Blog

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

Welcome Kailee!

By Ann Smith | Mar 10, 2014

Welcome Kailee Pence to the A.wordsmith team! Kailee joins as our spring intern and we’re so excited to have her. There’s much about her to like, starting with her love of country music, good Chinese food and visits to both the beach and mountain. Here are 5 more things you might not know about her […]

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I'm not bossy. I'm the boss.

By Kelda Rericha | Mar 10, 2014

Yet again, Beyonce is awesome. And so is Condoleezza Rice, Jennifer Garner and a handful of other female and male celebrities contributing to the Ban Bossy campaign, a partnership between the Lean In and Girl Scouts organizations, which launched today. As the mother of two boys (soon to be three) I’ve always felt very comfortable […]

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ChickTech

By Kris Travis | Mar 5, 2014

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to check out ChickTech’s High School Science Fair, held at PSU. ChickTech is a very cool organization whose mission “is dedicated to retaining women in the technology workforce and increasing the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers.” The high schoolers participated in a weekend-long set of […]

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DeGeneres' Oscar Selfie is a Record Breaker

By Ann Smith | Mar 3, 2014

Did you watch the Oscars? The highlights are making the internet rounds—from Matthew McConaughey thanking himself to Lupita’s tear-jerker of an acceptance speech to the pizza delivery guy and his pizza, but the biggest news may be Ellen DeGeneres’ record-breaking Oscar selfie. Currently at 2.5 million retweets and counting, the shot contains a staggering amount of […]

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The Power of the Telephone

By Ann Smith | Mar 2, 2014

Picking up the phone In today’s world, we use a variety of outlets to communicate with others and voice our opinion. From emailing, texting, tweeting, posting, pinning, sharing and liking, the ability to communicate is near limitless. The one thing most people have moved away from is using the telephone. You can click to read […]

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Anonymity and Temporality in Social Media Marketing

By Ann Smith | Feb 25, 2014

There has been a lot of chatter in the news recently about social network for sharing secrets, such as Whisper (Celebrity gossip! Lawsuit filed!) and Snapchat (Another big brand opens up an account!). These platforms, however, bear little resemblance to Facebook and Twitter, on which so many organizations have focused their social media marketing efforts […]

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Sochi Olympics End with Humor

By Mary Gorretta | Feb 25, 2014

As we detailed on the blog previously, the Sochi Olympic Games seemed to have been fraught with logistical problems from the start, including questionable accommodations and discolored tap water, earning the Twitter hashtags, #sochiproblems or #sochifails. These mishaps, along with other controversies, did not generate the most positive PR for this year’s Olympic organizers. However, […]

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Happy Birthday, George Washington

By Kris Travis | Feb 17, 2014

Happy Presidents’ Day! Or rather, Happy Washington’s Birthday (since that’s really what today’s date commemorates). Because it appears on many calendars as “Presidents’ Day,” I’ll go with it. Here’s a fun peek at how the nation is celebrating. Presidential branding Take a look at this fun personal project by Meg Jannott is a collection of […]

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Spreading the Love

By Ann Smith | Feb 14, 2014

Given today is Valentine’s Day, I think it is only appropriate this post be love-filled. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I enjoy clever, witty and smart web tools. Today I bring you a Valentine’s Day Google doodle featuring candy hearts. Six candy hearts are arranged where the logo used to be. There’s “Crush,” “Mr. […]

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The Lighter Side of the Olympics (At Last)

By Ann Smith | Feb 13, 2014

Finally, there’s been some positive non-sports news out of Sochi. After a week of less than ideal PR —  disturbing images of pink eye (read our earlier blog) and stories of Sochi being a bit less-than-ready for visitors – I was ready for some light-hearted, non-sports coverage. Molson Canadian announced earlier this week via twitter […]

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