From Klout launching brand pages to data on how children use Facebook, this edition of This Week in Digital underscores the importance of targeting the appropriate audience through social media to communicate a message. We hope you enjoy this round-up of digital news and how it relates to communications between brand and consumer.

Over 35% of Children on Facebook are Younger than 12

MinorMonitor, a dashboard that allows parents to monitor their children’s Facebook activity, compiled data on how kids are using the top social media platform. Through a survey of 1,000 parents, the survey found that 38% of the children on Facebook were 12 and under, even though it’s against Facebook’s policy. Over half of surveyed parents log into their children’s accounts to monitor their use, and the second top concern of parents (behind sexual predators) was that their children were sharing too much information. As overall Facebook use grows, it’s important to look at segmented use by age to optimize participation in campaigns. Many Facebook applications require users to share personal information like email, age and location so that brands can stay compliant with Facebook policy. Although Facebook is appealing to a younger audience, running campaigns on the platform may not be the most effective way to reach them.

Klout Launches Brand Pages

Klout, the popular site that measures social media influence with a score from 1 to 100, has launched “Brand Squads,” its version of brand pages. Red Bull has signed on as the first brand to participate in the program, which highlights the top 10 and top 100 influencers as well as the conversations those influencers are having about the brand. These new pages give companies a quick way to see who their top influencers are and reach out to them with unique perks to retain them as brand advocates. cebook use grows, it’s important to look at segmented use by age to optimize participation in campaigns. Many Facebook applications require users to share personal information like email, age and location so that brands can stay compliant with Facebook policy. Although Facebook is appealing to a younger audience, running campaigns on the platform may not be the most effective way to reach them.

Screenfeeder App Displays Social Media On-Screen

Screenfeeder, a new app available for iPhones, iPads and Apple TV shows social media updates one by one, in real time, on a custom background. While the service wouldn’t be used for everyday social media activity, the app can stream updates from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare at events and conferences through an attractive and easy-to-read interface. For example, Screenfeeder could deliver live hashtag updates at an event, giving attendees the ability to view their tweets on a screen. As brands are looking to increase their online presence, Screenfeeder may be another way to encourage social conversations and connect the offline and online worlds at events. ion in campaigns. Many Facebook applications require users to share personal information like email, age and location so that brands can stay compliant with Facebook policy. Although Facebook is appealing to a younger audience, running campaigns on the platform may not be the most effective way to reach them.



The other day, I spent my lunch hour snacking on cheese, crackers, and desserts—all while being serenaded by a smooth-voiced country heartthrob in the George Clooney, circa-“E.R.” mold. Never mind that I was there with 40 other people, most of them women, I chose to ignore those odds. Yeah, sometimes my job is pretty awesome.

You see, during a stop in New York to promote his new single, “Wanna Make You Love Me,” DKC client and country newcomer Andy Gibson came by the office to play an acoustic set. With his natural charm and southern boy appeal, all the women in the room couldn’t help but smile and melt at his lyrics—myself included.

The performance, or as I call it Acoustic Lunch Hour, started with the monster  hit song from 2011, “Don’t You Wanna Stay”, which Gibson co-wrote and was made famous by Jason Aldean’s and Kelly Clarkson’s performance at the 2010 Grammys.  The song has generated so much airplay and awareness that even the country uninitiated sang along. Gibson then formally introduced himself to everyone, making each and every one of us feel like his close, personal friend.

Andy told us all about how he got his start in music and how he instantly fell in love with the country style, growing up in Nashville, Tennessee: the heartland of country music.  Paying his dues early, Andy spent his days serving food, bussing tables, cleaning bathrooms at a Mexican restaurant, playing music at night, and writing music in every spare moment in between. In this formative period, Andy forged his passion for music and became enthralled by the thrill of live performance. And all that practice and hard work really paid off, judging by the ease he displayed performing in the cold confines of a corporate conference room. It’s clear the man could get an order of monks to clap their hands.

One night, while working on a shift, one of Gibson’s icons, country producer John Rich, walked into the restaurant. Gibson decided to seize the moment and grabbed his guitar. On the spot, he translated a Rich song, “Lost in This Moment”, into Spanish to perform for the crowd. The rest, he says, is history.

