While data-driven insights undeniably play a crucial role in marketing and communications, there are times when being led by data without considering its context and potential biases can lead to flawed decision-making. We explore when to listen to your gut over the numbers and how embracing your instincts can fuel innovation and success.
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Most business leaders understand the value of having a memorable business name and logo, but many don’t realize the importance of a visual identity, what it entails, and why protecting it is paramount.
Building a successful brand takes time, resources, and strategy. Typically, the brand’s foundation is in its mission statement, value proposition, and unique voice which are then expressed through the company name, logo mark, print and digital marketing materials and website. Those graphical components comprise the visual identity, or face of the business, at inception.
However, over time, a business’s actions and reputation become intertwined in the visual image establishing the business’s brand, which, done well, can become one of the business’s most valuable intellectual assets.
When starting a business, trademarking and copyrighting a logo helps to ensure a company will be the only one of its type selling a similar service or goods using the same business name. A visual identity that consists of an icon or wordmark can also be trademarked.
Purchasing a domain name that reflects the business name is another important avenue to stake claim to the business’s brand name online. Creating social profiles that secure the business name across all major social networks should be done as well, even if there is not an immediate plan to activate a social media program.
A company’s visual messaging effectively expands as it grows if it is implemented with consistency and a long-term strategy in place. Consistency is needed in the color palette, fonts, graphical style and tone to make it recognizable at a glance thus building the brand’s equity. This consistency put into a formalized document with a set of rules to control proper logo usage, font hierarchy, iconography and tone in any public-facing visual communication is essentially the basics of a brand guide.
An example of a brand that has withstood the test of time by making intentional choices and following a brand guide in its implementation of the visual identity is Absolut Vodka. Their bottle has reached iconic status because it hasn’t changed and was used for 25 years in their marketing campaigns. The main star of the visual creative was their bottle and their product name in the same bold font with a simple headline and playful imagery. A brand guide is essential in ensuring deliberate decision making regarding graphic design.
With growth and increased engagement, a brand’s story and personality further develop. The brand personality is tied consciously and unconsciously to the consistent use of a branded visual identity and adherence to brand guidelines. Apple has mastered this practice. As a result, the company is now synonymous with simple design and innovation.
As a company successfully delivers on its value proposition as it matures, it builds trust and brand recognition in the public eye. Its visual identity is no longer simply recognized: it’s preferred. When a brand is trusted, it’s able to expand and raise prices because people are willing to pay more for products or services from a company they trust.
Throughout a brand’s growth, if the visual identity isn’t protected by registering for a trademark, purchasing a website domain with the company’s name, securing branded social channels and possibly consulting with an attorney to protect intellectual property, the business risks eroding its brand equity. Worse, a copycat company with a lower quality product could use a similar logo design, social media strategy or online presence and not only dilute the work that has gone in to developing the brand but also tarnish the company’s reputation.
Another risk is that a new market entrant develops a strategic brand with a strong visual identity and is able to grow its reputation, build the customer’s trust and take market share. Even in commodity industries like insurance or consumer products like toilet paper, brands and visual identities help brands stand out and stand for something, like the GEICO gecko or the Charmin bear. One stands for 15 minutes that could save you 15% and the other stands for strength and softness.
Protecting a visual identity from the start is the best way to ensure a company’s resources aren’t wasted and safeguard its future success. The process is actually relatively simple compared with what’s at stake.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Felicia Watson is Director of Creative Services at (W)right On Communications. With a proven track record of success and more than 20 years of design and marketing experience, Felicia approaches each project with a commitment to create an impactful design that achieves results. Responsible for leading the agency’s creative services that integrate print and digital graphic design, online programming, videography, editing and photography, Felicia also oversees agency services including animation, motion graphics, and emerging technologies including augmented/virtual reality and holography as they may be integrated in strategic communication programs.
Everyone has a personal brand, whether they work at cultivating it or not. It’s worth it to spend some time thinking about your own and how to be more intentional about crafting an authentic personal brand for your professional self.
I recently joined Henry DeVries, Forbes columnist, author and founder of Indie Books International, on his podcast to talk about personal branding, especially for people sharing their expertise as authors. But the advice applies to everyone at every stage of their careers.
Crafting an authentic personal brand can help advance your career and professional goals, build your business and expand your network. Who doesn’t want that for themselves? There are a few key steps to success.
First is identifying your assets. Start with your product and service or its features and benefits. The point is to make sure your brand is marketable. Next, think about your most unique characteristics. What is it that your family, friends and coworkers say about you? What are your natural or standout characteristics?
The idea here is to differentiate yourself from others by emphasizing the things that really make you who you are. Maybe you’re boisterous and irreverent or especially thoughtful and kind.
Whatever your unique identifiers are, they must connect with your target audience on an emotional level. If they don’t, it’s not really a brand. A brand has to evoke a feeling in others and that’s what you’re aspiring to do by cultivating yours.
The secret behind the most powerful personal brands on the planet is the emotional connection the make. You can get there, but you need to be willing to take your special, authentic characteristics and turn them up to ‘11.’
Consider some of the best-known personal brands: Howard Stern, Elon Musk, and Oprah Winfrey. What do you think of when you hear these names? And, most important, what do you feel?
When your brand is based on who you really are, it’s sustainable. Personal brands that are based on a fiction fail. Many a PR scandal has broken when someone’s personal brand has proven false.
An authentic personal brand can take a setback. Just look at style maven and homemaker extraordinaire Martha Stewart who came out of prison and teamed up with Snoop Dogg to resurrect her brand.
So, you know what makes you stand out and how to maximize your personality capital. Now it’s time to come up with your origin story. Your parents might not have been gunned down in an alley and, to my knowledge, no one has ever been bitten by a radioactive spider but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a compelling story to tell. How did your core characteristic(s) evolve? What key events built the pillars of your personality? This is your opportunity to further develop your public persona into something that makes people want to turn the page.
Your origin story is something you need to tell again and again and on every media platform: earned, owned, shared and paid.
Earned media is when your story is told by others. This is the most credible source for your audience and the most valuable for building your brand. Owned media is when you tell the story. This includes your website, newsletter, webinars, video and other assets. This is where you have the most control over the narrative. Social media is how you engage people with your brand. It’s a great place to grow your audience and cultivate the vibe your story lends itself to. Paid media is the last, and least credible, platform but it has potential to reach the most people, depending on your budget, and the ability to target the audience that your message reaches with tremendous precision.
Proper use of the right media channels is the secret sauce of a successful marketing strategy.
Lastly, think beyond marketing copy and brochures. Think about how people experience you. That’s a personal branding opportunity. Maybe it’s how you sign off your emails, how you greet people or what appears in your Zoom background. Simple things. Or it could be more lavish and require a financial investment like an annual fundraising event you host or the furniture and art in your lobby.
People’s beliefs are formed by their experiences. So, make sure that your behaviors are consistent with the brand you’re trying to cultivate. As a career public relations consultant, I assure you that walking the talk is the most important thing you can do to create and maintain your personal brand. As Warren Buffet famously said, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.
Build your reputation faster through personal brand activations. If that sounds like jargon, here are some examples of what I mean by that.
One of my professional colleagues has a strong personal brand. I would describe hers as an otherworldly passion for public relations and developing excellence in the next generation of communicators (good thing she’s an educator!) with a healthy dose of aloha spirit. One of the ways she consistently brings her personal brand to life is in her thank you notes. She never misses an opportunity to pen one when she feels someone has helped our her or her students. She also instills that as a best practice in her students. As a result, when she calls on her colleagues for help, we’re all absolutely willing to jump in because we know she appreciates anyone who takes a moment to share their passion with her, her program and her students or alumni.
Another example is a young student who graduated from her program, as a matter of fact. We met for an information interview, and I kept an eye on her career, noting that wherever she appeared online, she had a flower in her hair. It stuck with me and helped me to remember her. Now, when I describe the flower to anyone who has met this gal, they know exactly who I’m talking about! As someone just starting out, she didn’t necessarily have a calling card or a proven characteristic she knew was marketable, so she created one. Nice.
Crafting your authentic personal brand is a worthwhile exercise. While we can’t all take ours to the exaggerated extremes of the celebrity examples I mentioned, it does require dialing yourself up to 11 if you want to stand out from the pack.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Julie Wright is President of (W)right On Communications, Inc., the award-winning integrated strategic communications firm she founded in 1998. With offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Vancouver, B.C., her team handles complex communications challenges for B2B tech, cleantech and energy, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, not-for-profit and public sector organizations. Wright and her team elevate the agency experience through data-driven insights and measurable results for client partners.
What may have started as a year full of excitement about cruises to tropical islands, getaways to the mountains, or first trips to magical theme parks has deflated into canceled plans, disappointment, and postponed dreams for travelers. travel
But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for travel brands.
The spirit of travel is ingrained in us. Being confined for too long takes its mental and physical toll.
