Airfoil Public Relations

New staff positions focus on services, growth industries

A growing number of companies across the country are taking a look at what they do and who they do it for to ensure that their operations are in alignment with the next economy, and Airfoil has been planning for new opportunities, as well.

As you can see from a profile about us in The Detroit News today, we are fortunate that this planning has led us to reinvigorate our agency with a focus on services and growth industries. We’ve also developed new leadership opportunities for key agency members. With these new positions, we’ve added a layer of additional infrastructure and support to broadly offer a more formalized group of services that we’ve been offering to existing clients.

First off is Tracey Parry, an agency co-founder, partner and senior vice president, now has responsibility overseeing the new Client Solutions Group. The group, which encompasses marketing communications, digital and social media and research and brand strategy, also includes Tonja Deegan, former social media specialist, who has been promoted to director of digital and social media.

Focusing on growth industries, Rich Donley, former account director, has been promoted to vice president with oversight of the new Industrial/Green Technology Leadership Group.

As I’ve mentioned previously, Airfoil recently was recognized as a finalist in the 2009 PR Week Awards in the category of Small PR Agency of the Year.  While 2009 will be challenging for businesses across the country, we at Airfoil are looking forward to taking opportunities to the next level and are positioning our services to lead us towards a bright future.

-- Janet Tyler

Airfoil Public Relations Nominated for PRWeek Award

In a nutshell, 2008 was not an easy year. It wasn’t easy for the media, for advertising, for marketing or for public relations.

No, it wasn’t easy for any business, which is why I’m so proud of our team for not only making the best of 2008 but for making it a year to remember.

Airfoil has been named as a finalist in the 2009 PRWeek Awards in the category of Small PR Agency of the Year. The judging took place Dec. 8 by a panel of 72 judges. In addition, Airfoil was recognized as the Technology Agency of the Year by the Holmes Report in 2008.

We have been fortunate to work with exciting and collaborative clients and our own internal team of PR leaders. The combination of these assets made for a very rewarding year for our business.

According to PRWeek, a PRWeek Award is the highest accolade in the PR industry, given each year to the best corporate, nonprofit, and agency teams, as well as to the campaigns that they produce. The Awards highlight the important work done by PR professionals every day.

The PRWeek awards dinner is March 5 at Tavern on the Green in New York City. We are excited to attend and be included among such recognized colleagues. Congratulations to everyone nominated and let’s make 2009 another year to celebrate!

-- Janet Tyler

Communications strategies enable technology marketing to compete when spending slows

The news keeps coming, and it’s not always positive for IT spending. However, technology enterprises can market products and services effectively with communications strategies – including an increased emphasis on ROI and metrics – to withstand and temper the down economy’s impact on demand and revenue.

Our recent white paper, “The PR Stimulus Package for IT Innovators” examines how technology providers can secure customer confidence with a combination of thought leadership platforms and marketing tools that communicate hard metrics. The white paper also explores communications strategies for showcasing the flexibility and scalability of IT solutions to a variety of audiences.

When market conditions fluctuate, businesses need to sustain, if not increase, investments in IT products and services now in order to keep from falling behind when the economy turns upward again in order to face the challenges when the market rebounds.

An enhanced understanding of public relations and marketing communications can assist the smartest and brightest businesses out there succeed by sharpening their competitive edge.   

While some analysts are saying the economy will get worse before it gets better, no one knows for certain what the outcome will be once a new president is in place. However, those that take action during the down time can show real gains through those resources that still are looking to make investments.

-- Janet Tyler

Detroit hosts National Association of Seed and Venture Funds annual conference

Detroit still can claim its fair share of good news, and this week’s seed and VC fund conference is a perfect example of great things happening here.

The National Association of Seed and Venture Funds is taking place this week, Wednesday through Friday, at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center. The conference is drawing some of the who’s who in Michigan, include keynote speaker Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at the opening reception.

Topics will include the best practices for state investing programs, new strategies for raising and investing funds, and attendees will also hear expert institutional LP advice on picking an early stage fund.

