Te Mata Peak from AHA Creative on Vimeo.

In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth is on top of Te Mata Peak in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand reminding communicators to use visuals in communications initiatives.

Since we provide a range of travel public relations services at our Vancouver PR agency and Tourism New Zealand is one of our favourite clients, we wanted to participate in this excellent initiative.

We have had a great deal of success in having travel articles that we’ve written about New Zealand published in both traditional and online media. We thought we would share one of those articles with you today. It’s about Auckland, which is where you initially land when you travel to New Zealand from Canada. I love Auckland. There is so much to do there – in the city itself and just a short drive or ferry ride away. It is a fabulous place – and I am hoping this piece inspires you to spend some time there when you visit New Zealand!

WHY AUCKLAND IS MORE THAN A JET LAG CURE

For many North American travellers, Auckland is a place to recover from any jet lag and to get their bearings for their New Zealand vacation. However, visitors soon discover that the beautiful city on the bay is so much more than a stopover to the rest of the country.

Positioned on a narrow piece of land between two magnificent harbours – Waitemata and Manukau – Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city with a population of 1.5 million. While it has a big city feel, when it comes to culture and sophistication, Auckland also gives off a comfortable, down-home vibe. People are friendly, the streets are safe and whether you want a city experience or would like to get a little closer to nature, you can find it either in the city itself or in just a short drive or ferry ride away.

Food

Auckland is a foodie heaven. No matter where you turn, there are incredible restaurants ranging from little hole-in-the-wall local spots to prestigious eateries run by world famous chefs. Want to know where to go for lunch or dinner? Ask a local. They will happily give you a rundown and directions to their favourite spots. Knowing how friendly Kiwis are, they might even join you!

Wine

The Auckland region is known for its wine and is home to some of New Zealand’s oldest established vineyards. In fact, just a short 40-minute ferry or water taxi ride from the city’s harbour is Waiheke Island, which boasts about 100 wineries. Quaint and beautiful, Waiheke Island is home to a range of boutique wineries that produce unique, high-quality wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc grape varieties. Some of the more well-known vineyards include Kennedy Point, Mudbrick and Man O’ War. Waiheke Island is also known for its olive oil and the island has a range of artists who sell their work at local shops and boutiques throughout the community.

Fun

No matter what your idea of fun is, chances are you can find it in Auckland. Activities range from sailing on Auckland Harbour, to shopping the boutiques on High Street; or you can check out the view from Sky Tower where, on a clear day, you can see about 81 km of the volcanic landscape. Just a short drive north of Auckland, visitors can also walk the black sand of Karekare Beach (made famous in the film The Piano), horseback ride at Pakiri Beach or surf at Piha. And, of course, with New Zealand playing host to the Rugby World Cup 2011, checking out a rugby match at Auckland’s Eden Park is a truly Kiwi experience.

Air New Zealand has direct non-stop flights from Vancouver to Auckland and also offers flights from many other North American cities. Visit www.airnewzealand.ca for more information. Qantas (www.qantas.com) also offers flights from many North American cities.

For more information on Auckland, please visit www.NewZealand.com.

As the Canadian PR agency for Tourism New Zealand, we connect with Canadian travel journalists on a regular basis. We work with Tourism New Zealand to create the opportunity for leading travel journalists to visit New Zealand and to share their experience with their readers and/or audience. Recently, we have been fortunate to have received coverage about New Zealand in The Toronto Star, Canada AM, The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, Sympatico.ca, Canoe.ca and The Discovery Channel and many others.

Without fail, what we hear back from travel journalists that visit New Zealand is how incredible the country is, how beautiful the landscape is, how delicious the food is, how amazing the wine is and how many things there are to do in New Zealand. One of the fabulous things about New Zealand is that there is something for everyone.

Below is an article that we wrote and distributed free of charge to media across Canada. Hope you enjoy it!

Five Things You Might Not Know About New Zealand

You probably know New Zealand for its adventure, adrenalin, and the great outdoors, but there are also a lot of interesting things that most people might not realize. Here are five fun, funky, and unforgettable things about the land of the long white cloud.

