Blogads, a digital advertising firm, has been a media innovator since 1998.  We represent 3500+ blogs including market leaders like PerezHilton, ThinkProgress, and TrailerAddict.  We work closely with advertisers in industries including entertainment, consumer packaged goods, retail, and technology.

We are currently hiring for two new positions:

1. Advertising Operations Coordinator
2. Social Media Strategist

Advertising Operations Coordinator

We are seeking an Advertising Operations Coordinator to join the team that sells advertising on PerezHilton.com.  Someone who, like us, is passionate about pop culture and digital media.

General Responsibilities:

• Guide ad campaigns from sale to fulfillment and all the steps in between.
• Manage ad inventory across a suite of sites, including web, mobile, and video.
• Work with our team of developers and designers in Budapest to execute custom advertising placements, like site skins and branded promotions.
• Liaise with clients from major advertising agencies and Fortune 500 brands.
• Assist the sales team by creating sales reports, performing research, and contributing creative ideas.

You need to be:

• a 4-year college graduate with at least one year of work experience
• an expert multi-tasker able to give meticulous attention to detail across simultaneous projects
• articulate via email and in-person with the ability to anticipate and respond to others’ needs
• totally reliable and determined to see projects to the end, even when that means working late
• committed to providing first class service to our clients
• curious about how things work and dedicated to identifying and solving problems and improving processes

Social Media Strategist

Are you passionate about blogs, Twitter, Instagram, Wikipedia, Reddit, Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Stumbleupon and/or Quora? Good! Because we’re hiring a Social Media Strategist.  As our Social Media Strategist you will:

We provide:  

• a competitive salary commensurate with experience
• 100% employer-paid medical insurance premiums
• HRA for dental and vision
• long-term and short-term disability insurance
• a 401(k) plan with company matching
• generous paid time off
• opportunities for professional development

• Don’t apply if you want structure and monotony
• Don’t apply if you dislike music or dogs
• Don’t apply if you don’t want to learn and meet new people
• Do apply if you want to work with a collaborative, friendly team in downtown Durham
• Do apply if you have an interest in pop culture, advertising and media
• Do send us your resume in PDF format and tell us why you want to work for us at analyst@blogads.com

Do either of these positions sound like you? Read “22 things to think about when applying for a job.”

Want to take a peak at Durham and our Downtown office? Check out this video:

New companies are always popping in North Carolina, or moving here and thriving on the diverse, talented and highly educated workforce found in the state’s urban centers. But on May 8, North Carolinians will vote on an a constitutional amendment that would harm many of our talented citizens, as well as our state’s reputation as a entrepreneurial hotbed.

The amendment, known as “Amendment One,” seeks to define marriage between a man and a women as the only legal civil union recognized in the state. This harmful law denies basic rights to same-sex couples, and threatens the health care, homes and families of their children. And because of its specific wording, it also threatens the protections of families and couples in other forms relationships, like civil unions and domestic partnerships.

We’ve added our name to a list of NC Startups that are taking a stand against Amendment One, along with a statement from Blogads CEO, Henry Copeland:

Tobacco, furniture and textiles are dead. Modern economies depend on large pools of talented people, free-flowing ideas, diversity and tolerance… all things that are diminished if Amendment 1 passes.

The state of North Carolina is diverse indeed, and we like it that way. The town in which we work was recently recognized as America’s Most Tolerant City. As of now, North Carolina is the only southern state without a marriage amendment. And it is our hope that the spirit of progress, diversity and tolerance that brought so many us to North Carolina in the first place prevails next Tuesday.

photo by flicker user kittenry

This new year has already brought some awesome news for Blogads. We’re in a new city, working in a new office and we’ve welcomed two new team members into new positions.

Meet Justin Weber and Zach Strom.

Justin joins us as an assistant project manager, with a speciality in quantitative research. When he’s not decoding trends on the Internet, you can find him writing about music, as well as performing it. He has degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication from UNC-Chapel Hill (MA) and Colorado State University (BA) and is well-acquainted with the Durham New Media scene, having interned at Durham-based ad agency McKinney.

