October 2010

Santa Monica, CA – New Zealand luxury retreat Eagles Nest was among the winners at the prestigious World Luxury Hotel Awards in Thailand. The Northland retreat was recognized as the ‘Global Winner: Luxury Coastal Hotel’ at the awards.

The World Luxury Hotel Awards are regarded as the pinnacle of achievement for luxury hotels worldwide. The award was established as a celebration of the ultimate achievement in the worldwide hotel industry. It is about recognizing hotels that have taken the ultimate step and distinguished themselves as truly exceptional hotels.

Eagles Nest owners Daniel and Sandra Biskind are thrilled by the win. “This international recognition for Eagles Nest further reinforces that the New Zealand luxury sector is amongst the best in the world,” says Sandra Biskind. “We feel profoundly honoured by this Global Award – especially considering that Eagles Nest is a relatively young and uniquely different property.”

Sandra Biskind was in attendance to receive the prestigious award at the black tie ceremony at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand. “This was one of the most exciting nights in my career,” says Biskind.

Marinique Truter, executive manager of the World Luxury Hotel Awards™, agreed that the award is exciting for the luxury property. “I firmly believe that a World Luxury Hotel award is the highest accolade that a hotel can receive.”

Eagles Nest is a retreat set within a 75-acre estate atop its own private ridge line, offering spectacular views of the Bay of Islands. Four of the five world class villas offer their own private heated horizon edged lap pool, all offering private Jacuzzis, original art work and a fully equipped gourmet kitchen.

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For information on Eagles Next visit http://www.eaglesnest.co.nz/.

For information about New Zealand’s extensive vacation options, log onto the 100% Pure New Zealand website at http://www.newzealand.com/.

For other media information, log on to http://www.media.newzealand.com/.

For high-resolution images, visit http://www.images.newzealand.com/.

For year-round travel deals to New Zealand, visit:
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/getting-to-around-nz/getting-to-nz/travel-deals/canada/

For more information, please contact Paul Holman at paul@ahacreative.com or 604.303.1052.

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AHA - VideoAlison Provost has a great piece on imediaconnection.com about video. Video has become an important tool to a communicator. At AHA, we have long been fans of video. Good video. Video with solid editorial content. Video that provides compelling content to the viewer.

AHA Take

While Alison’s entire article is interesting, you could just skip to page three and read about branded editorial content. In my opinion, that is where the value lies.

I have to admit that when I hear someone say they are going to create a viral video – I am skeptical. You can’t create a viral video. You can create a good video and pray that it goes viral, but you don’t control “viral.” And from what I have seen, creating a video with the objective of making it viral fails more than it succeeds. Producing an engaging, entertaining and interesting video that will appeal to your community has a much better chance of being shared.

At our Vancouver PR agency, we have our regular AHA Flip Cam Friday. That has been very well received. We are also working more and more with clients on creating a range of videos, from those made in-house using Flip cameras to working with videographers to create more news-like videos that showcase a story. For both internal and external communications, a Flip camera video is a powerful, yet simple tool. It can show a snapshot of your organization from the perception of your senior executive or from the reception. It can be a series of short clips or one longer video (not too long though). People like to watch videos, but they need to be engaging and entertaining. They can’t just be an infomercial about your organization. They need to be visually stimulating and to be interesting to the person watching.

We see a huge opportunity with video now and in the future. What about you? Are you using video or are you planning to?

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Rhino Marketing LogoRhino Marketing Celebrates 3-Year Partnership With Canucks Sports & Entertainment

Vancouver, B.C. – Rhino Marketing Inc., one of North America’s leading Internet marketing agencies, has signed a three-year partnership with Canucks Sports & Entertainment (CS&E). The partnership will see the Rhino.ca logo prominently featured at Rogers Arena with a logo in the ice in front of the Canucks bench and will have a strong in-arena and web based presence on Canucks.com. Rhino Marketing will support increased programming on Canucks.com and Canucks for Kids Fund initiatives.

Rhino Marketing Inc. is the first online marketing company to have an in-ice presence with the NHL. It is also one of the smallest businesses – size wise – to ever partner with the Canucks. The logo of Rhino’s 14-person organization now resides in the ice alongside mega-companies such as Rogers, Best Buy, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Rhino Marketing is approaching the partnership with innovative and creative thinking, including becoming the first company in the history of the franchise to sponsor the Canucks for Kids Fund 50/50 program. Rhino Marketing has committed its resources to support a number of Canucks charitable initiatives as part of the relationship, including the Jake Milford Golf Tournament and other fan interaction events.

Rhino Marketing’s Chief Rhino Doug Morneau explains: “We are big fans of the Canucks and to have our word mark in front of the player’s bench is very exciting. Apart from seeing this as a great marketing opportunity for Rhino, as strong supporters of charitable and philanthropic efforts, we feel that this provides an exceptional opportunity to partner with the Canucks to raise money for worthwhile local organizations.”

“Canucks Sports and Entertainment is proud to partner with a company that is focused on giving back to their community,” said Trent Carroll, Canucks Executive Vice President, Sales and Service.  “Rhino Marketing has taken ownership of a number of programs to further interact with fans across British Columbia. Through this relationship, not only will Canucks.com be able to provide further programming and insight of the team to fans but will also support the Canucks for Kids Fund and ultimately charities throughout the province.”

Through this partnership, the Rhino team has many other promotional, fun and unique initiatives planned with the CS&E organization throughout the hockey season. With a three-year sponsorship in place, there will be many innovative events from Rhino for years to come.

Founded in 1997, Rhino Marketing Inc. is a Vancouver-based Internet marketing boutique. They are a full-service Internet agency that understands business and how to connect clients with customers online. With offices in Canada and the United States, Rhino Marketing Inc. offers clients a single source for the design, execution and ongoing advancement of Internet marketing initiatives. The Rhino Marketing team operates at the intersection of traditional strategy-based marketing and the rapidly evolving digital world of e-marketing, providing clients with a strategic, integrated approach that creates strong results. An active member of its community, Rhino Marketing is involved with a range of charitable and philanthropic organizations, events and initiatives. As Rhino grows and expands as a company, so does their commitment to making the world a better place, locally and globally. For more information, please visit http://www.rhino.ca/.

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For more information or an interview with Doug Morneau, please contact Paul Holman at paul@ahacreative.com or at 604.303.1052

For a video interview of Doug Morneau and Trent Carroll, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/rhinomarketing

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PR-squared.com has an excellent series about social media. Today, the collaborative effort looks at the top five communications experiments to consider. It’s worth a read.

AHA Take…

One of the challenges of social media is that there is always something new and it seems like, no matter what you are doing, there is always something you aren’t and either wish you were or you’re asked by your CEO why you aren’t!

For most organizations, stepping into social media creates a shift in culture and that needs to be acknowledged. When we work with clients, we often recommend taking small steps forward – starting out small and building on successes. This approach makes moving into or expanding social media communications outreach feel more realistic, more “doable” in the busy day-to-day lives of our clients.

Having said that, we also talk a lot about video at our Vancouver PR agency these days. Video is an important and growing tool for a communicator. It doesn’t have to be a big production, slick corporate type video. Short video clips taken with a Flip Camera can create a strong interaction and can really engage your stakeholders.

Think about it, what could video do to showcase the personality, the quality, and the people behind your brand?

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