According to a recent Destination Analysts survey, almost half of American travelers are open to receiving news and updates about exciting travel destinations. People crave the mental break of reminiscing about places they have visited or dreaming of places they still want to go.
By adopting what is working in today’s unfamiliar travel PR and marketing territory, your brand could still find its voice and have it stand out over the crowd.
The knee-jerk reaction of most brands was to halt all advertising and social media posts immediately. These companies perceived it as the only way to survive. But silence is not always golden. Skift.com recently highlighted how Booking Holdings and their sub-brands (like Booking.com and Agoda) successfully increased their market share over other travel companies, simply by staying the course. Consumers continued to see their advertising — and reacted with their wallets. In the grand scheme of things, Booking Holdings’ overall revenue was down, as it was for most travel brands during this time, but they grew their market share on Trivago from 39% to 54% year over year.
What’s the lesson? You may not be able to grow your market but you can take market share from your competitors and be better positioned as the market recovers. Wouldn’t we all like to see our share of the proverbial pie grow in those kinds of increments? As the age-old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.
In the same Destination Analysts survey, over 50% of respondents stated they would take a road trip over air travel in the next six months. That means it’s time for destinations to start investing in their own backyards. The drive market is calling. Even the New York Times is drawing attention to the nostalgia of road trip travel from decades ago when packing everyone in the family car and hitting the open road was the norm for summer vacations. Summers at the shore, camping in the mountains, and hiking in the forests have become welcome visuals overcrowded theme parks, city centers, and cruise ships.
The lesson is to let the drive market know you are there, what you offer (family drive-in movies in your parking lot? Drive through grab and go breakfasts?), and how you can help them save that much-needed family vacation— all to help boost your current business with the potential to create lasting loyalty and travel traditions for years to come.
PerformanceIN suggests that now is the time to leverage your relationships, affiliates, and partners across the industry to find mutually beneficial outcomes. Travel bloggers, media influencers, and attractions need to work together to reach their target audiences, maintain consistent messaging, and make the consumer feel confident about the travel experiences they are considering. Find ways to work with the media to promote how safe, comfortable, and enjoyable your destination is.
While many destinations and resorts have been afraid to host media or influencers given they can’t deliver the full experience or support their site visit with the normal level of service, these writers and personalities are hungry to travel and engage with your brand and share positive socially distanced experiences with their readers and followers. You can also partner with attractions or restaurants to become a sort of one-stop-shop offering value-based add-ons to your clients’ stay. As households plan their travel, they’re looking for space and safety, not for discounts, so don’t chase this market down: add value instead through partnerships. It’s an opportunity to create a win-win situation, and spreading the wealth could be mutually beneficial not only now, but as the basis for long-lasting collaborations into the future.
The lesson here is while we can’t get together physically, we can partner virtually to get messages out and create the best possible travel experience for guests and visitors.
The booking window for travel is shrinking — dramatically. Leisure travel used to have an average lead time of 28 to 90 days. According to Phocuswire, that window has whittled down to seven days. And in this period of stress, uncertainty, and distraction, time is of the essence. Consumers want to know that your destination is safe. They want to reassurance that safety protocols are being followed. They want to know that you know what you are doing. And they want to know that as soon as they get to your website.
Making it hard for them to find what they are looking for can mean one of two things: They will simply move on to your competitor’s site, or, they’ll call your hotel for this information, taking up the time of an already busy front-office worker. Don’t make the consumer do the work. Be proud of your message of safety — get it front and center. A video is the best way to show the consumer you mean business. Check out these videos we produced for Welk Resorts and the San Diego Tourism Authority for some great ways to let consumers know you mean business.
The lesson here is to show consumers your health and safety practices to build their confidence and secure their business. Let them see firsthand the steps your company is taking to ease any stress they may be feeling about their trip. Reach out if we can help you create your visual selling tool.
During a crisis, people want to know they are being heard. They want to be shown compassion. And they want to be able to let their guard down. It all starts with trust. Letting your consumer know that you hear and understand them and that you will cater to their needs speaks volumes. As Salesforce’s leading hospitality and tourism executive told Skift.com, lost are the days where frequent stays will increase a traveler’s loyalty status level. To win them over now, it’s time to get personal and customize their experience. Their information is at your fingertips — from their booking preferences to their age, hometown, and contact information. Building custom- experiences based on the knowledge you already possess will continue to make that customer brand-loyal for life.