Zach Strom is our newest sales strategist. He’s a graduate of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and comes to Blogads as a veteran of the Triangle tech scene, having worked for the Council of Entrepreneurial Development (CED) at the nearby American Tobacco Campus. Zach’s also an athlete and sports enthusiast, and has coached kids at a local sports camp and worked ESPN’s X Games in Los Angeles.

Welcome, gentlemen!

OH at Blogads HQ: "Whoa, looks like i'll be sitting on a patch of grass!"

It’s hard to believe we’ve only been in Durham for a week an a half. Every day, our new office feels a little more like home. And what home would be complete without — carpet tiles!?

Team Blogads came to work today to find our bright and colorful office a litte more vibrant and funky. It’s the little touches like these that make for a fun and innovative workspace in the middle of an exciting and dynamic city like Durham.

This well-lit room is the future home of our large conference space.

Sitting by the Squeezebox is more inviting than ever.

The dark blue carpet offers a nice contrast to the bright white break room.

Even a former bank vault can feel cozy with the right carpeting!

Our smallest space, the "phone booth." Now with less echo!

An a big tip of the Durham Bulls cap to Donald Hughes for leading the creative charge of our interior design efforts!

Starting in 2012, one the words we’ll use to describe Downtown Durham will be “home.”

We can’t wait to tap into the vibrant, energetic, creative, funky, hoppin’, eclectic culture of the Bull City.

As part of the “de-bank-ification” of our new Downtown Durham office space, which used to house a credit union, we’re replacing a concrete wall behind the old teller counter with windows.

On Saturday, we tore down this wall.

We’re currently looking for more passionate people to work in our new Downtown Durham office. All of these postions are set to start ASAP and will require you to work in Durham, NC.

Don’t apply if you want structure and monotony
Don’t apply if you dislike music or dogs
Don’t apply if you dislike traveling and meeting new people

Do apply if you want to work with a collaborative, friendly team in downtown Durham
Do apply if you have an interest in advertising and media
Do send us your resume in PDF format and tell us why you want to work for us. Please send to analyst@blogads.com

Open positions:

Account Manager

Blogads, a digital advertising firm, has been a media innovator since 1998. We represent 3500+ blogs including market leaders like PerezHilton, DailyKos, Dlisted, and TrailerAddict. We work closely with advertisers in industries including entertainment, consumer packaged goods, retail, and technology.

We are seeking a Sales Strategist to join our Advertising Sales team. Someone who, like us, is passionate about digital media and building relationships.

General Responsibilities:

• Manage advertiser relationships with clients from New York to Los Angeles
• Generate leads through outreach via phone, email, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
• Cultivate relationships with major advertising agencies
• Work with team members to create innovative proposals
• Network at conferences and promotional events
• Help develop ideas for new products and services

We need you to:

• Be experienced in media sales, promotions, or public relations
• Have a 4 year college degree
• Motivated by the fulfillment  of closing a deal
• Be committed to providing awesome service to clients
• Have high energy for a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
• Enjoy in-person meetings and building relationships
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail

Assistant Account Manager

Blogads, a digital advertising firm, has been a media innovator since 1998. We represent 3500+ blogs including market leaders like PerezHilton, DailyKos, Dlisted, and TrailerAddict. We work closely with advertisers in industries including entertainment, consumer packaged goods, retail, and technology.

We are seeking an Assistant Sales Strategist to join the team that sells advertising on PerezHilton.com. Someone who, like us, is passionate about pop culture and digital media.

General Responsibilities:

• Inform, assist, and negotiate with incoming potential advertisers
• Manage relationships with smaller advertising agencies and clients
• Assist sales staff with building proposals and presentations
• Help brainstorm integrated advertising ideas for clients, help develop and formalize new products, and create and improve sales materials

You need:

• at least one year of job experience, preferably in sales, marketing, or advertising
• a 4 year college degree
• desire to grow into a senior sales role with opportunities to travel and to work with Fortune 100 companies
• to be a people person who enjoys building relationships
• commitment to providing exceptional service to clients
• high energy for a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
• to enjoy creative brainstorming and being part of a team
• curiosity to learn how things work and dedication to solve problems
• to have excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail

Project Manager(s)

The Blogads innovation team builds tools that monetize, analyze and promote social networking.

