SS+K

Account Executive

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:08:58 +0000

The ideal person for this position should be able to think outside the box and contribute to the development and execution of big ideas. He/she should have strong writing skills, an understanding of and an active participant in social media as well as be able to assist in account management and generate client-ready documents.

Qualifications & Experience

2-3 years of experience in public relations, advertising or digital in an agency or corporate environment
Bachelors degree preferred or equivalent work experience
Excellent written and verbal skills
Ability to interact with and build relationships with clients and vendors
Participant in social media
Entrepreneur able to work without supervision
Motivated with a strong work ethic and an appreciation for a team-oriented, collaborative environment

Responsibilities

The account executive will be expected to–

Manage account projects, including drafting documents, managing vendor relationships, coordinating with in-house production teams, managing project timelines and participating in client calls + meetings, when appropriate.
Assist in the development of digital and social media ideas and execution of campaigns, including writing copy for Twitter, Facebook, etc., managing social communities, online monitoring and blogger outreach.
Assist in the development and execution of a wide variety of marketing communications campaigns – from brand and consumer to issues advocacy to corporate strategy + positioning.
Draft client communications, including memos, presentations and e-mails.

Interested candidates please send a cover letter and resume to sae at ssk.com.

Community Manager

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:08:55 +0000

The community manager would own the voice of the brand across all of its digital and social platforms and continually find unique ways for the brand to connect with the consumer. The person(s) would work collaboratively with brand teams and digital strategists to set community objectives, develop messaging strategies, concept engagement tactics, publish content and optimize campaign performance for brand(s).

Qualifications + Experience

Significant knowledge and use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms
Strong creative writing skills and an interest in writing for social media
Ability to multitask, problem solve, think quickly and make judgment calls
Comfortable with numbers, both reading and writing quantitative and qualitative reports

Bonus Points If –

You have experience managing social media platforms for brands before
You are familiar with social media clients like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck
You have used social media reporting tools like Radian6 or Sysomos
You like to research social media product developments and other brand successes

Responsibilities

The community manager will be expected to –

Collaborate with brand teams to develop content calendars for clients social media platforms and manage the content calendar on a daily basis
Source, curate, write and publish content across brand platforms that supports the campaign strategy and can bring to life the brand’s voice online
Spot opportunities to elevate engagement and work with brand, creative and strategy teams to develop content and tactics
Monitor and respond to social media conversations in a timely and expert fashion
Act as the primary thermometer of audience sentiment and source for conversation insights across all platforms
Identify and elevate problems or conflicts in order to be dealt with quickly and avoid fallout
Develop regular reports and recommendations for optimizing community efforts
Interface confidently with clients to problem solve open issues, share reporting, and manage overall community management workflow
Work with brand team and digital strategy team to document best practices, emerging trends and new platforms that can help evolve and expand the community

Interested candidates please send your resume resume to CM at ssk.com.

Account Supervisor

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:08:13 +0000

The ideal person thinks unconventionally and can guide the execution of all aspects of a marketing communications campaign. This person will have the ability to analyze communication problems and offer strategic solutions, be successful on a variety of topics from brand launches to issue advocacy; as well as possess strong writing and presentation skills. Experience developing and executing significant marketing communications programs with digital and social media components necessary.

Qualifications & Experience

5-7 years of experience in public relations, advertising or digital in an agency or corporate environment
Bachelors degree preferred or equivalent work experience
Excellent written and verbal skills
Ability to build relationships with clients and vendors
Understanding of how to complete a project from start to finish, including how to translate broad client needs to concepts into specific work streams or deliverables
Understanding of the creative process and ability to communicate it to the client in the context of their needs
Ability to manage scope by communicating internally and with client teams
Ability to manage a team comprised of different marketing disciplines, as well as understanding when and how to tap into different skill sets – from strategists to producers – to ensure projects are completed with the right level of expertise
Ability to think holistically about a client/brand and how to further brand campaign integration
Motivated with a strong work ethic and an appreciation for a team-oriented, collaborative environment

