PR=Possibilities Revealed

by Susan Shalhoub

Those in marketing, communication, and public relations are brand storytellers by nature. But these three local leaders of the industry have found unique ways to tell the story of humankind, and pay it forward.

Rob Bloom

Creating a Charitable Cycle

It's a holiday tradition in the advertising industry: the giving of extravagant gifts to an ad agency's clients. But for Rob Bloom, creative director of Orlando agency &Barr, the custom had lost its luster.

“I just had these ideas about clients getting something in the mail, putting it on the corner of their desk, and then putting it away and not giving it a second thought,” Rob says of the branded chachkies and other trinkets often associated with agency gifts. “I wanted to do something that had more meaning and impact behind it.”

To put some purpose behind his agency's holiday giving, Rob created &Barr's 40 for More program. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on traditional client gifts, &Barr divides the money among its 40 employees and challenges them to put it to use with a charity of their choosing.

To inform clients about the new giving strategy in 2018, &Barr sent "the cheapest card we could," Rob laughs, to hammer home the message that the agency was doing something different – and better – with its money.

So far, &Barr's employees have supported causes like hunger prevention, human trafficking, anti-Semitism, pet shelters, schools, and public radio. Some team members helped a village in Africa, others contributed to LGBTQ causes, victims of fires in California, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A few employees simply took the money, broke it into small bills, and handed the cash to people they passed on the streets of Orlando, telling them to use it if they need it or give it to someone who does.

“What was cool is that, instead of the creative director making up a concept and executing it, this was something everyone was a part of,” says Rob.

The 40 for More program was a hit with the &Barr team, with some employees reaching into their own pockets to contribute even more money to the various causes. Not only did the program do plenty of good in the world, it made the team more cohesive, too.

“It was interesting to see the types of causes that are important to the people you work with every day,” Rob says.

Photo caption:

Rob Bloom, creative director at the &Barr advertising agency, conceived the 40 for More holiday-giving concept.

Jennifer Bisbee

Picture Perfect

Filmmakers put in long hours, and the life-cycle of their projects is lengthy, as well. It can be interesting, creative work, but when you already have a full-time career in another field, is it possible to also make films?

Jennifer Bisbee – president and lead consultant of public-relations firm Bisbee and Company – has balanced the two demands for the past several years, acting as executive producer on the full-length feature documentary ////What Hugh Knew///// while still ensuring her firm’s clients are well served.

A love of storytelling is the thread that weaves both passions together.

“I can add [filmmaking] to my credentials with the PR firm, but I’m very careful: my day job is my day job," says Jennifer. "It’s like having children in two different colleges. They need different things.”

Yet they have much in common, as well. Crossover skills between the two fields, Jennifer says, include research, collaboration, content curation, and constant communication.

////What Hugh Knew///// is a very personal project for Jennifer. It's the story of her husband Chris Bisbee’s Flagler College roommate Hugh Shaw, who died when the car Chris was driving was hit by a reckless motorist fleeing the police. The students were blocks from home and just days from graduation.

Since the 1983 accident, Hugh’s loved ones gather at St. Augustine Beach each year to remember him and hold a surfing contest in his honor. At the event one year, Jennifer was struck with the idea for the film.

She was reading a book at the time about how technology impacts human relationships, and Jennifer noticed how people at the beach gathering left their tech behind and enjoyed talking face to face, much as they did before smartphones made communication equal parts easy and impersonal. ////What Hugh Knew///// explores our need for human connection within the context of our digital world.

“It’s this juxtaposition of the age before technology and no other distractions, compared with how things are now,” Jennifer says. “The tech genie is out of the bottle now, but we have the ability to take control.”

As a professional communicator who often relies on that same technology to do her job, Jennifer presents a unique perspective at a relevant time.

Work on ////What Hugh Knew///// began in 2015. Jennifer and her three-member film crew hope for its completion this year.

Photo caption:

Jennifer Bisbee (on bench, right) at one of the memorial beach reunions that inspired her feature-length documentary, /////What Hugh Knew//////.

Mark Freid

Coffee and Kindness

As president of Orlando branding and marketing firm Think Creative for nearly two decades, Mark Freid has spent his robust career running advertising campaigns for companies such as Kimberly-Clark, Marriott, and Sodexo.

But the father of three has also led the charge on an all-day/all-night, caffeine-fueled idea-fest at Think Creative called the Think-a-Thon. The annual endeavor helps an area nonprofit with a marketing need – all for free.

This year brings the sixth Think-a-Thon. In years past, Mark and his team of 20 or so have spent the all nighter redesigning a website or devising new social media strategies. One year, they wrote and illustrated a children’s book. They'll do whatever the client needs to make the biggest impact, all with professional guidance from Think Creative.

“The Think-a-Thon application asks what problem the charity is trying to solve and what resources they have to continue solving it after the work we do,” says Mark.

A community review panel is assembled each year to look over the applications and rank them according to where Think Creative's impact could be greatest.

After the inaugural Think-a-Thon, Mark says he was ready for bed at the end of the marathon creative session, but he forgot that he had to present his team's work to the client when the sun came back up. Six years later, the annual giveback initiative runs more like clockwork – even if the clock may seem to slow in the wee hours.

The Think-a-Thon is 26.2 hours long [to resemble a marathon] and the average amount of value in services to the chosen nonprofit is $30,000. United Against Poverty of Orlando was the beneficiary of Think Creative's brainpower last fall.

“It’s a great thing we do," says Mark. “We’re very proud of it.”

Giving back is also part of a bigger-picture purpose at Think Creative.  

“Culturally, this is who we are," Mark says. "The team all embraces it. We’re here for a reason.”