According to Skift, more than 80% of customers said they experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. When you are thinking of your next mass e-blast or social media campaign, ask yourself how it speaks to your end consumer, specific personas, or the actual individuals receiving or engaging with your content. Does it get to them on an emotional level?
This lesson is that actively building connections will always yield higher returns than simply hoping for the best. One of my favorite mentors always said: “Hope is not a strategy.” Know your audience and what makes them tick. Then offer it to them. They will thank you in return.
Remember that this too shall pass. While we can’t know how quickly, we can continue to be present, be mindful of our message, and make the most of your assets to sell your story. The only direction to look is forward. Use thoughtful resources to guide your communications. Make every interaction intentional and meaningful. Consumers will remember — and will thank you for it.
In this era of diminishing trust, the public craves authenticity. This is reflected in the massive growth of a hospitality marketing tactic that recently established itself and is expected to experience five times more growth by 2021– influencer marketing. Rather than sticking to the basic ad placement that’s blatantly meant to sell, influencer marketing creates a sense of sincerity. The influencer isn’t seen as some big corporation looking to make money, but rather as an admired friend that’s looking to inform their followers about a great product or destination that they think they’ll enjoy.
Influencers are now widely used in campaigns, but there are a few important steps you need to take prior to introducing an influencer into your hospitality brand’s campaign.
After assessing your goals and properly vetting the influencer, communicate your goals to the influencer. Don’t simply offer money or free product to the influencer in exchange for specific content. Instead, collaborate with the influencer to ensure they understand the mission of your brand and empower them to create the content that will resonate with their followers the best. This process results in content that feels more genuine and is more appropriate for the target audience.
With the plethora of channels used by consumers to share and exchange information, it’s getting harder and harder for a hospitality brand’s content to stand out. Yes, being an outstanding writer is important, but what communicators now have to consider is how to best present their message to the audience in a fun, creative and visual way. Luckily for us, there’s a variety of exciting new storytelling tools at our disposal. From virtual reality to drones to infographics to 360 ° cameras, take advantage of these tools to create unique stories that immerse the viewer and hint at the kind of experience they will have if they choose your hospitality brand.
The point of using these technologies is to help spark a feeling about your brand through content. The ultimate at doing this is Disney. Instead of focusing on specifications and features – X number of beds, X amenities, $X per night, etc. – you should be focusing on the experience they deliver and the emotions surrounding it.
Sidenote, if you’re interested in hearing more about how to use 360° cameras in your campaign, read this post by WOC President and Founder Julie Wright.
Two-way communication has never been more important than it is today. Users are not only consuming content, but they’re also creating it. Not only does user-generated content remove some of the hassle of creating original content, but it also creates a feeling of authenticity. Plus, an unpaid consumer sharing their experience with your brand is third party validation just like great media coverage.
Take advantage of this user-generated content and find ways to include it in your communications strategies. To find this content, deploy social listening campaigns. Through social listening, hospitality brands are able to spot content where they’re featured and identify what’s being said about them. An excellent social listening tool is Hootsuite, which enables you to link and create dashboards for multiple social platforms that show streams of mentions, comments or shares so you can quickly and easily share or respond.
Natalia Xibille —Communications Coordinator
By Julie Wright —President
Twitter: @juliewright
We recently moved our San Diego head office into a beautiful new space. I couldn’t wait to share it with the world. There was just one problem. Our new setting needed to be experienced rather than described or shown. Words either fell flat or came off as braggadocious and standard photos and video weren’t capturing the scene I wanted to depict.
How could I share our agency story so people could experience virtually what our team was experiencing in real life?
Inspired by a recent journalism presentation I attended on immersive storytelling, I realized that, as a PR professional, I could use 360° cameras for visual storytelling too—in fact, a 360° camera was probably the perfect solution for my quandary. So, I began browsing Amazon for options and settled on the Samsung Gear 360.
For $99, this camera shoots in 4K, has a microphone and takes photos and videos plus time lapse, live video and HDR landscape images. It has two lenses–one in the front and the other in the rear. You can shoot from just one lens for an extra wide angle, panoramic-style still or video. When you use both lenses, the camera’s software stitches the images captured by each lens together to create a seamless 360° view of your surroundings.
Visual storytelling is more important than ever. In the information economy, the scarcest commodity is attention, and visuals are the most economical vehicle for communicators to get their points across.
That’s because the brain can process visual information—or at least recognize a concept—in as little as 13 milliseconds, according to MIT research released in 2014. (By comparison, it takes 400 milliseconds to blink an eye.)