After playing us a little clip of that now infamous Spanish translation, Andy launched into his new single “Wanna Make You Love Me,” a sweet, plaintive song that is now on the Top 30 on the country charts and shows real promise of making him the breakout star we know he very much deserves to be (but of course, we’re not biased).

After his performances, Andy opened up for a Q&A and was asked about one of the most important things to any country crooner–his guitar, which is covered in etchings and signatures scrawled in Sharpie. Andy explained that each signature was from someone he had met on his radio promotional tour.  For me, this showed how much Andy takes this opportunity to heart and how hard he’s willing to work to make his dreams come true.

I can speak for my colleagues when I say that we were all grateful that Andy stopped by to perform for us and introduce country music to those who might not have followed it avidly. I, for one, am hoping to hear more of his music for many, many years to come.

For your enjoyment, please watch the video below to listen to some of Andy Gibson’s wonderful talent that the DKC NY offices were privileged enough to witness first-hand.  It could be enough to “Wanna Make You Love Him!”

By Chelsey Zuckerman, Publicity Assistant

NEW YORK, NY –   New York based DKC Public Relations, Marketing & Government Affairs announced that it has expanded its geographic footprint by opening offices in Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Chicago.

“Our physical expansion into Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Chicago comes at a time of significant growth for DKC, which has transformed from its New York beginnings 20 years ago into a major national communications company,” said Sean Cassidy, President of DKC. “Opening offices in these critical markets enables DKC to better provide communications counsel and programming, government relations and digital media services to a dynamic, diverse and ever-expanding client base.”  

Los Angeles

DKC has officially established a presence in Southern California with the addition of Brittany Hershkowitz in its new Beverly Hills office. DKC’s expansion in the Los Angeles market better positions the agency to service companies whose work is focused in and around the entertainment sector, and will help capitalize on the tremendous national growth opportunities across the luxury, corporate, entertainment, travel, sports and media business categories.  DKC’s Los Angeles office also enhances the agency’s ability to service such existing corporate clients as Delta Air Lines, Moet & Chandon, Jaguar/Land Rover, Yahoo!, Atari, Showtime and Michael Eisner’s portfolio of companies.

Brittany’s background in communications campaigns, entertainment marketing initiatives and events on behalf of luxury brands and entertainment properties makes her a strong addition to the team.  Prior to joining DKC, Brittany was the Director of Public Relations for Hype Creative Agency, and also held positions at the Rose Group and kpr-inc in Los Angeles.

Washington D.C.

To address the growing demand for strategic communications campaigns targeting the policy community in Washington, DKC has hired Megan Pollock to oversee DKC’s new K Street presence and manage media relations campaigns around legislative and regulatory issues and branding initiatives.

 A policy communications specialist with over 10 years’ experience working at the intersection of technology and policy, Megan joins from DKC from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), where has served as Director of Division and Policy Communications.  At CEA, Megan was responsible for public policy communications, five industry member groups and all consumer-facing websites, social media platforms, CEA’s brand and its internal communications initiatives. Previously, Megan served as Project Manager for the Internet Education Foundation (IEF), where she worked to educate the media and policymakers about the potential of a decentralized global Internet to promote democracy, communications and commerce. 

 In addition to serving as a platform for agency growth, DKC’s expansion into Washington, DC will enable the company to better service a diverse array of clients with national public policy requirements, ranging from Yahoo! to The Children’s Health Fund.

 Chicago

Additionally, DKC has taken office space in Chicago to better service new and existing clients in the Midwest.   DKC’s current roster of Midwestern U.S. clients includes: Jim Beam Brands, BMO: Harris Bank, Kraft, The James Hotel and the national beauty retailer ULTA.   DKC is in the process of appointing an executive to lead the Chicago office.   

About DKC Public Relations Marketing & Government Affairs

Established in 1991, DKC is one of the top 10 independent firms in the United States by fee revenue. Our diverse client list means that we customize public relations solutions for Fortune 100 companies, entrepreneurs, non-profits and creative individuals across a broad range of industries. The breadth of our expertise and our daily engagement with leaders in the media, politics, industry and academia keeps us ahead of the latest trends in public opinion. At DKC, creative strategy and positioning leads to smart media coverage and digital media connections that energize brands and meet our clients’ business goals.

