English translation: Make something that will ultimately go viral.

Similar to episode three, the contrast in agencies was stark, which is certainly by the producer’s design. But what was most astounding, at least to me, was the manner in which Conversation founder and CEO Frank O’Brien polarized, well, anyone within arm’s reach.

We knew we were in for a treat when O’Brien remarked about his initial impressions of BooneOakley after the initial brief from PopChips CEO Keith Belling and his team.

“The questions the other agency asked were kiss-ass, which is very off-putting,” he told us. And later O’Brien would inform us that, “We’re usually the first to utilize new forms of media” (just like Conversation’s Flash website that inhibits SEO and limits usability).

The loveable Frank O'Brien of Conversation

Then came the cultural trainwreck inside the walls of Conversation.

O’Brien entered the team meeting and informed his staff the campaign would be “People of Pop,” a website where people would upload videos and photos (novel) and a video that would set the world record for the longest, most viewed viral video ever. No brainstorm, no collective thought, nada.

One of his employees looked dumbfounded, remarking, “That’s not very impressive.”

O’Brien then tells us about his perspective on ideas or concerns that emanate from staff, “My focus isn’t on other people’s opinions.”

How loveable!

Design director David Orellano was seen struggling with O’Brien’s concept, arguing with his boss (who was utterly dismissive of any concern), leaving work to play drums and clear his head, and then we are told Orellano had a breakthrough — which apparently was “The Year Of Pop,” essentially encompassing the initial “People of Pop” concepts.

Upon the Conversation team reviewing the more fully-baked idea post-Orellano’s design efforts, an employee remarked that it was “a dope idea.”

O’Brien, with great humility, quickly told the employee, “It’s a dope idea that I came up with.”

Are you kidding me?

(spoiler alert)

In the end, Frank and his Conversation team — funny enough he takes three others to the final pitch who say nothing — win the PopChips business.

While I congratulate him and his agency which obviously worked hard to come up with a winning idea, I cannot imagine anyone who would see the episode and want to work for him. And one has to wonder what the PopChips folks will think about their new agency chief after seeing the episode.

Conversely, while the BooneOakley partners seem like great idea generators that simply lack direction (and their final idea, indeed, lacked direction), at the very least there was a sincere interest in the thoughts of their team, a genuine concern for their employees’ well being, and a general respect for colleagues that permeated the agency.

And quite sadly, what stands out most from episode four of “The Pitch” is a self-centered, combative agency founder who is disliked by his employees and just may be very lonely, very soon, if he doesn’t learn some modicum of appreciation for those around him.

On the heels of an attention-grabbing campaign with H&R Block that helped the tax giant set a record the number of returns prepared in a tax season, St. Louis-based digital marketing and public relations firm Elasticity announced today that it has added a diverse group of consumer-facing and business-to-business companies to the agency’s valued client portfolio—ranging from technology start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

“We opened our doors at the depths of the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression, so it’s been gratifying to see that our vision is paying off,” said Elasticity Managing Partner Brian Cross, who founded Elasticity in January 2009 with fellow former Fleishman-Hillard executives Dan Callahan and Aaron Perlut. “We’ve steadily grown from three ruggedly handsome founders to a current staff of 15+ and have been very fortunate to work with a number of clients that appreciate our unique, creative approach, and tolerate the stupid things that Aaron says.”

Some of Elasticity’s new clients include:

SunEdison: A leading worldwide solar energy services provider and subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), Elasticity is managing communications for SunEdison’s “Eradication of Darkness” program, which brings solar power to rural villages in third-world countries around the world that have never had electricity.

“We like the way Elasticity looks at communications as a 360 degree effort and were impressed with their international journalism contacts,”  said Dawn Brister, SunEdison brand manager. “The fact that their fridge is always stocked with quality beer is a significant bonus.”

Appistry: Elasticity has been named public relations agency of record for St. Louis-based Appistry, a leading developer of “big data” cloud-based technology. Appistry unlocks the challenges of big data in an increasingly data intensive world. From delivering packages to finding new treatments for cancer to deciphering satellite images, Appistry’s platform supports applications for some of the world’s leading life sciences research and data-heavy companies including Stanford University School of Medicine, CHOP – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Yale University Cancer Center, the University of Missouri, FedEx, State Street, Tygart, Northrop Grumman, and others.

