By Susan Matthews, APR, principal
This month marks the 25th anniversary of Borshoff, an Indianapolis-based public relations, marketing and advertising agency. I’ve been with the company for an amazing 24 years and a principal/owner for half that time.
Dialing back the years to October, 1985, I was in my second week at Borshoff, working from a windowless room with two other desks. To get a clean copy of a document, I’d retype it – or go to the basement of Myra Borshoff’s house to use her personal computer. How’d we get news releases to the media? We had two options: hand-deliver or mail them. (Indianapolis also had two daily papers back then.) And graphic designers used press type to create headlines and a wax machine to “grease up” typesetting that they would then layout using X-acto knives, t-squares and drafting tables.
Borshoff’s silver anniversary gives cause to reflect on all that has changed in our profession and our world since 1984.
- First there’s the Who. While we’re very proud of the longevity of our staff, we also salute the talented professionals who spent time with us before moving on to corporate positions, to new careers and to other regions of the country – from Hollywood to the Big Apple.
- As to What, some of the tools we use for communications today were unimaginable during our early years. Since our founding, fax machines have come and, for practical purposes, gone. 1984 predated the prevalence of cable TV, the Internet and, of course, mobile phones. Plus, it was a rare office kitchen that sported a microwave.
- And there’s the When. In 1984, Ronald Reagan was president and Bill Hudnut was mayor of Indianapolis. The Cosby Show debuted on NBC, and the Supreme Court ruled that taping television shows at home on VCRs does not violate copyright law. A first class stamp cost $.20. Apple unveiled the Macintosh computer. (I had one at home.) And some of our current employees weren’t even born yet.
- Regarding Where, Borshoff is in its third office building. During our 11 years at our current downtown location, we’ve expanded twice and our 43 employees work from two full floors at 47 So. Pennsylvania. (The building is on the National Register of Historic Places in Indianapolis, Indiana and, with 10 stories, is considered the city’s first skyscraper!)
But as sure as the Who, What, When and Where have changed, the Why remains the same. And this is good.
Why do we choose to be communicators? Because we believe today, as we did in the early 80s, that two-way communications is essential to good business. We know that a healthy dialog helps stakeholders understand issues and make responsible decisions. Honest communication leads to understanding, and this makes organizations, communities and our world better.
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