in the hopes it might inspire them, too.

Sometimes, writers will send us two-column A/V scripts as writing samples. If you’ve never seen one of these… they are hideous. They’re impossibly clunky and, honestly, they’re a chore to read.

Somehow, your eyes are forced to scan vertically and horizontally at the same time while skipping over thick, black lines that separate sound effects from visual cues. And, somehow, you’re supposed to digest the story during all of this and become emotionally engaged.

No doubt, an A/V script is an important tool for production. But it’s not a good medium for telling a story.

There’s something about ballet that is so evocative for me. Whether dancing, teaching, or simply watching, my love for ballet is visceral. I hear the opening bars of The Sleeping Beauty’s Rose Adagio or the iconic leitmotif of Giselle, and the music envelopes me, radiating through my fingertips and moving me like little else does. Whether this love was learned or entirely innate, I know that ballet has been a passion of mine from my penchant for walking on my tiptoes in infancy on through my days performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy.

My career shift from such a physical art form may seem like quite the leap (pun intended). I moved from a world ruled by movement, music, and performance to one laden with spreadsheets and heavily ruled by the Google gods. My transition to life as a PPCer was a smooth one, however, as many of the trends and practices inherent in the Paid Media world align with those of ballet. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren recently published a piece in which she argued for the importance of equal pay. She began by saying, “I honestly can’t believe that we’re still arguing over equal pay in 2014.”

But are we really arguing about it? It seems like most people of sound mind are for equal pay, though they may disagree on how best to legislate it.

And that’s the problem. This inequality runs deep in our culture – deeper than just a male-biased culture that refuses to pay women fairly -- and the issue has proven difficult to enforce. Warren has placed a great deal of optimism in the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would make salary practices more transparent and force companies to prove that pay discrepancies are due to performance or merit and not sex.

Maybe the Act will pass and make a difference. Maybe it won’t. But there is a bigger point that many are missing:

Equal pay won’t be the most pressing issue facing women in the workplace in the coming years.

This year, we’re lucky enough to be celebrating Nebo’s 10th anniversary. Adam and I are incredibly proud, but we’re not the ones you should be congratulating.

Let me explain.

Nebo was established in 2004 as a reaction against what we saw as the marketing industry’s deepest flaws. We started by taking a human-centered approach to marketing as well as treating clients, employees, and vendors the way we’d want to be treated. Culture would be our competitive advantage. We’d prioritize long-term strategy over short-term wins.

We didn’t know if we could make it. We definitely didn’t know if our approach would resonate. But we thought we were young enough to recover if we didn’t.

Flash forward 10 years and we’ve achieved more than we ever thought we could.

You're not a true PPCer unless you are constantly taking the industry temperature, but Paid Media moves so quickly that sometimes it's hard to keep up! Rest assured, we've compiled the latest platform and industry updates to keep you informed so that you can concentrate on applying these updates and optimizing your accounts.