Rebecca has more than six years of content development experience and for the last two years spearheaded social media efforts at a local interactive agency. She has already put her expertise to work for our biggest clients.

With digital communications becoming the dominant form of reaching audiences today, we believe social media and content are vital to the success of any business, non-profit or political or advocacy campaign. This umbrella of online communications encompasses community management, page creation and development, monitoring and reporting, friend and follower development as well as content development. And Rebecca will be an important part of delivering those services to IWS clients.

Because not everyone is perfectly comfortable with social media, we will be offering some social media seminars in the coming months. Watch our Facebook page for details.

Welcome aboard, Rebecca.

-  Overall Campaigns – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Direct Mail – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Best Use of Negative Contrast:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website State:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Website State:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website Local:  Keep the Cubs – Yes on 420
-  Television Ballot Initiative – GOTV:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety

Being recognized for our work in TV, Direct Mail and Online is a testament to the integrated strategic approach we bring to our clients’ projects. It also reflects the many channels the world now uses to consume content.

We are pleased to give a big shout out to the steering committees of the campaigns and our strategic partners who deserve these awards as much as we do:  HighGround, Inc., Coleman Dahm and Associates, David Leibowitz, and Jay Heiler.

The Pollie Award is “a symbol of the ’Best of the Best’ in political and public affairs communication.”

I didn’t think so.

We’ve brought in a number of new clients in the last week or so, and I was thinking about how much has changed since IWS’ first client 11 years ago.

We still get plenty of requests for Web sites (especially the more complex variety) and email campaigns. But lately it’s been about apps and putting content on mobile devices.

Hmm. As I recall, my “mobile” device when we started IWS was a first generation Blackberry. You could make calls and receive emails, but not much. And it was all in black and white.

Kleiner Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capitalists, had a stat that blew me away: In the 4^thquarter of last year, shipments of smartphones and tablets exceeded shipments of PCs and notebooks.

So we’ll be doing a lot more mobile sites like this one for Bon-Ton Stores. (I took the screen grab from my iPad so it’s got a lot of white space around it. You get the idea.)

Since the DC office moved a few blocks closer to the river in Old Town, there was a bit of a delay in receiving our 2010 Reed Awards from Campaign and Elections magazine. Thankfully, the statuettes arrived safely and are on display in the reception area.

IWS won First Place for Best Web site for a Statewide Race and Best GOTV Plan and Execution.

The site is called OneMinuteNews, and it’s a new news site for Gen-Xers. It’s got a clean design with clearly labeled content buckets – trending news, technology, entertainment, etc. Content appears in text and video. Social media features are being added.

The news is aimed at a young market and has a youthful feel and spin to it. Who knows whether it will make it? Disclaimer: It’s not a client, and IWS has no connection with it. We just believe in highlighting good work whether it’s ours or not.

OneMinuteNews is a good example of what online communication should be. It knows its audience. It gives the audience content that it would find useful and in a language and format that the audience gets.

That’s what we try to do, too. End of story.

Please help us reach our goal to grant this great wish and make a donation today. Click here to donate! Thank you for your support!

Reed Award Recognizes Top Political and Public Affairs Talent in The World

On Friday, IWS continued its winning tradition by securing the Reed Award on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce and Governor Jan Brewer.

IWS congratulates our clients for their success and would like to say ‘thank you’ for the opportunity to work with them during this past year. We work with great teams at both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign, and are proud that everyone’s hard work paid off.

The United States Chamber of Commerce won a Reed Award for “Special Categories – Best GOTV Plan and Execution.”

Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign won a Reed Award for “Technology – Website: Statewide Races.”

“Winning a Reed Award is considered to be one of the most prestigious honors in the business of politics and Campaigns & Elections congratulates the finalists and winners,” said Publisher of Campaigns & Elections, Paul Plawin.

IWS has spent the past 11 years moving with ease between politics and commercial marketing. In either venue, IWS’ strength remains the same: The ability to use the full spectrum of digital marketing strategies and applications to change users’ behavior.

IWS has long been a supporter of Make-A-Wish as well as other charities and causes in the Washington, D.C. and Phoenix communities. We believe we have an obligation to give back and try our best to walk the walk.

In the next week we will be rolling out a campaign to raise the funds necessary to grant this wish. We will also be developing ways you can participate and hope you will join us in this worthwhile cause. Together, we can all “swim with dolphins!”

To learn more about Make-A-Wish, please visit their Web site.

Photos from the rebuild on December 12: