I love the hot summer months and all the daylight. It gives me time to think aimlessly about life, my business and the industry I am in. There is a lot of talk these days about the evolution of marketing and I started to ponder it at random times. Below is a collection of my thoughts, both about what changed over the last several years and what to expect in the future. [ Read More ]
gaby adam
Pedaling with a Purpose
These past few summers, I have been cycling with a team called “Spin.” “Pedal with Purpose” is the heartfelt slogan of our team, which is currently more than 75 people strong. We are all about supporting causes around the area, including Bike Works, the Rivkin Center, the CF Ride, the MS Ride and Cycle the Wave. Since its inception seven or eight years ago, the Spin team has raised a total of more than half a million dollars for these causes, and we also donate our time. [ Read More ]
PR Expert’s Take on the Democratic Debate
There is nothing like a presidential race to demonstrate the importance of a personal brand and the nuance of communications. As a PR expert in Seattle, it was easy to pick up on things in the Democratic debate last night that would help and/or hurt a candidate. [ Read More ]
Humbled by the Beauty of Southern Utah
I have traveled to more than 40 countries and always was a bit of a snob about traveling in the U.S., but my recent trip to Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks changed all that. [ Read More ]
Negotiating Coverage in Drone and Robotics Media
DroneHive is a company I have worked with on and off for more than a year. Their founder and CEO Paul Huish is a gem, and he is as kind as he is smart. His company now has more than 700 professional drone operators around the United States who can be quickly deployed for corporations that want expert services for aerial data collection. Paul called about a month ago and told me how his team had partnered with SiteAware to do maintenance inspections of the 1070’ Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in San Francisco. [ Read More ]
How to Maximize the ROI of Media Coverage
Here’s hoping your year is off to a great and prosperous start! As you think about how to allocate your marketing budget this year, consider the immense ROI (return-on-investment) of a piece earned media coverage. [ Read More ]
Hello Amsterdam
I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Amsterdam. What a lovely city! I mainly went there for work – to check out the design influences, understand their impressive city rebranding campaign, talk to a robotics company and a variety of other business-related pursuits. I saw Banksy and Icy & Sot at Moco, their modern art museum, and Fukase at Foam, their main photography museum. And I saw the big “I Amsterdam” sign (more on that later) in front of the famous Rijksmuseum. [ Read More ]
Are You Smarter than a Chimpanzee on Basic World Facts?
I recently finished reading a great book called Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think written by the late Hans Rosling. I knew it would be good when Bill Gates called it one of his favorite books of 2018 and “one of the most important” he has ever read. It is all about our perceptions of the world, how wrong they are and why our instincts are so off. The book is also strangely uplifting. [ Read More ]
My Take on the Lip-Syncing Police Videos
The U.S. police videos with the men and women in uniform lip-syncing and dancing to famous songs, including this gem from the Seattle Police Department, are an awesome idea. Not only do they help the internal morale of these police stations, they help humanize the police in their communities. Suddenly, police forces across the nation are going from “one of them” to “one of us.” [ Read More ]
Fabulous Portugal, Disappointing Airlines
One of many gorgeous beaches near the southwest corner of Portugal. So many people have been asking about my recent Portugal trip, I decided to write about the highlights as well as some travel issues I encountered so you might learn from them. Portugal itself was lovely, but the journey was a lesson in resilience. As someone who has been to more than 40 countries and traveled more than 99.9% of the people I meet, I can say with some authority that customer service levels of the airlines and rental car companies (in this case Icelandair, TAP Air Portugal and Hertz) have gone way down. [ Read More ]