This article was originally published on Talentzoo.com and featured in the site's "From The Frontlines" column.

When I had just graduated from college, jobs in the Detroit communications industry were few and far between (for more on my personal, job seeking experiences, check out this Talent Zoo article). Faced with a seemingly endless stack of bills from my college years and needing an immediate source of income, I started waiting tables. I can't even begin to describe the level of humiliation and degradation I felt during that time of my life but, in retrospect, I learned many lessons that I apply to my profession today.

In the time I've spent in the communications industry, I've seen the best and the worst of how agencies deal with their respective clientele. I've seen clients over-serviced and I've seen them treated as myopic ne'er-do-wells. At its best, I've seen the agency/client relationship manifest as an equal, like-minded partnership. What still surprises me is that people in this industry forget that, under all the ancillary aspects of our work that include awards, recognition, creativity and new business, communications remains in its simplest form a service industry. Let me repeat that: This is a service industry; not that much unlike the one I worked in while waiting tables.

If you are a waiter/waitress, your ultimate responsibility is the customer's satisfaction. Providing excellent service can mitigate a sub-par meal. If the kitchen is running behind, then you can assuage the ire of your patrons by remaining attentive throughout their wait. If their meal comes out wrong or the quality poor, then you must be quick to provide them with an alternative. My managers taught me that the service I provided my guests was as important as the meal itself, and they were right.

It doesn't take much thought to substitute situations that occur in the account-side of agency life with any of the scenarios above. The creative doesn't thrill your client, your agency's workload has pushed the deadline of that client's project, the client absolutely hates your concept....see what I mean? And just as it is when dining at a restaurant, having an attentive, sympathetic and knowledgeable account person can ensure that the client, regardless of the situation, is as content as possible in the end.

Not to take this metaphor too far, but one more thing comes to mind as I write this. I started to really make money waiting tables once I had cultivated "regulars" (customers that frequented the establishment and asked for me by name). I developed these "regulars" by building up a certain level of trust and expectation. In return, these patrons were more apt to respond to up-selling. "You are much better off going with a bottle of wine if you plan on having more than one glass" or, "That is a great selection, but let me tell you about our special today that I think you will absolutely love."

Again, it doesn't require a stretch of the imagination to apply these same scenarios to account service. The most important client in this business is a repeat-client, especially in these tough economic times. Building a relationship based on trust between your account team and your client is as important to long-term success as is the quality of the work you execute on that client's behalf. Remember, many of your clients aren't as deft as you and your colleagues are in the art of communications, as such they might not be able to immediately see the big picture (or justify the big budget). It's not your job to sell them, but rather to engender an environment of trust in which they will take you at your professional word.

If this seems too obvious a metaphor, you're right: it is. Yet each of us at some point in our careers has cursed a client for ineptitude or lack of vision or for setting unreasonable expectations. Thinking of your role in this way may just help you be better at what you do.

And trust me, you don't want to have to wait tables instead.

In 1997, Matt Nadeau, a Vermont native, started his own microbrewery in the basement of his home. He named it Rock Art Brewery, in honor of the ancient petroglyphs that are etched in the rocks of the Vermont mountains surrounding his home. Eventually Matt moved his operation out of his basement and into a larger facility where he produces a full line-up of beers that are distributed throughout Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Arizona. In all regards, Matt had successfully realized his dream and turned a pastime into a profession.

To celebrate Rock Art's tenth anniversary, Matt decided to brew a special beer. Indicative of the ten-year mark, Matt crafted a big, bold beer with a 10% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) and aptly named it "Vermonster. "

Everything was going great for Matt until September 14, 2009. That morning, he received a cease and desist order in the mail from the Hansen Beverage Company, the makers of Monster energy drink, demanding that he:

1. Immediately cease and desist from any distribution, sale or other use of Vermonster in connection with beverages, including the use of any advertising, promotional and point-of-sale-materials that include the infringing mark;
2. Expressly abandon U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 77/765,863; and
3. Pay to Hansen its attorney's fees incurred in connection with this matter. Hansen's argument is that , as Monster is planning to enter the alcoholic beverage market, Vermonster will "undoubtedly create a likelihood of confusion and/or dilute the distinctive quality of Hansen's Monster marks. Thus, use of Vermonster infringes Hansen's rights, and constitutes unfair competition under state and federal laws. "

Matt has sought out legal advice from a number of trademark attorneys, who each in turn have stated that should he proceed with litigation, he would most likely be vindicated in the eyes of the law. However, if he were to win in one court, he would be faced with an appeal from Hansen's lawyers in another. And another. And another. Fighting this, he has been advised, will most certainly bankrupt him.