Some people collect baseball cards and comic books.  Others, like Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, collect cars.   Still, others collect Civil War memorabilia, autographs, and stamps.

I collect Lego.

The famous plastic bricks, which can be used to build everything from homes to spaceships (and pieces of which probably have been stepped on by parents worldwide) were invented more than 50 years ago by Ole Kirk Christiansen, who actually started out making wooden toys.  The company’s name is an amalgam of two Danish words, leg and godt, which, when combined, translate to “play well.”  In my mind, there’s not a better product out there today – one that is durable, well-made, and that allows for the creative mind to flourish.

The first Lego sets were quite simple, combining basic bricks and “plates.”  Windows, trees wheels and cars arrived soon after.  Believe it or not, the Lego figurine, popularly known as the “minifigure,” didn’t arrive until 1978.  Themes also took hold: “Space” and “Town” were among the first, and beginning in the 1990’s and the 2000’s the company branched out into franchises including Star Wars, Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Look on store shelves today and you’ll find a “SuperHeroes” line featuring characters from the DC and Marvel universes.  Superman as a minifigure?  Whould’ve thought?

One of the first Lego sets I ever owned was a Basic set, complete with instructions to build houses, automobiles and airplanes, but not the Millennium Falcon.  I grew up in northern Manhattan, and my Lego pieces got stuck in every nook and cranny of my family’s old apartment.  In fact, I distinctly recall leaving behind a yellow brick in a space between our hardwood floor and a hallway wall when we finally moved out in 1979.  The rest of my Lego collection went with me to the Philippines, and on the plane ride there, my parents let me build from a selection of bricks from a small travel bag I carried (and unlike my old apartment, I don’t think I left any pieces on the plane.)

Lego toys were few and far between in my new home country, with the bigger sets only available in the capital city of Manila.  At some point, with a lack of supply and other distractions abound, I lost interest in my hobby.  My Lego blocks went unplayed with, and a cousin of mine even took to fashioning jewelry out of the neglected pieces.  Lego left my life.

In 1982, I caught a showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the first time I can recall ever watching Trek. I became enamored with the U.S.S. Enterprise, with its flying-saucer-shaped primary hull and its streamlined nacelles, leaving behind a beautiful trail of stretched starlight when the ship jumped to warp speed.

I had to build one for myself.  But with what?

I rushed home from the theatre and found my old bag of Lego, in the same travel bag my parents let me have on the plane ride to the Philippines.  With a collection of very basic bricks – not much more, and not including the pieces my cousin made into jewelry – I built my own starship Enterprise using only what I’d remembered from watching the film.  The final model was yellow and green and blocky and absolutely nothing like the ship they’d shown on the silver screen.

But it was my own, and apart from becoming a Star Trek fan, I also reconnected with Lego again.  During the few times my parents would go to Manila, I’d be sure to ask them to bring back whatever Lego they could.  And once my family returned to the United States in 1983, I started collecting the toys again, and I haven’t stopped since.

I’ve built the Chrysler Building, or something like it.

I’ve created mosaics and even got to visit Lego’s U.S. headquarters in Enfield, CT – where I got to study, up close, a brick-and-plate model of the U.S.S. Enterprise built by the Lego professionals themselves.

And finally, in November 2011, a lifelong dream came true: I was invited by I LUG NY, a Lego fan group (“LUG,” a common acronym amongst fans of the brick, stands for “Lego Users Group”), to install an original creation at the Lego Store at Rockefeller Plaza, smack dab in the middle of their busy holiday season, when the display would be potentially seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Truth be told, the display isn’t all that grand: a small, windowed cube measuring perhaps two feet in each direction.  But like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location, and landing a Lego creation at 30 Rock is nothing short of spectacular.

You can probably guess which model I chose for the display.

The Enterprise could make other stops at Lego stores elsewhere – Queens, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey, to be exact – so if you miss it at Rockefeller Center, don’t worry.  And there’s always my personal blog, where I plan to document my hobby down to the last brick.