Through strategic design, motion graphics and video, today’s storytellers can convey a message or create a feeling in their target audience “at a glance”—and a glance may be all you have. The visual draws your audience’s attention and makes them care long enough to read the rest of your message or material. Additionally, visual content is highly correlated with recall. An audience exposed only to text or spoken word could recall 10 to 20 percent of the content after three days. With visuals, audience recall rose to an average of 65 percent. (For more on visual storytelling, check out our most recent newsletter.)
There’s a hierarchy at work: still images outperform text, motion graphics outperform still images, video outperforms motion graphics and live experiences outperform video. As an experiential form of video, 360° cameras for visual storytelling can bridge that gap between stills, videos and experiences.
Social media stories (videos with animated gifs and virtual reality filters like Snapchat’s and Instagram’s) illustrate this hierarchy perfectly as they have nearly overtaken traditional feed posts as the new preferred medium for social sharing.
And news outlets have embraced 360° storytelling too with The New York Times, Associated Press and others using this technology to immerse their readers and viewers in their reports from the field.
Don’t be afraid to use this technology. I wouldn’t call myself a technophile by any stretch of the imagination. I hate reading user manuals and expect my tech to be intuitive to use right out of the box. That said, the instructions for the Samsung Gear 360 were straightforward and easy to digest.
After charging the device; I downloaded the app on my Samsung S9 (an iPhone app is also available), inserted a memory card (sold separately), connected my phone via Bluetooth and started taking photos and videos using my phone to control the device and to store the images too.
You’ll want to get familiar with the camera’s features. Give yourself the opportunity to learn what works and how to get the best images when you’re not under pressure or on the clock. Set aside some time and space to play with your new toy. You’ll quickly see for yourself what each mode can do. Below are some examples that I shot from our San Diego and Los Angeles offices and a few from my summer visit to Honolulu:
Click and drag your cursor to experience the agency’s La Jolla office from all directions!
Click the image and drag your cursor to see who’s at the table!
These 360° images become interactive when uploaded directly to Facebook. Your followers just need to tip, tilt and turn their mobile handset to view the image from all angles. Here’s an example—if you’re reading this on your mobile device, click on the link and give it a try.
Your thumbs and fingers might wind up in your 360° shots because the 360° view is so wide.
To keep your thumbs out of the shot, secure the camera on a slender extendable mount of some kind. I found that a light stand worked perfectly. I also tried a stabilizer I had been using for taking standard video with my smart phone, but its mount was too chunky and showed up in the shot. Most light stands have a simple screw at the top upon which the Samsung Gear 360 model fits securely. Light stands are generally very lightweight, collapsible and inexpensive.
Ultimately, I also purchased a short, lightweight tripod that I can also hold in my hand to keep my fingers out of the image and which is easier to travel with.
Once the camera is mounted on a tripod, you can control it from a distance using your Bluetooth-connected phone. That means that you can place the camera to capture a scene and then go pose for the shot. With the camera’s timer mode, you can also set up a shot and give yourself a few seconds to put your camera down and get yourself or your group into position.
If you’re holding the device in your hand, you’ll be happier with the results if you look up at the camera and say “cheese” or, as explained above, place it on a tripod and operate the camera at a distance with your smart phone for a less posed shot.
With the 360° video setting, the immersive nature of a moving image can be a bit disorienting. A gimbal device can be used to create a more professional, totally stabilized image or video.
But even without additional stabilizing accessories you can capture motion elegantly.
First, place the camera on a tripod so that it’s perfectly still. Allow the camera to capture the motion around it. That will give the viewer the sense that they’re immersed in the action without the distraction of jarring camera movements.
Second, make use of the time lapse setting. Hold the camera at a distance on a narrow stabilizer and slowly move through the scene that you’re seeking to capture. Because the final image will be considerably sped up, any jerky motions won’t be visible. This effect creates a fun, high-energy image and can really boil a scene or experience down into mere seconds for at-a-glance communication.
Third, combine a tripod with the time lapse feature. Using the tripod, take a time lapse image of the surroundings. If the experience you’re trying to capture is something like an event getting set up, a streetfront or bustling beach scene, this combination will immerse your viewer in that place and convey the scene in mere seconds.
Depending on the 360° product you’re using, it may have a “Stabilize” setting, which, in the case of the Gear 360, automatically corrects shaky or tilted photos and videos. If you’re uploading to YouTube to share your footage, you can also toggle YouTube’s Auto-Fix or Stabilize Video options in its Effects menu before publishing.
