Chris Kahle tweets his way to Crispin

Success. Chris Kahle's hare-brained scheme to use Twitter to get a job at Crispin Porter + Bogusky actually worked. Alex Bogusky tweeted that the agency hired him. Kahle set out just a week ago to get a job at Crispin by encouraging people to send Bogusky and interactive creative director Jeff Benjamin tweets to hire him. TweetFreak (OK, it was me) thought it was a terrible idea. Thankfully, it's Kahle who is the ideas man. Congrats, Chris. We asked @bogusky a few questions about it.

@bmorrissey: Why were you impressed with Chris Kahle's approach?
@bogusky: For sure. He did what the job really requires. He figured out a way to get our attention and prove that he was interested in CPB. Most people today send a link and call it good. We have to assume they sent it to a zillion other agencies too so we don't really pay any attention. Chris broke through.
@bmorrissey: You previously said whether you hire him or not was not the point. Why was that?
@bogusky: Because he made the short list. He made us aware of his passion for the business and for CPB. We literally get 2,000 e-mail requests a month. A thousand links that people want us to look at. We try to look through them but it's just not physically possible. A more unique approach is needed. No matter how well written your e-mail is, it goes into a pile. The way postcards used to pile up. But mail us a urinal and we will probably pay attention. That's just an example. Please, no urinals.
@bmorrissey: What's the one approach that impressed you the most of someone who badly wanted to work at CP+B?
@bogusky: There have been lots of crazy approaches over the years but the key is that they match the personality of the individual. The process of hiring is about getting to know each other, so your presentation of what you've done needs to begin to explain a bit of who you are.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

May 21, 2009 in News and Analysis | Permalink