Incentive - September 2008 - (Page 60) In addition to these benefits, Perkett gone above and beyond the call of duty,” well beyond the office walls. bridges the distance between its employees according to CEO Pierce Mattie). “We always have maybe two publicists through the frequent use of meaningful The winners are awarded American who are neck-and-neck, that may be off by rewards, particularly their MVP of the Express gift cards, iPods and, of course, two or three votes,” says Mattie. The votes Month awards for top-performing individuals recognition for having had an outstanding help to show who the stellar performers are or account teams. These employees may be performance, as judged by the executive and who needs to have improvement for the honored for an event they organized (like team. Mattie points out that to many of the following year, and, according to Mattie, the TechCrunch, pictured at right), a successful publicists, it’s this recognition that can have voters usually get it right. “Every person media tour or client coverage. the longest-lasting value. who’s won has really been the publicist of Almost all of these awards come with a “When they go on to work at other the year: the go-to person, the beacon for personal touch. An employee who moved agencies or if they leave PR or if they go everybody at the company.” into a new home received a Home Depot gift on to start their own projects,” says Mattie, The winner of Publicist of the Year card, a “shoe fanatic” received a Zappos gift “to have that title at this agency is a really receives a trip to France with a guest, card and one person who comincluding airfare, meals, plained about a cold office was hotel and tours. sent a pair of cashmere slippers. Though the destination is A whole team received wine-ofchosen ahead of time, virtually the-month club memberships, all of the other aspects of the and a new parent was sent a trip are chosen by the winner, monogrammed baby blanket. from which hotel and how Though bosses might not work they spend their days there to next to staff, Perkett’s leadership whom they take with them. shows how well it knows its Interestingly, every winner had employees through the incennever been to France prior to tives given out. winning the award, making it “We use [individual awards] if a particularly memorable it’s a case of, ‘How did you get experience. that BusinessWeek cover story?’ or Aware that the younger one of their team members is generations may have shorter out sick or they have to really attention spans than the older, step up,” says Executive Vice the company offers employPresident Heather Mosley. “It ees—who tend to be young— really encourages them to be shorter-term incentive proPerkettPR’s “Green Team” at TechCrunch August Capital MeetUp in Menlo Park, Calif., last year (CEO Chris Perkett is pictured second from left). The company sponsored and coordinated networking opportunities there for clients creative.” grams. During the quieter periods of the year, the executives initiate 30- or 90-day promotions where publicists can win a cruise weekend (through Norwegian Cruise Line), American Express gift cards or merchandise rewards for accomplishments like highest number of product —Pierce Mattie, Pierce Mattie Public Relations launches or best-attended event. Mattie sees incentives as a valuable part of good feather in their cap.” the company’s business plan. Though public Motivating with a “Merci” But the real off-the-charts award is for Pub- relations is a service industry, which may be Pierce Mattie Public Relations, based in New licist of the Year. Unlike the other honors, harder to quantify than sales, he points to the York City, elevates MVP-style awards to an Publicist of the Year is not chosen by the value in measuring and rewarding great annual event. A company of about 30 executives, but rather is voted on by segment customer service. employees, specializing in fashion, jewelry producers, bloggers, online media correspon“We’re not selling a quantifiable product, and other lifestyle products, Pierce Mattie PR dents and others who work with Pierce but we are always selling and reselling ourhonors its top publicists at the end of each Mattie’s publicists. The company sends out selves,” says Mattie. “Anyone, regardless of year for such distinctions as Best Media an e-mail toward the end of the third quarter what industry they are in, really has to look at Placement, Best Media Event, Most Original each year, with a bio and description of every the customer service side of everything. There PR Campaign, Highest Placement Frequency publicist and the accounts that they’ve are so many more facets to this business and the Ultimate Platinum Service Award worked on, and inviting everyone to vote, giv- model outside of just getting the dollar.” s (“for the person who has throughout the year ing the award a significance that expands Send comments to alex.palmer@incentivemag.com “There are so many facets to this business model outside of just getting the dollar.” 60 | Incentive | September 2008 | incentivemag.com http://incentivemag.com
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