“We’re in a complex space that’s challenging to articulate and Elasticity is helping us to better simplify our story and value proposition about how effective big data management has enormous implications across a large swath of vital industries,” said Sultan M. Meghji, vice president.

Hair Saloon For Men: Elasticity has been named agency of record for Hair Saloon For Men, a leading national chain of men’s grooming establishments headquartered in St. Louis. Elasticity will manage all aspects of Hair Saloon’s marketing communications functions.

“Hair Saloon for Men focuses solely on the male grooming market and Elasticity has demonstrated an ability to tap into the mindset and interests of male consumers,” said Hair Saloon founder and CEO Tom Twellman.

In the last quarter, Elasticity has also been tapped to lead social media, PR and search marketing efforts for several start-up firms across the country including Washington, D.C.-based solar energy firm Geostellar and Chicago-based and Y-Combinator-funded technology start-up Aisle50. Elasticity also recently began managing media relations for Memphis-based financial services company Vining Sparks; developing the marketing strategy for destination resort Cedar Creek Convention Center in New Haven, Mo.; and managing media relations around AG Innovation Showcase for the Bio Research & Diversity Park (BRDG Park) in St. Louis.

To support the influx of new business, the agency is currently looking to fill at least two new positions.

Elasticity is a digital marketing and public relations agency providing creative communications strategies that build buzz and reputation for entrepreneurial-minded companies.  Our non-traditional solutions straddle new and traditional media, focusing on the mediums of social media, search marketing, and public relations. The company works with a broad array of clients spread across diverse industries including Charter Communications, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, H&R Block, Stifel Nicolaus, Anheuser-Busch, Capital One, and a host of technology start-ups.

As a marketer, it’s hard not to be enthralled by the competitive challenges faced by each week’s two agencies. They find themselves in situations I’ve often been in myself–trying to find purpose, developing a creative narrative, trying to resonate with the appropriate target audience, and creating a program that ultimately delivers a return on the investment.

But as someone steeped in corporate reputation management, I find the afterglow of each competition also shines a light on the cultures of each agency involved. And that, for better or worse, can have a lasting impact on the reputation of each agency featured on “The Pitch.”

Take the most recent episode, in which Toronto-based The Hive faced off against Houston’s FKM in an effort to win the business of home services conglomerate Clockwork.

Each agency was tasked with creating a “tri-branded integrated promotional campaign” integrating Clockwork’s three branded service companies — One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating, Mister Sparky, and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.

And while I personally found each agency’s final pitches to be less than stimulating, perhaps that was because I was most compelled, or possibly distracted, by the personal and cultural contrasts between The Hive and FKM.

In short, I kept asking myself, “Would I want to work for this agency?”

The Hive is led by Andy Krupski, whose overflowing confidence bordered on ridiculous arrogance (hypocritical moment number one), and while at first all I could think was how unlikeable he was, Krupski’s personality slowly grew on me. The more I watched, the more I learned about the culture of the agency, the creative-minded space in which they worked, The Hive’s willingness to cut against the grain, be honest with prospective clients, and how that ultimately translated into what the agency stood for and delivered.

FKM, in turn, was a corporate shop, led by the structured and far more buttoned-up Scott Brown, he told us early how he had been burdened with the task of essentially saving the agency from irrelevance a year prior.

FKM’s workspace looked like a series of corporate offices, the decorum of the staff could have been plucked from an electric utility company (hypocritical moment number two). And from the point early on when Brown told his employees that they had to turn in their cell phones so they could all concentrate on the big pitch – it seemed FKM was less a field of ideas where creativity grows, and more a process-driven idea mill where functional thoughts are manufactured.

That being said, neither of the approaches of The Hive or FKM was ostensibly wrong. Different ideas and approaches appeal to different people. They were simply from each end of the spectrum, and in the end, FKM won Clockwork’s business with a reasonable idea that paralleled the initial “ask” of the company’s chief executive, Scott Boose, and chief marketing officer.

But despite that – based on my personal beliefs on how more creative environments can drive more productive marketing solutions – for me, the afterglow of “The Pitch” made it very easy to answer the question of where I’d rather work: The Hive.

