INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

We’re hiring! Do you have what it takes?

INK PR Job Opening: PR Account Supervisor/Director

Years of Experience: 7 – 10

We are looking for a PR account supervisor or director with seven to ten years of experience in PR and/or marketing in the high tech and clean energy industries. This person lives and breathes their clients’ industries, thrives on providing sound counsel and creative solutions, understands the dynamic media markets in which our clients play and how to tell a fresh, newsworthy story, demands excellence from a team and, at the same time, can have a beer with them at the end of the day.  If you are our candidate, you love what you do and you could never see yourself doing anything else. You play well with others.  You possibly have a war story that involves CES or Walt Mossberg; bonus points for both. You know what CSP stands for and have a hankering to visit a wind farm; added bonus points if you own steel-toed boots. Your friends know as much about your clients’ technology as you do, and they are still your friends. You are bored of social media talk and interested in social media results. You are respected by your team, your clients and the media, all at the same time.  Are we asking too much? We don’t think so.

There is a lot of love at INK PR – for what we do, for the clients we work with and for each other. We’re still a relatively young (in our 8th year) and small (you make 10) company with a growing reputation for personalized client service, top-notch media relations (800 journalists voted INK best small tech agency for PRSourceCode Top Communicators 2010 award) and PR programs that exhibit the perfect blend of strategic counsel, creativity and common sense (finalist for PR News’ 2011 Small Agency of the Year). We work hard – very hard – but we also value work/life balance and enjoy ourselves along the way. We’re looking for someone who can bring new insights, experience and relationships to the table. You will make an impact on INK and we will make an impact on you.

Job responsibilities include:

Management of multiple accounts and teams consisting of 2 – 5 people

Day-to-day client relations as the main point of contact to provide strategic counsel, convey status, set expectations, manage budget, anticipate needs and adjust plans accordingly, and find solutions to problems

Team management, utilizing team strengths and available time in a way that motivates and ensures excellence and results

Media relations including setting media strategy, leveraging key media relationships and continuing to build new and top-tier ones

Educates clients on social media tools and strategy; utilizes social media channels for effective campaigns

Writing and editing of plans, messaging documents, pitches, press releases, blogs and bylines

Maintains and demonstrates a deep understanding of clients and their industries; teaches others

Manages account budgets and makes staffing recommendations

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or higher with 7 – 10 years of experience in PR and/or marketing in the high-tech and/or clean energy fields. Please send cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to Adrienne Huebner at work@ink-pr.com.

We all know someone who has one. A wallet so full of receipts, credit cards, loyalty programs, coupons, pennies, business cards from your dentist five years ago, and let’s not forget the obligatory old photo ID that we carry around (maybe from school or a previous job), which we are embarrassed of, yet still keep in our wallet. The time has come – to downsize. That was the theme at Smart Card Alliance’s fourth annual Mobile and Transit Payments Summit, held this year in Salt Lake City, UT, and a theme that the United States will soon embrace with the deployment of NFC enabled handsets, set to hit the market at the end of 2011 (40 million chips expected to enter the North American market this year alone). The “mobile wallet” is among us, and mobile payments are starting to pave the way.

I know what many of you are thinking – “what’s the big deal with mobile payments?” And the answer is: convenience and security to the next generation of consumer. Imagine this: You are sitting at home debating on whether to buy that $150 leather jacket online. Determined to first try it on, you drive to the store, scan the item’s barcode into your smartphone and Amazon Mobile Payments application pulls up the exact jacket for $30 cheaper. And what’s that…they are offering you 10% off if you buy it now and have it shipped to your door tomorrow? One click later (with my financial information preloaded), I am done. The ecommerce landscape is an industry that is driving the mechanisms behind mobile payments because consumers are driven by incentives, and ease of use.

It’s not just the retail industry that is jumping on board with mobile payments – financial institutions, social media/online advertising giants, and wireless carriers are all chomping at the bit to get behind a mobile payments platform that will not only provide secure and fast transactions to their users, but also develop a new kind of relationship with their customers. The technology is ready; it’s implementation, adaptation and industry standards that are slowing this race. Fear not, compliance will come soon enough. In the meantime – start throwing out those old receipts.

Click here for more information on Amazon’s Price Check application. And stay tuned for net week’s post: The Amazing World of ISIS….

We’re 7! Hard to believe. Good things come in 7s:

I have 7 amazingly smart and dedicated colleagues. And we’re looking for someone else to join our team – if you’re smart and dedicated too, send a note to info@ink-pr.com, attention Adrienne.

We have 7 wicked cool clients who are doing exciting things in the areas of clean and high tech. Looking forward to a strong year with ACCIONA, the Bluetooth SIG, Broadwind Energy, Create with Context, Gemalto, and Nuventix. Already in Q1 we’ve done media and event work at CES, we’re working on a customer relations program, a media training, a messaging matrix project, a product launch, a dedication event, a messaging rollout in conjunction with an employee communications program and of course media and analyst relations.

