The Lisa P. Maxwell Agency's Radical Approach to a Business Web Site
Published November 05, 2008
Blogcritics received an e-mail yesterday from Aneisha Howard, public relations director for Lisa P. Maxwell. As she wrote, this "small creative agency based in Chicago, IL, recently launched a new web site. We feel that the site will be unlike anything you have ever seen and that it has the capabilities of changing the way companies interact with consumers.
"The Lisa P. Maxwell web site has live streaming video of all its 30 employees and allows visitors to chat with the employees in real time. The site strips down the content that takes over most agency sites and replaces it with the company’s most valued assets, the employees.
"This technology has the opportunity to not only change corporate web sites within the advertising and public relations worlds but change the way all web sites go about connecting with their visitors."
Radical concept. However, as with all radical concepts, technological or not, one needs to test them well before making them public.
The site itself is almost stark, a light blue-grey background with the pictures of the thirty employees displayed. Other than that, there are three links.
The first is WTF, whatever that stands for, which is a brief hype on the agency, which highlights making clients famous fast. "This site is a live case study in viral marketing – not, as is the case with most agency sites, a repository of irrelevant content that promises more of the same."
The second is a list of senior people one can e-mail, and the third is an interesting but not very helpful group of attributes they want in new employees, without a job listing.
But the revolutionary part of the site are the live feeds of people with whom one can chat. As one runs a cursor over the pictures, those highlighted in green are available. Those highlighted in brown are not.
Conspicuously absent from the site were a list of clients, a profile of work done, or even awards won. While these are apparently old tech, they are a simple way to let people quickly review an agency's capabilities.
Worse was the experience of trying to learn something about the company from the people available for chat, although most of senior people were in orange.
Purely by happenstance, the PR director, Ms. Howard, was the first person with whom I chatted. The verbatim transcript, with my internal comments in italics, follows:
mark has requested a chat.
Aneisha: Hi Mark!
mark: Hi Aneisha, saw an e-m from your boss on BlogCritics.com & thought I'd check out the site.
mark: How well has it been working?
Aneisha: Very cool, thanks so much for stopping by, what do you think?
Aneisha: It's been great, we've had a great response so far!
mark: How are potential clients reacting...is it easier to get your foot in the door?
Aneisha: Yes, much! We've had prospects from all across the country contact us. They can see we're creative instead of us just claiming we are!
mark: As the former head of the DC office of Ketchum PR, I've got more than a casual interest in your approach. How do you show you're creative? There's so little content on the site other than pictures.
Aneisha: Our clients, prospects and media have loved our approach. Typically all agency sites take the same approach. We're showing ultimate transparency
mark: I'm going to be a bit pushy here, if you don't mind. I still don't understand how you demonstrate creativity. I didn't even know your job title until I clicked on your name. Do you have the ability to show me products & programs you've run?
- The Lisa P. Maxwell Agency's Radical Approach to a Business Web Site
- Published: November 05, 2008
- Type: Review
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Business and Economics, Sci/Tech: Blogging, Sci/Tech: Internet
- Writer: Mark Schannon
- Mark Schannon's BC Writer page
- Mark Schannon's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Mark,
You did a very good job on this review, in my opinion. It appears that after two or three chats, the idea was that you should get interested in something other than pumping the employees for information (which after all, is not necessarily free). So after the second or third chat, word got round that someone was trolling the site with "useless" questions. That would explain why you had trouble after the second session or so.
That would also explain comment #2, supra.
I kind of had the same questions you did, and see from the way the employees answered you, and especially the way Mr. Miller answered you, that you were wsupposed to be drawn into some kind of sales pitch before you found anything out....
"Not ready for prime time" is not quite the term, pal.
Again, nice job.
Thanks Ruvy. I wasn't going to respond to Mr. Miller, but he just reinforced the concerns I raised about the site.
I still think the concept is great, but they have to tell visitors something about what they do.
We're a creative agency with a few competencies. We're not a "PR firm"
What the hell is he talking about? What do they do? If I were a prospect, why would I even try to talk with any of them if I didn't know their basic offerings?
It's not my job to call them to get the basics--it's their job to sell me/show me what they can do to entice me into wanting to learn more.
I'm sorry his response was so defensive and arrogant. But...such is life.
Now that I think about it, this is just a new wrinkle on the ideas that were presented in the book "Winning Through Intimdation". I forget the author's name, but it is worth reading.
The author was a commercial real estate broker, but in order to avoid getting his commissions chopped by his clients, he needed to create an image of being someone who would help sellers "do something" with a property. That image was designed to stop them thinking tht he was a mere "broker" - whose commissions could be chopped off at the appropriate time.
Now translate that into,
We're a creative agency with a few competencies. We're not a "PR firm".
Yeah, sure! That guy should never have written you. He blew his cover as sure as a hurricane blows a house away.
Full disclosure: I do project work with this agency, albeit with no connection to this site or the PR department - but my comments are unsolicited/unapproved.
I needed to contact someone at the agency this morning and came across your comments while searching for the site to get the contact info. I understand that you see this as still in the testing phase - since, as far as I know its not been tried before, I guess it still is in the testing stage. But, were I a prospective client with interest, I think I'd be inclined to click the contact button and contact the person indicated(the new business guy - that would be Andrew Miller) to get the company's pitch rather than expect it from anybody I happen to select. The site text does note that some employees may be too busy with current clients to be responsive to random chat. A creative agency with a PR department isn't the same as PR agency and, while I agree that a company's brand should be evident throughout their communications it seems kind of nit-picky to criticize an attempt at clarification. Its not your father's Oldsmobile but I think that might be the point. Oh, and BTW, it was pretty convenient for me to be able to find the person I needed to contact there.
Meg,
Thanks for your feedback. As I wrote, I think they've got a potentially exciting & revolutionary approach, but, even as one of their people admitted, it needs work.
I never called it a PR firm...I said I tried to talk with their PR person & used to work for a PR firm. In fact, part of the problem is that I have no idea what kind of firm it is...which has to make it difficult for prospective clients.
And as for people being too busy to chat, I gave them the chance to simply say that. Ignoring me is not only rude, but runs counter to their stated goal.
I'll be interested to see how the site evolves.
Well, what can I say. I have had experience with Andrew Miller, president of LPM, and well...he could be the biggest douche bag i have ever met. Sorry, but it's the truth. This guy LOVES to hear himself talk and thinks that everything he writes is the gold. Don't waste your time with him.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/84444)
In response to Mark Schannon's review of our web site:
1)
The overarching idea behind our new web site was to create buzz, awareness and interest in Lisa P. Maxwell. This being the case, thank you for writing about us.
2)
If you're were really interested in possibly hiring us, why not click the CONTACT page and give me a call. [Personal contact info deleted]
3)
We're a creative agency with a few competencies. We're not a "PR firm" (as you labeled us in your critique).
Best regards,
Andrew Miller