Disengagement is what I believe constitutes a recipe for disaster in today’s media environment, as the the facilitation of personal relationships via digital tools and social media has, to some degree, made it incumbent upon corporate or political leadership to engage, humanize themselves, behave like actual human beings, and interact with detractors as if on an equal plane.

Last night, while appearing on “The Jimmy Fallon Show” on NBC, President Barack Obama (and his advisors) proved that the White House collectively understands who and how to engage as he slow jammed about student loans.

The President was clearly aiming to engage college students — and whether you agree with it or not — delivering a message that Congressional Republicans want nothing more than to further tax college students with potentially increased interest rates on loans while protecting the billionaires that the those on the left want centrist voters to believe politicians on the right shield.

And what was the result? Morning news stories on NBC’s “The Today Show” and across NBC affiliates, and more important, mass sharing across Facebook and Twitter — further penetrating that 18 – 24-year-old demographic.

President Obama’s “win” should serve as a reminder to the relics of the past about the importance of an open engagement.  Leaders can, in fact, behave like real human beings, shaping the perception of people in touch with their constituencies and driving affinity for the organizations they represent.

As a Client Account Lead, you will join a rapidly growing St. Louis-based team of digital marketing and communications experts.  If you are still hanging on to that glimmer of hope that Netscape is going to make a comeback and your knowledge will again be relevant, we might not be a great fit for one another.

Still interested? Shoot us an email, send us a message via Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, or smoke signals over to RobotOverlord@GoElastic.com. Here is the match.com profile to peruse before we start dating:

Profile

• Proven agency experience managing client relationships.
• Passion for all things related to digital media including social media with a drive to stay current on the latest social media technologies and innovations.
• Skilled in creating digital and social media initiatives to meet brand objectives across a variety of channels, including both earned and paid media.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential.
• Meticulous attention to small details and ability to see big picture concurrently.
• Understanding of web production process.
• A good listener, a team player and counselor who can build strong relationships with agency clients, account staff and new business prospects.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with senior leadership at Elasticity to manage client relationships on key accounts.
• Visualize, develop and execute digital marketing and social media programs in the context of larger integrated marketing strategies.
• Manage project deliverables, timelines and budgets, with a fervent attention to detail.
• Brainstorm new digital marketing and social media campaigns for key clients.
• Supervise and mentor a team of social media and digital marketing specialists.

Qualifications

• Candidates must have a minimum of five years of agency experience in integrated marketing, digital communications or social media.
• Strong experience across all major social media platforms.
• Demonstrated success in integrating social media with broader marketing programs.
• Exceptional writing and presentation skills.
• Proven leadership of clients and account service teams.

Who the Hell Are We?

Founded in January 2009, Elasticity is a boutique digital agency located in downtown Saint Louis, working with organizations including Charter Communications, H&R Block, Anheuser-Busch, the National Football League, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, SunEdison, and more.  We focus on PR, Social Media, Search Marketing, Creative Digital, Mobile, and bacon consumption.  We’re relatively new, even in dog years, but we’re growing fast. Since our inception, we have had the unique opportunity to work with much larger clients than most boutique agencies yet be flexible enough to still take on the smaller, more fun projects that keep our team stimulated and engaged.

We primarily create engagement with brands online through a dizzying array of tactics we like to call “elastic marketing.”  In a constantly evolving media landscape, you can’t stand still. The world of digital marketing and public relations is rapidly moving forward, and so are we. Every agency says they’re “different”, but we are elastic.

We recruit passionate, tired-of-the-same old BS, let’s-do-something-no-one-else-is-doing, kind of people. We hire trailblazers who walk that line between garden variety and “Are you nuts?”

So, if you have above-average Lite Brite skills, basic personal hygiene, and an affinity for bacon, come see us, and dare to go elastic.

But first, let’s take a step back.

When you think of attacks lobbed at corporate America, fairly or not, they quite often focus on the chief executive. To wit, consider:

Facebook's Zuckerberg

• By the time Lee Scott retired he’d entered Jack Welsh territory, but early on in his tenure as Wal-Mart’s CEO his leadership was being questioned by most analysts and media pundits.
• With every little tweak that is made to Facebook or for each personality flaw people think they uncover, Mark Zuckerberg has been quite the whipping boy for a company that has fundamentally altered the global media and cultural landscape.
• Despite being handed an implosion sandwich served with a side of customer upheaval, former AOL Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons was eaten up like Mike Tyson on an Evander Holyfield earlobe.

