Blog

Join us in conversation on the topics we believe matter...to our industry, our city and our society.

Can PR Be Automated?

By A.wordsmith | Jun 21, 2017

As politicians bicker about job growth and immigration, it’s become increasingly clear that the real threat to our current economic and social structure is automation and robotization. In the wake of this realization, workers around the world are asking the question: Will I be replaced by a machine? Can PR Be Automated? In PR, the […]

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Top Reaction Gifs for the format's 30th Anniversary

By Hailey Rae Swalley | Jun 16, 2017

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the GIF this week, Facebook has added a GIF button directly to the comment bar – making it easier than ever to interact visually on the platform. It’s hard to deny the impact that GIFs have had in recent years on modern social media culture, no matter what […]

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The Difficult Relationship Between Brands & YouTube Creators

By Natalie O'Grady | Jun 15, 2017

Every day, YouTube users watch nearly 5 billion videos. Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has become a culture-shaping video mecca that has created a new category of “celebrity.” Brands have jumped into the YouTube pool with both feet, taking advantage of those 5 billion daily views with ad buys on the videos of popular […]

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Tools to Help Copywriters Find Their Flow

By Elizabeth Garcia | Jun 9, 2017

In an ideal world, copywriters would have time to let inspiration strike. We would get to brainstorm, let ideas incubate, bounce them back and forth with fellow writers. You know, just like Peggy Olson and Don Draper did on Mad Men. In the real world though, copywriters often have to come up with creative and […]

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Your Most Underutilized PR Resource: Your Employees

By Hailey Rae Swalley | Jun 6, 2017

  Listening to your customers via social media, review sites, website comments and other digital forums has become second nature for most businesses, but many aren’t always the best at listening to their own employees’ stories. That means many businesses are missing out on a major internal resource for their PR efforts. Your own employees […]

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Customer Service on Snapchat

By Natalie O'Grady | May 25, 2017

In its short history, Snapchat has grown from a novelty app to a social media platform in which brands are eager to pioneer new styles of social media campaigns. From branded lens and geofilters, to influencer “story takeovers” and specialized in-app ads, there’s a multitude of ways for brands to utilize Snapchat. Users on Snapchat […]

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Celebrity Endorsements: The Risk for Brands

By Natalie O'Grady | May 15, 2017

Celebrity endorsements have been used by brands since the 1760s, when a savvy pottery and chinaware company used endorsements from royalty to promote their products.  In more recent decades, celebrity endorsement has become a staple for many large brands, like Michael Jordan’s partnership with Nike. As social media has grown into a part of everyday […]

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Why Learning Another Language Makes You a Better Writer

By A.wordsmith | May 11, 2017

Most of the time, language is effortless. Despite the labyrinth separating the thoughts in my prefrontal cortex from the words in my mouth, I can ramble all day without thinking twice about the process. Language is effortless, that is, until we encounter a new one. In a foreign language, finding the right words suddenly takes work, and we’re forced to […]

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Conversational Writing: The Art of Keeping it Real

By Elizabeth Garcia | May 8, 2017

How often do messages on websites or marketing emails make you wonder if a human wrote them? A lot of content supposedly “targeting” us completely misses the mark. The writing is not conversational. It doesn’t sound like us. It doesn’t make us want to engage, and it lacks personality altogether. Some brands still confuse professional with formal […]

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Design Week Portland 2017

By Kris Travis | May 1, 2017

To be honest, I was supposed to post to our blog last week, but I was too busy checking out Design Week Portland 2017. Did you experience any of the great events last week? For those who haven’t heard, Design Week is an annual celebration of all things design-related: architecture, art and craft, graphic design, […]

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