My kids have recently taken to Lego: Ian (8 years old) likes to build miniature baseball stadiums, and Mallory (age 6) builds everything from houses to amusement parks. My wife’s not a big fan – sigh! – but as it turns out, this hobby of mine, which has gone from the nooks and crannies of an apartment in Manhattan all the way to the Philippines and straight into a display case in Rockefeller Center, will continue on into the next generation.

Leg godt, indeed.

By Sid Dinsay, Account Supervisor

DKC Passion Project: DKC’s company-wide competition giving one lucky employee the chance to enter to win $1000 plus a week off to pursue whatever it is in life they are passionate about.

When Sean Cassidy (DKC President) sent around the staff email announcing “DKC’s shortest employee…Courtney Greenberg” had won the company Passion Project back in October things got REAL. For as long as I could remember, I’ve placed any personal interests on the back burner, convincing myself I didn’t have the money or time to pursue them. Both excuses flew out the window when I received the $1000 and a week off to transform my Facebook photo album The Short of it All into a website/photo gallery/blog and to take the concept to the next level.

At 4’10” it’s rather hard not to notice that I’m a fairly tiny person. My Facebook photo album is a collection of pictures of myself standing aside exceptionally tall people. This all started when I was a sophomore in college while at my favorite Happy Hour spot, Sadie Klutz. At the bar I ran into a guy on the basketball team who was almost 7ft tall.

Over the years the album had evolved and by the time I won the Passion Project, I had more than 35 pics of myself with people over 6’5”.

Stopping Short

When I first entered my idea for the Passion Project I felt confident my submission could win. I knew people loved the album and couldn’t wait to see more photos.

Then I won, and I started to feel slightly less confident. I’m short. (Well, congratulations!) I take pictures with tall people. (And we care because??) I knew nothing about building a website and didn’t know where to begin. I had no clue what the site would contain aside from a gallery of photos – some of which were taken with old school film and weren’t exactly the best quality. At this point I wished I was 4 feet 10 inches shorter and could just disappear!

But then I said to myself, “Courtney, STOP! This is a great thing and you can’t sell yourself short! You’re going have to slap on your highest heels and rise to the challenge!”

And so I did. I knew I needed to own the domain name: The Short of it All. First step was checking Go Daddy to see if the address was still available, and wudda ya know, it was! Even though I had NO idea what I was doing or what I was buying – add-ons, security features, hosting stuff, etc, – whenever in doubt, I just went ahead with the Premium Package.

For example:

Website Analytics – Clearly I need that. How else was I going to measure and learn about the hundreds of people who would be visiting my site? My mom has A LOT of friends.

Search Engine Visibility – Absolutely getting that. As if being short isn’t hard enough, I need to be as VISIBLE as possible. To me this feature was the virtual equivalent to high heels.

Website Protection Scanner – I’m still not exactly sure what this feature does, but it sounds important. I haven’t been stingy with my prize money yet, I’m certainly not going to cheap out on protection. Anyway, now I owned my own little corner of the web and it felt great. Step one was exhausting!

I’ll Tumblr For Ya

Step #2 or my Favorite Step -the one where I hire someone to handle all of the other steps (or so I thought). Thankfully my wonderful former assistant Marc Sausa introduced me to his friend Kesal Petal. I had my first meeting with Kesal about “The Short of it All” in late December and it was about 5 minutes into our conversation for me to realize I knew even less about what I was doing then when I started! Can you believe it?! (Actually, I’m sure you can – insert sarcasm here.)

Kesal asked hard hitting, very important, but also very obvious questions, such as, “What do you want people to get from visiting The Short of it All,” “What’s going to make them come back again?,” “How will you get people to interact with the site?,” and “What do you want the look and feel to be like?”

I immediately began to panic and took a few deep breaths (I’m actually lying, because what I really did was take two large swigs of beer.) Then I responded as honestly as I could, and told him all I wanted was for people to come to my little photo gallery blog thing and get a laugh. I wanted people to feel good. I wanted to send the message that whether you’re 4′10 or 6′10″ it’s about being comfortable in your own skin. (He liked it. Kesal liked it!)

