WIX Websites..super easy to create your own Brand!

Check out my Website made by WIX..it was super easy to make~
http://sashmural.wix.com/ashsadia

Creating a Media Branding Campaign

Here are some of the logos for achieved media 

Hello folks, All right, I heard the complains! Been busy with work! Here is another post.
Recently I launched a unique media campaign for Worldwide Aeros where I am the Communications Director.  The Aeroscraft is a NASA project that is supported by Pentagon and DARPA. The challenge was to create an Aeroscraft brand that stood on its own.

The media launch was successful with over 1800 mainstream international media placements in outlets such as CBS, NBC, ABC, Al-Jazeera, BBC, Wired, Gizmag, Popular Science and soo many more! 

I was hired to implement corporate initiatives to position the company, its CEO and its products for prominent global visibility through marketing and branding. Here are some communications strategies and how some worked and some did not!

Important POINT: Always have media-savvy dialogue, remember they all need an "exclusive" to pitch to get network executives and producers to agree to do the story.

STRATEGIES- Craft and launch a strategic communications and media plan for Aeros and its CEO.-Created relevant media and press contact database of targeted publications.-Used my gently nurtured media contacts (producers, talent, journalists, publicists) from the past! Some worked and some were more entertainment based so they did not bite.

International media placement was a company requirement

-Pitch stories to digital media, through cold calling, warm cell texting and press releases when placement was procured, bam! sent to second tier of multimedia platforms, then—you guessed it—on to TV and top media.-Side note the media is mostly like high school, if a topic is popular; they all want to cover it..and if it is not covered by media competitors—it is the kiss of death!

- Created a company-wide corporate image through multimedia biographies, white papers, marketing material, speeches, talking points, newsletters, presentations, video scripts. social media and website. (MEH! The newsletter had a lukewarm reception…but the press releases rocked and were extremely widely republished!!)

- Train engineers and VP’s with media savvy interview strategies and talking memos.- Craft a company-wide tech-meets-business narrative for publications and industry documents working in conjunction with engineering and business development departments.

RESULTS- Successfully crafted a storytelling structure leading to an on-fire media branding campaign (with 1800 media placements just in January 2013) that raised the corporate profile of CEO and VP’s. 

-Operated as media spokesperson, acquiring daily placements by developing active press relations in leading technology and national outlets as CNN, CBS, NBC, BBC and ABC. 

-Produced Aeros-branded scripts for various technology TV shows: Discovery, A&E, and History, AOL and more.See the results here:

http://www.aeroscraft.com/#/press-archives/4569164264

Mirror, Mirror: a Visual Treat 

By Sadia Ashraf April 04, 2012

(http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11862872-mirror-mirror-a-visual-treat-by-sadia-ashraf)

Mirror, Mirror (2012) may not stimulate the gray matter but will certainly delight the eyes. Directed by Tarsem Singh, the movie employs his customary visual extravagance that is a gastronomic eye-feast, resembling his other films Cell (2000), The Immortals (2011) and The Fall (2006). In his films, story is often sacrificed for spectacle. Singh’s trademark imagination overcomes the story in this surreal retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Singh is a true renaissance man who shows his Indian heritage in Mirror, Mirror infusing it with his western upbringing and merging it with his love of classical art. The anachronistic film jumps through time, language, architecture and attire as easily as a circus lion jumps through hoops of fire.

With disregard to an actual period setting, the film's architecture mixes the Baroque period with transitional décor in the queen's castle which has gigantic balconies overlooking bucolic and blue painted-by-Rubens-skies; Hollywood glamour style mirrored and crystal furniture; Rococo gilded opulence in its pillars, thrones and ceiling; and even Arabian style gold turrets.

The film relies on Flemish paintings for its imagery. The aristocratic class in the film seems derived from Van Dyck and Vermeer paintings while the working class dioramas seem to be the handiwork of Brueghel. The costumes— designed by the late Eiko Ishioka (who has worked on most of Singh’s films) — are timeless masterpieces that are equally Vermeer as they are Dior and John Paul Gaultier. The gravity-defying, brightly hued, taffeta and silk creations might even earn Ishioka a posthumous Oscar nomination.

