Last weekend, Portland’s favorite NW neighborhood bistro, Cafe Nell, celebrated its 2nd anniversary with an outdoor Clambake party that drew hundreds of people to their cozy corner. With revelers – and sand – spilling out of the parking lot party, it was evident that owners Darren and Van Creely and Chef Garrett have created a fan club, and it includes more than neighbors, it includes non-profits too.

The hordes of people were there for the food, the fun and the fundraising. The Cafe Nell team partnered with organizations that promoted a cause that they were truly passionate about – Basic Rights Oregon and the Q Center. “Truly” is a key word here. With Van and Darren’s honest passion for the causes, they were among peers, whether or not they’d ever met their new guests before – they were part of a community, and they were building on that community.

When partnering with non-profits, we recommend to clients that they consider several things. Yes, the size of their mailing list is important, but it’s not the most important factor.

Yes. Choose a non-profit, just choose wisely. Here are a few questions to ask in advance of selecting who you partner with:

1) What are your deep held values, and what organizations are championing those causes?

2) Will your current customers understand the messaging connection to your business?

3) Have past partnerships been handled professionally and been successful?

4) How dedicated are their supporters? Fair weather fans or avid spokespeople?

5) Are they actively engaged with their supporters through social media, events, etc?

Taking the time to start within, then reflecting on how the decision will impact our circles of influence is time well spent, and may mean the difference between a party for your old friends, or a party for your new community.

The Watershed crew was there to not only show support for our clients, but to to help spread the word and ensure that media got the scoop. Check out KGW Ch.8 reporter Joe Smith’s news segment from the rally to learn how this industry affects thousands of Oregonian’s and drives billions of dollars to our economy. Watch here!

Joe Smith interviews Travel Portland President & CEO Jeff Miller

Let us know how your business is affected by tourism. Help us celebrate Travel Week and share your stories here.

Well, fear not brave reader, because this year our own Lisa D. appeared on AM Northwest for a Downtown Marketing Initiative segment sharing five inspired gifts for guys that are sure to please everyone, even my “I want anything” Dad.  Best of all, every item on the list can be found in downtown Portland – talk about one-stop-shopping!

Looking for more unique gift ideas?  Check out this segment we worked on with Portland’s “Better” crew and the  Downtown Marketing Initiative’s Explore the Original gift guide.

The LADies in all their festive gear!

The menu was crazy good thanks to our friends at Country Cat, Culinary Artistry, Deschutes, Black Cap, House Spirits, Nostrana, Tabla, Boedecker Cellars, Grochau Cellars, Penner-Ash, Alma Chocolates, and Cory Schreiber.  Extra credit to Holland Studios who shot the event and to our amazing entertainment — The Shanghai Woolies.

thanks Cory and Julie! Can't wait for your new book.

“It’s scary in the attic.”

First of all, in order to full appreciate my dilemma you’ll need a bit of background.   Although the LAD office has a production room and storage area, we do frequent mailings and need an place to store our extensive supply of boxes, packaging peanuts, folders, archived files, etc.  So, we lease a storage space in the attic area of our building.

Imagine, if you will, a small landing at the top of two flights stairs with six foot ceilings, exposed pipes and three old doors leading to the storage spaces.  Adding to the ominous environment is lighting that can be described at best as dim.

Can you picture it?  Excellent.

My “Name that LADie” adventure starts out simply enough – it was a quite Friday with only one other LADie and myself in the office.  It was around eleven o’clock when I realized I needed an older file and after searching through our filing cabinet I knew I had to go upstairs to get what I was looking for.  I grabbed the keys to the attic and our storage unit, breezing through the door and quickly yelling to my co-worker that I was headed upstairs and would be right back. They don’t call them famous last words for nothing.

After entering our storage space, I made my way across the room, found the box I was looking for and opened the lid to the file folder.  And then I heard it.  The unmistakable sound of the door clicking closed behind me.

No big deal – all doors have to open from the inside, right?   Oh, no.  Not our old broken door lock.  Once the door had closed behind me, it had locked shut and wasn’t coming open.   This is the moment I freaked out.

You see, I have a very active imagination and every time I’m in the attic space I manage to convince myself that Michael Meyers is hiding out in the storage unit next door and he’s about to get me. Crazy, but true.

After a few deep breaths (thanks yoga) I was able to calm myself down and start thinking straight.  I wasn’t that far up from the nearest business, someone was bound to hear me if I started screaming for help.

Alas, it was not meant to be.  After about ten minutes of yelling and banging on the door I gave up  decided to sit down and wait it out (it was about this time that I decided a psycho killer was bound to hear my screams and come eat me for dinner).  Plus, I knew that eventually people would notice I was missing and come to find me – after all, they did know where I was.

An hour later I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands.  If I wanted to get out of that storage unit (and boy did I) I was going to have to do it myself.