We spent the rest of the time talking about my vision, color schemes and social networks. One important component for me was finding a way to incorporate Tumblr into the photo gallery. The core of “The Short if it All” are the pictures, so I wanted to make sure the photo driven community that is Tumblr was reached. So we decided to run the photo gallery through the social network, this way I can upload new photos from my phone and keep it fresh.

Short Comings

After I saw the framework to the site, I knew something was missing and I couldn’t put my stubby little finger on it. Everything was coming together great, but it didn’t feel like me. I looked around the web for ideas and inspiration and thought a little animated version of myself would be perfect! Also, I’d need a logo. Something that would define “The Short of it All” in one glance.

Enter Brynn Dempsey and Courtney Jentzen. I was introduced to Brynn and Courtney through DKC Connect’s Digital Director, James Gregson. Brynn created the logo I envisioned with a clean, simple font and Courtney drew the animated me; who we’ll name Shortney. I thought it would be super cute to insert Shortney onto the base of the letter L in “aLL” to emphasize that I’m really small. Because clearly that needed more attention. Once those two things were included, I was pumped! It captured my personality and gave the site something extra special. (Next step in this ever evolving process will be taking Shortney to her colorist and making her hair blonde.)

To Make a Long Story Short

I quickly learned that having a cute website, a few extra bucks and some time off is only half the battle. If you want to maintain a blog, you actually need stuff to talk about! That’s never really been a problem for me, so I’m excited to get The Short of it All up and running. So go and visit the site because I think I’ve said enough (but really because I’ve run out of short puns). Thanks to everyone at DKC for supporting me throughout this entire process. Also to the judges who voted for me. And to all the little people – this one’s for you!

When we left work early Friday to try to snag a spot in the line at the Meatpacking District Apple Store to get one of the first iPad 2s, we knew that we didn’t really have to be there.  Just that morning, Apple had enabled online ordering.  Waiting two weeks for a new Apple product, however, is a lifetime for us, DKC’s biggest Apple fanboy and fangirl.  Not even the weather could deter us.  Apple has made these launches into must-attend events for early adopters – a feat which their competition has yet to duplicate.

Build Anticipation
For the past few months, you couldn’t avoid news about the iPad 2.  Reports, while often contradictory, appeared regularly.  Would it have a camera or two?  Would the screen have a sharper resolution?  No one seemed to agree and at one point, our hopes were almost shattered by rumors that production delays would hinder the consumer release until the summer.  But, at long last, on March 2nd it happened, the formal launch announcement.  Apple
CEO Steve Jobs returned, taking the stage to a standing ovation, critiquing the competition, and at long last, demoing the highly anticipated device.

Turning a Launch Into an Event
By March 11th, the iPad 2 had been covered ad nauseam and nothing was going to satisfy anyone’s curiosity except for experiencing the real thing for yourself.  We needed to be there to be among the first to own one and see if it lived up to the hype.  Turns out, we weren’t alone.  By 4:30 PM a diverse crowd had already formed a line all the way down ninth avenue and was only getting longer by the second.  Behind the police barricades and beyond, we saw the young and old, students and teachers, hipsters and normies alike, all coming together in the name of Apple. Our journey for the iPad 2 began at the end of the line, and by the end of the line, we mean Tenth Avenue and 17th Street.

Keep the Crowd Happy
Was our fervor dampened by the size of the line?  Not at all.  We were surrounded by others into technology.  No matter what their age, their energy was contagious.  We called friends.  Others gave regular updates by phone to their friends about their position in line.  Friends of our linemates stopped by to offer encouragement and coffee.  One man wore his iPad 1 as a bauble with a note scrawled across the screen (digitally, of course) where he questioned why he was back for a second time. We (@DKCnews, @MCaldecutt, @Courtebow) tweeted constantly, not only to stay in the know, but also to keep our fingers from freezing. Friends and followers on Twitter told us the scene wasn’t much different at other locations.  In front of us, another man read from a print magazine as it slowly got darker.  And, every hour or so, the line moved. By 6 PM the sun had set and it was beginning to get cold.