While its costumes have been universally admired, critics have bashed Mirror, Mirror’sslim storyline and awkward screenplay making its box office debut no fairytale. The fairytale genre has become Hollywood’s cherished new trend with successful TV shows such as Once Upon A Time and Grimm; successes like Tangled; a few misses like the rendition of Little Red Riding Hood; and the highly anticipated Snow White and the Huntsman that looks like an apocalyptic version of the tale.

Mirror, Mirror takes liberties with the original Grimm’s fairytale, with a revisionist and female-empowered plot that transforms Snow White from being a helpless heroine who need rescuing, to a Jane Eyre-ish character who becomes emancipated, leaves the limited confines of the castle and learns the way of the world; ultimately rescuing the male protagonist—physical and spiritually. Lily Collins—slightly reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn and bearing no resemblance to her father Phil Collins— plays the congenial Snow White.

Snow White comes of age when she encounters poverty and grim reality in the village. The political and economic parallels between reality and fable are evident in her discovery of back-breaking taxes levied at the common man and how the queen rules them with tactics of fear and suppression—not unlike America’s war on terror. Snow White discovers that the exorbitant queen has been secretly crafting fear—with a monster she unleashes at will— to oppress the masses and then justifying the taxes as expenditure necessary for their security.

Julie Roberts displays a virtuoso ease with which she plays the affable, yet odious stepmother. Though carrying off the superlative costumes in dazzling backgrounds with queenly aplomb— she never quite convinces us that she is evil to the core, with her lighthearted bantering, incessantly humorous gaze, and a love-sick preoccupation with securing the attention of the handsome prince instead of a single-minded motivation to kill Snow White.

At one point, looking into the magic mirror, Roberts utters, “These are not wrinkles they are merely crinkles,” as the film also aspires to critique a beauty industry that equates pain with attractiveness, and urges women to pump themselves with silicon and Botox. Roberts struggles in a painful contraption that squeezes her into a whalebone corset and undergoes agonizing procedures that include a face mask with bird feces and getting her lips plumped with bee stings while maggots, scorpions and snakes inject her with venomous cures.

As with most Hollywood actors playing European roles, Roberts vacillates between an artificial British accent and a befuddled American falsetto, though, she does deliver a few comical lines—like her rebuttal to Prince Alcott’s extolling of Snow White’s beauty: "Blah blah blah, her hair is not black, it's raven and she's 18 years old and her skin has never seen the sun, so of course it's good." The prince says "I think Snow White is the most beautiful woman in the whole world" and the queen quips, "Agree to disagree."

Armie Hammer—whose breakthrough role was playing the buff Winklevoss twins in The Social Network (2010)— plays prince Alcott in Mirror, Mirror. The plot tosses him back and forth between Snow white and the queen, depending on the amorous upper hand. In the film’s subverting of the male-female protagonists’ traditional roles, the prince is defeated by Snow White in verbal and actual sword play and becomes a human love-slave puppy to the queen.

The prince is also emasculated by the seven dwarves in several skirmishes. They accost the landed gentry as highway bandits and are not hardworking miners as in the Disney version of Snow White. They are the ideal comical foils to the lackluster prince and will be enjoyed by children as Mirror, Mirror a rare family film. The film is supported by actors Nathan Lane who plays a butler/not-quite-evil henchman to the queen and Mare Winningham who is superb as a submissive and subversive servant.

While Mirror, Mirror may not be intellectually stimulating it is a fun caper and a visual treat the whole family can enjoy together.

Middle Eastern Americans transcend politics with humor 

by Sadia Ashraf  03 April 2012
(My Article in Common Ground News)
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=31215&lan=en&sp=0

 Los Angeles, California - A motley crew of diverse Arab, Persian and American comedians is making audiences laugh and unravelling stereotypes at the same time. With their own comedy brand, sold-out worldwide tours, documentaries and frequent appearances as commentators on major news outlets, Aron Kader, Maz Jobrani, Maysoon Zayid and Dean Obeidallah have built transnational bridges through humor.

