I am pleased to announce the launch of Thornley Fallis & 76design’s new online presence.

Our new websites, conceptualized, designed and developed by our team of creative masterminds and technology all-stars, exemplifies our capacity to push the limits of innovation in the world of social media and digital marketing.

Thornley Fallis & 76design is made up of individuals with fun, smart and professional personalities; personalities that have all contributed to the success of marketing & communications projects. To fully demonstrate the range of personalities, talent and intelligence our team has to offer, we’ve done something a little outside the box. Something very brave… or maybe something very stupid – we’ll let you know

We’ve created a live LifeStream for every one of our employees. This is more than just a standard funny profile picture and biography. It is an aggregate of their work and online profile, intended to paint a picture of who they are, what they do, what they think and what they are interested in.

To explore the diverse and unique characters at Thornley Fallis and jokers at 76design, take a look through our people profiles and find out who you could be working with on your next project.

Not only is our team exceptionally talented (and good-looking), we are experienced & passionate about the work we do. While adventuring through our People pages, zoom over to the Work & Services sections to see what Thornley Fallis & 76design has to offer.

My colleagues and I hope you enjoy perusing through our new sites.

Oh and one more thing… if you like what you see, don’t hesitate to call us, we’d love to hear from you!

I am pleased to announce  the launch of  Thornley Fallis & 76design’s new online presence.

Our new websites, conceptualized, designed and developed by  our team of creative masterminds and technology all-stars, exemplifies our capacity to push the limits of innovation  in the world of social media and digital marketing.

Thornley Fallis & 76design is made up of individuals with fun, smart and professional personalities; personalities that have all contributed to the success of marketing & communications projects. To fully demonstrate  the range of personalities, talent and intelligence our  team has to offer, we’ve done something  a little outside the box.  Something very brave… or maybe something very stupid – we’ll let you know

We’ve created a live LifeStream for every one of our employees. This is more than just a standard funny profile picture and biography.  It is an aggregate of their work and online profile, intended to paint a picture of who they are, what they do, what they think and what they are interested in.

To explore the diverse and unique characters at Thornley Fallis and jokers at 76design, take a look through our people profiles and find out who you could be working with on your next project.

Not only is our team exceptionally talented (and good-looking), we are experienced & passionate about the work we do.  While adventuring through our People pages, zoom over to the Work & Services sections to see what Thornley Fallis & 76design has to offer.

My colleagues and I hope you enjoy perusing through our new sites.

Oh and one more thing… if you like what you see, don’t hesitate to call us, we’d love to hear from you!

I enjoy newspapers and still read—or at least scan—a few each day. The content is as interesting to me as the advertisements can be. Savvy readers today will note that there are fewer advertisements for high-end jewelery items and that car prices have dropped. Precipitously.

The Globe and Mail for Monday March 23rd (Globe Life Section; page L1) published an article outlining the pitfalls of social media tools used injudiciously. Net-net: Share judiciously. One citizen of the Twitterscene slagged a client (not a good idea) and another insulted a city that happens to be home to his client and their head office; also a bad idea.

Careeristinas with a past will recall—perhaps fondly—a time when office deportment was more strictly outlined. There were definite expectations for “professional” and “personal” spheres of life. It was not uncommon to know little about the private lives of colleagues; one woman I worked with some years ago kept her engagement and subsequent marriage so carefully under wraps that knowledge of both escaped notice until she arrived at the office on Monday sporting a wedding ring.

Social Media tools have changed how we communicate and how we expect to communicate with one another. Immediate communication tools, strategies and needs trump the now charming, decorous professional demeanour of yesteryear. There are no secrets on the Internet and exposing your life—in all its normal glory—is now commonplace.

The concept of the much-dreaded “personal phone call” at work is obsolete. Never mind a call from your physician, sibling or family lawyer: wide-open work spaces and team-based cubicles mean that co-workers often share intimate details merely by having ears. (Personal phone calls, fyi, are obsolete because cellular phones take up the slack.)

Social Media tools—from MSN as an inter-office yakker to the Biggies like Twitter and Facebook—enable people to indulge in sharing, posting, commenting and more from the relative comfort of their keyboard and an ergonomic chair.

Social Media tools are, however, forever. Each tweet, update and notification is a public announcement.

The ability to instantly communicate is wonderful. It is also powerful in more than one sense of the word and it includes the ability to have your thoughts spread like wildfire across a digital network of untold numbers of people. Publish for sure, but don’t publish and perish because you hit “send” before reflecting on your post.

The Ottawa office of Thornley Fallis & 76design has been selected as a finalist for Ottawa Professional Services Firm of the Year in the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Awards.