Responsibilities

The account supervisor will be expected to–

Manage account team and projects, including drafting documents, managing vendor relationships, coordinating with in-house production teams, managing project timelines and client calls + meetings
Lead the development and execution of a wide variety of marketing communications campaigns – from brand and consumer to issues advocacy to corporate strategy + positioning.
Lead in the development of digital and social media ideas and execution of campaigns, as well as oversee the writing copy for Twitter, Facebook, etc., team members managing social communities, online monitoring and blogger outreach.
Quarterback cross-agency teams and manage complex relationships to drive creative programs from strategy to execution
Manage the day-to-day relationship with the clients, as well as the various internal departments needed to complete projects
Mentor and manage junior staff and guide them in client management

Interested candidates please send a cover letter and resume to sae at ssk.com.

VP, Group Director, Integrated Digital and Social

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:07:35 +0000

The ideal person thinks unconventionally and can guide the execution of all aspects of a marketing communications campaign with a heavy emphasis on, but not limited to digital and social media. This person will have the ability to analyze communication problems and offer strategic solutions, be successful on a variety of topics from brand launches to issue advocacy; as well as possess strong writing and presentation skills; experience creating, developing and executing significant branded communications programs with digital components and in social media channels.

Qualifications & Experience

10 – 12 years agency experience with a significant amount of that time focused on guiding digital projects
Possess a mastery of marketing communications, including understanding the contribution of different disciplines to an integrated product
Strong understanding of digital and social media
Understands the architecture digital properties [purpose, use, and connectivity to other technology] as well as the trends, properties and platforms available in digital and how they can be used to problem solve
Bring a user-centric perspective for all things technology
Manage all aspects of client services and be accountable for the success of the engagement including, ability to instill confidence in the client, have in-depth knowledge of the clients business, develop collaborative trusting relationship with the client, manage client expectations and serve as the client’s senior point of contact
Identify opportunities within existing client relationship to grow and expand business
Recognize when appropriate to push beyond traditional media stereotypes and drive more impactful creative solutions
Sell ideas to clients; advance + expand client relationships

Responsibilities

The VP will be expected to –

Direct significant account projects from start to finish
Oversee the conception, development and execution of digital and social media-driven communications programs, including monitoring projects, online brand audits, blogger outreach, and channel-specific programs [e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc.]
Move easily among different types of marketing communication campaigns – from brand + consumer to issues advocacy to corporate strategy + positioning.
Mobilize the resources necessary to service their accounts, including resources across expertise areas, teaming with research/planning and partners to develop the brief and strategy and delegating responsibility to the appropriate team members
Educate clients and internal staff on how digital works – from the design process to execution – using straight forward terms
Navigate multi-agency relationships, asserting proper voice and presence relative to SS+K’s role with its clients
Identify opportunities to extend and/or expand their accounts
Mentoring, professional development and skill building of their direct reports, drawing on the training and development resources made available by the firm
Participate in firm-wide management responsibilities and/or to actively engage the firm as a whole in learning from their expertise.

Interested candidates please send cover letter and resume to vp at ssk.com.

Rob Shepardson

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:18:02 +0000

As one of the founders of SS+K, Rob has spent over 25 years working in the field of public affairs, advertising and marketing. He led SS+K’s assignment for the Obama for America campaign, serving on the paid media team with a particular focus on youth marketing. He has led the firm’s work for Let’s Move!, the First Lady’s anti-childhood obesity campaign, and Joining Forces, her initiative to encourage Americans to help military families; the rebranding of the Democratic National Committee; the campaign to educate Americans about the benefits of President Obama’s historic healthcare reforms; and the youth-focused advocacy campaign to support the President’s energy reform legislation. He has recently worked on behalf of the AFL-CIO, the College Board, General Electric, General Motors, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Subway, and the US Department of Education.

In addition, he has led the firm’s work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft, HBO, Anheuser-Busch, ENOUGH! [The Campaign to End Mass Atrocities and Genocide], and the Association of Schools of Public Health. Past clients include Dell Computer, American Express, DATA and the ONE Campaign [Bono’s advocacy organizations], various UN agencies including the establishment of the UN Millennium Development Goals campaign, Time Warner, the New York Jets, Share our Strength, Bread for the World, and MTV Networks, among others.

