guest blogger: frank o’brien, founder of “the pitch” winning conversation agency

when we got the call to pitch popchips, we were already familiar with the brand and  were surprised to find out that more people weren’t. we were even more excited when we heard that the goal of the assignment was to raise awareness because at that point we were looking at all of the great marketing material already put out by the brand thinking “holy (pop), how are we going to top this?!”

something special stood out to us about popchips – something you don’t see in every brand, much less a brand that has been around for only a few short years. it’s something that we at conversation see in ourselves: a strong culture, a focused brand, and an unwavering attention to detail. we were a perfect fit to work with this brand.

it’s rare that you feel, or know, that you’re going to hit a home run. agencies tend to have a level of superstition around them and talk a lot about karma, so throughout the process we didn’t want to be too confident but we knew that we were on to something special. all of the pieces lined up – the assignment, the brand, our process, the idea – but there was still one piece outstanding. no matter how right we felt, you never know until the decision is made. the brand has the final piece to the puzzle, the final say.

fortunately for us, our initial instincts and feelings throughout the process were dead on:  the popchips team gets it. from the agency side, winning a pitch isn’t always about what concept you pitch. it’s about who you are, how you pitch, and what you show while in that pitch room. if

all you’re pitching are ideas, then you’re only as good as your last idea. we pitch partnership, creative thinking, an ability to “get it done,” and a true focus on our clients’ business. by choosing conversation, it was clear that popchips was committed to adding that building block to their story to take it to the next level, which is something we focused on most in developing our campaign – a campaign that worked just as hard and that was as passionate as the agency and the client in the pitch room.

everyone at conversation puts their heart and soul into our business and our clients’ business. (after all where would we be if we didn’t have a hand in making our clients successful?)  we live our mission the way popchips lives theirs. it’s special when you find that kind of synergy, and we’re proud to be a part of the extended popchips family.

thank you, popchips, for the opportunity to work with such an amazing brand, amazing team, and an amazing business. let’s keep poppin’ with the year of pop…

this year marks the fourth year social media week returns to the city that never sleeps and we’re planning to keep everyone snacking all night long.

we’ve partnered with new york global hub host, big fuel  where they will be hosting press registration, a social media week  info booth, attendee lounge and variety of other events. whole foods will be on-site offering tasty treats and popchips will be stocking the snack racks february 13-17 so pop by, say hi and grab a bag!

looking for a geek date? stop by likeable media office warming and social speed dating on february 13^th at 5pm. popchips will be on-site with a snacker’s lounge allowing speed daters the chance to cozy up and get to know each other after they answer match-up questions using hashtag #likeableSMW.

…and our very own popstar, joey hodges will also be chip chatting at be global, act local on february 16^th at 9am hosted by whole foods-bowery.

for more social snacking action, follow along at @popchipsNY @smwnyc #smwnyc #smw12.

guest blogger: joey hodges, new york popstar extraordinaire

congrats to @popchipsNY and @nyctweetdrive for tweeting and eating to complete the most SCVNGR challenges during the nyc tweet drive, and bringing home $1,000 worth of toys for a local charity!

tweeters and eaters throughout the country joined popchips and SCVNGR at this year’s annual tweet drive. the “challenges for charity” SCVNGR campaign allowed attendees in nine cities the opportunity to complete tweet drive and popchips themed challenges. a total of 188 challenges were completed, and thousands of toys were donated to children in need across the u.s.

new york city completed the most popchips themed SCVNGR challenges at their local tweet drive, held at roger smith hotel on december 13^th. as a group, a total of 146 points were accumulated throughout various SCVNGR challenges completed, and popchips will be donating $1,000 worth of toys to a local new york charity.

check out more snacking action from tweet drive here: snackshots