Based in the heart of Durham, we believe that innovation results from intimate, long-term conversations between clients, colleagues and peers. Preferably over coffee.

We hire people who listen and speak clearly, relentlessly define problems and test solutions, and, most of all, collaborate passionately.

We’re seeking ambitious project managers who love to play with technology, social tools and creative colleagues. You’ll perform an integral roll in defining, designing, launching and iterating new products. You’ll dig your fingers into the guts of Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr, Foursquare, Dopplr, Findings… anything with an API.

You’ll fit well in this job if you tend to:

• Grab a whiteboard whenever ideas start to flow.
• Enjoy bridging multiple areas of expertise.
• Know how to break giant projects down into bite-size tasks.
• Realize that every error has at least 5 causes and know how to tease them out.
• Know how to be concise yet descriptive.
• Know what to own and what to delegate.
• Know the difference between important and urgent.
• Enjoy puzzles.
• Not say “I don’t know” without following up with “let’s find out.”
• Connect the dots until the lights go out.
• Love a clean desk.
• Know that one button is better than three.

You should be a college graduate with prior experience managing web projects.  Please mention prior PM experience, interacting with customers about their software needs, designing UIs or defining software functionality.

Durham, NC advertising agency McKinney won Best in Show for Web Site Excellence at Monday night’s OMMA Awards for SPENT, the online game that simulates life below the poverty level. The game, which has been called the “Oregon Trail of poverty games,” was created for local group Urban Ministries of Durham, and its universal premise has gained it a lot of recognition.

SPENT creator Jenny Nicholson has also created a petition to Congress, through which you can ask you local representatives to play the game.

Huge congratulations to Jenny and her team. We look forward to having such innovative neighbors.

Workspace is bountiful and cheap in downtown “Bull City.” Brick warehouses from the city’s tobacco days have been converted to modern lofts and offices, and in the case of the American Underground, a windowless bunker of technological innovation.

In a hacker news forum, Kacy Fortner of Underground tenant Adzerk referred to American Underground a “fraternity for geeks.”

You get to know other companies and their employees a lot more than a traditional office park. Every office has a huge glass wall that faces the hallway, so you get to see the same people every day as they pass by your office.

Ad server Adzerk is just one of the startups making huge strides underground. As founder James Avery explained in his post about the American Underground, the conveniently located office of the Council for Entrepenueral Development (CED) is a huge advantage of the space:

We have met Angel investors in the halls that we would have had to fight for an introduction to otherwise – we have chatted with venture capitalists in the elevator which has led to renewing talks that had otherwise cooled.

The original Underground tenant was LaunchBox Digital, an incubator program that helped launch several startups through its accelerator program. While LaunchBox’s future is unclear, there’s another incubator program in Durham, Bull City Forward, which likens itself to nearby RTP 50 years ago:

Much like Research Triangle Park half-a-century before, Durham’s Bull City Forward is studied as a global model of economic and community development and the city is recognized as a global leader of social innovation and entrepreneurship.

More Startup Action in Durham

The Bull City Startup Stampede just wrapped up its 60-day initiative to give a dozen small businesses a chance to launch in downtown Durham for free. Now, four of the Stampeders have headed down to Bull City Forward for another two months of free space.

Last weekend, 190 entrepreneurs formed 18 teams and spent 54 grueling hours innovating for Triangle Startup Weekend in Durham’s American Tobacco Campus. Triangle Business Journal has an excellent wrap-up of the event, which included pitches from two local 11-year-old entrepreneurs.

As we know, the Triangle start-up scene isn’t limited to Durham and the American Underground. A site called Dowtown Durham Startups put together this directory of local startups, including Triangle companies innovating outside of Durham.