2009

Today we’re asking the get to know the AHA Crew questions to Paul Holman, Principal.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I admit, I am a bit of a workaholic (probably because I love my job) who also enjoys spending lots of time with Ruth and our two dogs. I really like spending Saturdays with them. We hit garage sales, go to the beach, and work in our garden.

What do you see as your communications strengths?

I listen and pay attention to the details. From brainstorming a campaign concept to writing and editing to media outreach, everything at AHA is well thought out.

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We thought we would have some fun and introduce you to some of the AHA Crew over the next couple of weeks. We asked everyone on the crew (including Paul and myself) a few questions. First up, our Toronto-based Account Executive/Writer Lori Simeunovic’s responses.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m married with a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. I moved out east from Calgary in 2001 (going against the grain of most people, but we love it out here). I can also read tarot cards.

What do you see as your communications strength?

Adaptability – my clients have included high fashion, air shows, horse shows, luxury resorts and telecom (to name a few!) and I’ve not been an expert in any of those areas prior to working with them. I love learning about new industries.

What interested you in joining AHA?

The corporate culture, forward thinking mentality and the great client list.

What five words describe you professionally? Personally?

Same for both – outgoing, adaptable, professional, creative and thorough.

What kind of beverage do you drink first thing in the a.m.?

Water. The only coffee I’ve ever tried in my life was Turkish, when I had my grounds read by some psychic lady. In university, a can of diet coke could keep me up for days…

Who do you think you were in a past life?

An oracle.

What makes you laugh out loud?

The things my 6-year-old son says to me. (i.e. “If a mommy and a daddy make a baby together, does the daddy have to go to a skin store so the baby can be made?”)

When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?

Cher.

What five people living or dead would you invite to a dinner party?

I would keep this one to family, past and present, since everyone is scattered around the world…kind of boring, I know, but what the heck, I am going to say to Jesus or Einstein over salad???

What’s in your refrigerator right now?

A slab of salmon, a roast chicken, a head (bulb?) of fennel, lots of fruit/veggies and a bunch herbs/condiments. This early in the week, things are still looking good in there (by Saturday it’s a different story).

What five CDs would you take with you to a desert island?

The soundtrack for Love Actually, anything by Blue Rodeo, Puccini’s La Boheme, Soundtrack for Motorcycle Diaries and Sharon, Lois & Bram (for the kids, who I’d also take with me!).

What question do you wish someone would ask you?

What can I make you for dinner tonight?

What’s your answer?

Roast beef, please.

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Having just gone through a brand and website refresh, we’ve had some in-depth discussions about who AHA Creative Strategies is, what kind of clients we would like to work with and what organizations we think will want to work with us. It’s been an interesting process.

…I should warn you, this is a bit of a long post!

I came across an interesting article yesterday on Media Post entitled: The Safe Hire. In this piece, writer David Bernstein focuses more on advertising, but he puts forward some thought provoking ideas. His first point: “It’s a basic rule of business, only hire someone who’s done the job before.” He then says that in the ad world, clients almost always hire someone with category experience and then much of the work ends up looking alike.

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Chris Brogan has an excellent post on his site this week on how to influence him, and it translates to how to reach out to anyone either online or not.

One of the key points he makes is “don’t let the numbers fool you” and that is so important. I’ve blogged a bit about this before and according to some of the AHA crew, I am a bit obsessed right now with this topic. It’s not how many people you reach, it’s which people. Reaching a blogger with 100 key readers or one with a wide-range of 10,000 creates different results, but the one with 100 readers may be of more value to your organization.

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We’re excited about the launch of our new website today. It symbolizes several changes in our approach that we believe will benefit our clients and add value to the work we do.

AHA has always been a small agency with the ability to expand depending on the client or project. When we went through our brand refresh audit, we realized that we weren’t showcasing the talent that is AHA well enough. Some of the feedback we have received from potential clients is that while they loved our approach, respected our abilities and wanted to work with us, but they thought AHA might be too small. Well, we took those responses to heart and now we’re a solid team of seven, with a presence in Calgary and Toronto. In some ways, we’re a little bit like South West Airlines or West Jet. Our crew is professionally invested in AHA and committed to our mandate of delivering excellence. Everyone benefits when AHA does well and AHA does well when we exceed expectations. We’re inspired and thrilled to have such an amazing team of professionals onboard that are committed to providing great work for clients. And by the way, they’re not afraid of making a splash either.

AHA comes with a past; a past that we’re proud of. We’re coming up on our seventh anniversary, and we’ve come a long way. We’ve worked (and are working) with some great clients and have evolved our skill sets as the world of communication has changed. As many of our regular blog readers know, over the past few years we partnered with QUAY Strategies on a social media service called Bridging Two Worlds (B2W). After more than 14 years in the business, QUAY is closing their doors and the partners are going on to other episodes in their professional lives. Along with that, we are closing down the B2W brand. AHA still provides social media services and workshops as a part of our overall services, but the B2W brand was a partnership and it didn’t make sense for us to keep it going without QUAY. If you read through some of the older blog posts here, you may see reference to B2W.

We will be touching on a few of the changes at AHA over the next few blog posts and hope you will be as excited as we are about our new and improved agency.

We’re ready to make a splash…how about you?

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