Much of this is of course relative to the exorbitant salaries that today’s CEOs garner. It comes with the territory. But it’s also far easier to lob grenades at people you don’t know. And what you find is that once critics get to know the objects of their attacks, the tenor changes, and often softens.

That’s why it amazes me at how commonly leaders are counseled to disengage, simply ignore the detractors, and sometimes not even address the critics.

Do you want your CEO melting down on television like Research In Motion co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis did on BBC? Of course not. But PR counselors who think it’s 1980 need to understand that disengagement doesn’t really work in today’s media environment. The facilitation of personal relationships via digital tools and social media has, to some degree, made it incumbent upon corporate leadership to engage, humanize themselves, behave like actual human beings, and interact with detractors as if on an equal plane.

Although I’ve criticized his off-putting behavior prior, give U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R – Va) this much: he knew he had a perception issue and went on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in a pretty transparent effort to allow people to see his human side. Of course, his PR person who was captured on air arguing with Lesley Stahl during the story didn’t help. But give Rep. Cantor credit for trying.

Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson

And while it’s easy to think of visible and engaging CEOs like Mark Cuban or Zappos’ Tony Hsieh, I point to a lesser known CEO named Bill Johnson for an example of how to master engagement.

Johnson leads Progress Energy, a Raleigh, NC-based electric utility which is about to merge with Duke Energy and create the largest electric utility in the U.S. of which he will take the helm. But while he heads a very large and influential Fortune 250 company, what makes him immensely respected amongst his employees — from linemen in the field to accountants to customer service agents in the call center to his colleagues in the C-Suite — is that he engages.

He’s not on Twitter and I’m pretty certain he doesn’t do Facebook. But Johnson engages with anyone who wants to have a conversation or exchange emails. He’s just as comfortable chatting with just about anyone on subjects ranging from economics to the Grateful Dead, politics, football, the law, weightlifting, fine wines, energy security, or professional wrestling.

He’s open, honest, candid, and as a result — people respect him, and his company, immensely.

Which brings me back to our recent campaign — a movement behind the Stimulus To Allow Critical Hair Expenses, or “STACHE Act,” which if adopted by Congress would provide a $250.00 annual tax refund for people with facial hair. Obviously silly, we worked to engage public figures to support, or simply just discuss it.

CATO's Chris Edwards

We blanketed Capitol Hill and various tax think tanks attempting to interview various congressmen and senators. In essence, we were serving up an opportunity on a silver platter to engage on a different level, demonstrate a sense of humor or simply hop up on a soap box and say they thought the proposed Act was ridiculous and wasteful.

Sadly, none of the press secretaries we approached thought it would be wise for their bosses to engage with the exception of two: Thomas A. Barthold, the chief of staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation; and Chris Edwards the CATO Institute’s director of tax policy studies.

While Barthold addressed the issue with unintentionally hilarious dire seriousness in how proposed tax legislation is considered (you can see snippets of his interview in this video piece), Edwards just got it.

He recognized the effort was a parody, he was willing to address it, have some fun with it, and as a result he — as well as CATO — came off as engaged, human, and grounded.  He did what Rick Berke and Bill Keller of the New York Times should have done with this Jason Jones story for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”

The approach of leaders like Edwards (his interview is below) and Progress Energy’s Johnson should serve as a lesson to PR counselors as we look at companies under attack — allow chief executives and other senior leaders to have an open engagement, behave like real human beings. It shapes the perception of leaders who are in touch with their constituencies and drives affinity for the companies they represent.

It’s the story of drag racer Boomer Honeycutt and his quest is to escape his father’s shadow to become the next drag racing Classic Gear Jammers Champion. After separating from his fiancée, Boomer takes refuge sleeping in his van but awakes after a rough night out to find an eleven-year-old boy outside and a note from his high school sweetheart welcoming him to fatherhood.

“We’re not making an art house film about a someone with a mental disorder here,” Wardell told me. “Our film is about drag racing which is already an enormously successful business all over the world with millions of fans.”

This is no fly-by-night production. Actors Christian Camargo from “The Hurt Locker,” “Dexter,” and the “Twighlight” sagas; as well as Natasha Lyonne from “American Pie” and “Scary Movie;” have signed on for the film.