It was all hands on deck at Apple’s Meatpacking District location with all of the store’s 250 employees doing their part to make sure that we stayed on line and remained hopeful.  They watched as we slipped off the line to get coffee or take a quick stroll to get the blood circulating in our hands and feet.  They kept us updated on what was selling and what was already sold out.  Employees told us that if we couldn’t get what we wanted, we’d be offered a chance to swap our purchase for a new device during the first two weeks and that their exchange policy would be pretty lenient.  Still, the line never got smaller.  As we got ever closer, another employee pushed a cart of SmartWater down the line, clearly reminding us of the smart decision we’ve made to wait for 4 1/2 hours!

Reward your fans
At exactly 9:25 PM, our time had come. Once in, the atmosphere was festive with up tempo music playing throughout the store.  No less than five employees thanked us for waiting.  When we got to the front of the line, we were quickly greeted individually by an employee who shook our hand and enthusiastically asked us which model we wanted and speedily returned from the storeroom with it.  We were taken to a bench where we could unbox our iPad 2 (an “adult Christmas” we were told) and ask any questions while it was booted up for the first time.

It may have taken a total of five hours, but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  Cold, hungry, tired, and numb from standing, we got our devices, and were among the first to walk out into the night clutching our ’smart case’-covered iPads to our person. The line stayed strong until at least 10 PM.

So, would we go through it all again? Obviously. We hear the iPad 2 is pretty much sold out in New York and the wait online is two to three weeks minimum.

- Sent from my iPad…2

Posted by: Matt Caldecutt and Courtney Greenburg

I always tell people I was an English Major in college.  But that statement skirts the full truth – I was actually a Double Major in English and Women’s Studies.   That omission on my part is emblematic of my ambivalent relationship with the women’s movement in general.  I am a feminist and certainly believe in sisterhood and equality for women, but I don’t always wear it on my sleeve.  A stint on Capitol Hill and ten years working at a big industrial corporation taught me that playing the game in the man’s world has its advantages.  I never wanted to be treated differently or to call attention to my femininity because that seemed like an admission of weakness.

So it was with some skepticism that I agreed to be a delegate to the 2010 Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in Deauville, France.   I’ve been to many women’s networking events and conferences in the past, and I confess that I usually shy away from the “touchy-feely” aspects of these gatherings.   But I was curious to see how a conference billed as the “Women’s Davos “(referring to the World Economic Forum, held each year in Davos, Switzerland) would fall on the spectrum of head vs. heart.

Once I arrived at the Forum, I was struck by this dichotomy when I walked through the Discovery Hall exhibit space, which was extremely well done and professionally put together to educate and stimulate.  It was chock full of displays on topics like how to design a car with women in mind (Renault-Nissan), why hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin (Nestle), and how to include more disabled people in your workforce (Procter & Gamble).  Mixed in with these serious subjects were some lighter options – a place to sample Pommery Champagne, a Sephora counter with teams of makeup artists, and a studio to get your portrait taken by a well-known fashion photographer.

I will admit I cringed a bit at the last two – I mean, we were in France, so I could understand (and appreciate) the Champagne, but makeup and portraits at a women’s conference?  How stereotypically female can we get?  Let’s play dress-up and pretend to be business women?

At that moment, I was very skeptical about how much substance the program was going to deliver.   But I’m happy to report that I was completely wrong in my assumption.

The Women’s Forum expertly split it down the middle – a great mix of sessions and keynotes that balanced rational and emotional, with something for everyone.  And everyone was there – from established, older figures in the women’s movement to young business women trying to make new contacts and learn about topics including entrepreneurship, business innovation, environmental sustainability, fighting obesity and why water is a women’s issue.   What I loved was the audacity of the whole thing; three days of women (and a few men) who had something different to say about economics, innovation and how to make businesses run better.

What struck me was that the anger and frustration I’ve seen at many women’s gatherings was absent, replaced by a great energy and enthusiasm for the problems all humans – male and female alike –  need to tackle.  Sure, we heard the requisite discussions about how to increase the number of women in the board room and re-hashed old arguments about quotas, but those were balanced by hard hitting presentations on topical issues from real-life achievers like France’s Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde (a personal hero),  Sylvie Kauffmann, Editor-in-Chief of Le Monde, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mercedes Erra, Executive Co-Chairman, EURO RSCG Worldwide (who gave the best presentation on the innovation I’ve ever heard, despite speaking through an interpreter).

