A tale of two cities: ACME shows how good employee relations made good business sense

By Kelda Rericha | Apr 20, 2015

In addition to being an incredible A. Wordsmith client and a brilliant business partner to some of Portland, Seattle and San Diego’s biggest and best companies, ACME Business Consulting is a really great place to work. Sara Fritsch, ACME’s marketing team lead, has worked with ACME for nine years in a variety of roles. Today […]

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A Woman's Touch: Women-led Companies Perform Better

By Kelda Rericha | Mar 24, 2015

There are many reasons to increase the number of women working in leadership for the world’s top companies. With increased diversity comes greater creativity, innovation and consumer reach. But the best reason to put women in positions of leadership is much more black and white: women-led companies perform better, leading a 340% return vs. 122% […]

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6 'House of Cards' Quotes That Apply to PR

By Kelda Rericha | Feb 23, 2015

Because House of Cards debuts next week, and because I was up way too late watching my DVR’d Oscars last night, I would like to take this moment to share this incredible collection of PR best practices an ‘House of Cards’ quotes from Frank Underwood and the rest of the House of Cards crew compiled by […]

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How PR Can Save Us from the Anti-vaccination Movement

By Kelda Rericha | Jan 27, 2015

Thanks to a measles outbreak at the happiest place on earth, our news feeds have all been filled with what we already know: vaccines work and are safe, but some people — primarily between 2000 and 2011 — opted to not vaccinate their children, and now we’re paying the price. The “why” has been examined […]

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How Oregon Football is Innovating Corporate Management Style

By Kelda Rericha | Jan 12, 2015

I didn’t attend the University of Oregon, but I grew up in Eugene, Oregon, so tonight’s national championship game between U of O and Ohio State is personal. Eugene’s culture is hinged on two things: U of O sports and hippies. It’s a beautiful thing. It should come as no surprise that the culture within […]

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2014's Best and Worst Brands on Social Media

By Kelda Rericha | Dec 11, 2014

As the year comes to a close, its time to take stock of where the media industry stands. From an analysis of the year’s publishing trends to the seven “megatrends” in media for 2014, the theme is innovation and adaptation in this brave new world of online and social media. Using its social index — an […]

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The New York Times' Diversity Problem

By Kelda Rericha | Oct 20, 2014

In late September, the New York Times’ piece on television producer Shonda Rhimes hadn’t even appeared in the Sunday paper before the online world blew up over its seemingly racist and sexist content. Written by TV critic Alessandra Stanley, the piece on the highly successful African-American producer Shonda Rhimes starts, “When Shonda Rhimes writes her […]

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Not Dead Yet: Magazine Industry Reports 10% YOY Growth in Readership

By Kelda Rericha | Oct 1, 2014

The death of print media has been so widely reported for so long that many of us would never even questions its truth. But the beleaguered magazine industry has released a new report that might prove those assumptions wrong, especially for those with a digital platform. On Monday, the Association of Magazine Media (MPA) released […]

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The Sad Clown: How Robin Williams' Death Impacts Mental Health

By Kelda Rericha | Aug 14, 2014

The death of Robin Williams has consumed our media feeds and our minds the last few days. While tragic, the conversations it has spurred around mental health are powerful and important. The state of mental health in the United States is deplorable. Despite the uptick in school shootings and high profile suicides and addiction-related deaths, […]

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Extreme crowdsourcing: These parents let the internet name their daughter

By Kelda Rericha | Apr 23, 2014

In the same spirit of Lay’s Do Us A Flavor contest in which consumers submit and vote for the newest potato chip flavor — Did you know four million people cared enough to submit chip flavors last year?! — expectant dad Stephen McLaughlin created the website NameMyDaughter.com and asked strangers over the internet to name […]

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Changes in The Oregonian’s Editorial Policies to Significantly Impact Local News Content

By Kelda Rericha | Mar 26, 2014

New expectations for Oregonian reporters The media landscape has been ever shifting toward the Web, a move that has been seen as reflective of reader preferences and cost savings. As newsrooms are continuing to see massive headcount cuts, journalists are increasingly in a fight for their jobs, which are so often now measured by digital […]

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