If they had any sort of online reputation management initiative going, they’d have a representative listening and responding on Twitter, Facebook and your blog. A press release on a website doesn’t do anything. (Let’s hope that their new agency can teach them this.)

This, of course, is coming from the perspective of someone who teaches organizations how to use these mediums, so I get upset when I see a missed opportunity for them to engage in productive dialog.

Also, I’m all for going local first to find talent, but if you aren’t finding what you need in order meet the needs of your business, by all means look elsewhere. We don’t need to be so circumscribed in our thinking that 100% of everything needs to be born and raised here. And good for IDED for keeping some biz locally with Integer, an agency that has clearly served them well over the years and got rewarded for that.

Again, great post and let’s cross our fingers that someone from IDED joins the conversation.

It’s not fear of strange or formal, it’s fear of being out of work and watching your government agency ship your job out of state.

Interesting facts for the day:
1. Associated Press picked up the story, it’s running in Houston.
2. Iowa Agency ad clubs banding together statewide on the issue.

Teamwork = (n) work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole .

First, the Lessing-Flynn post is misleading. The IDED is spending the majority of its contract with Iowa agencies. Half is to Integer for the tourism component and some portion of the other half goes to Burson-Marsteller’s Iowa affiliate.

Second, IDED seems to recognize what marketing “professionals” on this blog do not: different agencies bring different strengths when it comes to communicating to different audiences. When it comes to business marketing, the State of Iowa needs to reach out to Europe and Asia as much as anything. There is nothing wrong with hiring an agency that brings an international presence. In fact, it’s a smart move.

Third, can we assume that everyone who self-servingly attacks the IDED for hiring an out-of-state agency for a minority share of its marketing contract will take a pledge to never accept work from an out-of-state public entity? Yeah, right.

Sorry, but I think in the long run Lessing-Flynn and others who hopped on this bandwagon are doing themselves and the business a disservice, and in the process making Iowa look like a xenophobic place to do business.

It is nice to see everyone pulling together despite where they do or don’t work. Too bad IDED didn’t take that into consideration for two whole hours before looking outside the state. Might be a lesson about who lives and works here, and what we all bring to the table.
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