Danielle Destrade Ali

The Cyphers Agency is seeking a passionate, creative, and fun-loving Social Media Coordinator to serve as an integral member of our lean, mean word-of-mouth marketing department. The Social Media Coordinator will create great content for the web, implement social media marketing campaigns, and manage online communities.

But wait! There’s more! All our team members do lots of heavy lifting when it comes to developing brand messaging, strategizing integrated marketing plans, brainstorming wild and crazy campaigns, and all in all creating great advertising.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Support the Digital Marketing Manager in researching, brainstorming and strategizing the interactive / social legs of marketing plans and advertising campaigns.
• Create engaging content for Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social platforms for a variety of brands, with careful attention paid to “on brand” tone and voice.
• Manage online communities and problem solve online crisis situations, with keen understanding of customer service and public relations.
• Establish and grow relationships with bloggers and other online influencers on behalf of our clients.
• Meticulously track and report on key social media measurement areas for regular reports to our clients.

Qualifications:

Below describes the perfect candidate… but nobody’s perfect, so if you think you would be great at this and can show us why, please apply!

• You have a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, Marketing, Communications, or the like.
• You have at least one year of experience in social media marketing – two is preferred.
• You aren’t just a social media “guru” or whatever they’re calling it these days. You have a demonstrated understanding of marketing and advertising, and you understand how word-of-mouth tactics such as social media fit into the bigger picture.
• You can’t get enough of Twitter, you are an Apple snob, and you can explain why Pinterest is so, so addictive.
• You have experience with WordPress, understand SEO and maybe even code a little.
• You’re a great writer. The vast majority of this job involves writing, so you should love it and be excellent at it.
• You are good at relationships. Whether you are a building relationships with online influencers to create buzz for a brand, or with online community members turning to you as the mouthpiece of a company, you will need to be able to win others over. It comes in handy in the office, too.
• You live for variety. You’ll be juggling several projects, big and small, so you should have experience with multi-tasking and tailoring your approach to the task at hand.

Why You’ll Love Working At TCA:

• The Cyphers Agency happens to be home to coolest folks you’ll ever have the pleasure of working with. No, really. Work is so fun you’ll feel like you’re getting away with something.
• Worried about becoming a Twitter monkey? Only if you decide to be. Everyone wears lots of hats around here and that means you get to do great creative and strategic work in a bunch of different ways, and you get to work with team members in every department.
• This is not a job for the timid, and we think that’s a good thing. You’ll have the opportunity to jump in and leave your mark from day one. Expect plenty of responsibility with not a lot of micromanaging, but with all the perks of a collaborative team environment.
• With the diverse variety of clients we have, there’s never a dull moment, and no two days are the same. And no matter what you’re into, we probably have a client that will suit your fancy… within reason.
• We offer a great health care plan that is covered 100%, among other benefits. And it’s casual Friday every day!

If this speaks to you, send your resume and cover letter to jocelyn@thecyphersagency.com. We encourage you to include writing samples and links to or screenshots of your work.

If you’re a man, watch television with a man, or watch the TV programs that advertisers like us to believe that men watch, chances are you’ve seen one of these ads from Charles Barkley, former pro basketball player and self-described “round mound of rebounds”:

Yep, that’s Charles Barkley. For Weight Watchers. You might expect to see this guy endorsing Nike or ESPN, but a commercial weight loss program? Not so much.

Weight Watchers, like other weight loss brands, has centered its advertising and PR campaigns around celebrity endorsements for some time now. But this partnership is definitely not par for the course. Barkley is the opposite of Weight Watcher’s last spokesperson, Jennifer Hudson. He’s not sophisticated or eloquent or stunningly beautiful… and well, he’s a dude.

It’s clear that the brand has been wildly successful with the ladies – 82% of their consumer base is women. And it makes a lot of sense. I hate to be stereotypical here, but striving for a svelte figure through a diet program is considered lady business. So what better way to expand that image and break into the male demographic than with an off-the-cuff, “man’s man” athlete like Charles? Not only does get he get the average guy’s stamp of approval, he’s the last person you’d imagine doing a weight loss campaign… and that’s why he’s making it look cool. The campaign’s called “Lose Like A Man” and the Weight Watchers folks (and their agency Ketchum) have hit it hard with big time ad placements, plenty of PR, and liberal doses of digital and social media.

