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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 30th, 2012
I have been travelling across the country this week for client meetings. Contrary to what some believe, this doesn’t mean that I saunter into meetings at 10 a.m., that we break for lunch at noon and then in the evening, drink good wine and eat fabulous meals. It does mean I get up early (earlier than usual… which is already pretty early!) and that I watch a lot of television news shows and read even more newspapers than usual. (Hey – if they are going to make the effort to deliver it to my hotel room door, I am going…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 27th, 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama is in hot water because he had a conversation that should have been private in front of a hot microphone. You can learn more about that story here.
This blog post isn’t about Obama; it is about the fact that you need to be vigilant when dealing with the media – especially when there is a camera, microphone or audio recorder involved. Obama is a smart guy, he deals with the media on a daily basis… it was a lapse in judgment. And it happens to the best of us.
Of course there are…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 23rd, 2012
In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth is in Toronto talking about why it’s important to create a “Plan B” for your communications initiatives.
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 22nd, 2012
I read an article recently about a computer company in Germany that undertook what they thought was a smart promotion. They began gluing hard drives to alarm clocks and sending them to companies with a note reading, “Your time is running out.” Well, many of the people who received them were terrified and called the police, thinking the package held a bomb. You can read more about it here.
It reminded me of an old episode of WKRP in Cincinnati in the late 70s/early 80s, where they did a Thanksgiving promotion by dropping turkeys out of a helicopter……
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 19th, 2012
There is an unflattering news clip making the rounds right now of B.C. Premier Christy Clarke’s new communications director. I am sure it is going to be included in every media training session for the next decade – it is a perfect example of what not to do. If you haven’t seen it, you can view it here.
I have an entire rant about how valuable journalists are to a free and just society and how I believe communicators and journalists actually work in partnership (we don’t always have to agree or even like each other, but we…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 16th, 2012
In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth talks about surveying what else is happening in the world of your target audience when you have a campaign or initiative on the horizon and need to get their attention.
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 15th, 2012
I am sitting in a ferry lineup as I write this blog post. I commute from Gibsons, BC – a pretty little seaside town on the Sunshine Coast that is only a 40-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver. We have our AHA office in Gibsons and we have a business development office in Vancouver. (I am rarely in the Vancouver office because I go to the offices of our clients.)
We have an Internet stick that I use when I commute, when I travel, and even if we are out and about on the Sunshine Coast and I might need…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 13th, 2012
They say: “timing is everything.” It’s true. And perspective is right there beside it.
We have a fun, interesting looking clock in the AHA kitchen. I am sure it was inspired by the works of Salvador Dali. It is kind of melting and surreal, and when a person first sees it, they are unsure how to tell what time it is. It’s been hanging in the kitchen for about a year now. It seems perfectly normal to those of us who spend any time in the room.
We had an AHA crew member come by a few days ago and…
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Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on March 09th, 2012
In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth is in Edmonton talking about reviewing your crisis and communications plan – especially the social media component.
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 06th, 2012
As I write this, I am on my way to Edmonton to present on the value of media relations and social media to a client’s senior executive team and the board of directors. I love this part of my job. It’s always interesting to hear what the leadership of an organization thinks about media relations and social media – and believe me, it’s different every time.
We are often asked by clients to present to their senior executive, to their board of governors or directors, and to other leaders within their organization. There are times when having an unbiased “outsider”…
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