Before 9/11, the comedians struggled in a cutthroat environment where club owners, agents and promoters didn’t see the potential of this new-fangled Middle Eastern comedy. But when the media spotlight turned to their countries of origins after 9/11, their work began to generate tremendous interest. The exponential growth of their comedic output and audience— from the United States to the UAE— led to their global success, culminating in the formation of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, a satirical title alluding to the term former president George W. Bush used to describe the countries he believed supported terrorism.

Their material is based equally on the cultural whimsies and political dilemmas of the Middle East. In a Los Angeles interview I asked if their subject matter was a creative choice or if they felt obligated to be ambassadors of their heritage. Tehran-born, California-raised Maz Jobrani explained that they did not deliberately set out to deconstruct stereotypes about Arabs and Persians. “That's not why I became a comedian. The moment you do material based on what's expected, you give up your artistic voice.”

The comedians soon discovered that in difficult times, comedy is a persuasive tool for peace. Jobrani cited a specific example of a man who had a revelation after laughing at the Axis of Evil performances. “He emailed me to say he had hated Middle Easterners after September 11th and that he started to [change his] mind as time went by. He said that seeing the TV special helped in that process.”

During the peak of the Iraq war, however, there were times that Jobrani was heckled by audience members for criticising the Bush administration. “I took that in stride, as I believed in what I was saying.” In his routine, he emphasises the realities of everyday life in Iran. “On TV they show us angry— burning flags. Just once I wish they would show us baking cookies, because in Iran we do have cookies.”

Dean Obeidallah, co-star of Comedy Central's The Axis of Evil television special, is a Palestinian Italian from New Jersey who is currently producing a documentary about Arab American comedians, The Muslims are Coming. For him, comedy raises socio-political issues in impactful ways. Citing influences like talk show host Jon Stewart and African American comedians Richard Pryor and Chris Rock, he hopes his “comedy dispels some misconceptions Americans harbour about Arabs and Muslims.”

Collaboration with others led Obeidallah to form the Stand up for Peace Tour with Scott Blakeman, who says his Jewish faith compels him to speak out against stereotyping. At the same time, Obeidallah’s Arab Comedy Festival co-founder, Maysoon Zayid, is busy deconstructing myths about the “oppressed Muslim woman, the blood-thirsty Palestinian, and the poor pathetic cripple”. A Palestinian American comedian, she is also an activist for cerebral palsy— a condition she lives and laughs with.

Building bridges is a two-way street. While these comedians are challenging the status quo of Middle Eastern misconceptions in America, they are also winning hearts and minds in the Middle East, where they have performed in front of thousands, delivered workshops, mentored budding talent and, as Obeidallah added, been witness to “the rise of stand-up [comedy] in the Arab world, performing in English and Arabic”. Kader reflected that “in America I feel obligated to inform an audience about the Middle East and there I am an American with an obligation to describe what Americans are feeling.”

Sarah Palin, Muammar Gaddafi, Iran’s Twitter revolt, Egypt’s uprising, racism, country music and cerebral palsy: no topic is taboo for these comedians as they easily straddle multiple cultures in their comedy routines. “Make it funny, give it levity, use humility so it's easier to digest and discuss divisive political issues”, said Kader attesting to the ways Middle Eastern American comedians are debunking myths and transcending politics with humour. This multicultural comedy is nascent but necessary in a world that is rapidly evolving in the way it communicates, entertains and informs.

This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 3 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication.

The Arts: Lost and Found – Exclusive with Jane Lynch & John Stamos

(I attended the launch of the Adopt the Arts Foundation and sat down for exclusive Interviews with Jane Lynch, John Stamos and others)

Los Angeles- “This is our first event and it's packed and I'm thrilled!” exclaimed Jane Lynch in an interview on Sunday March 18th at a fundraiser for Adopt the Arts. The Glee star serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit that funds public arts education for Los Angeles’ Unified School District’s (LAUSD) underfunded schools. Around two hundred patrons and celebrities turned up at the jam-packed Simon L.A. restaurant at the Hotel Sofitel.