And we’re looking forward to multiples of 7 more years. Go INK – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

INK founders, the day we moved into first office.

Here at CES, in order to showcase the use of Bluetooth in fitness devices (currently just using classic Bluetooth, but in short order – this year! – will be using Bluetooth v4.0 with low energy) we set up a fitness challenge to crown the most active blogger/reporter (or client, or PR person, as the case may be) at the show. Using the BodyMedia armband that tracks steps and sends the count to your mobile phone via Bluetooth, we’re finding out just how many steps it takes to get to around this town during this annual orgy of consumer electronics devices, whims and wishes.

Here are the participants – check them out on Twitter to find out how they’re doing. So far, Kevin Tofel with GigaOm seems to be kicking butt…

Eric Zeman, Phone Scoop, @phonescooper

John Biggs, CrunchGear, @johnbiggs

Mari Silbey, Zatz Not Funny, @msilbey

Matt Hamblen, Computerworld, @matthamblen

Lucy Hedges, Stuff.tv, @lucyhedges

Ross Rubin, NPD Group, @rossrubin

Enid Burns, KinectShift.com, @enidburns

Michael Reyes, Hardware Geeks, @HWGeeks

Radiris Diaz, Cute Geek, @cutegeek

Lance Ulanoff, PC Magazine, @lanceulanoff

Brian Westbrook, Newsradio 750 KXL, @BMW

Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post, @robpegoraro

Kevin Tofel, GigaOm, @kevinctofel

Mike Foley, Bluetooth SIG, @wirelessmike

Blair Poloskey, INK PR, @poloskey

Jennifer Lopez, INK PR, @jen_lopez

Helen Rodriguez, INK PR, @helenrod

It’s Vegas so place your bets!

I’m reading a book right now called The Next 100 Years by an Austinite and global strategy expert named George Friedman.  It’s fascinating. Friedman boils down economic, cultural and military motivations and trends like a declining birth rate to make bold, unexpected predictions (like forget China and the Middle East, it’s Turkey, Mexico and Russia to watch out for). To sell his readers on expecting the unexpected, he walks through the last 100 years demonstrating how quickly power changes hands.  After all, just over 20 years ago, the US and Soviet Union were at odds, Japan’s economy was soaring, China was an after-thought, and most Americans had never heard of Afghanistan. It’s a natural tendency to forget that the way things are today is not how they have always been and certainly not how they will be in the future.

Now I realize unexpected things happen all the time.  I mean Kelly Osbourne is on the cover of Shape this month (and looks fantastic I might add). But I find it incredible that power can shift so quickly and decisively with huge countries, and companies.

After my two days at D: DIVE INTO MOBILE listening to the top executives from Google, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Palm/HP, RIM and new entrants like Spotify, Flipboard, Foursquare and OnLive (see videos and coverage of all interviews here), I’m reminded that the leaders of mobile today were not the leaders a few years ago. Apple was not even in the mobile phone business until 2007. Today, they don’t even have to show up to DIVE to be the center of every conversation and presentation.  Google’s Android is nipping at Apple’s heels (Andy Rubin introduced Gingerbread which integrates NFC for mobile commerce and VoIP support) while MSFT tries to play catch-up with Windows Phone 7. Who would’ve thunk it?

RIM was the king of mobile computing and now the Blackberry seems antiquated. The resolution and interface is almost unbearable to me after getting accustomed to an iPhone. Kara Swisher, whose quick wit and humor was a highlight of the event, joked that she used the very first Blackberry model to send updates to Walt while she was in labor and ended up with it gripped in her hand during an emergency c-section (“my doctor said, Kara, you have problems”).  She later told RIM Co–CEO Mike Lazaridis that she ditched her beloved Blackberry because it didn’t offer the same experience and features that the iPhone and Android phones offer. Lazaridis struggled to defend his position that RIM is not slipping.

Palm, now HP, top exec Jon Rubinstein discussed how the “market just moved too fast” and that Palm was forced to sell to the larger entity in order to scale and compete with Apple, Google, etc. The success of that decision remains to be seen but he said at this time next year there would be a WebOS tablet and several smartphones out from the new division of HP.

Driving this point home,  Gadget Guy Greg Harper entertained the audience along with Walt and Kara with a display of phones and gadgets over the last 20 years (including the first Bluetooth headset). It’s no surprise, all those gadgets that thrilled and excited us look ugly and huge today. Even the Motorola RAZR that attracted so many customers for its style looks clunky and dated.  I can’t wait to see what the perspective will be in the mobile industry a few years from now. Look at that iPad! Can you believe we had to actually touch the screen?

