Blog

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

America's Favorite Sport in a PR Crisis

By Jillian Stephens | Apr 23, 2015

America loves football – everyone knows that. But it’s beginning to look like the sport itself is in crisis and does not reciprocate these feelings. A growing body of evidence is beginning to show that football players are prone to concussions and thus prone to degenerative brain disease later on in life. These diseases (CTE […]

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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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What Social Media Content Gets Shared the Most?

By Lisa Lavora-De Beule | Apr 20, 2015

Between June and November 2014, Buzz Stream and Fractl analyzed 220,000 pieces of content from 11 verticals (automotive, education, health, finance, food, business, technology, travel, entertainment, news, and lifestyle) to assess what social media content gets shared the most. The content of articles was divided into five types: how-tos, lists, what-posts, why-posts, and videos: How-tos: […]

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Anticipatory Design: Robots vs. Relationships

By Kris Travis | Apr 16, 2015

This article in FastCo Design speaks to me; I will always call it “the cereal aisle effect.” I had just returned to the states after being in Nicaragua for two weeks, and stood dumb in the cereal aisle, completely paralyzed by all the choices. Don’t get me wrong—I was eager for a little variety after […]

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What We Can Learn from Ellen Pao

By Jillian Stephens | Mar 31, 2015

This past Friday, March 27th, Ellen Pao lost her lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the top venture capital firms in California’s Silicon Valley. Needless to say, a great deal of controversy has emerged as a result of both the workplace discrimination suit itself and the verdict. What happened In case you’re a little […]

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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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C'mon Get Happy

By Lisa Lavora-De Beule | Mar 20, 2015

On Friday, March 20th, we celebrate the first day of spring (yay!) and the third annual International Day of Happiness. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012, International Day of Happiness recognizes, “the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and […]

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How do you respond to criticism of your organization? Don't forget about compassion.

By Gretchen Hoffman | Mar 19, 2015

What do you do when your organization is faced with criticism from customers or stakeholders, particularly when that criticism is going viral via social media? I’ll put aside major crises for the sake of this blog post – I could write for days about how to effectively plan for a true crisis and how to […]

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3 PR opportunities on St. Patty's Day

By Jillian Stephens | Mar 17, 2015

St. Patrick’s day is notoriously a whirlwind of green accessories, clovers, occasional pinching, little men with pointy shoes, and ample beer for drinking. Who couldn’t love a holiday that revolves around mirth and merriment? Sure, we’re a whole ocean away from the country who gave birth to this day, but we enjoy it just as […]

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The 5 Key Elements of Outstanding Emails

By Lisa Lavora-De Beule | Mar 5, 2015

Email is widely used today as a form of business communication. While email is considered to be an efficient and reliable communication tool, one needs to exercise care when crafting emails in the workplace. When used appropriately, emails can help garner the results you want. To be safe, use a disposable email address from 10 […]

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