Adopt the Arts is co-founded by Matt Sorum (Guns and Roses) and activist Abigail Berman with board members such as Noami Depres, Lanny Cordola, Richard Grant and an advisory committee that includes John Stamos, Slash and Juliette Lewis. Adopt the Arts aims to fund public art education in Los Angeles—one school at a time.

“The Arts mean a lot to me,” Lynch mused hovering over an eclectic dessert tray of cotton candy, popcorn and cookies— part of the dessert course prepared by celebrity chef Kerry Simon, “in high school the best part of my day was the hour I had choir without which I would not have a career in the performing arts.” Her Glee co-star John Stamos reminisced, “I was a drummer in my public school; not only was it the best part of my day but it gave me an identity.”

Inaugurating the star studded event that raised $100,000 Sorum said, “kids learn four times better with music and arts so without creative programs, they suffer and we lose a creative force of the future." He explained how public school education helped him become a renowned musician and thanked LASUD’s Superintendent John Deasy for attending the event and supporting the cause. The night culminated with ear-candy performances by headliners The Magnificent Seven aided by rock legends, Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), Glenn Hughes, Adrian Young (No Doubt), Gilby Clarke (Guns N' Roses), Billy Duffy (The Cult), Christina Perri, Steve Stevens, Franky Perez, Billy Morrison, Donovan Leitch and many more.

The performers reinforced that national finance reductions have forced Los Angeles schools to make unkind cuts to arts educations programs. This is devastating for LASUD’s quarter of a million students, explained Abigail Berman, founder and Executive Director of Adopt the Arts foundation, “unacceptable, especially, in a city where all of the arts are a major part of the economy,”

It is incongruous that a city with a global economy built on the performing arts industries would face eradication of its public arts for future citizens. According to the 2011 Otis Report on the Creative Economy, commissioned the Otis College of Art and Design, Southern California is supported by creative industries that employ over 640,000 —one out of eight of every job here—generating an estimated $129 billion in sale revenues and $3.1billion in local state taxes.

Outraged that LASUD may face complete elimination of elementary school arts programs, Sorum was motivated to start the nascent foundation, “It’s the most horrific thing that I have heard—it’s a travesty.”

“Arts help kids think critically and perform better in school making them adults who contribute more to society,” remarked Jane Lynch of her cause célèbre. She explained that her daughter attends a Los Angeles public school where parents helped raise funds to support its arts program, regretting that most schools “do not have a strong fundraising arm,” adding, “our organization helps children get afterschool programs, music and arts teachers, basic resources and equipment for arts.”

Full House star Jodie Sweeny reflected that her life “revolved around the arts” and as a mother of two children the thought of them being “deprived of arts was heartbreaking.” Lynch deliberated that “California legislature on education was indecisive and divided” and that in “any recession, the first thing to go is art— the great equalizing force.” As though reading a Glee episode script she added, “It doesn't matter how much money your parents have; how popular you are; if you are the captain of the football team; or think you are a nerd; the arts transcend prejudice.”

Underprivileged schools are “adopted” by individual donors or through fundraisers by the Adopt the Arts Foundation. “It is sad to see arts on the chopping block because music was the discipline that guided my life,” said John Stamos, “but this is a tangible charity where I can make a difference I see immediately.” Stamos, Sorum andDungeons and Dragon artist Rob Prior have all sponsored disadvantaged schools and attendees Mark McGrath and Jonathan Schaech pledged to do so as well.

The foundation also invites celebrities as role models to mentor children in LA USD schools lacking resources and opportunities such as their pilot project, Rosewood Avenue School, where they helped build a well supplied music room. Jane Lynch commented that “for kids to spend time in a completely creative arena: whether it’s painting a picture, doing a play, dancing or singing songs— is a wonderfully civilizing force.”

Berman expressed her fear that if “creative outlets” were “taken out of children's lives” there would be a lost generation of children. “Art is a common language— the thread that binds us and makes us more alike than we are different.”

A weird and wonderful energy was made tangible that night with celebrities uniting in the high of philanthropy. With an ambitious mission to save the arts in America’s public schools Berman and Sorum conclude they were “planting roots in Los Angeles” to assist children locally and wish to “grow organically across the nation.”

