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 ]
How We Got on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is an awesome show. Its wonderful edgy humor brings much-needed levity to the current state of our world. The show reaches 11 million broadcast viewers weekly as well as millions of people who watch segments via their YouTube channel. So imagine my delight when I was sitting at the Washington’s National Park Fund (WNPF) Annual Auction on Saturday night (4/7/18) and the executive director, Laurie Ward, steps on stage and says “Where is Gaby Adam?” to the 500 people sitting there. She had just received word that the announcement I led that week, about a $1 million dollar private donation to WNPF, had just been mentioned on Saturday Night Live! [ Read More ]
From World Travel to Nuance in Communications
I am an avid world traveler, 40 plus countries and counting. All of it for fun. I was reading some of my travel journals recently and came across a gem that I wrote. More on that in a bit, but first some context. [ Read More ]
Basics of Strong Messaging
Creating strong messaging takes skill and experience. That said, the very basics of good messaging are so simple it’s surprising to me how many companies get them wrong. There are three primary things to focus on: clarity, consistency and repetition. [ Read More ]
5 Top Communications Tips for Start-ups
In my 25+year marketing communications career, I have worked with about 50 start-ups. Most have been in the technology industry and a few have been in the environmental sustainability and travel industries. There are a few things I always seem to have to emphasize at the outset and they are listed below. [ Read More ]
Engage Humanity
Engage humanity. That is the tagline I came up with and I still love it. It was for an Australian company called Whispir that is in the communications space. I was working with them on a massive brand development project last year and worked directly with Jeromy Wells, the creative, smart and kind CEO of the company. [ Read More ]
May the Queen Conch Live On
Conch farms in Turks and Caicos. Conch fritters, and conch in numerous other culinary forms, can be bought at almost every restaurant in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Yet they are endangered. How can this be? I recently visited these islands and their stunningly gorgeous beaches to see firsthand what was happening with the coral reefs there. I had been there 10-15 years ago on a SCUBA diving trip and was interested in seeing if the reefs were surviving climate change, tourist bumping and the notorious lionfish infestation of the Caribbean. Instead I stumbled on the queen conch issue. [ Read More ]
PR for Robotics Companies
I have been interested in doing PR for robotics companies for many years. Just ask my friend Tandy Trower, former head of robotics at Microsoft and founder of Hoaloha Robotics, a company creating companion robots to enable seniors to live more active and independent lives. When I sent Tandy various media articles over the years, he delighted me with long email responses that helped educate me about the industry. I am grateful that he shared this knowledge and provided years of encouragement. In 2016, I have had the honor and privilege of working with three amazing robotics companies. [ Read More ]