Check back – I plan to post more on perspective from AT&T and Sprint on 4G networks, selling the iPhone, usage patterns, net neutrality, tiered billing and other related topics. . .

So the first night of D: Dive Into Mobile is complete. The evening consisted of a cocktail hour, an on-stage interview by Walt and Kara of Andy Rubin, VP, Mobile Platforms, Google, a very late dinner and then shortly-attended “nightcap reception.” I sat down at a table for the main show and was joined by folks from Jawbone and a gentleman from Austin with a very interesting company (who needs assigned seating? .  Andy Rubin may be my new “what TO do” example for media training as Walt and Kara did not disappoint. I wonder how tired he gets of comparing Android to Apple? Rubin introduced some firsts: Gingerbread running on the Nexus S, an NFC demo with a Google print tag (ex. for couponing, ticketing, mobile payments) and a prototype Android-enabled Motorola tablet with a new 3D version of Google Maps due out in days (VERY cool).  He also said Gingerbread would have added VoIP so you could add a SIP provider (how does that work with Google Voice?). No video calling in this version although he alluded to work in that direction. When asked about mobile payments, Rubin said he is “looking at this from an infrastructure perspective” and that Android does carrier billing integration already and operators have an efficient billing system that could create those scenarios.  Not quite the mobile payments scenario consumers have been hoping for but baby steps. There was lots of RIM and MSFT bashing; I feel for Joe Belifiore and Mike Lazaridis that speak tomorrow. . .

The line up tomorrow is amazing which is why I should get to bed and rest up! Follow updates on Twitter at #dmobile and @karihernandez.

As the short week winds down quickly towards one of my favorite holidays of the year (2nd only to St. Patrick’s Day – beer and March Madness, hard to top), I wanted to take a few minutes to say “thanks” (I have A LOT to be thankful for, but will try to keep this short):

To my daughters, for making me smile NO MATTER WHAT in the world is going on, and for reminding me that it’s a great thing to step away from the MacBook/iPhone/iPad and watch life happening right in front of me as often as I can, because before I know it I’ll be begging them for the same courtesy (Georgia, I’m looking at you – 2 yrs old and already able to unlock the phone and go right to the games).

Me, Scarlett (my Tinkerbell) and Georgia (my lady bug) at the office, Halloween 2010.

To my husband, for being my partner in everything I tackle in life (from jumping out of planes to jumping off a cliff to keeping me from jumping out the window at various times ).

To my partner, for still being my partner! You’ve put up with me for longer than my husband, actually. Bless you for that. I love that we’re not only still kicking around together, but getting better at it every day.

This is Kari, 2 days before Hayes, and Starr, 20 days before Scarlett. Taking that whole partnership thing a little too far? Nah!

To my colleagues, for being such a kick-ass team. All of you are rock stars in your own right and I appreciate you bringing your own special talents to the INK team and to our clients’ business.

To Eric Schneider, my oldest client, dear friend and amazing mentor, who to this day – even from an ocean away – continues to give insightful advice and constructive criticism that I really could not do without. Perhaps I should thank PN for you, but I’ll credit UT instead.

To my clients, thanks for keeping it interesting, thanks for being true partners, and cheers to 2011!

And lastly, thank you to Blair Poloskey who will read this post and throw up a little bit in her mouth at how sappy it is, thus motivating her to write a much more helpful and interesting blog post about the business at hand, maybe updating you on what she’ll be doing at CES 2011. (Well, I hope that’s the case, though since she’s had Jacob she’s become quite sappy as well – kids will do that to you).

Give Thanks this Thanksgiving and share in the comments. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

On Tuesday, I spent my afternoon at the Texas Wireless Summit, held right here in Austin, listening to various sessions on mobile trends and breakthrough technology in the wireless sector. While I mainly went to hear Gemalto executive Paul Bradley speak on mobile payments, it was extremely interesting to see to how many areas wireless technology is now being applied.

I have to say, one of the most intriguing sessions was that of Qualcomm’s Nagraj Kashyap on emerging mobile applications. The theme of this session was “Augmented Reality,” one which until now, I was not familiar. Basically augmented reality is taking 3D content and superimposing it onto a live image (think of the first down yellow line that is displayed on your TV during a football game). This technology is making its way into the mobile world and now being used for gaming, networking, and advertising, among others.

The video link below is one of the first AR applications Qualcom has released, based on the classic 1960s game Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em. They have transformed this game into a real-time 3D application that can be played from your mobile device on a live image (in this case, a table). See the technology in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXtq1qBMLIw.

While this new technology is still being developed and currently focuses on the gaming side for consumers, AR has the potential to completely transform the way we stay connected. AR will play a major role in mapping by utilizing mobile device cameras and WiFi, as well as face recognition (for social networking) and building recognition (for travel and history). The possibilities are endless with AR, but check out the top 6 AR mobile applications currently in the market.