Integration...

Working at a full-service marketing agency, integration is something we hear about a lot. We're constantly improving our processes for our clients, by working to bring/keep all of our departments in the loop. So in the spirit of integration, the PR team has given up our fabulous little blog, and upgraded to a full-agency blog: R/West Blog

Hopefully you'll enjoy hearing from the rest of our agency, and maybe, just maybe we can keep this new blog a little more up to date than this one!

We hope you'll all join us and get to know everyone at the agency just a little bit better!

We've been a little busy...

Sorry about our posting tardiness (at this point I don't even think you can call it tardiness) but we've been a tad busy...since Christmas! We have so much to tell you...many adventures (Molly was pretty much out of the office traveling for the past two months), events and new things to share! Hopefully you’ve been keeping an eye on our tweets in the meantime...we are just a tiny bit better at sharing there.

Let’s see, where should we start...

Early this spring we worked on the Better Living Show, the largest sustainable lifestyle show in the northwest, where we had Drew Carney and Joe V. out to visit. They were able to meet Larry the Lightblub, Clifford the Big Red Dog and even a gigantic pear. Good times had by all!

Then Kooza came to town, so it was time for the Cirque du Soleil tent to go up! What a process...here we are in our hard hats (pretty sure highlighter yellow is not our color.)We hope you got the chance to see this amazing show while it was here - we have nothing but outstanding things to say about it, and heard only great things from everyone else who went! If you ever get the opportunity to see a Cirque show, we definitely recommend it!  

At the beginning of April, it was wine time! We worked with the North Willamette Vintners on their huge Wine Trail event - 21 wineries all hosted fun activities and yummy wine for a whole weekend. Be on the lookout for this next year - believe us, you don't want to miss it! Here's a pic of Chloe from KPDX enjoying a barrel tasting at Montinore Estate!

After all of the local events, we thought it might be nice to do some traveling! The Simple crew headed to the crazy city for a media tour, to show off their fancy new shoes. Molly then continued her travels with Simple's Green Bomb tour, with a stop in Austin, and yet another NYC adventure! Yes, she's a traveling lady!

Then it was time for the Sorel team to head to the Big Apple for a media tour and VIP cocktail party, to show off some sweet boots. While in NYC, Brittney and JulieAnna even got a chance to meet the cast of the Today Show (they were all incredibly sweet, by the way!)







Then it was time to celebrate. BridgePort just launched its third Stumptown Tart, and this little lady packs a punch! She's a framboise with Oregon raspberries, and of course we had pinup model Bernie at the Stumptown release party - how could it be a Stumptown beer without her?! Ali and Emily had to get a pic with her in their special Tart t's, cute!

Now that we've given you the lowdown on all we've been up to (trust us there's more, but this is the fun stuff!), we hope that you'll believe us when we say we've been busy! And because of that business, we've even added two new team members to the mix! Alison joined us from Lane PR, and is killing it in the social media world, and Emily is a student at Oregon (go ducks!), and has been our little worker bee (see photo). Here's a new pic of the bunch!




Other updates include...Heather's little Olivia is getting so big!! Can you believe she's already 9 months old?! We'll post a pic in our next update! JulieAnna is currently hanging out in Italy, sipping wine and enjoying her gelato - and she's there for a month - needless to say we aren't talking to her right now, and it's not just because of the international calling charges. And Brittney got engaged on Christmas and is planning her wedding for this August...hoping she doesn't go too crazy before then!

Wheeew...feels good to get that all out there! It's good to be back, we've missed you!

R/West Snuggies...that's right, we went there...

So in keeping with the R/West tradition of being completely random and sometimes downright tacky, we have created some gems to give as gifts this year...

Yes, we did put the R/West logo on SNUGGIES, and yes we "proudly" sent them to only the clients we believe would truly appreciate our love for "fashionable" things!

And here we are, enjoying a rainy Friday afternoon in our oh-so-warm and snuggly Snuggies...

One Nation Under Griz.

I live and work in a city full of Ducks and Beavers. Silly water fowl plague my life. Recently, I decided to unleash the fury upon my co-workers that is Griz Nation.

I am a Griz (ok, University of Montana - Missoula) alumni. I’m sure you’ve heard of us. We are the PBR swigging ruffians from Big Sky Country who hit hard and don't take any prisoners.

Our state has more cows in it than people. But the people that are there are amazing and we have a pretty dang good football team.

To prove my point, we are playing in the National Championship (AA mind you) tonight at 5pm on ESPN the deuce. Check us out, you might like it.

And as always- GO GRIZ.

Sorel's Great Fashion Event!

If you're in Portland, and didn't go to the Sorel Apres Ski Trunk Show last night, you missed out! Here's a pic of JulieAnna, Anna (from Sorel/Columbia corporate) and I showing off our fancy Sorel boots!

The event was great, and featured cute models in hot boots! Along with free treats (the chocolate truffles were a little piece of Heaven!) and free drinks (featuring the Joan of Arctic - hot cocoa, butterscotch and peppermint schnapps and Bailey's - amazing!) There was also a DJ, shoe displays and free Portland Monthly magazines.

There was a giveaway for two $25 Columbia Sportswear gift cards, along with the grand prize - a $500 shopping spree, the catch was you had to be present to win. So there's a sad story behind this giveaway, the drawing was at 7 p.m. and many people who showed up early started taking off a little before 7, a few people from our PR department included. When the name was drawn for the $500 shopping spree, Ali's boyfriend Jeremy was the special winner, except that he had left about 15 minutes before the drawing!! I called poor Ali to let her know that her boyfriend would not be buying her $500 worth of Sorel/Columbia stuff, and you should have heard her! I'm surprised that Jeremy is still with us today...haha.

Well, after that sad little event, we continued with our munching, boot shopping and beverage sipping. The boots this season are so cute!! Here are a few of our faves, the rest are at www.Sorel.com.

If you're in the Seattle area, you should know that you have an opportunity to win yourself a $500 shopping spree tonight (just make sure you don't leave early!) Here are the details:

·         Where: Columbia Seattle Store, 290 Pine Street, Seattle, WA

·         When: Thurs., Dec. 3, 5:30-7:30pm

·         Cost: The event is free and open to the public. Drinks and treats will also be free and unlimited.

·         Why: Glam up your footwear wardrobe, mingle, shop and sip the signature drink, the Joan of Arctic (hot cocoa and butterscotch schnapps). Enter to win a $500 Columbia shopping spree and other prizes – drawing at 7pm.

·         RSVP: seattlersvp@sorel.com

Happy boot shopping!! And remember, you can follow Sorel on Twitter at @sorelfoowear or on Facebook. Just a little heads up, I've heard word that there might be a boot giveaway on Twitter soon, so make sure you're following!!

Bring It ON!!!

Because four of the six ladies on our lovely PR team went to Oregon, we have decided that we hold the majority, and therefore can post our love for our Ducks on our blog. We are getting our green and yellow out and ready to roll for the Civil War - only a week to go! (Sorry Jill - but your Beavs are going DOWN!)

Enjoy our new favorite video, and of course GO DUCKS!!

Happy Turkey Day!

It's now officially the holiday season - tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are exactly a month away from Christmas! So get in the spirit of eating tons of food and feeling incredibly full for the next few days, we thought we'd give your taste buds a preview of the joy that is Thanksgiving! (Hey, what can we say, we're a group of ladies who like our turkey and pie!)

Enjoy the long weekend and get ready for Christmas lights and pretty trees! Happy Thanksgiving!!