The uses are manifold! Essentially, anytime you want your audience to feel or experience something remotely or virtually, 360° video or stills are a great tool in your communicator’s toolkit.
Hospitality PR pros can bring prospective guests and media right into the property’s lobby or immerse them in a nearby visitor attraction. A technology public relations team can bring the trade-show floor or their CES booth to life. And imagine doing that as a behind-the-scenes Facebook or Instagram live video to tease your booth or product launch? If you’re in entertainment PR, this technology is perfect to immerse your audience in a red carpet or festival experience.
I’m most excited by this technology for nonprofit visual storytelling. Putting your donors in the environment of the people, places or pets that their philanthropy helps can be incredibly powerful. A hospital foundation can show the new wing or equipment that its donors helped fund, a food bank can show its empty shelves ahead of a food drive and a nature preserve can share a time lapse with hikers, wildlife and passing clouds to encourage public support.
All of the above are perfectly suited for social media engagement too. And with Facebook and YouTube supporting 360° video, you can use these social networks to share your immersive visual stories.
If you’re ready to try a 360° camera for visual storytelling, you can buy one for about the same price as a 164 GB storage card, and you’ll likely need both, so budget at least $200. While you might be able to save $20 by buying a smaller memory card, why have regrets when you run out of storage capacity in the middle of a video shoot?
A light stand as a tripod may run you a minimum of $20 and a handheld stabilizer about $15 to $500 depending on how fancy you want to get.
I also upgraded the storage card on my phone to make sure I would not run out of storage space as I began accumulating more large video files. And the Landscape HDR mode images are quite large too – but beyond worth it. (I never want to take a standard landscape photo again!)
If you do go for it (or are already producing 360° video and immersive stories for your client or company), I’d love to hear about your experiences or see your work. Share with me on Instagram at @juliewrightPR or see our agency’s feed at @wrightoncomm. I can’t wait to see how others are using immersive storytelling to earn attention and drive interest in their messages.
And if you’re not yet but would like to bring a 360° influencer to your site or work with an agency that is embracing new methods to bring your story to your audience, please contact us at info@wrightoncomm.com.
The results will be well worth it!
David CumpstonDavid brings more than 20 years of communication experience to (W)right On, most recently as Associate Vice President at one of the largest PR agencies in the country. Spending most of his career in the Bay Area, he has developed and managed strategic communications for numerous prominent brands including JP Morgan Chase, Aramark, SEGA, Horizon Organic, Sutter Health, UCSF Medical Center, Stanford Children’s Hospital, Orbitz, Best Western, Walmart and Velodyne Lidar.
With expertise in consumer and B2B public relations from automotive, land development and high tech to healthcare, social justice and crisis communications, David is an asset on WOC’s B2B team and client partners.
He is a two-time winner of Bulldog Media’s Best Response to Breaking News Award and earned a bachelor degree in Mass Communication & Public Relations from Texas State University.
David cemented his love for travel early on and has visited more than 45 countries on six continents to date! In addition to travel, David is also passionate about dogs and, in particular, his Chiweenie mix, Dora. He’s always happy to share a photo or three of this wonderful rescue pup, so just ask!
Sonja HansonAs a Senior Communications Strategist for key accounts in our B2B and tech practice, Sonja is a strategic communications pro. With more than two decades of experience, Sonja is skilled in crisis communications, journalism, international relations, corporate communications and media relations.
Formerly Sonja held senior positions in public relations and communications primarily in government (U.S. Navy, National Park Service, City of Bellevue and the City of Bainbridge Island) and medical industries (Navy Medicine, UW Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital).
She achieved her Master of Arts degree with a focus in Communication Studies from San Diego State University and her Accreditation in Public Relations through the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In her free time, Sonja enjoys spending time out on the water, hiking and riding horses.
Capree WatersCapree has more than 5 years of experience in content marketing and content strategy. She is skilled in helping elevate brands through SEO, content writing, marketing strategy, analytics, and project management. Some of Capree’s efforts for the (W)right On team include providing social media strategy, content marketing, copy writing, research and analytics, media pitching, and more. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from San Diego State University.
Michail TakachMichail brings over 20 years of experience to his role as Senior Communications Strategist at (W)right On Communications, most recently as Director of Brand Communications for VCA Animal Hospitals, a national operator of hometown veterinary clinics based in Los Angeles. During his time with VCA, Michail launched the award-winning VCA Voice podcast and introduced the first DEI program serving the company’s 35,000 associates. Michail previously served as Director of Brand Communications for The Aspen Group; Global Director of Brand & Digital Communications for Cielo Talent in London, UK; Global Director of Digital Brand for Manpower Group; and Senior Communications Manager for Aurora Healthcare.
