Bryce Ballard Email & Phone Number

I lead Rational 360's Social Listening offering, overseeing workstreams, staffing, business development, tooling and setting the strategic direction of our firm's media intelligence capabilities. I grew the function from a team of zero to six in under two years, now servicing 30+ clients. Responsibilities —- Manage a team of analysts, as well as coach a wider group of junior digital staff, across a range of ad-hoc and ongoing research projects. - Orchestrate the development and implementation of novel research methodologies to connect communications measurement frameworks with actionable insights and business goals. - Contribute to firm-wide professional development through internal presentations that socialize the value of media measurement, along with trainings to upskill our team's analytical rigor of unstructured datasets.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

Client Work – - Developed a novel investor relations strategy for a leading B2B SaaS provider, recommending a group of sector-relevant influencers that key investors engage with most online for integration into a paid nanotargeting campaign. This resulted in each investor’s media landscape being flooded with client-positive messages, as well as an expanded scope of work to replicate this approach for acquisition marketing goals. - Constructed a bespoke set of baseline indicators for a drug manufacturer faced with policymaker scrutiny, in turn producing a series of reports that provided real-time, actionable intelligence throughout a period of Senate investigation and hearings.- Leveraged data to advise a defense contractor on communications through overseas procurement, recommending content and earned media targets based on conversation trends and which reporters had proven influence over decision-makers in the acquiring country.- Led a landscape assessment for a popular cosmetic brand undergoing patent litigation, combining data from TikTok, Instagram, Reddit and third-party review sites to produce nuanced recommendations. This also included an influencer mapping exercise identifying outreach prospects in wider beauty and IP verticals.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

Client Work —- Traveled internationally, meeting with a foreign president’s communications department and press secretary, to conduct a multi-day social media training, advise on organizational structure and introduce a new measurement philosophy that prioritizes reputation and message penetration. - Reimagined a leading fintech provider’s customer evangelism funnel, creating a new workflow that leverages machine learning to identify positive comments and reviews online. - Invited by an energy trade group to speak to a network of 30+ communications executives on the value of social listening for insight generation. - Created an early warning system to identify shifts in media narratives, culminating in a physical dashboard that provided real-time intelligence during a crisis. This model detected a coordinated disinformation campaign of bots, which was thus neutralized. - Partnered with the c-suite of a late stage tech startup to develop a bespoke set of quantitative KPIs to assess the overall impact of communications strategy and tactics.

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

I bring an expert and tool agnostic perspective to project-based deliverables for clients who seek to better understand online ecosystems, focusing on social listening and other forms of communications measurement.

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

NetBase Quid is an AI platform rooted in natural language processing (NLP) with applications for social listening, media analytics and market intelligence. NetBase Quid customers include companies such as Target, Disney, NASA, Pfizer, BCG and Edelman.I helped customers (and myself!) learn something new everyday using exceptional problem solving capabilities to provide technical and strategic expertise for a suite of support inboxes. All in the same day, I could be educating clients on how to use our tools to transform social media data into insights, advising on Boolean search strategy, collaborating with engineering to identify and respond to bugs, and recommending updates to our learning portal. Through this hands-on work with customers, I was exposed to a wide array of innovative research methods, with a focus in social and news analysis.Through this role, I’ve gained an intimate understanding of social networks’ API availabilities, publisher paywalls, GDPR compliance and other technical details that impact data collection from online sources. Working for a B2B SaaS vendor has also enlightened me to common workflows and management solutions used in tech, particularly what customers should typically expect in a post-sales capacity pertaining to CX, services and account management. In addition to serving customers in marketing and communications sectors, I developed a specialized knowledge of our products' integrated companies and patents datasets. This had me working with clients interested in corporate strategy and innovation, including management consulting firms and research institutions. Outside of my customer-facing work product, I took initiative to improve internal processes and workflows for my team. I also served as an advocate of customer needs back to engineering and product management, influencing upcoming maintenance sprints and other updates in the product roadmap.