Earlier in his career, Rob worked at the Sawyer Miller Group, where he advised corporate clients, several presidents [Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador + Panama], presidential candidates and political parties [Hungary]. During that time he helped secure U.S. support for Colombian President César Gaviria’s dismantling of the Medellín drug cartel.

Rob is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a board member of Business Forward, a new membership organization of Fortune 100 companies and entrepreneurs nationwide who support the goals of the Obama administration’s competitiveness agenda. He is also a board member of the Center for International Private Enterprise, one of the four institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy. CIPE strengthens democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. He is on board of Hip Hop Public Health, an innovative and proven in-school program that educates grade-school children about nutrition and exercise through hip hop. He is a member of the New York advisory board of the Enterprise Community Partners, a leading provider of development capital and expertise to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities.

Rob taught at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he developed and taught a graduate-level course on health issue advocacy. He currently is on the advisory board of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Rob has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in government and biology from Franklin and Marshall College, where he was an All-American quarterback.

Lenny Stern

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:15:35 +0000

Lenny Stern is one of the three founding partners of SS+K, a creative agency specializing in social media and engagement. He has more than twenty years of business experience creating across-the-board communications solutions, advising clients through times of dramatic change and developing strategies to inject brands into American pop-culture. He has worked in highly competitive categories including technology, media, transportation and hospitality for clients like Delta Air Lines, Citibank, Coca Cola, Harley Davidson, Obama for America media team, Allstate, GM, Honest Tea, Time Warner, and The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

In addition to his SS+K responsibilities, Lenny jointly-developed CAA Marketing with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a part owner of SS+K.

Previously, Lenny worked for the Sawyer/Miller group, a political consulting firm and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he was a practicing attorney. During and before both tenures, he worked as a consultant for state, federal, national and international political campaigns, as well as for clients including American Express, Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions, General Motors, Ameritech, NYNEX, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and Merck.

Lenny has been a Visiting Professor at Yale School of Management for the past ten years, is a National Board member of Communities in Schools [CIS]. He lives with his wife Lauren and daughters Carly, Juliet and Olivia in Chappaqua, NY.

Mark Kaminsky

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:20:32 +0000

Mark is a failed historian and a successful communications consultant.

In the latter capacity, Mark has helped to create attention-getting, memorable campaigns for a variety of clients, including “Most Honest City in America” for Honest Tea that won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2011. He led a campaign for the Environmental Defense Fund featuring Mayor John Fetterman of Braddock, PA to pass environmental legislation in the U.S. House, and the “This is Public Health” campaign to promote awareness of public health schools. Mark’s also worked with the College Board, Subway, Pfizer, Audi, US Fund for UNICEF, Time Warner and Microsoft.

Prior to starting SS+K with his friends Lenny Stern and Rob Shepardson, Mark worked at agencies you’ve probably never heard of because they were devoured by soulless holding companies years ago. While there, he worked with American Express, American Airlines & Morgan Stanley, among others. As a communications advisor to GKI, the Russian Ministry of Privatization in 1993, he worked on a campaign to promote economic and political reform in the former Soviet Union. A communist-affiliated newspaper identified Mark as an American spy, a charge he has yet to deny.

Mark studied for a PhD in American history until he (and his advisor) acknowledged Mark’s complete lack of an academic disposition.

Mark is an Iowan although he currently lives near the Hudson River. His three kids — a landscape painter, a fashion designer and a derivatives trader — attend public school in Westchester County.

Brad Kay

admin — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:09:31 +0000

Brad is a transmedia leader with over 17 years of experience in integrated marketing and communications.

He is currently the President of SS+K – a marketing and communications agency specializing in creative social engagement with over fifty people in New York and LA. SS+K is partially owned by Creative Artist Agency (CAA). The firm is best known for its work on the Obama Campaign as its youth marketing agency of record and the yellow wristband developed for Lance Armstrong Foundation.

In January 2010, SS+K was named social media and social engagement agency of record for GM’s Buick and GMC brands. It was also recently selected as one of a handful firms to join Kraft’s social media agency roster.

