Interesting

Can You Write?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 26th, 2010

Shel Holtz has a very interesting piece on whether writing is a core skill for a professional communicator. He did a round up, asking several strategic communications professionals for their take and their responses are thoughtful and relevant. It’s an interesting topic and this piece is definitely worth reading.

There are some communicators who focus more on the actual craft of writing in their day-to-day work than others, but I can’t imagine that a professional communicator doesn’t need solid writing skills to do their job. Communication is at the very foundation of what…

How Social Media Has Changed PR

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 20th, 2010

We had the opportunity recently to speak with Glen Korstrom of Business in Vancouver about the impact that social media has had on the world of public relations. In fact, we’re quoted in his article this week. (You need a subscription to read the piece online.) We were thrilled that we were quoted as a thriving Vancouver PR agency that has embraced social media as a part of our offering.

I wanted to share a little more of what we discussed. As mentioned in the article, while there are many who do think…

Print Isn’t Dead, It Just Needs Video

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 14th, 2010

We’ve been discussing the challenges being faced by traditional media for what seems like a very long time. The announcement that CanWest Global Communications Corp’s publishing division has been sold to Postmedia Network Inc., the organization led by Paul Godfrey and backed by U.S. private-equity player Golden Tree Asset Management among other investors, comes as no surprise.

In reading the piece in the Vancouver Sun, it is interesting to note that the new owners say they are going to “pursue an ambitious ‘digital first’ business model.” Godfrey said that he “would expect most…

Making Your Social Media Interactions More Personal

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on July 07th, 2010

There is a good video presentation by Todd Blecher of Boeing on Vimeo. He references Star Wars and Obi-Wan Kenobi to showcase how Boeing evolved their social media outreach from “snoringly” boringly technical to real, authentic, interactive and (oh my gosh!!!) personal.

You have to get through some ads and sales stuff to see the video. It’s worth it to see how a highly technical BIG company grew into an effective approach to social media.

Social Media, Out Of A Small Vancouver PR Agency? …Really?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on June 16th, 2010

I find it interesting that social media is still such a big, overwhelming topic for many people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good for business. I think that as much as it has revolutionized how we communicate – and for those of us who are professional communicators, it has changed how we do our work – it is still just a tool. A very interesting, challenging and addictive tool, but a tool nonetheless.

I think that the perception of how complex, complicated and vast social media is – is a challenge. When I present to groups or lead brainstorming and…

The New PR Professional

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on June 09th, 2010

I came across a blog post by Deirdre Breakenridge that talked about “The Hybrid Professional.”  It’s worth a read.

Our role has changed. It’s as simple as that. As professional communicators, it is crucial that we understand social media and that we blend it into our overall communications strategy, when appropriate. I am still surprised at how many people in PR still have their head stuck in the sand about social media.

I was recently at a brainstorming meeting with a client. Our client had an industry partner at the session and they had their…

Busy Week At AHA – “America’s Next Top Model” & Justin Bieber

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on April 30th, 2010

We don’t normally discuss client work here on the blog, but this week has been so incredible, we thought we would share a little about what has been happening at AHA.

Working with our client, Tourism New Zealand (TNZ), we had two high profile projects that certainly had our office hopping this week. Our phones were ringing, emails arriving, and requests were coming in nonstop.

Canadian teen pop star Justin Bieber was in New Zealand for approximately 10 hours this week. He performed an acoustic set at Strathallan School in Auckland and bungy jumped at Auckland…

The Nestle Crisis Keeps Going

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 23rd, 2010

There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for candy maker Nestle. I just checked their Facebook page and the negative comments are still being posted on a regular basis. I also checked out their Twitter accounts (@nestle and @nestlecsv) – which stands for creating shared value. While there are plenty of comments to and at Nestle on Twitter, they aren’t tweeting much.

I found information on their website that announces that Nestle commits to using sustainable palm oil by 2015. It’s interesting that you can get this news via mp3 on their…

What if you gained 15,000 Twitter Followers Overnight?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 09th, 2010

In a random act of humour, Conan O’Brien decided to follow one of the 600,000 people that follow him on Twitter. The Chicago Tribune outlines the story very well.

Turns out, the person Conan chose to follow is Sarah Killen (@LovelyButton). She is in her late teens and is from Michigan. And about 15,000 of Conan’s followers began to follow Sarah. Sarah turned this opportunity into something very positive.

She tweeted about an upcoming breast cancer awareness walk, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, sending her new followers to a site where they could…

NBC Doesn’t Provide Live Coverage Of The Olympics

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on February 24th, 2010

I had a discussion with a client yesterday about the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She is based in L.A. and the only coverage they get of the games is from NBC. NBC, for some reason, has chosen not to provide live coverage of the games. My client is in the same time zone as the games, she has a television in her office, she would have the competitions on if she could—but they aren’t live.

This is a conversation that we have had quite often recently in the AHA Creative Strategies office. AHA partner Paul Holman is a sports fan…