The South Island city of Dunedin celebrates chocolate for a whole week during the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival  (July 11 – 17, 2010). One of the highlights has organizers letting two sets of 25,000 Jaffas loose. As the chocolate candies roll down Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world – thousands of spectators eagerly await their arrival. (Just for the record, Dunedin is known as the “quirky capital of New Zealand” and this small city also boasts the country’s only annual naked rugby game.)

North Island’s Napier is known as the “Art Deco City” and maintains that title because of the local Art Deco Trust. The buildings in Napier underwent massive reconstruction after an earthquake in 1931, which almost leveled the city. Art Deco was in fashion at the time and it greatly influenced the rebuilding. Now Napier and South Beach in Miami, Florida are considered the two best preserved Art Deco towns in the world.

New Zealand is well-known for wine tours and tastings, but for those who like their drink with a little hop, there are also a wide range of microbreweries and brewery tours. For beer aficionados, there are many different types to choose from including North Island’s Galbraith’s Alehouse in Auckland, Waiheke Island Brewery on Waiheke Island, and Sunshine Brewery in Gisborne. The South Island brew opportunities include The Twisted Hop in Christchurch, Moa Brewery in Blenheim, and Bays Brewery in Nelson. Asking what local microbrew to try in any local bar or pub is sure to make you new friends.

New Zealand is predator-free, which means no cougars, bears, wolves or snakes. A walk in the forest is much less worrisome than a stroll in the woods in North America. There’s nothing waiting up around that bend except more flora and fauna, and perhaps a waterfall.

And last, but certainly not least, New Zealand makes exceptional espresso-based coffee drinks. According to locals, it has only been over the past five years or so that the country has embraced great coffee. (But when Kiwis decide to do something, they do it right!) Even in little out of the way coffee shops, you can get an exceptional Americano, latte, cappuccino or flat white (similar to a “wet” cappuccino). The best of the best are honoured at the annual New Zealand Coffee Awards.

Zorb Rotorua during my 2010 trip.

We, at AHA, are taking part in #Blog4NZ, a three-day blogging extravaganza designed to highlight how spectacular New Zealand is as a travel destination. This initiative was created to help restore travel to New Zealand after the tragic earthquake that hit Christchurch in February. While this isn’t a travel blog, we do quite a bit of travel PR at our Vancouver PR agency. Since Tourism New Zealand is one of our favourite clients, we thought we would focus on posts on New Zealand for the next three days as a show of our support for the youngest country on earth.

This campaign showcases the value of connecting with stakeholders online. The objective of it is to engage travellers, to showcase New Zealand and to move those interested in visiting New Zealand to buy a plane ticket, book accommodations, and begin researching activities in New Zealand. #Blog4NZ is a grassroots campaign that will allow travellers to connect with other travellers, with travel bloggers, with other like-minded people who can (and will) authentically tell them about the things to do in New Zealand.

I have had the opportunity and privilege to travel a great deal for both professional and personal reasons. I have been to some amazing places and, with few exceptions, can always find something to marvel at in any destination. Having said that, New Zealand is one of the most incredible places on earth. Full disclosure (again) – at AHA, we are the Canadian PR agency of record for Tourism New Zealand. My love for New Zealand isn’t because they are a client – they are a client because New Zealand is a fabulous place to visit.

We are currently planning a trip to New Zealand. It will be my fourth visit and Paul’s first. As we map out our itinerary, it looks like our trip will include a visit to the artistic community of Waiheke Island – just a short ferry ride from Auckland – for wine and olive tours and tastings; Rotorua which provides a look into Maori culture, the opportunity to check out boiling hot pools of mud and, of course, to visit the lovely Dorian and Ann at Volcanic Air Safaris and take a trip to White Island – an active volcano; and the amazing Hawkes Bay, which includes the art deco city of Napier, and the start of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail (a must do for wine drinkers). Hopefully we will also have the opportunity to tour the world-class golf resort Cape Kidnappers and, of course, have a glass of wine with one of our favorite Kiwis, the fabulous Annie Dundas. Then we’re off to Queenstown for TRENZ 2011, New Zealand’s tourism trade show. In Queenstown (another breathtaking place) we’re hoping to zipline at Ziptrek Eco Tours (the same company that has the zipline in Whistler, BC), and we will have to stop for a burger at FergBurger (best burgers ever!). I am looking forward to showing Paul around New Zealand.