Prior to SS+K, Brad was the EVP/Executive Director of Draftcb’s Digital practice and a member of the New York Leadership Team. Brad managed a team of over 100 specialists in Business Strategy, Project Management, User Experience Architecture, and Technology.

Before this, Brad served as the GM and Co-founder of Merkley ID, the Interactive and Design unit of Merkley + Partners. Brad also served as Director of Business Development at The Attik, a global digital, design and motion graphics firm working on brands including HBO, MTV and Nike.

Prior to The Attik, he was a Strategic Planner for SS&K, a strategic communications firm and held numerous account management positions at Ogilvy, Cliff Freeman & Partners and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Brad has spoken about the power of ’social forces’ as a keynote speaker at Brazil’s “Mais” Account Planning Conference in November 2009 and on a panel of independent agencies at Cannes 2009 Festival. He was featured in the June 2009 edition of Departures Magazine as one of the advertising industry’s new Mod Men. He also led a panel at last Spring’s IAB conference called “Choreographed Spontaneity” which illustrated the need for experimentation and a hands-on approach to social media.

Brad has been a guest columnist for Adweek, MediaPost and The Hub.

You can follow him on Twitter at @bradkay or find his latest musing here http://www.bradleykay.com

Russell Stevens

admin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:22:40 +0000

Russell Stevens spends most of his life surrounded.

At home, it’s by girls – his wife Jill, daughters Olivia and Corinne, and dog Maggie.

At work, it’s by a lot of really smart people and even more really good ideas.

So he considers it his job at SS+K to get the absolute most out of his surroundings on behalf of his clients.

Call him an integrator at heart.

For 15 years now, he’s been working across disciplines to build some of SS+K’s most creative and engaging programs. A Big Urban Game for Qwest involving cellphone QR code scanners and 20-foot inflatable animals. An msnbc.com campaign featuring a newshound’s version of Brickbreaker and in-cinema ‘human joysticks.’ And the LIVESTRONG re-branding of the Lance Armstrong Foundation … and its 70 million yellow wristbands to date.

Each client past and present [U.S. Dept. of Education, Citi and GM, among others] has taught him the value of pushing communications boundaries wherever and whenever possible.

As for Russell’s job at home, near as he can tell it centers on picking up stray hair elastics, maintaining the family’s 1880 carriage house and enticing anyone, including the dog, to watch Sportscenter with him.

Rebecca Matovic

admin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:20:04 +0000

As a partner at SS+K, Rebecca Matovic heads up the strategy, planning, and research group for the social engagement and strategic communications firm.

Since joining SS+K in 1995, Rebecca has played a vital role guiding strategic development and messaging for clients including Chevrolet, General Motors, Allstate, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Citibank, and Time Warner Cable. She has also worked with issue oriented clients such as Let’s Move! (the First Lady’s anti-childhood obesity initiative), the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Prior to joining SS&K, Rebecca worked at KRC Research and Consulting, a division of the Sawyer/Miller Group, where she managed research in the areas of corporate communications, marketing, public policy, and international economic development. She specialized in addressing the challenges created by rapid political, regulatory, and economic change. Corporate clients included Prudential Securities, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and NYNEX. Public policy clients included the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, and the governments of Bolivia and Colombia.

Rebecca also has extensive experience in politics, having done polling for several presidential campaigns in Latin America, as well as for candidates for national, state and local offices in the United States.

She holds a bachelors degree in physics from Harvard University.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:04:33 +0000

The Lance Armstrong Foundation needed help with strategic support and guidance in the Foundation’s messaging, identity and branding. Our job was to make their mission relevant to the more than 10 million people living with cancer, as well as corporate sponsors, researchers and educators. Our premise was that the Lance Armstrong Foundation needed to position its brand as the ‘tough fighter’ against cancer – much like the personality of Lance himself [and an ‘asymmetric’ approach to the typically gauzy traditional world of cancer]. At the time, the Foundation, along with Nike, were introducing a yellow wristband that they wanted to sell. We suggested branding it with LIVESTRONG™ and helped them raise tens of millions of dollars through sale of more than 70 million wristbands globally. As importantly, the LIVESTRONG wristband became a social medium, signaling that people had a cancer story to share and creating perhaps hundreds of millions of conversations about cancer that wouldn’t have otherwise been shared.