My first lockpicking thought was a credit card – I’d seen this particular device used many times with great success on tv.  The only problem with that one is a shocking lack of credit cards in most storage spaces.  My next strategy was to search the room and see what I could find that might be of any use.  Now, you’d be really surprised at the number of everday office supplies that might be good lock picking tools – letter openers, staple removers and paperclips (this one seems kind obvious, and yet it really performed the poorest of all my attempts).

Then I found it.  The ultimate tool for unlocking the attic door – the metal rod on a green hanging file.  It’s size and shape are the perfect design to reach between the door and the door frame and open the metal clasp on the lock.

Ha ha!  Take that attic!

As I made my way downstairs towards our office I was still half dazed and completely astounded that I was able to break free. I was also excited to let my co-worker know that I had escaped safe and sound and that they could call off the search.  To my surprise I learned that no one was looking for me – in fact, she thought I had taken an early lunch and was returning late!

After recounting my harrowing tale, my coworkers were understandably awed and inspired by my keen wit and ability to think clearly under pressure.  Following this unfortunate episode (and a commendable peformance with a fire extinguisher) I received a new office nickname – just call me MacGyver.

These cooks crave a closer connection to the season and now guests will be able to enjoy house-preserved fresh tomatoes in dishes well into the rainy winter season.

Gorgeous raw product from Red Truck Farm.

The dirtiest part of the job involved squishing tomatoes in this old-fashioned food mill that Anthony has had in his family forever!

Umm, Umm Good

It was off to the stove top for heat and reduction…

Steaming boiling reduction

Anthony was one of the go-to cooks who got really into the preserving part of the festivities

We can’t wait to try a fantastic inventive dish with one of these wonderful tastes of summer.

More and more Americans are being diagnosed with the disease. In a recent story, USA Today reported that there are currently 110,000 diagnosed cases of celiac disease in the U.S., up from 40,000 cased in 2003. (You can see the complete article here.)

Because traditional beers are made using malt and barley, beer has long been considered one of the main no-nos of a gluten free diet.

Well, Deschutes Brewery is planning to change that. The brewery has plans to release a new Gluten Free Golden Ale. Using sorghum, brown rice, and roasted chestnuts instead of malted barley or wheat as the sources of extract to avoid gluten, the brewers were able to create a flavor very similar to the crystal malt used in many of their other signature beers.

Although the brewery has produced a small batch of low gluten beer before, the Deschutes brewers were so fastidious in brewing the Gluten Free that they not only double cleaned the brewing equipment, but also grew the yeast culture used to ferment the beer from a single cell using only sorghum as its nutritional source.

Oregon’s celiacs can check out this new hand-crafted brew on draft at the Deschutes Brewery and Public Houses in Bend and Portland at the end of the month. You can check out the complete pub menu here.

Mmmmm, beer.

Spicy Chicken Salad

He doesn’t have his own Food Network show and his name isn’t on plates in Macy’s, but kids love to learn about food from this guy. Matthew Locricchio wears many hats – chef, teacher and award-winning author. He is the real deal. His cookbooks whisk kids away on a global adventure, connect them to cultures and build their confidence through pure and authentic recipes. With the success of his first international cookbook for kids, Locricchio is gearing up to release The 2nd International Cookbook for Kids in October 2008.

Shrimp with Feta Cheese and Tomatoes

Locricchio’s first international cookbook for kids featured “the big four” of world cooking – China, France, Italy and Mexico. In 2005, it was the winner of several awards including the Disney Adventures Magazine Award for Best Hands-On Book and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the Best Cookbook for Children and Families in the USA. The 2nd International Cookbook for Kids maintains the same high standards and design of the first book but includes “the next big four” of world cooking – Brazil, Greece, India and Thailand.

Finished! Shrimp with Feta Cheese and Tomatoes

We received one of Locricchio’s advanced cookbooks and took full advantage of the recipes. I chose to make the Spicy Chicken Salad (Thailand), the Shrimp with Feta Cheese and Tomatoes (Greece) and the Brazil Nut Cookies. These recipes are more advanced than the typical kids cookbooks I remember from my childhood and what I’ve seen in the bookstores today, but they are all easy to follow. This would be a great gift for the holidays for your child or grandchild and a great resource to teach kids about culture through food.

Lota chose to try out the Hearts of Palm salad (Brazil)…

It’s me Lota. Maybe I’m just a kid at heart, because I truly enjoyed reading each and every step of the simple-to-make Hearts of Palm Salad, but most importantly I LOVED eating it.

This is a 10 minute recipe that may be designed for budding chefs that can still count their age on two hands, but it could just as easily be a last minute dish for entertaining people closer to middle age. So for my purposes, I’ve renamed this dish “The Kid-At-Hearts of Palm Salad.” The simplicity is surprising, because the complementary flavors in the salad are actually complex and the presentation is gorgeous.

This is officially my new summer potluck dish. It’s easy to prepare, beautiful, a little exotic and pleasing to palates of all ages. Try it and you’ll like it, I swear… cross my heart.