New Zealand is a magical place. We hear how incredible it is all the time from the travel journalists that we work with – and these folks travel for a living! While the cities in New Zealand offer a vibrant, cosmopolitan experience, you are never too far from getting away from it all and getting out into nature. New Zealand offers a unique combination of feeling a little like home (especially for us Canadians) and yet being totally different from anything we’ve ever experienced before. The people of New Zealand are at the heart of it all. They are helpful, open, friendly and have a wicked sense of humour. Being a tourist in New Zealand brings life to that cheesy saying about there being no strangers, just friends you haven’t yet met.

New Zealand is a place worth visiting. If you have ever thought about going to New Zealand – take that next step today. Check out flights. Air New Zealand and Qantas have some great prices. And for any of you worried that it’s a really long flight, there are direct, non-stop flights out of Vancouver. You get on the plane in the evening, have a glass of wine, have dinner, watch a movie, maybe another glass of wine and you go to sleep. When you wake up, breakfast is served and you’re there. It’s an easy flight.

For more things to do in New Zealand, check out TRENZblog (especially in the archives of 2010 and 2009 blog posts in the navigation bar). I will talk more about the TRENZblog campaign in tomorrow’s blog post.

We talked about the amazing men who drive the recycling truck, and about the always-friendly crossing guard.  They had been kind to us – they were deserving of some kindness back.

And then we thought of something.

There’s been an ad on our local TV station recently, a fundraiser for the YWCA’s Crossroads Shelter for abused women and children. A child’s voice sings, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…” while a voiceover makes the chilling statement that there are three calls every day about domestic violence in our small town.  Three calls a day?  1,000 a year? How was this even possible?

Our decision was made.  We all liked the idea of brightening the day for scared, but courageous women and their families at the shelter, who were taking their first steps towards a better life.*

The YWCA loved the idea, when we contacted them. We suggested flowers for the women, or perhaps toys for the children – but the YWCA opted instead for the Universal Canadian Symbol of Good Will: Tim’s gift cards.

Personal delivery to the shelter itself was out of the question, as security there is very tight.  The shelter houses almost 300 women and children each year, and is only effective as long as it’s safe.  As one former resident put it: “I’ve got a great job and my kids are all doing really well. But even now, so many years later … I wake up from the fear, from that horrible icy terror that makes my heart beat so fast I think it’s going to burst… You know what calms me down? The memory of my counsellor at Crossroads telling me… we’d all be all right—because we were finally in a safe place.”

So, instead, we delivered 10 identical $2 gift cards, each in a cheery gift envelope, to our contact person at the YWCA office.  She assured us the cards would go straight to the shelter, and she thanked us with a warm smile.

I still feel the warmth in that smile, and in fact, I feel that really I should thank her.  She gave me the opportunity to feel just a little better about being human.

P.S. There’s something I noticed about this Random Act of Kindness thing.  All the kind thoughts or feelings in the world mean exactly nothing, without the actual ACT.

* A plaque on the living room of the YWCA Crossroads Shelter in Peterborough, says: “This space is dedicated to those courageous women who take bold steps toward a safer course, and to all those who help them find their way.” – Anonymous Supporter

Valerie Lapp is one of the AHA Crew based out of Peterborough, Ontario. Check her out her bio here.

Over the past eight days, I have been to Calgary, Toronto and Tampa for meetings. I am used to travel – AHA clients are all over North America and while we work easily day-to-day using technology, meeting face to face is always a good thing.

