Solstice Advertising won some awards last night – quite a few awards, as a matter of fact – from the Public Relations Society of America, Alaska Chapter. And my name was attached to many of them, but as I stood to accept each, I had a twinge of guilt. It wasn’t my work that won, it was the team, and although everyone’s name was mentioned, I don’t think enough emphasis was put on how well teamwork works within our agency.

I’m sure you have all heard the buzzword ‘teamwork’ many times, and probably felt it to be overused. We all remember the college ‘team’ projects where one person wound up with the majority of the work-load, and the rest drank a few beers and played video games. It doesn’t work that way at Solstice – teamwork really does work.

It starts simply . . . with a client, and sometimes with a defined need. What we do is bring everything to the team and organize a kick-off meeting. Everyone comes to the table prepared, ready to throw out their best and worst ideas for the team to review. We laugh, we kick-back (sans the beers and video games) and analyze each idea. When we all walk out feeling like we have a winner, the work begins. The result is a concept that can be developed into a successful deliverable.

Literally working in the same room, side-by-side, the real work ensues. Copy begins the process, followed by art and it’s all mixed with account management.

It works, obviously.

Thank you PRSA – we like it when our work is acknowledged.