Nike is known for having a lingering PR headache. With oversea child sweatshops and troubled sponsored athletes, I can only imagine Nike’s PR team is on overdrive most of the time. This weekend was no exception. On Sunday I ran in the Nike Women’s Marathon down in San Francisco. 30,000 people (majority women) gathered at […]
Read MoreAs PR professionals we’ve learned how to position, couch and direct certain messages so that they are received in the most desired manner. It’s how we interact with external influencers – media, clients and even colleagues. But what about when it’s family? I recently had an interaction with a distant family member that I haven’t […]
Read MoreLast night I attended a Portland Design Week panel discussion on the future of retail. It wasn’t quite what I expected, as the discussion skewed more towards what retailers could do to increase value for their consumers through services and technology, rather than the more design-oriented aspect of the retail experience (space, visuals, product display, […]
Read MoreAn interesting find I thought I would pass along – Beacon! Beacon, the Netflix for journalism, is a site where the public can access articles by personally funding their favorite writers. For $5 a month, readers can log on to www.beaconreader.com and decide what writers and stories get published instead of advertisers. Public relations professionals […]
Read MoreI think most of America is in agreement that what happened on the VMA stage between Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and a foam finger was an utter trainwreck and something we’ll be trying to erase from our memories for a long time to come. However, now that the dust has settled (a bit) and we […]
Read MoreIt’s come to this. “Selfie”, the term for mobile phone self-portraits generally aligned with vain teenage girls, has now entered the lexicon and joins proper words like “forsooth”, “serendipity” and “horse” in the Oxford English Dictionary, otherwise known as the OED and grandfather master of all dictionaries. The inclusion reflects an acceptance of other tech-related […]
Read MoreIt’s a dark day in the Rose City. As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, the home of the Portland Trail Blazers will no longer be called the Rose Garden. In an attempt to bring in more funding, the president of the Blazers announced last week that their home, deemed the Rose Garden in […]
Read MoreIt seems an unlikely match. Werner Herzog, director of bizarre but awesome films and documentaries such as “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and “Grizzly Man”, has joined forces with AT&T to create a documentary on the devastating consequences of texting while driving. Sharing the stories of both victims and perpetrators of texting and driving, the […]
Read MoreFrom politicians, to athletes, to celebrities, our country is fascinated by the downside of being in the public eye – the skeletons in their closet. I will admit that I, too, am drawn in to breaking news about celebrity affairs! One of the most infamous cheating scandals of our generation is none other than Tiger […]
Read MoreA new logo for A.wordsmith When I first started A.wordsmith in early 2009, it was more of an experiment than anything else. I had just fallen victim to the economy and was part of a large round of layoffs. I was also very pregnant and not very marketable when it came to a new job. […]
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