Looking for a fun way to stay fit and reduce your carbon footprint this September? Join us in the 2010 Bike Commute Challenge! Portland’s very own Bicycle Transportation Alliance presents the challenge each year to encourage employees of Oregon and SW Washington companies, non-profits and institutions to commute by bicycle. We’re always looking for new ways to make healthy and sustainable practices all in a day’s work, so we’re excited to get rolling.

If you are new to biking, here are some safety tips:

Plan Your Route: If you’re in the Portland Metro area, check out byCycle.org to map out the safest route to and from work. If you have a long commute, you can bring your bike on the MAX, bus or streetcar at no additional cost.

Be Visible: Make sure cars can see you with light colored or reflective clothing and front and back bike lights.

Know How to Signal: Seasoned cyclists know how to talk to motorists and other cyclists through hand signals. Check out this site to learn how to communicate during your ride.

Lock It Up: Always lock your bike, even at home. The BTA has some great advice on how and where to do it.

If you have any other tips to share, be sure to let us know. See you on the road!

Laura Herbert and I have a few similarities.

We both graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. We both majored in public relations. And we both have been interns at Maxwell PR.

I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at Maxwell; trust me, being in the company of 12 women can be more intimidating than you think. Like Laura, I’ve heard of interns fetching coffee, making copies and bringing snacks for everyone, so I really didn’t know what to expect.

It’s safe to say those characteristics aren’t in the cards for a Maxwell PR intern. Within a month, I have been relied upon to be a valuable contributor on multiple accounts through research, media relations and client contact.

Plus, they even gave me champagne on my birthday.

Nonetheless, the tangible perks cannot compare with the knowledge that I receive daily, whether in a creative brainstorming session or on an early morning television shoot. And it is because of my teammates, such as Laura, that I am able to safely roll down this exciting road of Maxwell PR and public relations.

After record-setting downpours this spring and early summer, crops all over Oregon were struggling, and those in the Maxwell garden were no exception. Fortunately for us, some of our plants and produce survived, and we are finally able to enjoy some of the bounty.

Not surprisingly, we were on the forefront of a growing trend: office gardening. This Oregonian article from last month features Intel’s new office garden, and The New York Times pointed out several large corporations including PepsiCo, Google, and Kohl’s that recently introduced gardens at their offices. Though this groundswell is a reflection of an increased interest in sustainability, a larger factor seems to be the recession, since the companies featured in these articles created office gardening programs to boost employee morale and health in a way that doesn’t eat heavily at their budgets.

Check out these photos of our vegetables and flowers. How have your gardens held up this year?

The Vegetable Garden

The Flower Bed

It was an exciting Friday here at Maxwell PR. Not only was the sun finally peaking through the clouds over Portland, but the shipment we’ve been waiting for arrived: a Mobia home fitness machine from our client Nautilus! Sure, it’s a great employee health benefit to be able to work out here at the office, but being able to use Mobia every day also enables us to communicate with an authentic voice in our consumer engagement programs. With everyone in the office eager to help by taking pictures and offering encouragement, we easily put the machine together, turning our assembly experience into content. Our Facebook post sharing how we personalized our Mobia with colorful decals elicited one of our highest response rates.

Hey you guys! This weekend, thousands of devoted Goonies fans will visit Astoria, Oregon to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the filming of the Steven Spielberg cult classic, “The Goonies.” There will be a red carpet premiere tonight, but festivities are taking place throughout the weekend with bus tours to filming sites, the new Oregon Film Museum opening (with the original Goonies jail cell!), original cast member meet and greets and a Goonies-themed concert featuring Corey Feldman’s band, Truth Movement. Warner Brothers is also planning to make a special announcement at tonight’s red carpet premeiere!

For more information, be sure to check out www.GooniesAnniversary.com. Hope you’ll join us this weekend!

One of my favorite spring-time events in Oregon is wine tasting on Memorial Day Weekend. Wineries from all over the state will be opening their doors with special tastings and unique offers, and many will feature live music and food. It’s a true celebration of the incredible wine that is made in our state – and a lot of fun to boot. If you’re looking for places to taste this coming weekend, be sure to check out the Willamette Valley Visitors Association’s list of events as well as The Oregonian’s interactive map, which lets you plan your own driving tour of wineries by region. Cheers!

As Mother’s Day approaches, we at Maxwell are thinking about moms, but not in a Hallmark card sort of way. Of course, we acknowledge Mom’s role as Home CFO, but we’re more interested in her interest in connecting with others and willingness to participate in meaningful conversations. Although our client consumer engagement programs are U.S.-focused, we were interested to see the international results of this survey from Media Post’s Engage Moms blog. No surprises, but it’s worth stating: regardless of what country they live in, moms of the world care about 1) child enrichment, 2) health and safety of her family, 3) value, 4) time management and 5) simplifying life. Effective brand communications reinforce and relate to these values.

It was a fun and happy Earth Day here at Maxwell PR! To celebrate, we enjoyed some delicious cuisine from Artemis Café and started some new vegetables and flowers in our balcony planter boxes. We’ve planted starts and seeds on Earth Day for two years in a row now, and it looks like this will become a long-standing tradition for us! Gardening has proven to be a very fun way to celebrate the Earth, enjoy beautiful Oregon weather and obtain local, organic produce.

How did you celebrate Earth Day? Let us know!

We’ve been having some fun with the “Win an Oregon Adventurecation” promotion we co-developed with Greg Robeson and Travel Oregon’s consumer marketing team. The contest features the Ultimate Golf Road Trip with an exclusive full 18-hole sneak preview round on Bandon Dunes’ newest course, Old Macdonald Golf Links, before it opens to the public. Other Adventurecations up for grabs are a Wine Country Cycling Tour through the vineyards of the Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon and an Outdoor Adrenaline Trek across the state’s rugged terrain. Airfare, lodging and ground transportation for four are all included for each of the three Adventurecations.

Because it’s an online promotion, we’ve focused on generating blogger and online media coverage as well as consumer engagement via social media. Check out the official social media release and this editorial coverage example at GolfDigest.com for more information about the three trips up for grabs.

Interested in entering? The contest entry period for the Ultimate Gold Road Trip closes at 11:59 p.m. PST on April 23, and the others close at 11:59 p.m. PST on July 18. Enter to win at www.TravelOregon.com/DreamTrips today!