Three Creative Catalysts Join AdHocnium. What is That Again?

Yesterday morning our friend Aarti Shah and her editors at PR Week broke the news that Neville Hobson has become a Creative Catalyst with AdHocnium, but that wasn’t the only bit of news we have - there are two other amazing people joining us. In addition to welcoming Neville, this morning I am happy to announce that both David Parmet and Alex de Carvalho are now part of the AdHocnium “UnAgency”.  This expands our current all start line-up to nine, so we can actually field a baseball team if we are ever in the same city at once!

So it seems the idea behind AdHocnium has struck a chord with some of the best and brightest creative communications and media talent in the world (I am not pushing social media here and will explain why later).  So much so in fact that we are finalizing discussions with another small group of folks we hope to announce before heading up to the in-laws next week for the holiday.  Of course, we haven’t done anything together yet so this is really just an alpha if that (I have, however, received a few client inquiries and will be announcing a client right after the new year).

Personally, I have been friends with both David and Alex for several years now, so I have seen the work they have done for clients, have read their blogs and have stayed connected to them through Social Media Club, Barcamp, SNCR and so many other places where we have shared a stage together (BlogOrlando to name one).  Alex’s international perspective and his deep understanding of the transformative power we posses because of the Web evolution has really impressed me, most recently as last Monday at Social Media Club South Florida which he has been driving forward.  David Parmet’s no-nonsense perspective when it comes to transforming the very notion of PR has made him one of the leading voices IMHO.  His advice is almost always spot on, he knows everyone despite living in what I would call a small town in New York and his wit is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Personally, I have been a fan of Neville Hobson for a long time.  His pan-European perspective together with his razor sharp analysis has helped me see things differently on numerous occasions.  He is a real eye opener, in a subtle, sagely sort of way. Of course I have come to know him through the infamous For Immediate Release podcast he produces with our mutual friend Shel Holtz, who has been under the weather lately (get well soon Shel). We just met in person for the first time last week at a Blogger Dinner Robert Scoble organized through Twitter. I can’t tell you how delighted I am that after speaking about AdHocnium he was interested enough to consider joining and that today we make that official just 10 days later.

AdHocnium: What is that again?

I have a feeling this story of AdHocnium will be very iterative.  So far I have heard us called an ad-hoc agency; a talent agency; a consortium; a fellowship; an UnAgency; a Social Media Consultancy (ugh); a dream team; and a few other things not as interesting.  My original choice which I am still sticking with is that we are an ad-hoc agency, much like an ad-hoc team or group that forms for a particular purpose.  The Merriam Webster definition of ad-hoc is informative.

1 a: concerned with a particular end or purpose <an ad hoc investigating committee> b: formed or used for specific or immediate problems or needs <ad hoc solutions>2: fashioned from whatever is immediately available : improvised <large ad hoc parades and demonstrations — Nat Hentoff>

So for now I am going to stick with that, though I have noticed a leaning to also call it an UnAgency as I have above.  What do you think we are? Would love to have a conversation with you about this. (I am hoping you already understand that a catalyst is “an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action”)

When Aarti called to apologize that the story broke beofre it was planned (thank you again for the call) she asked what I thought of the piece.  Of course, we are just happy to have had her notice and especially happy to see it made the print edition too.  However, I told her I was not really happy with the ultimate positioning which was emphasized in the article’s title “Social media consultant firm launches“. This is so much more then that - but then again that is what makes it hard to explain too, so clearly I have not done a great job yet on this front in making the amorphous concept tangible and easily understood.

During our interview, Aarti asked me whether or not this was the ‘agency of the future’ to which I replied, knowing how much is going to change over the coming months as we evolve, I think it is the direction of the future for the agency model and hopefully will be seen as a bold first step in that direction.  Several other people have chimed in via Twitter and in direct conversations with me to share that they have also thought about a similar model, but no one else did much more then work along such a model informally.

I am not fully embracing the idea of us as a social media consultancy (I didn’t think of The Conversation Group as that either when I helped build that agency last year).  I really think that together, as creative catalysts (intentional emphasis), we are able to provide our clients with strategies, perspectives and insights that lead to innovation and ultimately transformation.  In some cases, social media practices and web 2.0 technologies may be the primary leverage points, but ultimately this is about how companies interact with their markets in a more holistic manner.

Together we are a sort of talent co-op, strengthening our reputations by association and learning from each other too.  We are making formal our informal and largely invisible trust network, differentiating ourselves from the wave of social media consultants who have become micro-celebrities and promise to help your brand do the same, but have no real business backgrounds or long term experience. By focusing on the end goal of innovation and transformation, we are not limited to social media solutions - we can think differently about business processes, branding, marketing campaigns, customer support, hiring, training, partnerships, sales and other aspects of operations even.

How will it work out? Well, that is what we will all find out together… so stay tuned and let us know what you think.