Interesting

Social media – how far is too far?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 27th, 2011

I saw something on Facebook this morning that really made me sit back and think. I have quite a few “friendly acquaintances” on Facebook. For the purpose of this blog, I will call them “pals.” These are people I have met and like, but that I don’t connect with very much in the real world. Some I met through work, others from my personal life. Many of them I met while travelling.

I don’t hold the same political views as some of them. I have to admit, I have found some of the discussions and ideas put forward by a…

What will be of value to your organization in the future?

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on September 30th, 2011

In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth is outside the Palace of Versailles talking about understanding what will be of value in your organization in years to come.

Online newsrooms, brand journalism and Gillian Shaw

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 28th, 2011

I was fortunate enough to attend a Vancouver CPRS breakfast event where Gillian Shaw, Digital Life Reporter for The Vancouver Sun, spoke about what it is like to be a journalist in the age of social media. It was an excellent event – well run, interesting and I walked away feeling like I had learned something valuable. Gillian Shaw is an excellent speaker – full of knowledge, authentic and she gives the audience information, knowledge and her experience. She isn’t there to impress, she is there to share and provide insight. (Which means she ends up…

What’s being reflected back to you?

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on September 23rd, 2011

In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth talks about the importance of listening to your stakeholders when you are communicating.

Target your media outreach!

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 21st, 2011

When I read articles and blog posts that talk about the importance of targeting your media outreach, I often find myself wondering about PR people that don’t identify which news outlets, which journalists and which bloggers they hope to connect with. What’s the point in sending a news release out to a bunch of people that at best are just going to put it in the trash and at worst, are going to ignore your emails in the future?

When I was at Maclean’s, I saw a great deal of “junk” come in from PR people. In fact, I once…

When good is good enough

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 13th, 2011

There are times when good is good enough. This may sound odd coming from a small agency that prides itself on exceeding expectations and delivering excellence every single time. It might even sound a little hypocritical. I think it’s realistic and smart business.

There are times when the excellence comes in the moving forward component – in joining the conversation, in engaging with stakeholders, in reaching out and opening the door for discussion. Over the years, I have seen several client organizations get stuck – and I mean stuck – in rewriting speeches, articles or entire websites over and over…

What is good public relations?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 24th, 2011

AHA Creative Strategies is a public relations agency. We’re communicators. We’re social media participants. We’re brand journalists. We use video, video news releases, b-roll, podcasts, photography, articles, news releases, media and blogger pitches, news conferences, media tours, speaking tours, speeches, special events, trade shows, community meetings, annual reports, newsletters and so much more to assist our clients in communicating with their stakeholder groups. (Notice I said “with” – not “to” – that’s very important.) We are in the business of informing, educating and creating conversation. As importantly, we’re in the business of listening and responding.

I mentioned in Monday’s blog…

Get in Touch

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on June 22nd, 2011

I have to admit, I had to laugh when I read this post on Ragan.com about all the ways that we now have to be contacted. Back in the day, there were just a few ways to connect. This communicator counted 10 platforms that he now uses – and funnily enough, in person is the last on his list.

What about you? How many platforms do you use for communication?

A Canucks Blog Post

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on June 15th, 2011

As many readers of this blog may be Vancouver Canucks fans (or at least hockey fans), today – the AHA blog is going to provide some Canucks entertainment – Johnny Canuck entertainment, that is.

The video was by a fellow from Kamloops, BC for a very small budget. (There’s a communications lesson in that – a great video that resonates doesn’t need to take a huge budget!)

We hope you enjoy the video: MY NAME IS JOHNNY CANUCK!

The AHA office will close a little early today to get ready to cheer our Vancouver Canucks on to Stanley…

A Haka for AHA

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on May 18th, 2011

A Haka for AHA from AHA Creative on Vimeo.

We’re enjoying our time in New Zealand working on the social media project for Tourism New Zealand. In our travels, we spent some time with the New Zealand Sports Academy. The students at the rugby school performed a haka in our honour.