As a communications advisor who works with several brands that target women, the greatest take away from the conference was an insight from Christine Lagarde: women need to stop feeling guilty about making career and lifestyle choices (Children or not?  Work outside the home, or not?), and to be strong enough to resist the social pressure to live up to the “Superwoman” ideal.   Lagarde believes, and I agree, that millions of individual choices add up to social change, more so than any legislation or hiring quotas.  Another speaker put it differently:  let’s not concentrate on doing more and more … let’s focus on quality in the things we choose to do.

From a communications perspective, we are often guilty of perpetuating stereotypes because they are universal and easy to understand.  So the conference made me think – how can I encourage the brands with whom I work to celebrate women, no matter what choices they make?  What is our role in showing women as well-rounded individuals, not just mothers or career automatons?

With these questions on my mind, I left the Women’s Forum feeling inspired and energized, with lots of new business contacts and some free make-up from Sephora.  Yes, despite my initial determination that real business women don’t do makeovers, by day two I caved and joined the queue at the Sephora counter.

Who knows, maybe I’ll add that Women’s Studies major to my resume after all.

Posted by: Krista Pilot, Executive Vice President

Around 4:45am on Saturday morning, shivering in my way too light spring jacket, I was standing outside an empty baseball stadium, when the thought hit me – what about this situation is sane? I had just arrived at Citi Field in Queens, where in little more than an hour’s time, 200 buses, all courtesy of our client, The Huffington Post, would take 10,000 New Yorkers down to Washington, D.C. for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

It may have been cold when I first arrived, but a palpable energy hovered above the already substantial crowd that huddled together. I doubted there would be many drop-offs among the registered riders, despite the early hour. Sleep could wait. This one-of-a-kind rally couldn’t.

At about 5:45am, Arianna Huffington, hostess, as it were, to 10,000 eager “sanity riders,” made her entrance. The official schedule stated that buses would be leaving by 6am, but there were more important matters to attend to – like making sure everyone felt at home. Making her way around the perimeter of the stadium, she thanked people, one by one for making it out, and engaged them in conversation about why they chose to come on the trip down to our nation’s capital for this unique event.

Her lap around Citi Field took us until 7:30am, an hour and a half past our stated departure time, but there is no question it was time well spent – a scene no one would soon forget. The atmosphere and anticipation was electric, and one reporter told me she now planned to write a separate story just on the departure from New York – something she had not intended on doing.

At about 7:45am, the press contingent, the last remaining riders, finally boarded the bus with Arianna, and we all made our way down to DC. Even on the way down, the myth of this rally had begun to grow. A reporter already down in DC had to call me from a pay phone (yes, apparently they do still exist) because cell phone service had broken down with the massive crowd that was building. Bloggers were making reference to the rally as this generation’s Woodstock – with the riders on our bus agreeing with that sentiment. And this was all before the rally had even begun.

By the time we arrived on the National Mall, in the shadow of the Capitol, it was shoulder-to-shoulder for as far as the eye could see. It was so packed that I couldn’t even make it in to the main area, but there was action-a-plenty flowing out on the sidewalks and streets surrounding the Mall. Signs and costumes abounded – many politically themed, some seemingly random, and almost all of them funny and clever. I met up with a crew from Second City, the famed comedy troupe, and another DKC client, and they told me they had lost count of how many funny signs they wished they had thought of.

And comedy really was the order of the day. The talk in the days and weeks leading up to the rally had been – and justifiably so, for a massive event taking place in Washington DC three days before midterm elections – about how political it would be, and whether the rally would have an effect on voting on November 2. It became clear to me on Saturday that the rally’s purpose wasn’t as black and white as that.

Comedy’s always been a way that Americans have made sense of government and its politicians – a way to mentally come to grips with the larger than life figures and institutions that can seem out of our grasp at times. Political cartoons have been part of our culture for as long as America has been around. Saturday Night Live is never more popular than during election season. And shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report – and by extension, this rally – are just the latest ways that we’re able to translate our hopes, fears, and opinions about politics and government into something that makes sense.

There is something very sane about that.

Posted by: Sami Ghazi, Account Executive