I can work just about anywhere – airports, hotel lobbies, coffee shops and even busy sushi restaurants, if I have to. One of the things that always strikes me when I travel is the importance of being prepared, organized, flexible and still hitting our marks and our deadlines. As communicators, that’s who and what we have to be every day, no matter where we are – in our office or in an airport.

A good communicator always has a “plan b” and often a “plan c” in place. And, because our lives are so driven by deadlines, I think most of us arrive early (whether it’s for a meeting, a lunch, an event or a flight) so that we can make sure we are prepared and organized. That way, we can be flexible.

At our Vancouver PR firm and, indeed, with our crew across the country, we pride ourselves on being prepared, organized and efficient.  Perhaps it’s because we’re all travellers at heart. Or perhaps it’s because we are communicators and the skill set necessary to do our work translates well to travel.

As I sit in the Tampa airport waiting for my flight, I think I will take a little break from work and have a coffee and people-watch for a while. Hope you have a prepared, organized, flexible day that works for you.

THIS BLOG POST WAS WRITTEN BY AHA CREATIVE STRATEGIES COORDINATOR LAURIE HANLEY.

When the team at AHA first placed the monthly Random Act of Kindness money into my hands, asking me to do something nice for a stranger, I was overwhelmed with feelings of both excitement and honour at the idea that I got to do this.

I had no idea just how difficult it would be to commit to an idea and set the plan in motion. I had no clue how awkward it would feel to approach a complete stranger, gift in hand, with the challenge of putting a smile on their face. As it turns out, the smile was the easy part.

I had so many ideas. So many complicated plans combined with an unexplainable amount of stress. After much deliberation, I returned to my first instinct, which was to do something nice for the neighbourhood crossing guard. She does so much for our community by helping our children get to school safely – and she always has a smile. On rainy days, while we parents race down the sidewalks and frown at the gray skies, she jokes about playing in the puddles!

I don’t know how often, if ever, we stop to thank her for keeping our children safe. I wanted to surprise her with a coffee card and another one to pass along to someone else. This way, I would be sharing not only the gift of a hot beverage or two, but also the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from doing something nice for someone else.

To simplify the task at hand, I had cleverly placed the cards into a bright yellow envelope with “thank you” neatly inscribed on the outside, as well as some handy instructions on what to do with the other card. As I cautiously made my way down the sidewalk and was nearing her corner, an unsettling realization hit me. By handing her the cards in person, I would need to actually look into her eyes, tell her what I was doing and why.

It was raining hard, yet she came towards me with her usual upbeat spirit. We chatted about the rain as she walked me across the street. (Insert deep breath here.) The cards passed hands and I gave a quick explanation, which I’m pretty sure went unheard. She merely looked down at the cards and said an uncomfortable, “Okay. Well, thank you.”

We said a quick goodbye and as I started towards the school she yelled after me: “Oh, that’s really nice! Thank you!” She was waving the card and I think it had registered.

After school, she walked my kids safely from one side of the street to the other, and I’m sure I detected a little hop in her step and an extra big grin. I believe I made her day.

One of the things I learned from all of this is that although as human beings we are often kind to our friends and family, doing something out of the ordinary for a complete stranger feels awkward and unnatural – maybe because we are out of practice. In the end, I realized the only one who was guarded was me – in more ways than one!

Laurie Hanley

At AHA, we’re big fans of Danny Brown. He has a great blog post that lists 52 Cool Facts About Social Media. We don’t want to steal Danny’s thunder – and we do want you to check out his blog…but below are just a few of the cool facts:

• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.

Is your organization on Facebook? Should your organization be on Facebook? Have you looked at the challenges and opportunities for your organization on Facebook?

• Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.
• There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day.

Are you monitoring Twitter, even if you aren’t actively tweeting? Is Twitter of value for your organization? Are employees of your organization on Twitter in a personal or professional way?

• There are more than 70 million users worldwide on LinkedIn.
• 80% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool.
• LinkedIn receives almost 12 million unique visitors per day.

How can your organization benefit from using LinkedIn?

Danny tells us more about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn as well as a few other stats and facts that are very interesting. This post helps put social media use into perspective…it’s worth a read.