So Matt decided to do what downtrodden, Little Guy's do when bullied by The Man: he resorted to grassroots tactics. However, this isn't your mother's letter-writing campaign.

Matt has smartly gone digital and positioned Rock Art Brewery's website as the hub for his battle against Hansen. The landing page features little other than content relating to his cause and prominently features a large title reading, "ROCK ART BREWERY VS CORPORATE AMERICA. " Just below the battle cry is an embedded, surprisingly well-produced, 6-minute YouTube video detailing his company and the lawsuit facing him. The site includes downloads of Hansen's original cease and desist letter, as well as links to the media coverage Matt has garnered. And, of course, there are the must-have "follow us on " Facebook/Twitter tabs. The #ISupportRockArt hashtag is a popular trending topic (though it has yet to break into the featured top ten). On Facebook, the 1,800-plus fans of the brewery are posting their support, encouraging a boycott of Monster and have even posted the mailing address of Monster's CEO, Rodney C. Saks.

What Rock Art Brewery is attempting to do could very well become a perfect case study of the power of social media as a grassroots tool. Beyond the #ISupportRockArt hashtag, Twitterati have already started posting #monsterboycott, #BoycottMonsterDrinks and #hansenboycott in their tweets. In my two minutes on Twitter observing #ISupportRockArt trending, 25 new tweets were posted featuring the hashtag. Furthermore, this story is only a month old and the exponential rate at which it has gained supporters is illustrative of the wildfire-like nature of the Internet.

Should this campaign gain enough of a following, Hansen will be forced to conduct a cost/benefit analysis of whether or not to pursue with their current course of action. I am willing to bet that had they checked with their PR counsel as well as their legal counsel in the beginning, they probably would've been advised not to have issued the cease and desist in the first place.

Regardless of how this plays out in court, any attempt by Hansen to position Monster in the alcoholic beverage market will inexorably be linked to the Rock Art Brewery name, even when it fades from the Twittersphere, as any future google search for "Monster Energy Drink " or "Hansen Beverage Company " will surely list links to this story amongst its returns. In the end, the move by Hansen to protect its brand from the "likelihood of confusion and/or dilute the distinctive quality of Hansen's Monster marks " will in effect have inadvertently perpetuated that very same scenario to occur.

**UPDATE 10/22/09** Hansen has withdrawn the C&D order. Here are the details.

Disclaimer:

The Killswitch Collective, LLC is in no way giving legal advice or is supporting or denying the legality of this case, nor are we advocating either side of the issue. We are simply using this scenario as a case study to show how online networks and the digital landscape can quickly and efficiently add momentum to a cause.

I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to cover ad:tech Chicago as a guest blogger for Adrants.com this past week. Adrants, for those not familiar with the publication, provides marketing and advertising news in the form of a website and daily email newsletter. Adrants' content is provided by current and former industry practitioners, and the publication seeks to provide insightful, informed, experiential, and no holds barred commentary on the state of the advertising and media industries.

If you are in the communications industry, you are probably familiar with ad:tech. The event, now in it's tenth year, brings together some of the best minds in the business for roundtable discussions on all things digital, specifically how the digital revolution has permeated every aspect of advertising, marketing and PR. This year, ten ad:tech shows will occur in seven countries, making it the preferred resource and destination for digital marketers around the world.

For my coverage of the event, along with that of several other industry peeps, visit the the ad:tech blog .

Here are just a few notions that I took away from the event:

1. For most agencies, "digital" still only represents 15-20% of project work (unless, of course, you are a solely digital agency like Razorfish). While these percentages will inevitably grow, traditional mediums like print and television will continue to represent the majority of any agencies' workload. However, we are sure to see the cross-pollination of traditional and digital campaigns.

2. With clients tightening their belts when it comes to their communications budgets, the importance of metrics and analytics is paramount to any campaign. Simply put, we in the industry need to justify our services in term of ROI at a micro-level beyond what has been traditionally offered to our clients. The good news is that the digital realm adds analytical insights to our arsenal that were not available to our predecessors.

3. "This is the year of mobile." OK, not so much. At one of the keynote roundtables, the adroit speakers hypothesized that it will not be until 2014 that we will see the American consumer embrace mobile advertising in the way their counterparts in Europe, Africa and Asia have. This is not to say that mobile campaigns do not have a place in the present day marketing-mix; they do when approached in the simpliest manner (i.e. SMS, a technology that the consumer has already adopted and is not exlcusive in terms of mobile hardware).

And there was much more, which you'll find covered in detail on the ad:tech blog. Thanks to Adrants for the opportunity. I hope to be back next year!