Well, friends, 2011 is nearing a close, and it’s been an enlightening year.

We learned that real protests can still happen, ones powerful enough to spawn an impassioned movement worldwide.

We learned that Friday, the most sacred day of the week, will forever be marred by a whiny, lyrically challenged, brain-anesthetizing anthem (no, Ben Pang, we don’t know if Rebecca is single).

And we learned that you never know when the harsh B-29 of reality might firebomb you from behind.

Because no December is complete without an inordinate bombardment of cheer-infested messages, here’s the holiday card you’ve been waiting for. Circular protuberances not included.

We filmed it on our enviable new chalkboard hallway. Next time you’re around, maybe we’ll let you add your own drawing – if you’ve been a good girl or boy.

Happy Holidays. Here’s to throwing back five too many gingerbread and tonics this weekend.

So maybe you’ve heard about this War On Christmas thing. As for us, we remain neutral, like Switzerland. But there is an up with which we will not put. Brand standards, people. Look, we don’t care if you fill Santa with cheap vodka or pit him against Jesus in a no-holds-barred cage match.

Leaving less than 1/4″ of clear space around the logo pisses Santa off, boys and girls.

But we do care if you don’t maintain the Jolly Fat Man’s brand standards. Which is why we’re damn glad the fine folks at QuietroomUK have produced The Definitive Brand Guide To *Santa.*

Download it, learn it, live it.

And if you’re thinking about deviating from the brand nostalgia, remember, he sees you when you’re sleeping.

Last week, Fast Company covered our client Proximity Designs, a non-profit design venture that designs products to ultimately help poor farmers in Myanmar. You can read all about it right here.

Okay, so we weren’t jumping up and down when we read the headline, but the article goes a long way to acknowledge a socially responsible company that is drastically improving lives by changing their economics.

It’s a market- vs. charity-based approach and it’s working. A powerful way to lift people out of poverty is to inspire their entrepreneurial drive with moneymaking products. More about how the approach is working can be found here.

Proximity recently received the Skoll Award For Social Entrepreneurship, an award given annually to a small number of social entrepreneurs who are solving the world’s most pressing problems.

Proximity founders Debbie Aung Din and Jim Taylor are indeed doing that, proximate to their customers. They listen to their customers. They even moved nearer to do so.

Listening. We like that.

Hi, I’m Allyson. Or, Ally. Around Mortar, I’m known as Stinchfield, the new resident PR and social media guru. I met Mortar folks years ago on LinkedIn. We recently found each other again there.

I am happy to be here. I’m excited to help Mortar’s diverse set of clients create PR and social media conversations that harness the power of a Mortar360 branding workshop.

There are a few things that have stood out for me during my first official days at Mortar:

• Everyone is having fun and talking out loud, in a good-getting-great-stuff-done kind of way.
• The resident monkey is nowhere to be found.
• Mortar’s clients are diverse. Already, I’ve written a blog about a company lifting farmers out of poverty in Burma (Proximity Designs), sat in a room with a leading SaaS company forever changing the way marketing and sales teams score leads (Marketo), and talked in-depth with some execs about how to better serve Americans in debt (Financial Freedom Network).
• We get to work with smart professors from all walks of life at Golden Gate University (GGU), one of Mortar’s many long-term clients. The media call upon them regularly these days (great job former Mortar PR gurus!).
• The branding conversation with clients is much more direct than the PR ones I’ve been privy to over the last decade. There’s more focus on getting real rich insights upfront from all stakeholders (customers, partners, critics, competitors, people online and on the street, the media, etc.), and less on creating B.S. out of thin air.
• It’s a truthful 360-leadership conversation where everyone contributes. I’ve watched Mortar share information that clients may not want to hear, but need to. For instance, “Your messaging makes no sense to anyone but you and we fell asleep reading all of those atrocious acronyms.”
• The Mortar Foundation is doing good work in the world. Work I care about too. Like helping less fortunate people who need voices to shout out to them every once in awhile, “Hey, we’ve got your back!”

I look forward to my journey as Mortar’s resident, provisional PR and social media guru. Drop me a line anytime. I’d love to hear from you.

Stinchfield

P.S. Using the power of social media and PR, I’ve learned how to speed up help for AFCECO orphans and once for a miraculous little boy named Oliver. I look forward to contributing my skills to The Mortar Foundation and client causes, too.