New Hires at Red Sky PR

Red Sky PR in Boise has added two new faces to their staff:

Robin Rausch has joined the agency as a Senior Account Executive. Before joining Red Sky, she worked most recently for DBSI Group of Companies, managing all public relations activities, and for Trus Joist, where she managed internal and external communications.

Alena Shea has also joined the agency as an Assistant Account Executive. She is a graduate of Boise State University, with a Bachelor’s degree in communications and an emphasis in public relations.

Congratulations to both Robin and Alena.

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Around the Horn with New Hires

It’s been a while since I’ve caught up on new hires around the area, and some of these are older than others. But here goes:

Matt Stevens has joined Drake Cooper as an Interactive Designer.

Jesse Murphy is now an Assistant Account Executive at Red Sky PR.

Wirestone has added Stan Smith to their staff as a Flash Developer.

Are there others that I’ve missed? If so, shoot over an email and let me know.

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The Realities of Business

The topic comes up from time to time — local agencies doing work for local clients, particularly the larger clients that just so happen to be in the area.

Unfortunately, fairly or not, the fact of the matter is that the larger local clients do not always see the value that a local agency can provide.

Case in point: Blue Cross of Idaho.

Earlier this year, Blue Cross of Idaho chose the Minneapolis office of Weber Shandwick to help launch its new web-based health and well being initiative. The folks over at Red Sky PR first noticed this decision, and made comment about it on their PR Musings Weblog.

Another recent example: Balihoo.

In March, Balihoo named Affect Strategies as their Public Relations Agency of Record. Now, given Balihoo’s focus on large-scale media planning and buying, I can understand this decision. It is in their best interest to work with an agency that can provide the best exposure possible, particularly to media buyers and agencies that buy in large volumes, and a PR agency out of New York is certainly a wise choice. The cynic in me has to wonder, however, how much of this decision was driven by the addition of Michael Browner to their Board of Directors two days prior to the announcement. Pure speculation on my part, but the timing just seems suspect.

So without laboring on too much longer with the same old ‘poor us’ mentality, I’ll pose this question: What do local agencies need to do differently to either attract or retain these types of clients? Is it just a fact of life today’s business environment, or are there there areas that local, or even regional shops can focus on to differentiate themselves?

Now, the same question to those on the client side: What do out-of-town or out-of-state agencies offer that local or regional agencies don’t? Where are the local shops lacking?

Now that I’ve stirred the pot, I’m going to go ahead and duck for a while…

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New Agency Addition – Red Sky Public Relations

Okay, so I’m horribly behind on this one. Happens to the best of us…

Red Sky Public Relations is a recent addition to the marketing and communications world here in Idaho, but they come packing a pretty big punch. Red Sky was founded by Stephanie Worrell, formerly of Worrell Communications, Jessica Flynn, previously Communications Manager at Tamarack Resort, and Alicia Ritter, formerly Director of Fundraising Initiatives at Boise State University.

The firm also started with Catie Wardwell as an Account Executive and Robert Deen as an investor and advisor.

Red Sky PR started off with a bang, opening their doors with clients such as Supervalu/Albertsons, Tamarack Resort, College of Western Idaho and more. On the interactive front, they also publish the PR Musings Weblog.

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