Ideas, insights and inspirations.

Elliance held its annual employee holiday bash last night. It was tons of fun. And we had a lot to celebrate — It’s been a great year! We are so thankful for our awesome clients and freelance talent!   Happy Holidays … Continue reading

I have this love for story — the hear and the tell — the feel that comes from being submersed in a good narrative. I believe that I was born with this hunger for story, driven by a native curiosity … Continue reading

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“Everything you quote — every movie, every TV show, every lyric — has been endlessly rewritten… Fall in love with rewriting!” My uncle, who is a great writer, recently said these words. And I love them. It’s a process I … Continue reading

Too often, a college or university approaches a brand development exercise unprepared for the journey ahead, and unable to fully realize the rewards at journey’s end. We offer a 5 point checklist to ensure a better experience and outcome at every step. 1. Know Your … Continue reading

A friend and I were finishing up a late dinner Tuesday night when we realized the New Hampshire primary was just about finished up. Curious for the results, I pulled out my phone to check. But I surprised myself with … Continue reading

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I enjoyed a rare two-hour sit down recently with an entire marketing and communications team at a major university — and we never once talked about story. They, like many of you, spoke of feeling beleaguered by the demands of an … Continue reading

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The Greeks called it their Muse. The Romans called it the Ingenium (the genius). I call it whatever that magic is that gets some meaningful words onto the page. Inspiration. I recently heard a great re-air of a RadioLab interview … Continue reading

In light of my yellow Elliance copywriter’s desk making its first journey around the shy Pittsburgh sun, I got to thinking about what I’d learned about higher education marketing in the last year, and if there was anything the handful … Continue reading

We recently met around the conference table at Elliance to discuss the pros/cons of pursuing an RFP opportunity —  a major state research university wanting to sharpen its brand focus and tell a better capital campaign story in order to … Continue reading

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Most people draw a clear line between conventional marketing of products and services, and social marketing, which broadly defined applies marketing principles to change human behavior in order to improve health or benefit society. But what happens when you bring … Continue reading

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