A.wordsmith | Portland PR & Communications

Design & Happiness

By Kris Travis | Oct 28, 2014

Design Week Portland 2014 was great fun, and I felt lucky to attend the sold-out talk by Stefan Sagmeister on Design & Happiness. The Austrian-born designer has been a design “rockstar” for decades, but when he’s not working for clients of Sagmeister & Walsh, he’s studying how we attain happiness. His ultimate goal is a […]

Be Brief or Be Ignored

By Ann Smith | Jul 23, 2014

This week’s Fast Company Leadership quote comes from Joseph McCormack, author of Brief: Making a Bigger Statement by Saying Less. Despite the irony that this man wrote an entire book on brevity, its a message I find valuable today. Today was the day I broke my iPhone and have reverted back to a non-smart phone. I […]

Sports Metaphors Lost in Translation

By Ann Smith | Jul 18, 2014

With the FIFA World Cup behind us, I’d like to turn your attention to the sports metaphors that pop up again and again in all types of business communications. These are often misused or misunderstood in presentations and company newsletters or mailings alike, often because the recipient does not follow organized sports or grew up […]

The Universal Typeface Experiment

By Kris Travis | Jul 14, 2014

We all know the BIC pen—it’s the classic, no-fuss ballpoint pen most of us have grown up using, on everything from school essays to forms at the doctor’s office. (Did you know it is even part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art?) Well, this tried-and-true brand is branching out, and calling […]

Infographic: PR Then & Now

By Ann Smith | Jun 5, 2014

When it comes to effective communications, PR professionals tend to be the experts. That is what I love most about this industry. We are constantly one step ahead adapting to the ever-changing communication landscape. I came across the below infographic, PR Then & Now, from Inkhouse that is a great reminder of how our industry continues […]

The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard

By Kris Travis | Jun 3, 2014

Have you written a letter, lately? Do you take meeting notes on paper, or have you switched to typing ideas into your tablet? Most of us grew up required to learn handwriting and cursive—skills that were practiced each and every year—and many of us still prefer taking notes by hand rather than digitally. If you […]

A Side of Literature With Your Burrito?

By Kris Travis | May 19, 2014

Food for thought: had lunch at Chipotle, lately? Apparently you’ve got some reading material to digest along with your chips and salsa. The fast food chain has introduced the Chipotle Cultivating Thought series, a project that, as Chipotle states, aims to present “the words and whimsy of thought-leaders, authors and comedians through unique, you’ll-only-find-them-here essays, each […]

First Impressions

By Kris Travis | May 1, 2014

Look into creative business card designs What does your business card look like? Is it memorable? Interactive? I’m sad to say that even as a designer, my business card is pretty boring compared to these creative examples. DeMilked pulled together “30 of the Most Creative Business Card Designs” (full post here) and they’re a mix of […]

Frozen Foods Using PR To Save Their Bacon

By Ann Smith | Apr 13, 2014

A new campaign to defend the nutritional reputation Good news frozen pizzas, peas and other frost-bitten foods, you are about to get an image makeover! It has been confirmed by the American Frozen Food Institute the industry is in the final stages of preparing for a multilayer, multimillion dollar public relations campaign to defend the nutritional reputation of […]

8 Million Flower Petals

By Kris Travis | Apr 7, 2014

Good advertising can be beautiful. Just take a look at Sony’s new ad by the McCann agency, photographer Nick Meek, and a British special effects team–it’s a dreamy explosion of color in a Costa Rican village, and it’s captivating. According to creative blog DeMilked, “The creative crew and the inhabitants of the entire village took […]

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 […]

Nine Steps to Awesome Web Content

By Ann Smith | Feb 5, 2014

Wondering how to work with a writer to get copy that you love? Copy is such an important element of your brand and can help you communicate what’s truly special about your company. Whether you’re building your first website or updating the copy on an existing site, finding the perfect words can be a challenge. As […]