As communicators, our writing and speaking skills need to be constantly honed and improved upon. The cartoon below sketches out some of the basic written and verbal communications skills that all public relations professionals should possess.
About Jeff Lewonczyk
Jeff, better known as @JeffisAwesome, is responsible for Ketchum's intranet communications. He also draws, wears fun clothes and has an extremely cute baby.
Flightless Owls And The Secret of Competitive Creativity
“Okay, you can have all that,” Ryan conceded, “but here’s the thing. You can’t have any owls.”
I hesitated; this might be a deal-breaker. Earlier that evening, I dreamed out loud about running away to start my own society on a remote island. Since then, my conversation with my friend Ryan had morphed into a game.
Each time I described an ideal feature of my imaginary paradise, he countered with an equally imaginary constraint – and so on into the night. The push and pull had been fun up to now, but owls are very charming birds – was eliminating them a step too far?
On the Bookshelf: New Year Reads
Start 2013 off right with words of wisdom and insights from some intriguing and provocative writers. These books encompass storytelling, creativity, analytics, branding, and more in order to help you kick off the year with some fresh insights. Which ones pique your interest the most?
Introducing Ketchum Sounds, a New Music Marketing Service
Music is a major part of the marketing mix, opening the door to fans of major pop-culture influencers and creating an easily accessible language that spans demographics and geographies. To tap the power of this medium, Ketchum is launching Ketchum Sounds, a music marketing specialty that helps clients reach consumers by tapping into their musical passions.
Ketchum Sounds will be a part of Ketchum Sports & Entertainment (KSE) and led by Marcus Peterzell, KSE’s EVP for Entertainment. The new offering will provide our clients with a full spectrum of music marketing services – including music licensing, tour sponsorship and activations, artist endorsements and partnerships, and digital music platforms – to create 360-degree music-based programs that connect clients with the audiences they want to reach.
On the Bookshelf: Back to School
I love to read all year round, but the back-to-school month of September makes me particularly excited to pick up new books and learn new things. Here are six recent and upcoming releases that I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this fall.
What Ketchum Colleagues Saw on the Ground at the Olympics
The Olympics may be over, but the buzz the Games created worldwide is still being felt. It was a remarkable event for media and communications: the first time the Olympics were broadcast via live streaming, the highest-ever TV ratings across a variety of categories, the world’s most heavily policed event for brands… the list of superlatives goes on.
Many colleagues from Ketchum were lucky enough to attend the Games in London both for work and for pleasure. They took some time to share some insights and observations about what struck them on the ground from a PR perspective. Here are some of their thoughts.
6 Examples of Why Everyone Should be an Actor
I’m the oldest of four children, and so far three of us have finished college as theater majors. While I’m sure my parents secretly despair for our less than lucrative life choices, I actually believe four years of acting class is one of the best things that can happen to a person.
The skills I learned performing on stage continue to pop up in almost everything I do at Ketchum, and I think they can serve anyone working in marketing, communications and beyond. Here are a few examples:
Firebirds Aren’t Always Visible
This post is part of Ketchum’s Cannes*ectivity – insights shared from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Click here to read additional posts.
By the end of my first day at Cannes, one sense overwhelmed all the others – vision. This stands to reason, since this festival was built on a foundation of advertising, but the sheer scale is still amazing – every available area is papered with posters, many of them in bright, vivid colors, and the exhibitors’ displays are designed specifically to catch the eye and draw you over.
But there’s more to it than that. While I was helping to hang some posters bearing the latest image for Ketchum’s break through campaign, passersby repeatedly stopped and snapped photos. They were taken in by the picture, certainly, but one woman summed it up when she walked right up to the poster, tapped it with her finger and turned to her companion to read the words – “See this? Stir Creativity.”
