Blog

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

Vince Vaughn Cameos in Stock Photos for Movie Promo

By Gretchen Hoffman | Mar 4, 2015

When it comes time to update your website, collateral or even a company PowerPoint presentation, you don’t have a lot of options for visuals: You can take your own photos, hire a professional photographer to build you a library of images or you can shop around for stock photography. If you don’t have the skills […]

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From One Working Mother to Another

By Ann Smith | Mar 4, 2015

A frustrating truth Today a powerful column appeared on Fortune.com. It was written by Katharine Zaleski, a former journalistic powerhouse who held top roles at The Huffington Post and The Washington Post in her mid-20s.  She is open and honest about how she viewed and treated women who were mothers during that time. Honestly recalling […]

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Why Narrative Matters

By Jillian Stephens | Mar 3, 2015

Want to hear a great story? Well, I don’t mean to slight you, but I don’t have one. I got you hooked though, right? Everyone loves a good story – so much so that we’ve preserved our entire human history in one form of narrative or another (even the word history has “story” embedded in […]

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A Handy Flowchart for Exclamation Point Overuse

By Mary Gorretta | Feb 26, 2015

In written communication, particularly emails, one of the hardest challenges can be conveying your tone of voice. How many times have you read an email wondering if the sender is angry, annoyed, snappish or maybe just being brief? I know in many cases, I overcompensate for this by using an exclamation point to show how […]

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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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What Does it Mean to be a Thought Leader?

By Jillian Stephens | Feb 17, 2015

  As you may (or may not) have noticed, A.wordsmith has recently changed it’s descriptive title from “a boutique PR and marketing firm” to “a boutique PR and thought leadership firm.” Likewise, you may be thinking, “What exactly does that mean?” Well, I’m here to tell you. Marketing for the sake of sales By definition, marketing involves […]

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‘Office Housework’ – Addressing Gender Stereotypes Within the Workplace

By Lisa Lavora-De Beule | Feb 12, 2015

In a recent op-ed essay in The New York Times, Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg and Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant, address the issue of “office housework.” This piece is the third within a four-part series about women in the workplace. In it, Sandberg and Grant state that regardless of their role within […]

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With Twitter reach slowing, how do you measure success?

By Gretchen Hoffman | Feb 7, 2015

Twitter came under fire this week for a slowing growth rate, with industry watchers citing concern that lower-than-expected growth numbers released in its earnings report  could put the social networking site  in a vulnerable position a few years down the road. Twitter’s executives, however,  are trying to convince investors that its reach far surpasses the […]

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Super Bowl Commercials through a PR Lens

By Jillian Stephens | Feb 3, 2015

I must admit that, though my love for some good ol’ American football is tried-and-true, at least one third of my enjoyment of the Super Bowl lies in its commercials. One can usually expect to feel all warm and fuzzy, to chuckle here and there and even to heartily laugh at least once as the […]

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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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