What Were They Thinking?
Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on April 23rd, 2012
I have seen a couple of incidents of criticism that were wrapped in the concept of “feedback” that are still wrinkling me. Given that as communicators, most of what we do is put out for review and input, I think that there might be some value in my little rant about what is and isn’t constructive criticism.
I have a friend that is currently working on a volunteer project. She is putting in many, many hours as a volunteer to help our former high school celebrate its 100-year anniversary. The small group of volunteers producing this event have done a…
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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 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 February 14th, 2012
For some reason, we are experiencing an increase in those time-wasting, frustrating, painful calls from telemarketers that try to sell you something that you don’t want and you don’t need. We’re also getting companies that want us to send business their way because “we’re good” and “your clients would be happy using our services.” (Really? Is that why I get up in the morning? To introduce you, someone I don’t know, to the clients we have built strong relationships with over many years???)
So for any of you reading this that recognize yourself in the paragraph above—STOP CALLING! (I doubt…
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Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on February 01st, 2012
My friend, mentor and former boss, Della Smith of Q Workshops, is a smart cookie. She may, in fact, be the smartest person I have ever met. (And I have met a lot of really, really smart people!)
Now, I am not sure I would put Della up against Jeopardy genius Ken Jennings—that’s just a different kind of smart (and one that I believe has more to do with memory than anything else). But I have seen Della in a wide range of scenarios—from dealing with an organization facing a huge crisis to sipping a cold…
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Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on January 03rd, 2012
I am not going to spoil the fun of today’s AHA Special Fast Take. All I will say is watch Ruth take the “plunge” into 2012. (And my apologies for the sound – it was very windy!)
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Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on December 07th, 2011
Ruth has a special video blog post from her hotel in Atlanta regarding Alec Baldwin getting removed from an airplane.
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 16th, 2011
Our AHA blog is listed in Cision, a media database. It’s pretty clear, even if you only read a couple of our posts, that we write about communications: brand journalism, public relations, media relations, social media, positioning and messaging. It’s all related to strategic communication.
It seems pretty straightforward to me what to pitch to us. Which makes us shake our heads in wonder when we get pitches from random PR agencies and independent PR practitioners that have nothing to do with what we write about here. It looks to me like some people just grab any email they can…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 14th, 2011
I am on location at a video shoot for a client today and as I took the early ferry into Vancouver (a short 40-minute commute from my home on the Sunshine Coast), I heard a report on News 1130, a local radio station, that grabbed my attention.
It seems that a local politician used the images of two children in campaign brochures without getting permission from their parents. As a communicator, when I see issues like this, I wonder how it happened. In this day and age, taking photos of children without the written consent of their parent(s) or legal…
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Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 31st, 2011
I recently received an email from an organization in the communications field asking for my input. The email offered me the chance to win an iPod Shuffle. I found it surprising that an organization in this field would reach out to communicators and offer that as the prize. The communicators I know either have iPhones or smart phones that hold music or they already have a music player. And a Shuffle is pretty far down the food chain. An iPad would have been a better prize; only about half of the communicators I know have a tablet of some type.…
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