David and Jenn had invited their industry posse to attend a friends and family preview and since we’re handling the PR it was mandatory that we jump in and eat and drink our hearts out (nice perk, right?) at the new, hip restaurant on Williams and Failing.

Congrats guys! The honest, simple food, classic yet inspired cocktails and gorgeous space is going to be instantly popular (at least that’s my two cents).

The dish that jumped out to Julian and me was the baked hen eggs with cream, toasted bread crumbs and green olives. Simple, comforting, inspired, well-balanced — it’s a great icon for Lincoln itself.

It was also so fun that the grower from Dancing Roots felt compelled to shout out “Those are my eggs!” as she walked past our table. She immediately volunteered that she raises 5 kinds of birds and that those gorgeous deep orange yolks come from very happy chickens.

You gotta love a Portland moment that so quintessentially combines the farming intimacy with the city’s signature chic urban pioneers who so adroitly transform garage-like spaces into dining destinations.

Thanks David and Jenn for bringing another fantastic place to my neighborhood!

Included below is the complete PowerPoint Presentation in 3 parts, a partial podcast of the presentation and a list of tips and resources. Just click on the More button below to get the whole shebang.

For those of you who were able to attend the presentation in person, thanks so much again for your enthusiasm, good questions and lively discussion. Lizzy said it, and I’ll say it again, you were one of the best audiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of presenting to.

And as always, please feel free to drop us a line here or leave a comment.

Listen to the Podcast of Lisa Donoughe Here:

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PowerPoint Part 1 – Lisa Donoughe:

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PowerPoint Part 2 – Lizzy Caston:

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PowerPoint Part 3 – James Curry:

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Narrowcasting and Interactive Marketing and PR Resources:

These are some of our favorite books:

The New Rules of Marketing and PR – David Merman Scott

The Long Tale – Chris Anderson

Groundswell – Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technology – Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Naked Conversations – How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers – Robert Scoble

Publish and Prosper – Blogging For Your Business – DL Byron

The Corporate Blogging Book – Debbie Weil

Websites:

All About Search Engine Optimization

Social Networking Explained in Plain English. A cool series of videos on YouTube that explains everything you need to know about new interactive media! You can access the series here.

What is Viral Marketing?

What is Narrowcasting? A Wikipedia Article

Interactive PR and Marketing

Blogging Tools and Platforms:

These are programs that come with already built “templates” to make it easy for you to build and maintain your blog. Some include web hosting and allow for custom domain names (such as www.ladcommunications.blog), others do not. Here are some that LAD recommends:

www.wordpress.net. Requires some comfort level with programming and web technology but is one of the best platforms for creating professional and well designed blogs for businesses. You’ll want Wordpress.net, not the basic freebie wordpress.com.

www.typepad.com is a bit easier to use than WordPress but is also a bit more limiting.

www.movabletype.com is similar to WordPress.

www.blogger.com is the easiest to use, but can be much more limiting than the platforms mentioned above.

Warning, Lizzy has had horrible experiences with Serendipity and does NOT recommend this program.

Ten Tips for Hiring a Quality Web Company:

Finding a good web company or designer is a lot like finding a good contractor for your house. It’s all about skills, reputation, price and quality work that meets your needs. While there is no one size fits all for hiring a web design firm, here are some tips:

1. Do they listen, ask a lot of questions about your company, your needs needs and available budget/skills/resources and offer options rather than recommend a solution at the beginning, a one-size-fits-all approach, or based on a template?
2. What does the web company’s own website look like? The websites they have done for other clients? If you don’t like the sites they’ve built in the past, chances are you won’t like the one they build for you either.
3. Are they following web accessibility standards? It’s easy to check.
4. How long have they been in business? The sad truth is web companies go belly up all the time, leaving clients without services and with expensive sites to start again from scratch. The longer they have been in business, the less risk.
5. Do they charge everything a la cart, or do they provide options such as packages that include training, technical support for a certain amount of time, certain changes, etc. without additional fees? Will the Web company own the rights to the code on your website or will you own the content, structure and code? Be careful in getting all the details written down of what is and is not included in the price and contract. This can make a world of difference in ongoing support and hidden costs.
6. Do they provide timelines and deadlines for completed work? If not, this is a big red flag that your work may not get completed on time.
7. Do they ask for feedback throughout the process including user user testing, allow for feedback and requested changes, etc. before the site goes live? If not, they should.
8. Are they easy to get a hold of? With but a few exceptions, it should take no more than 24 business hours for a web company to get back to you.
9. Do they provide written documentation of their code, a how to manual for users or other important instructions?
10. Do they have a positive attitude, have great references, and are they patient and responsive? A no brainer, but if you aren’t comfortable working with them, then that’s a bad sign of things to come.

Here’s another good article on finding a good web design firm: How to Hire a Web Designer

How to Hire a Good Search Engine Optimization Company:
These two articles pretty much sum up everything you need to know:

Hiring an SEO Specialist

SEO for Small Businesses