Michail holds Bachelor and Master of Arts in Communications degrees from the University of Wisconsin.
Aditi VengurlekarWith a background in video editing, special effects and painting, Aditi enjoys creating strategic, thoughtful and meaningful work. Her role of Multimedia Graphic Designer, combines her decade of experience in 3D animation for award-winning studios with her expertise in developing marketing, branding and promotional materials.
Aditi holds a Masters of Arts degree in Visual Effects and Animation and graduated with honors. Apart from professional endeavors, Aditi loves to paint, swim and spend time with her family.
Julie WrightJulie Wright is President of (W)right On Communications, Inc., the award-winning integrated strategic communications firm she founded in 1998. With offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and Vancouver, B.C., her team handles complex communications challenges for B2B tech, cleantech and energy, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, not-for-profit and public sector organizations. Wright and her team elevate the agency experience through data-driven insights and measurable results for client partners.
Earlier in her career, Wright served at several public relations agencies and in-house as Director of Marketing for a financial institution. She began her career as a journalist, working as a radio news anchor.
Wright currently serves as a director and past chair of the San Diego North Economic Development Council and a director of CalTravel. Her previous community service has included director of the Los Angeles chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, board vice president of the La Jolla Village Merchants Association, trustee for the Tri-City Hospital Foundation and chair of the President’s Advisory Council for California State University San Marcos.
Wright was named a “Woman Who Means Business” by the San Diego Business Journal and a “40 Under 40” honoree by the San Diego Metropolitan magazine. She was also recognized with the annual Fran Aleshire Award for community leadership by Leadership North County and founded the LNC Alumni group, which is now 400 strong.
Wright holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of B.C. and a Master of Journalism degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of Western Ontario. She is a graduate of the Leadership North County program as well as the Corporate Directors Forum Governance Academy.
She lives in San Diego with her husband, has two sons in college, loves being outdoors in Southern California and Vancouver, and has a passion for elephants, frogs and Champagne. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook
Felicia WatsonWith a proven track record of success and more than 20 years of design and marketing experience, Felicia approaches each project with a commitment to create an impactful design that achieves results. Responsible for leading the agency’s creative services that integrate print and digital graphic design, online programming, videography, editing and photography, Felicia also oversees agency services including animation, motion graphics, and emerging technologies including augmented/virtual reality and holography as they may be integrated in strategic communication programs.
Through the course of her career, Felicia has created effective marketing campaigns for many notable domestic and international brands including the Motion Picture Association of America, Kirkland, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, bliss Skincare, City National Bank, Abbott Diagnostics, KB Home and more.
Felicia holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of San Diego and enjoys keeping abreast of new creative technologies in the ever-evolving field of marketing communications.
Corie FiebigerWith more than 10 years of experience in prior marketing roles in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles markets, Corie supports the (W)right On team in multi-channel digital marketing, client relations management, social media, copywriting and copyediting, research and analytics, media pitching and more.
Corie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Terry WhitakerA communications veteran with more than 18 years’ experience, Terry oversees (W)right On’s lifestyle division including the agency’s hospitality, tourism, senior living, wellness and education practice areas. He’s most at home developing and implementing fresh ideas and strategically integrated approaches for client partners’ complex communication needs that keep the agency at the forefront of our industry.
Before joining the (W)right On team, Terry was based in Sydney, Australia and represented client partners such as the USA’s National Football League, Visit California, Sydney Festival, Budweiser, Electronic Sports League, Holden, IBM, TEDx, Major League Baseball International and numerous others.
Terry’s past accomplishments include winning a Bronze Media Lion Award at the Cannes International Advertising Festival; helping three Australian startups be named to the Fast 100; and managing media relations for the Australian speaking tours of former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George HW Bush involving hundreds of journalists and raising millions for charity.
Outside of his professional endeavors, Terry enjoys family time with his wife and two young children, travel and team sports.
Brian WrightResponsible for communication programs research and analysis, Brian provides administrative and functional support to the agency’s program leads as well as senior management. With experience managing a retail store in the complex pool supply industry, Brian is a key contributor for social media programs, media relations, content development, vendor management, software programs oversight and other critical program aspects. He brings an innate sense of the agency’s GSD attitude to help ensure the agency remains at the industry forefront.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, is an FAA-licensed Private Pilot, and is an accomplished musician and music producer in his spare time.
