Putting InkHouse New York on the Map

I’ve been reading a wonderful book about New York called “Nonstop Metropolis, A New York City Atlas,” by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly Schapiro. It is a gorgeous book, filled with maps and essays dedicated to the many sides, subcultures, stories, languages and cities within cities within the city of New York. I keep getting lost in the book, stumbling happily into new worlds within the pages just as cracks in the sidewalk on my physical forays in New York might cause me to stumble, look up, and discover something new against the sky that my gaze had missed a thousand times before. In addition to bringing more wonder to this wonderful city I call home, the book has me thinking about maps, about making them, and the sense of place they convey in a very tangible form.

We just wrapped our first official week in the InkHouse New York office. Part of my job is putting InkHouse on the map in New York, and spreading the word about InkHouse as a great place to work for people who want to do great work. I already have a clear idea in my head of just how and where InkHouse fits into the fabric of this city and the PR industry at large. We want to be a landmark. But before a new map can be drawn—and that landmark built—one must first get to know the landscape on which it sits. Hence, not much of our week was actually spent IN our new office.

Instead, most of our first official week was spent traversing Manhattan, first with EVP and Chief Content Officer Tina Cassidy, then with our founder and CEO Beth Monaghan, meeting with journalists, current clients, past clients and potential future clients and partners. In one sense, the city itself became our real office, with open-office seating and one of the best office pantries around thanks to the many spaces, coffee shops and even hotel lounges we found ourselves meeting, from the lower east to midtown to Soho and back to midtown again. Each spot we met at could one day fill a map dedicated to the growth of InkHouse, a graph of connections and coffees and lots of media coverage for our clients. It’s hard not to see the city itself as a conduit.

We discussed the state of PR in the post-truth era, how the media is keeping up, and the New York market. We also asked past and current clients to talk about what they think sets InkHouse apart. Their answers were enlightening, and included.

• We make clients feel like they’re the ONLY client
• We collaborate together with our clients as one team
• We GET the industry (we heard this a few times from a variety of clients; our teams take the time to get smart on an industry if it’s new to us and continually smart for those in which we already play)
• We’re realistic and, like true partners, are looking out for our clients’ best interest—which means saying no to certain opportunities
• Our approach to thought leadership gets results (and it’s actually thoughtful!)
• We’re proactive and creative with new ideas and approaches