WHWG’s writers work closely with clients to define their message.
Our writers do more than put ideas into words, they help clients frame their arguments and shape their communications strategy.
Our writers have experience in both the Oval Office and the Fortune 500 boardroom. They combine that with a keen understanding of public perception to move critical audiences.
We help clients determine the best venues and mediums to reach these audiences. Our team includes accomplished speechwriters, online content specialists, and talented policy writers.
It’s not an uncommon situation. Being in a foreign country, clumsily trying to navigate the native language, and receiving blank stares – or, scowls – in return.
That’s exactly what Deborah Fallows – wife of famed journalist James Fallows – describes in her recent interview on NPR and writes about in her new book Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language. When Fallows accompanied her husband to China, she had taken a few semesters of Mandarin. But when they arrived, she found it a real challenge to communicate.
Fallows is no stranger to foreign tongues. She earned her Ph.D. in linguistics and speaks half-a-dozen languages. But she learned there’s an art to mastering a tonal language in which one syllable can have many, many meanings. And more often than not, Fallows felt she was mastering the art of miscommunication.
In one humorous anecdote, the author describes her effort to order “take-out” – or “dabao” from a Shanghai Taco Bell. She tries every possible tonal combination, but the server couldn’t understand her request. He finally retrieved three other employees from the back, and Fallows continued to repeat dabao, dabao, dabao to them. Finally – finally! – one of the men said “ah, dabao!” And, just like that, she struck the chord and got her tacos to go.
For Fallows, hitting the right note was a cultural journey. But in communications, being on-key is everything. You just can’t afford to be tone-deaf.
It is no news now, but on Tuesday last week, President Obama delivered the least effective Oval Office address since Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech. Why?
It wasn’t just the awkward use of his hands, the hackneyed and inappropriate wartime metaphors, the equally banal “if we could land a man on the moon” drivel. All that was bad enough, but more devastating was the gulf between obvious fact and the speech’s fiction. Read
I’m a big fan of Broadway shows. So I should enjoy the Tony Awards show. And I do — last night’s show had particularly good performances from La Cage, Memphis and Million-Dollar Quartet. But something always bothers me about the Tonys. More than any of the other award ceremonies – the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy, even the MTV Awards – the Tony is an “insider” occasion. The speeches of presenters and award winners both are laced with inside references, and even more with insider “emotions” — a frequent assumption that everyone listening to them understands their cultural references, and maybe even that those who don’t understand don’t count.
It’s easy to understand the homogeneous nature of the Broadway community. They work hard to get to the top — usually a lot harder than in the other popular entertainment forms — and the financial rewards and recognition generally don’t match movies, TV etc. Read