And regardless of your interest in drag racing, here’s what makes “Shift” interesting: Wardell and his partners at Johnny Roscoe Productions are crowdfunding a portion of the production costs in addition to traditional investment opportunities as they gear up for a projected 2013 release date”(you can crowdfund it here).

“The biggest challenge with crowdfunding is reaching a wide group of people,” Wardell added. “Everyone wants everyone to forward and Tweet and post about it on Facebook, but the results can be underwhelming as most people have their own agendas and can’t dilute their own pool of people, or people simply forget to do the actual donating.  Forwarding the link is valuable, but has diminishing returns.”

Crowdfunding has gained steam of late with the recent activity on Capitol Hill and a growing list of items, events, medical expenses, products,  RoboCop statues, and yes, films being crowdfunded.  So it’s been interesting to see the extensions through which its being used (here’s a list of the “5 Weirdest Crowdfunded Projects” from Wired).

Wardell’s wife, actress Sarah Glendening — best known for her role in “All My Children” — is now working on a film called “Angry Video Game Nerd” which is being touted as one of the largest crowdfunded film projects to date, lending hope for success.

“A lot of people go about this by working like a car salesman to try and convince someone that their film is worthy,” said Wardell. “Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding only works if it goes viral, and we’ve taken the approach that we know we have a great script, but the bigger picture for our investors is the commercial potential of our film.”

I don’t need a GPS, 38 pairs of shoes, the latest iPad that’s close enough to the first iPad, an updated version of “The A-Team” (Mr. T’s version will do quite well, thank you), cars with cameras in the back or that park themselves, an even larger flat screen, or yet another social network.

That being said, as a marketer I’m the first person to realize that I’m not the norm. The manner in which consumers and businesses rely on technology has dramatically changed the way we live and act.

Just think of our news cycle. In 1980 most people got their news from their daily newspaper and Walter Cronkite. Today about 1 billion people get their news from a Facebook feed. We tend to get consumed by the latest digital tool: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, Groupon, mobile applications targeted at local businesses – and the list goes on.

Ooh! Facebook just bought Instagram for $1 billion! We’d all better go download it…..today!

The question we need to ask is have we lost perspective? As it pertains to small business marketing at least, I’d say yes.

Is small business marketing and public relations, in fact, more simple than we are making them out to be?

Well, yes and no.

Here’s the “no”:  If you know how to effectively use Facebook, it’s a great tool (a different topic for a different day). Online reviews and the places where small businesses stack up in unbranded online searches (“great Italian restaurants in St. Louis”) can be the  lifeblood of success. Indeed, those reviews and search engine optimization are a company’s online résumé. So, digital tools and a smart online strategy are without question important.

But here’s the “yes”: I would take a good product, strong service, and employees who care about my business over the world’s greatest digital tool set any day of the week.

Let me tell you why.

I was recently getting a connecting flight in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. I was walking through the airport – with people gawking at my good-looking mustache – and I stopped at a place I’d never heard of called Argo Tea.

Initially I was only going to get a tea, but the service was so good that I let the young lady behind the counter up-sell me on a bacon-inspired bite to eat without even a snide remark on my part.  Then came time to pay up, and as every traveler knows, all airport vendors jack up their prices because, quite simply, they know they can.

Ruh-Roh!

“That’ll be $5.45, please,” she said.

I had to do a double take.  I had one of those Scooby-Doo moments where you go, “Ruhhhhhhhh!”

So I took my food and tea and I was listening to the same woman talk with the couple that was in line behind me. And not only did she provide the same outstanding service, but when asked where the company had locations, she could list off the top of her head the locales throughout the U.S. as well as the company’s international expansion plans.

So where am I going with all of this?

I had never heard of Argo Tea (and apparently there’s one in my home city of St. Louis). To me, it was just some airport coffee and tea shack. But I quickly realized it provided a quality product at a fair price, and if the employee was representative of Argo’s culture, the company hires passionate employees who can articulate the company’s vision and footprint.

To me, that’s impressive. The employee’s passion and interest in serving as an ambassador, quality products, and reasonable prices made a believer out of me.

And even though I’m a neanderthal, it speaks to the simplicity of marketing a small business, which can often be lost in today’s digital world.

—————–

*a version of this story was originally posted in St. Louis Small Business Monthly.