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

An essential part of my duties were to field and respond to tickets sent in via live chat or email product support channels. My personal outcome metrics of this work include: • 3,682 Overall Ticket Volume• 96% Customer Happiness Score (CSAT Rating)• Average Time to Resolve a Ticket Was 7 minutes and 35 secondsCustomer Verbatims Obtained via Rating System: • A customer from Weber Shandwick said, "Bryce not only answered my questions, but also helped to fix the errors in my syntax. Great support, thanks again! :)"• A customer from Advantage Solutions said, "Super friendly, quick, and helpful. Made something pretty annoying no problem at all with how fast he fixed it."• A customer from Teneo said, "Very helpful and attentive. Genuinely I always have great experiences with Quid support."• A student on a certification and research path from University College London said, "Bryce is super helpful! He gives very clear and detailed feedback about my queries, which helps me refine them further and use the results in my assignments. He really demonstrates the value of Quid."

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

Washington D.C. Metro Area

DDC Public Affairs is an Omnicom agency under OPRG. I helped build DDC's social media intelligence capability evidenced through my contributions to bringing in and retaining new business, championing the selection and onboard of a new social listening tool, centralizing crisis protocols for media monitoring to be owned by my team, and successfully advocating for an additional hire. Within my vertical, I developed baseline reports and wrote proposals which grew a handful of existing scopes by over 75%.At the heart of this work were frequent social listening reports where I crafted insights using tailored combinations of social media analytics, traditional media metrics and narrative explanations of online conversation, with the goal of informing client business decisions and strategy. I applied an extensive knowledge of Boolean search logic and a mastery of AI-powered research tools to create custom dashboards that I used to identify conversation drivers, define areas of growth, justify paid media and discern actionable items from topical trends. I produced over 20 client-facing reports per week that serviced a broad array of industries scoped with public affairs and advocacy related issues, often pertaining to ballot initiatives or public comments directed at government entities. I used insights from social listening to design and execute content plans via social media management tools, which I was also integral to the selection and onboarding of, weaving work product from graphic design and copywriting teams into biweekly content calendars. On select accounts, I led social content meetings and provided a data-driven perspective. Given my close understanding of client needs and issue areas, I was also assigned to be a liaison to our paid media vendor, where I took a detailed eye to creative specs and ensured their optimizations were on pace with monthly spend.

Greater Los Angeles Area

I aided publicists' efforts in pulling essential metrics on outlets and media contacts, as well as compiling large-scale coverage reports spanning broadcast, online and social media, which provided a rich context for campaign evaluation and guided future outreach. Furthermore, I often dealt with media content directly by requesting and formatting clips from Disney Channel shows to be sent with pitches or to be shown alongside broadcast press appearances. In addition to providing these graphic assets, I assisted in preparing press toolkits by drafting and editing factsheets, biographies, press releases and other messaging documents.To support longterm strategic planning and showcase results of the Media Relations team, I crafted multiple decks that were later presented upwards internally to and by executives, including the President of Disney Channel. These were praised for their information intake, layout and impact.I helped create content for the @DisneyBrandTVPR accounts on Instagram and Twitter through the captioning and editing of video featurettes, cultivation of assets and copywriting.Both in the preparation of and by staffing events, I assisted multiple press junkets, influencer activations, and screenings. At the 2019 ARDYs (formerly the Radio Disney Music Awards), I gained experience escorting talent down the red carpet to connect them with key press in attendance.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I assisted on local publicity campaigns for upcoming releases from major movie studios through outreach and pitching to media partners, brainstorming community activations, social media monitoring and collecting relevant news clips.I applied my event management skillset to staff over 15 preview screenings in addition to other promotional events that bolstered word of mouth strategies among key audiences.After being placed on the Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment account, I was tasked with spearheading the DVD, Blu-ray and digital releases of Mary Poppins Returns within the DC and Baltimore markets. After successfully pitching my ideas for internal approval among account supervision, I led the planning and delivery of 4 separate events, along with coordinating the distribution and inventory of all promo items allotted for our region.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I created a sense of belonging, the most protective factor determining college resilience, for 126 freshmen during my time at AU.For the Spring 2019 semester, I served as a leader to over 50 first-year residents living in Letts Hall. For the '17-'18 school year, I was an RA in Anderson Hall to over 70 first-year residents who were a part of a living-learning community. I acted as a primary responder in the on-call duty rotation for emergencies and crisis management for buildings of up to 1,200 residents.Alongside enforcing the university’s housing policies, I discerned equitable residential learning through the creation of inclusive programs that addressed critical problems college students face, while also planning social events to foster an engaged and warm community. Through this, I have also gained professional experience in Starrez, C-Cure and SALTO software systems, which are used to manage guest access and security checkpoints.

