99problemsbutapitchaintone got this one spot on - exactly my thought process!
Your initial reaction:
After you realize how successful of a PR stunt it was:
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There’s An App for That
So I finally did it; I made the switch from a PC to a Mac!
Granted my very first computer EVER was a Mac, but that was quite some time ago now and I have some major catching up to do.
Which is why I’m asking you to tell me your must-have Macbook apps. Leave your recommendations below if you have them!
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Bonjour! I’m Baaaack!
After an extremely long hiatus, and an amazing vacation in Europe, I’m back to blogging! To kick things off, here are some photos from my favorite parts of exploring London and Paris!
The City: Walking the streets of London! At night, when it’s cloudy, in the rain - amazing any time, no matter the conditions (well, minus the day of 60mph winds)!
The Underground, the DLR, all public transportation: it’s THE way to get around there - how could I not mention it as a fave part of the trip?! Sitting down instead of walking? Yes, please!
New Year’s Eve 2011-2012: Amazing dinner/drinks at Gordon’s Wine Bar (the oldest wine bar in London) followed by NYE on Waterloo Bridge, above the Thames, overlooking the fireworks from the London Eye.
Best Meal of the ENTIRE trip: a French restaurant in London called Palm Court Brasserie in Covent Garden. AH-MAZ-ING!
Mulled Wine: Enjoyed this yummy warm beverage at the Crown & Anchor pub AND at an amazing rendition of The Canterbury Tales, which was one of the top experiences while in London.
The Tower of London: An amazing tour through this historic castle, with a peek at the Crown Jewels!
Good Drinks with Great Friends!
Paris: below is a view of the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room. A beautiful view to wake up to every morning!
City Lights: the Champs-Élysées (aka Shopping Mecca) from atop the Arc de Triomphe.
The Eiffel Tower: a long trek up (thank you for forcing this experience upon us Bobby) that is well worth the champagne toast at the top and dining at the mid-tower restaurant.
<3 <3 <3
The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay: a MUST when in Paris! Truly an experience to see so many masterpieces and so much history in these amazing museums!
My BFF in London: thank you for being our British tour guide Shauna! We couldn’t have made it through London without you! Such an amazing trip and I can’t wait for the next one!!
Food and Wine: Did I mention this already? I’m going to go ahead and mention it again just to emphasize how amazing the food and drinks were that we had while in London and Paris! YUM!!!!
Cheers to an amazing 2012 and more blogging to follow!
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Spaahhh Day
When life gets crazy, you go to the spa. After a fender bender on Halloween and having to visit a radioactive dump site (these are the things we PR people do for our clients - you’re welcome!), I found it necessary to take a Me Day!
In order to help me forget the above unfortunate events of the week, there was no better place to spend the day than Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa.
This has got to be one of the best spas in the Valley - amazing service, amenities and the best treatments and massages! I opted for the 90-minute Detox Body Treatment:
sanctuary detox body treatment
sixty minutes, 150. ninety minutes, 210.
This moisturizing, healing and soothing body wrap includes a lymphatic massage. The fantastic detoxifying service features antioxidant Astara products including vitamins E, C and A for healing, collagen boosting and refining the texture of your skin…creating that soft, smooth feel and look. The 90-minute treatment includes a full body massage.SO worth it and beyond relaxing!! This was my first wrap, and while it was weird to be encased in plastic and towels like a mummy the products used smell fantastic and made my skin feel amazing. Not to mention my fender bender related back pain is now non-existent!
If you’re ever in need of a Me Day, Sanctuary Spa is where it’s at!
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Rock The Guru Vote!
Last year, I was lucky enough to win the title of Best “Marketing Guru” in Arizona Foothills Magazine’s Best of Our Valley Contest (my photo from the March 2011 issue of the magazine seen below, accompanying article seen here).
This year, I’m nominated again and need your help in rocking my vote to retain the title!! So…
The contest runs until November 30 so remember to vote every day!
xoxo - Kendra
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Water Skiing vs. PR
Taken from my original blog post on HMA Time, the below are lessons I learned water skiing at Lake Powell that parlay into the PR world.
After getting back from a recent 5-day trip to Lake Powell where we lounged on the houseboat, explored the canyons and partook in our fair share of water sports (insert jealous comments here), I finally learned to water ski.
When I returned to the office this week, it occurred to me that some lessons in water skiing are the same lessons that you would use in PR – or in any industry for that matter. They include the following:
Concentration – focus is key; whether it’s remembering to keep your arms straight and legs bent in the water or to keep the end goal in sight, so as to not fall down (in the water or in life), PR pros must always concentrate on the goals at hand for each client.
Strength – Not only do you have to have strength to get up and stay up on skis while going over the wakes, but PR pros need to have strength when dealing with clients who think they know PR better than you do, dealing with reporters looking for the inside scoop on a deadline (or those who are turning down your pitch), etc.
Ambition – If you want to do any fancy tricks on the water, you need to have that drive, ambition and courage; same goes for scoring that front page story in the paper. Take a risk and work to make it happen.
Goals – While my first goal was to actually get up on the skis, I made another to at least go over the wake and back. Can you say success?! As PR people we’re constantly making/completing goals for clients. Getting up on the skis meant it was time to cross the wake, which meant the next goal is to try a trick (maybe I’ll do that next time). Same in PR; be it writing that press release, developing a social media campaign, pitching local and national stories, and so on.
Balance - this of utmost importance when on two water skis. If you don’t hold your balance you’ll ultimately fall. As PR pros we’re sometimes juggling upwards of 10-20 clients so balancing out your work between clients, in addition to having a work/life balance is vital.
In any sport, we always learn something to help us in life or learn lessons that help us in business (there’s no “I” in TEAM). What lessons have you learned from sports that compares to our everyday duties as PR professionals?
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Facebook Moves Forward - F8 Update
If you were not one of the 120,000+ people tuning into the annual F8 conference live via Facebook yesterday, you may have missed out on the exciting new changes that Zuckerberg is unveiling with the new Open Graph Timeline.
As you can see there’s a new layout, a timeline to the right where users can view the greatest moments in your life from each year, new apps and instead of the lone “like” button, users can now say what they’re currently reading, cooking, watching, etc.
For a full recap of each update, see my post here!
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Drapes are Done!
Super excited that my new drapes are finally up - and the two holes in my wall that got me to this point are hidden! Amazing how that and a few accent pillows can transform a room!
BEFORE
AFTER
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A Blind Tasting Tragedy
I’m sure ConAgra (parent company to the frozen food to-go favorite Marie Callender) had good intentions when they went to blind taste bloggers with their latest and greatest “gourmet” pasta meal.
What they didn’t take into consideration is how tricking bloggers into thinking they were going to a gourmet Italian restaurant would still not make Marie Callender’s food taste any better.
The result? Negative reviews, negative comments on social media outlets and an unknown number of customers lost. “Huge event fail” is right.
Make ConAgra’s loss your gain - no matter what PR or marketing tactic you use, or how creative it may be, if your food (or product in general) isn’t good, it will show. Tweeps will tweet about it, bloggers will blog about it and your theoretical frozen food section will remain fully stocked.
Better luck next time Marie!
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Can You Pass the Schweddy Balls??
Quite possibly the best new ice cream flavor to come out of Ben & Jerry’s: a tribute to Alec Baldwin’s famous SNL Delicious Dish skit and his famous Schweddy Balls!