Winners will be announced at a Gala Dinner on Thursday, November 20th at Tudor Hall.

Other finalists in the Professional Services of the Year category are:

• Gansen Lindsay Design Consultants Inc.
• Genivar
• Gladstone Aerospace Consulting
• Hendry Warren LLP Chartered Accountants
• Herzing College
• Royal LePage Performance Realty
• Stevenson & White Inc.

As you can see from the photos below, expansion of the Ottawa office of Thornley Fallis & 76design is progressing well since my August 7^th post.

All the new walls and doors are up. Electrical is in. Drywall has been taped, mudded and primed.  Basically, all that remains is painting, carpeting, trimming and any final finishing touches.

Everything looks great and is on track to be completed by the end of next week (Friday, August 29^th).  Furniture and equipment will be moved into and set-up in the new space over the long-weekend, so we can be up and running on Tuesday, September 2^nd!

…but are still looking.

This is by far the busiest summer the Ottawa office of Thornley Fallis and 76design has had since I joined the firm more than 6 years ago.  The usual summer slow down simply has not happened.  Expansion of our office, due to be completed mid-August, can’t happen quickly enough.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve added Nicolas Ruszkowski as an Account Director and Bradley Moseley-Williams as a Senior Consultant on the Thornley Fallis side of our business, and Shaun Scanlon joined 76design as a Senior Developer.

Nicolas’ more than 15 years of experience in the communications industry includes:

• Director of Communications for the Leader of the Liberal Party Stephane Dion, 2007-08
• Vice-President at Fleishman-Hillard in Ottawa, 2005-07
• Director of Communications to the Government House Leader, 2003-04
• Director of Communications at the Forest Products Association of Canada, 2002-03

He is also trilingual in English, French and Spanish.

Before his recent move to Ottawa, Bradley had his own public relations consultancy in Toronto since 2001.

His more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry also includes:

• Public Relations Professor at Algonquin College, 2007-08
• Director of Public Relations at Interactive Media Group, 1996-2000
• Public Relations Manager for KL Group (now Sun Microsystems), 1995-96
• Public Relations Coordinator at Unisys, 1990-95

Bradley has authored more than 150 magazine, newspaper and feature articles on various business themes related to public relations and lifestyle.

Our firm, Thornley Fallis, is actively recruiting experienced public relations and communications consultants for our growing Ottawa office.

Candidates should have a consulting, agency or journalism background and/or significant experience in conceptualizing, planning and executing public relations programs and activities for government organizations, private sector companies and/or national associations.

Successful candidates will demonstrate the ability to:

• Build and lead teams, allocate resources, and manage multiple projects and budgets simultaneously.
• Deploy a broad range of leading-edge communications methodologies and tactics.
• Manage relationships and provide clients with effective strategic advice.
• Integrate new media, web and social media tools into communications programs.
• Develop and close new business opportunities, including proposal development and presenting to clients/prospects.

Candidates must be highly-motivated and thrive in a fast-paced team environment, possess superior communications and exceptional writing skills, and deliver outstanding client service.  Bilingualism is an asset.

The Thornley Fallis team prides itself on working collaboratively, and we are looking for consultants interested in joining a group of fun, dynamic professionals who are committed to providing clients with the best possible counsel, service and results.

CVs can be submitted to me:

Keelan Green
Vice-President & General Manager
Thornley Fallis Communications
55 Metcalfe Street, Suite 730
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6L5
green@thornleyfallis.com

With Federal Government year end (aka March Madness) upon us, Cathren Ronberg, joined the Ottawa office of Thornley Fallis as a Senior Consultant a couple of weeks ago.  I sent an email around internally, but forgot/was too busy to do a post.

Cathren holds the CPRS Accrediation (APR).
 
Most recently, she was Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Prior to that, she has been:

• Director of Corporate Communications, Hydro Ottawa
• Director of Public Affairs, Toronto Hydro
• Director of Corporate Relations & Advertising for the Americas, Alcatel Cable
• Director of Corporate Relations & Advertising, Alcatel Canada Wire
• Vice-President, Berger & Associates (Berger, which I believe was bought by H&K, also yielded PR Superstar Terry Fallis)

Cathren has also worked as an independent consultant, freelance writer and radio/TV journalist.

On one hand, February-March is a good time to start at an Ottawa PR firm because we are super busy and you are immediately given more work than you can handle.

On the other hand, February-March is a bad time to start at an Ottawa PR firm because we are super busy and you are immediately given more work than you can hanlde.

Welcome and good luck Cathren, we’ll get to know you in April.