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Join us in conversation on the topics we believe matter...to our industry, our city and our society.
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 […]
Read MoreBecause 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 […]
Read MoreAs 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 […]
Read MoreIn 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 […]
Read MoreI 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 […]
Read MoreThanks 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 […]
Read MoreIt’s that time of year: My Facebook feed is slowly but surely starting to fill up with pictures of Girl Scouts and their cookie order forms. But the changes this year go far beyond the addition of a new cookie; for the first time since cookie sales began nearly a century ago, the parent organization […]
Read MoreDid see you see McDonalds’ new heartwarming commercial while watching the Golden Globes or NFL playoffs earlier this week? I admit that I liked it. The heartfelt ad showed a photo montage of messages posted on various McDonald’s signboards by some of the fast food restaurant’s franchises, including “Thank you Veterans”, “We Remember 9/11”, “Boston […]
Read MoreI 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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