Of course, it couldn’t all be smooth sailing. Leave it Charles Barkley to mix things up for the well established brand. You might have heard about the little bump in the road they recently hit, when good ol’ Charles didn’t know he was live on NBA.tv, and called his Weight Watchers deal a “scam.” The viral video’s been taken down, but Charles said, “I ain’t giving away no money… I thought this was the greatest scam going — getting paid to watch sports. This Weight Watchers thing is a bigger scam.”

While many were quick to call this a “PR fail,” Weight Weighers wisely embraced Barkley’s comments, releasing a statement saying, “We love Charles for the same reason everyone loves Charles, he’s unfiltered. We are thrilled that he is having great success and inspiring millions of men to join him. We agree that being a spokesman for Weight Watchers is a pretty great gig.” The best part? The “scandal” got the campaign a whole lotta press.

Will Weight Watchers be able to leave its ladies-only image behind with an unfiltered guy like Charles Barkley? That remains to be seen, but I really love their gusto for going in a new direction. It’s refreshing to see a brand that could easily rest on their laurels with their current base to commit to this kind of a campaign whole heartedly.

Well, it’s 2012, folks. As we look back on 2011, aka The Year That Whizzed By, some of us at TCA wanted to share our most favoritest ads of the year with you. Spoiler: Google pretty much wins.

Jocelyn Rimbey, Digital Marketing Manager: If you don’t love Darth Vader Kid, you have a cold, cold heart.

Danielle Ali, Social Media Coordinator: I like this spot for the UK retailer John Lewis because it manages to be clever without being snarky, and touching without being cheesy – a big deal for a holiday ad. John Lewis sales were up £600million this holiday season, so I’d say it was a success.

Darren Easton, Vice President & Creative Director: My favorite print ad. Love it when one can dramatize an ad message so well that is based on a simple fact — which usually lends itself to a mundane execution.

Christina Drews-Leonard, Art Director & SEO Strategist: The Google+ Hangout Ad with the Muppets makes you wish more people were actually using this feature…

Tessa Carroll, Account Coordinator: I’m not sure what it is, whether it’s the relevance of the subject matter or the way it’s so eloquently put together, but the Google Chrome “It Gets Better” spot was definitely my favorite commercial of 2011.

Laura Farnham, Account Executive: What does chucking wood really mean? I like this commercial because its literal and makes me laugh every time… I like the little woodchuck hands too.

Anna Forbes, Account Executive: I don’t just love this because it’s a well executed spot that tells a story and made me super emotional. I love it because the “big bad Google,” was able to turn cold technology into the inspiring notion of how the digital world is part of who we are as people.

What was your favorite ad of 2011? Let us know here or on Twitter – there’s still room for honorable mentions!

I feel like there are two kinds of people in the world – people that appreciate good ice, and people that don’t. Good ice can come in different varieties, but the key to good ice is that it is easily chewed. Even if you aren’t an ice chewer (I’m not really, though I dabble), ice aficionados understand that good ice has the potential to be chewed. It is never awkwardly shaped or in huge, stuck-together clumps.

The best ice of all, my friends, is nugget ice. Ever had those delectable little balls of ice that are almost like crushed ice, but much more symmetrical, adorable, and so, so chewable? Perhaps from Sonic, or Jimmy Johns? This ice, my friends, is the. best. ice. ever.

Here at TCA, many of us feel very strongly about nugget ice. There’s a Jimmy John’s just around the corner, and sometimes we hit it up just for drinks. We are hooked on that nugget ice! And as marketers, we are really loving this new campaign for Scotsman Nugget Ice – apparently THE Original Chewable Ice – “Luv The Nug.”

Luv The Nug boasts a super fun, unbranded microsite, complete with a Nugget Locator and an iPhone app. They’re even giving away a nugget ice machine! But best of all… wait for it… there is a Nug Truck. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he gave all ice lovers something very special this year.

What say you? Are you an ice lover? Not so much? Take your side!

One hundred years ago today, the Father of Advertising was born, and we at TCA are tipping our hats to him. While the big party is going down in Cannes, people all over the world are celebrating one of the most influential figures in advertising, David Ogilvy.

Want to join us? At do100.oligvy.com, Ogilvy & Mather will turn your Twitter profile picture red, Ogilvy’s favorite color. Or just keep up with the hashtag #DO100 to see other’s tributes to the inspirational ad man.

And if you aren’t sure why the world is stopping to honor a stove salesman turned “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry,” take a look at his bio – or even better, get some nuggets of wisdom straight from the guy’s pipe at Inspire Me David.