I worked the front desk in the upperclass residence halls acting as a friendly source of information, while also serving in a security function to check IDs and coordinate communications with the RA on Duty or first responders during emergency situations. Additionally, I gained experience organizing and delivering packages.The desk operated 24/7 so I was often tasked with late night and early morning shifts.

Orlando, Florida Area

I took part in the Disney College Program! This experience allowed me to be employed in a Disney World theme park, while also presenting me with numerous professional development, education and networking opportunities to get an insider's perspective and training on Disney's prevailing art of storytelling.I had the privilege of working as an Attractions Host at the Star Wars Launch Bay, where I brought exemplary service to around 15,000 - 25,000 diverse Guests per day visiting Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. Here, I got to live out my fandom for the Star Wars saga by ushering Guests into a galaxy far, far away where they can meet their favorite characters, watch a documentary film and see a gallery of props from the movies. Common duties included managing lines and wait times for the characters, delivering welcome spiels to a 150-person theater, ensuring safety standards, and most importantly, initiating interactions with Guests to enrich their experience and create happiness. I also frequently picked up shifts where I served in a crowd control function, to spiel at and direct large waves of oncoming Guests (Upwards of 6,000 when shows such as Fantasmic ended). During my College Program, I earned multiple “Four Keys Cards,” a formal recognition from managers and coworkers for exceeding safety, courtesy, show and efficiency standards.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

During this internship, which was extended for an additional semester, I was trained in social listening, content creation, paid social, UX tracking, RFP response and client service. I became client facing on multiple accounts after two months.For a public affairs campaign, I led content creation and community management efforts on Facebook and Twitter. I increased the followings across both platforms by over 28% after a period where growth was stagnant, while sparking successful engagement defined by shares, comments and clickthroughs. On top of these duties, I budgeted for and ran targeted ads through Facebook Business Manager to amplify high-value media placements cultivated by the wider team. To highlight these successes, I created a handful of reporting decks that were shared with the client, one of which was chosen by the client to present upwards in their quarterly board meeting. I operated tools such as Crimson Hexagon, Sprout Social, Affinio, Traackr and Quid, quickly mastering them and becoming the point person within my practice to teach others how to use these tools as well.During my internship, I started an internal newsletter recapping top stories covering digital strategy and social media. I grew this internal communication from 26 recipients within the digital team to an audience of 134 spanning across practice groups and global offices. I collaborated with a team of 3 others to win APCO's annual Summer Intern Pitch Competition.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

At this boutique PR agency, I was trained in press pitching, writing messaging documents, influencer identification and other components of media relations. I took an active part in media outreach by pitching directly to reporters at top tier online and wire outlets, as well as to smaller industry trades. Additionally, I gained experience staffing a live segment at the local ABC affiliate station, where I worked with producers and the client's spokesperson to ensure high quality coverage.I also supported basic account level work which included preparing status call agendas, note-taking, formatting news clips and other administrative tasks.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

At this event production agency (formerly known as CWA, now acquired by Empire Entertainment), I researched vendors and venues, took notes during onsite walkthroughs, brainstormed proposals, coordinated front of house logistics and worked with the project manager to plan and deliver an exceptional event for the client and attendees. Additionally, I sent regular internal emails of news clips mentioning us, our clients or happenings in the events industry. I also managed the front desk and any incoming calls.

Potomac, Maryland

I led and taught groups of elementary school aged children in their academic work, as well as engaged them in fun activities. In the academic portion of the camp, I gave each child their own individualized attention, as many were at diverse academic levels and learned very differently from one another. During recreational activities, I facilitated an exciting, yet safe, atmosphere.Beginning as a counselor in training, I rose to the level of senior counselor where I was tasked with leading the groups who needed the most guidance, while also mentoring more junior level counselors.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I monitored the media for press clippings, compiled and organized databases of media contact lists, wrote website content, created and updated factsheets alongside drafting other materials for media toolkits, staffed receptions, recorded notes during team meetings and assisted on their clean energy campaign.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

I communicated directly with constituents by writing letters on a variety of different policy issues on behalf of the Congressman, honed administrative skills by managing the front desk and multiline phones, conducted tours of the Capitol, as well as attended and took notes on policy briefings.

Ba, Public Relations And Strategic Communications

Activities and Societies: I served as the President and Vice President of my school's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society.

Certificate Program, Event Management

High School

Activities and Societies: National Honors Society, National Society of High School Scholars, Writing Center, and EXCEL Tutoring.3.83 GPA.