As a gold level sponsor, Airfoil is proud to be involved with the conference and we’re pleased that NASVF chose Detroit as its latest destination. Despite economic uncertainties, huge opportunities still remain for startups and entrepreneurs.

NASVF is an organization of innovation capital leaders including private, public and nonprofit organizations committed to building their local economies by investing in local entrepreneurs.

-- Eric Kushner

Technology agency of the year

We’re pretty proud of that, so why not make it the headline? Airfoil has been ranked as a top 10 technology agency on a few lists for the past few years, but we’re excited to be named the technology agency of the year by the Holmes Report (sub.). We’ve also moved up from No. 58 to No. 53 in PRWeek’s 2008 agency ranking (sub.).

We had a big year in 2007 by expanding our team and moving our Silicon Valley office to a larger location. We added a lot of really great clients who understand and desire our speed-process-measurement approach.

I’m really proud of our employees. We’ve assembled a stellar team here. Each and every person works hard for our clients and has a true dedication to our success as an agency.

With our agency offices situated in often-maligned Michigan and the often-hyped Silicon Valley, we’re able to provide perspectives of the ups and downs of the U.S. economy from every angle. It’s been a great ride so far and the future looks to be even more promising.

-- Janet Tyler

Things are looking bright on the West Coast

It was only less than two years ago when we opened the door to our West Coast office.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve already moved to a bigger office.  Airfoil’s Redwood City office relocated to a new space in Mountain View this month.  The move was fostered by our growing roster of clients with new ones coming on board every day.

The new space will help us to accommodate our growing staff and future expansion.  The move went very smooth and our team is all very excited by the move…and not just because we have floor-to-ceiling windows, a great balcony, and an array of delicious restaurants in the nearby area.

Our new office is at 399 W. El Camino Real in Mountain View.   If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello.

-- Lucia Giacomantonio

Airfoil featured in workspace article

Airfoil’s open workspaces are featured in a New York Times article today about office life. You can see our office space (and other company goings-on) on Flickr. And although I am composing this post at my desk, I do take the opportunity to fully use our wifi and move about the office when needed.

-- Tonja Deegan

News from the flight deck

We’ve had a pretty busy summer here at Airfoil. Our California office is well into its second year, we’re rapidly expanding our staff and we have several new clients on board.

Recently, we were very proud to announce the promotions of Tracey Parry and Eric Kushner to senior vice presidents. They are also now partners in the agency. I’ve worked with Tracey at a previous agency before we created Airfoil and I’m proud that she’s continued to be such an integral part of our success. Eric joined us shortly after we launched Airfoil and quickly made himself invaluable to our efforts.

We’ve also made several new hires, including Gayle Joseph as vice president in our B2B practice. We’ve known Gayle for several years and we’re glad she’s now on our team. Previously, Gayle was at Mullen Public Relations in Detroit.

Our California office, which I lead, has grown so quickly that we’ll be moving our offices soon to an expanded space. We have a full office and need more room for the hiring we have planned. (Want to join us ?)

We’re also excited to have several new clients with us, including Meraki, Plante & Moran, ProfileBuilder and BOSSdev.

-- Janet Tyler

Technology allowance offers choices

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal regarding technology allowances for employees quoted one of our employees about his and how he spends it.

The article talks about some security concerns but overall, employees and employers find it positive:

“Corporate technology managers usually pick laptops, software and other technology for employees. Now some tech managers are finding workers can do a better job when they choose and buy the equipment themselves.”

Here at Airfoil, we believe in encouraging employees to try new and emerging technologies. Providing a technology allowance is just one more way of giving individuals the freedom to make decisions based on personal choices.

My technology allowance contributes a portion to a variety of gadgets: my Zune, my SmartPhone and Sirius Radio. How do you use yours?

-- Janet Tyler

High Five Friday

We work hard here at Airfoil Public Relations, and we also find time to enjoy the moment. Our San Francisco office started a tradition of High Five Fridays, and our Detroit office took it and ran with it. Below is a video of High Five Friday in action. Here’s to a virtual High Five, and hope you have a great Friday!