Grant WrightGrant Wright has more than 30 years of senior management experience including external affairs and business development leadership roles for major American and Canadian corporations and their subsidiaries. With extensive skills in all aspects of communications including media, regulatory, governmental, community outreach and labor relations; he has also led major infrastructure project development, M&A due diligence and implementation management, marketing and brand development, strategic planning and business plan development for small through Fortune 500 companies.
As CEO and Managing Partner, Grant provides oversight and senior-level communications and business counsel for the agency’s client partners while also overseeing agency management and administration.
Grant holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and an MBA in Marketing and Finance. Professionally, he has been involved in corporate and not-for-profit boards of directors and is formerly a Board Director of the San Diego Venture Group (now Connect San Diego – regional venture capital ecosystem). Grant was also named a Finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s 2016 and 2017 Most Admired CEO Awards. During his free time, Grant enjoys scuba diving, hiking and being a mentor for university students entering their professional careers. He is also a commercial pilot licensed in both Canada and the U.S. and is the founding board chairman of the Southern California Aviation Association that has provided more than $400,000 in student scholarship grants in the past five years alone.
Shae GearyShae Geary is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience representing world-class travel and hospitality PR clients. Formerly PR Director with Four Seasons Resorts and a consultant for a wide variety of resorts in California, Hawaii and Mexico, Shae began her career in Hawaii for six years with the state’s largest PR firm. Over the course of her career, Shae has spearheaded numerous campaigns involving everything from hotel openings and property renovations to anniversaries and special events. Her expertise in communications and all things hospitality includes a broad range of niche markets – spa, golf, recreation, weddings, dining, luxury, family and green travel. Shae holds a Bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and Master’s degree in Mass Communications (with PR emphasis) from UC Santa Barbara. In her spare time, Shae enjoys playing soccer, running training and spending time with her husband and two kids.
Roman LukjanenkoWith more than 10 years of video production experience, Roman is a skilled cinematographer, editor and animator for such organizations as HP, PetSmart, Airbnb and Nike. Prior to joining the (W)right On team, Roman supported UCLA and UCLA Health where he successfully helped researchers, educators and healthcare professionals communicate their messages through comprehensive videos and motion graphic animations. Roman believes that a well-crafted video brings organizations and their audiences closer together, improving understanding and ultimately strengthening society as a whole.
Phelan RiessenPhelan Riessen is a passionate web and graphic design artist with over 25 years of experience designing and building more than 60 websites for a variety of organizations. Skilled in fontography, web design, Photoshop and web marketing strategies; Phelan also holds a strong presence in the San Diego tech community by serving as an organizer of several large-scale events including RefreshSD, March Mingle and Startup Week.
Katrina EarlyFormerly with VisitBritain and Showtime Networks, Katrina Early provides (W)right On client partners’ integrated and creative partnerships with film and TV studios, retailers, and media outlets such as Sony Pictures, Universal, Warner Brothers, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Entertainment Tonight to name a few. Experienced in the hospitality, travel, entertainment industries among others, Katrina coordinates all aspects of B2B industry events, as well as grows client partners’ audience social media engagement through highly sharable digital content. Results achieved include positive media placement in top tier outlets including National Geographic, Robb Report, Forbes, USA Today, LA Times, NBC/Today Show, E! News, Extra, The Tonight Show, People and many others. Katrina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Public Relations from CSU Long Beach and a Master of Arts in Communications from the prestigious University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication.
Hamish MarshallAs Director of Research & Analytics based out of (W)right On’s Vancouver office, Hamish leads (W)right On’s survey and stakeholder information gathering initiatives North America-wide. A former advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada, Provincial Premiers, City Mayors and dozens of elected officials, he also served in the government of Canada overseeing the quantitative and qualitative research activities of federal government agencies. With experience using every sort of data collection method to provide critical insights for strategic planning, marketing and other organizational activities, Hamish has worked with dozens of private and public sector client partners, including the world’s largest mining company. In 2004 he worked in radio business development in Kabul, Afghanistan, and he has volunteered in democracy-building activities in Bangladesh and Jordan. Today, Hamish is frequently sought out by the media as an expert commentator for national television, radio and print publications. Prior to joining (W)right On, Hamish worked as the Research Director for Angus Reid Public Opinion, conducting and performing analysis on surveys in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Oxford in England, a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree from the University of Toronto and enjoys history, writing and sailing.