Honest Tea

admin — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 06:38:57 +0000

As Honest Tea ramped up distribution nationwide, they needed to transcend their niche market status and make noise that echoed among the mainstream. To capitalize on the summer beverage rush, we developed a campaign that introduced Honest Tea to new consumers without compromising the brand’s DNA. Part guerrilla stunt, part social experiment, ‘The Honest Store,’ was a pop-up shop stocked with ice cold Honest Tea. With nothing but a money box and a sign requesting “$1.00 on the Honor System,” we tested the honesty of six cities across the country. Then, with hidden cameras in place, we collected incredible photo and video content from each city that accompanied a big social media reveal of the results. The story proved to be media gold, and the once niche tea brand is now well on its way to being a household name.

Allstate | X the TXT

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:24:15 +0000

We are working with Allstate to develop a multi-faceted teen safe driving program that will positively impact Allstate’s corporate reputation by showcasing the organization as the leader in teen safe driving and help to raise the problem to an epidemic status. The program will tackle a number of safe teen driving issues and help teens emerge as leaders in their families and peer groups, changing the social norms about safe driving for teens and adults alike. Our work ranges from research and strategy to the development and implementation of a national social engagement program.

MiO

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:14:43 +0000

We are working with Kraft to launch MiO, a liquid innovation that goes where no beverage has gone before. MiO, a liquid water enhancer, empowers consumers to make up to 24 8 oz. drinks to their liking — simply by adding a little (or a lot). Weeks before MiO hit stores, we did the unthinkable: gave the stuff away. 100,000 bottles, to be exact. Exclusively on Facebook. With unapologetic transparency and a cheeky sense of humor, we unleashed the free samples to the masses. Simple as that. In less than a week, there were over 60,000 Facebook “Likes” and samples out the door. Users came in droves out of curiosity (and the promise of a freebie) and stayed out of budding loyalty. A dedicated MiO fanbase had been built before the product even launched. As the social + digital media AOR for this cool new brand, we will be unveiling a series of well-calculated stunts in the coming months. Keep an eye on MiO because the fun has only just begun.

Chevrolet

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:55:42 +0000

SS+K is working with Chevrolet on a variety of projects, from leading social engagement programs for the new all-electric Volt to helping announce its groundbreaking commitment to carbon dioxide reduction. This video — one small piece of SS+K’s contribution — introduced the CO-reduction initiative to the social sphere and hints at how Chevrolet plans to invest $40 million over the next three to five years toward community projects meant to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The social media video capped off an epic day during which the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle beat out the pure-electric Nissan Leaf for Green Car of the Year. CEO Dan Akerson heralded the return of “a new and different GM” to the NYSE.

Let’s Move

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:34:19 +0000

We worked with Michelle Obama and her childhood obesity initiative, helping guide the research, shape the initiative and we gave it its name and identity.

Let’s Move on the cover of USA Today

Press

Let’s Move Announcement Press Conference

Let’s Move Logo

Obama For America

admin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:20:29 +0000

We are very proud of our Obama For America work, which not only led to the team winning a Cannes Lions Titanium and Integrated Gold Lion, but also led to the election of our president. The Obama for America [OFA] campaign believed that, properly engaged and employed, young voters would turn out for Obama and could even be the difference in winning or losing some key battleground states. OFA hired SS+K to drive the youth vote through an online-fueled registration process and to the polls.

The model aimed to channel the frustration and alienation among youth voters by granting them the power to express themselves – through social media, customizable, shareable art, terrestrial events, and ultimately, by registering to vote at voteforchange.com. The answer for the campaign and SS+K was to abandon convention and use a technology-driven grassroots approach to driving young people through the engage/register/turn out ‘mobilization funnel.’ Over 4 million of them did just that, motivated by 442,000 YouTube videos, 3 million Facebook friends and countless social connections that harnessed the enthusiasm for Obama and turned it into a movement. In the end, youth made the difference: Obama garnered 53% of the popular vote, but 68% of the youth vote.