“So how’s work?”

We all hear it all the time. It’s a reliable small-talk thing to say when you run into someone in a parking lot and feel obliged to make conversation so it doesn’t turn completely awkward.

My response is usually not far off from the above (awesome cartoon compliments of an agency favorite, Hyperbole and a Half). While I have been learning lots of cool stuff at The Cyphers Agency, I try to not talk people’s ears off about the advertising industry. Still, the truth is, sometimes you (if you are anything like me) just have to toot your own horn. So lately, when I’m asked, “How’s work?”, instead of a pat answer that hurries our obligatory small talk session along, I turn into That Girl who blabbers about her awesome job when you are just trying to do your grocery shopping.

I Have A Sweet Gig.

It’s just that there is so much awesome stuff happening right now. For example – you may recall that we launched the “I Love Chicken” contest a couple months ago. From my first day here, I hit the ground running to make this contest a success and create buzz for The National Chicken Council. Our work to promote the contest ran the gamut from Facebook fan page outreach to online public relations. The contest has really taken off – the videos that people are sharing have been seriously great! Check out all the hilarious videos, and vote for your favorite.

The Power of Word of Mouth

This just proved to me again how powerful word of mouth can be. While we do a lot of integrated marketing at The Cyphers Agency, our marketing efforts for the “I Love Chicken” contest took place entirely online. That approach turned out to be perfect for finding fans of chicken who were excited to create their own awesome content and share it online. I’ve been able to experience firsthand the fruits of good online marketing practices – if you have a product or brand people love, all you have to do is create an inviting platform for them to participate in it, and they will come. The “Pull” side of “Push-n-Pull”, if you will.

It really does feel great to see that your hard work on a campaign is paying off. It’s been hugely validating and gets me amped up about what we do here. Every time a new video rolls in, I feel like a proud parent, and so yes, that’s why I can’t shut up about it. So next time you run into me somewhere, you might want to avoid asking about work.

Every day, we do amazing work for some pretty cool clients. We get to do amazing work, have fun, and create some awesome stuff along the way.

We recently created some designs for a client of ours: Chicken. Yes, chicken! (Okay, okay, The National Chicken Council). Aside from an awesome Facebook page and a sweet Twitter account, we’ve create some merchandise for all those chicken lovers out there. Check out some of our work below, or just go check out the CafePress Shop (and buy some chicken stuff).

Our office found out about Chick-fil-A’s “Cow Appreciation Day” via twitter last Friday morning. Cow Appreciation Day is an annual event, where customers receive a free Chick-fil-A meal for dressing up as a cow.  The Cyphers Agency’s Word of Mouth department does work for the National Chicken Council, so we’re already big on anything that has to do with chicken. And free chicken, who can turn that down?

The catch: to get free chicken, you  had to dress up like a cow. As the intern, I took one for the team so that we could show everyone else how to do it.

This is just one of the fun ways to create media for your Facebook page, YouTube account, or website. We used this content as material for our Chicken fan page (for the National Chicken Council), that has grown to 3,234 (and climbing) fans in six weeks. How did we get so many fans? We give them fun content (like the above video) and other information that they find valuable, like chicken recipes around dinnertime. Giving your audience the information they want, in the places they already interact, is a tried-and-true method of increasing your fans or followers. Speaking of followers, you can also find @chickenftw on Twitter. So get out there and give your audience something they WANT to pass along (not some cheesy marketing message).