To learn more about the cause please visit http://adoptthearts.org/.

ShoutOut! in a Loud World

DIY Public Relations Dilutes the Message

"If I was down to my last dollar, I'd spend it on public relations." Bill Gates

The world is getting increasingly louder. How do you stand up and shout out! amplified enough to have your brand or message heard effectively? If your organizational clarion call is enhanced by a PR professional or a communication specialist, you agree with Bill Gates. You may argue his last dollar is further down the unforeseeable horizon than yours but I would counter that you may be losing a multifaceted nugget of opportunity if you do not invest in public relations.  


Roadblocks to Investing in PR

"If you keep your mind sufficiently open, people will throw a lot of rubbish into it.” William A. Orton

Your organization maybe too preoccupied or unable to afford a Public Relations outreach team. You are a diminutive business stretching your ten employees from the foothills to the hilltops; a corporation facing marketing budget cuts that forces a team of Jedi ad-warriors to slash their squad; or a nonprofit tottering between relief work in Haiti while hosting a fundraiser in Last Chance, Colorado (yes that is a real town).

These are just some of the roadblocks that lead to DIY PRing, so prevalent today due to quick access of online tools and the augmentation of social media. This has led to an over amplification of amateurish messaging, over communicating via social media and maladroit online content. In a competitive and increasingly sophisticated promotional world, such messaging can actually do more harm than good. DIY messaging may reflect poorly on your product, brand or company.  


Nonprofits--fearful of spending donor money on what is deemed unnecessary-- are the least likely to invest in PR. This is an unfortunate as the ROI is high for charities when they invest in PR publicity and advertising. Investment in marketing for charities leads to higher revenues--key for developing the all-important program funds. Dan Pallotta points out in a Harvard Review article that nonprofits should spend more on advertising. As in any industry, funds are built by "demand for the idea on a massive scale" he explains. 

"..Charitable giving in the U.S. has remained constant at about 2% of GDP since we've been measuring it. Charity is not taking market share from the for profit sector. How can it if it is never allowed to market?" 

The Merits of PR

"It is not enough that a man has clearness of vision, and reliance on sincerity, he must also have the art of expression, or he will remain obscure." George H. Lewes

As the PR profession expands, so does its finite worth. A brand-loyal PR professional can launch campaigns, track information, report outcomes, perform research metrics, enhance databases, build a consumer-based communications plan and provide free publicity with the right media placement.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics states, there are 7,000 public relations firms in the United States, as reported by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in their summary of the PR industry size and growth. This does not include the individuals or teams employed by corporations, medical establishments, media companies, military divisions, government branches, nonprofits and other enterprises.

DIY Uncle Bob Mattress Ads

"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century..." Alexander Solzhenitsyn

DIY marketing and promotion is explicable if there is not enough moola to justify PR or communication expenditure. Yet, thousands of organizations with sizable budgets still pass off blogs, company newsletters, online content, press releases, end-of-year reports, media placement and ad development as “superfluous work” to employees that are unqualified. If this wasn't a verity, local TV and digital advertisements— touting mattresses and cars hosted by salesman uncle Bob shouting and foggily staring at the camera through cheesy graphics— would not exist.

Adjust Tone not Volume

"Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food." William Hazlitt

Though the PR and communications industry has grown exponentially in the last decade, we continue to get emails with slapdash newsletters, websites replete with structural errors (no it was not inverted syntax!) or receive reports jigsaw-puzzle-glued together due to end-of-year urgency.

An organization’s spokesperson or communication expert cannot be the accountant or the engineer dabbling in double and ineffective duty. That scenario is the source of crisis communications, which I have experienced firsthand.  Daily, thousands of media pitches and press releases with immense report-worthy potential are buried under bland and feeble prose written by employees doubling up as PR relation liaison.

Successful PR it is not about WHAT but HOW. This HOW makes a story press worthy and appealing online content. And it is in adjusting TONE not the VOLUME you reach out in an increasingly loud world to ShoutOut! your message.


Posted by Sadia Ashraf