Mindshare

I would guess that very few of my friends and family understand exactly what it is that I do every day at work. I would guess they are similarly unaware of what the company I work for does for its clients.

Based upon what most know about me, my skills and my schooling, they probably think of Mindshare as a web development shop. Although web development is one aspect of what our company does, it is only one service out of many that we offer our clients.

Yesterday an article was published on MediaPostPublications.com regarding our hiring of a new Executive Vice President. I thought it did a great job of explaining what we do for our clients.

Although this doesn't tell you exactly what I do, it will tell you a little more about the great company that I work for...

MindShare Interactive Campaigns, a digital consulting firm serving non-profits and public affairs clients (with no connection to WPP), has named former Digitas executive Huard Smith as its new executive vice president.

Leaving a major commercially driven agency for a boutique firm focused on public policy presents Huard with a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

"MindShare's strategy is less about building brands, and more about building awareness and a community around a specific issue," Smith explained.

"We set long-term goals with our clients," he added, "starting with engagement, building and then sustaining a long-term relationship with people."

MindShare Interactive Campaigns, established in 1997, has offices in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Clients have included Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, Hewlett-Packard--when the company needed help generating support for its merger with Compaq in 2002--along with eBay and Anheuser-Busch to help those companies dissuade lawmakers from taxing the sale of online goods and beer, respectively.

That the firm helps corporations, associations, and governmental entities accomplish complex communication objectives--through the use of creative, technology, user experience, media, search engine marketing and measurement--is evidenced by its recent string of diverse hires, including Smith.

In April, MindShare Interactive appointed Sue Woodward--formerly director of direct response fund-raising at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross--to direct its fund-raising practice. In March, it hired David Rapp, former editor and senior vice president of Congressional Quarterly, as a senior consultant in its editorial services practice. And in February, it brought on Jason McQueen, an interactive media and search expert with a core background in search engine marketing, paid search, email strategy and interactive media management.

As a whole, the public affairs industry has begun to embrace the Web as a necessary communications and engagement tool, according to Dan Solomon, CEO of MindShare Interactive.

"The Web has emerged as the most efficient and cost-effective way to engage with your audience," said Solomon. MindShare Interactive, he said, is doing about $18 million to $20 million in yearly billings.

MindShare Interactive avoids working with political campaigns directly because they can have a polarizing effect on employees, according to Smith. The firm is, however, working on several timely campaigns for the '08 elections, like one initiative to make education a top priority of presidential candidates.

Here is the full article. Unfortunately they force you to sign up prior to reading it.