Tired of the usual 9-to-5 routine? Looking for a sure-fire solution to your insomnia? Look no further. Brian Mandelbaum is your answer.
That's because Brian has just created the first 24×7 agency. So, if working 22 or 23 hours a day sounds good to you (and, why wouldn't it, since you can't sleep anyway?), then Brian's your boy.
Mandelbaum believes clients want a firm that will monitor and engage in social media while the rest of the country sleeps. And, he may be right.
Brian's firm intends to hang out the shingle in the third quarter. In the meantime, though, he's hunting for wide-awake employees and a name for his agency. I have a few thoughts on the latter. How about:
– The Salt Mine
– Eyes Wide Open
– White Line Fever
– Speed-R-Us
– The Meth Lab
I'm sure Brian will attract a few clients and a few insomniacs as well, but I doubt his embryonic firm will one day win a best workplace award. More to the point, though, his value proposition is a weak one since many firms, including ours, already provide 24×7 monitoring and engagement courtesy of our U.K. and San Francisco offices.
I wish Brian well, but I sure wouldn't want my kids to work for him. I see The Salt Mine (or whatever he ends up calling his shop) as a gateway drug to long-term physical, mental and emotional health problems. And, lord knows, the world has enough of all three already.
GREAT observations, Lyonspr. While I don’t agree with you that it’s a smart idea, I do concur with every other point. I’m certainly not going to be the one to call at client at 3am to discuss a social media crisis. Nor will I be the one to attend a face-to-face client meeting at, say, the witching hour. And, you hit a home run with your final point: every start-up goes 24×7 the first years, so what’s so different about this value proposition (aside from the fact it publicly promotes a three-shift workplace)?
Three thoughts on this:
1. It’s a smart idea. My guess is they’ll attract some big-name clients right off the bat solely on the 24/7 concept. I applaud him for a unique concept and always want to see someone stepping out on their own in PR succeed.
2. Wondering how effective they can really be though. Say all hell breaks loose on twitter for their client at 3am. Are they empowered by the client to truly react to the situation? Are you going to wake the VP of Communications or CEO up from their slumber for some tweets? In 99.9 percent of situations, i think it can usually wait until 8am.
3. And finally, in your first decade of running a PR small business, aren’t you 24/7 anyway?