For me, nothing says “I refuse to put any effort or expense whatsoever into this” quite like an e-Christmas / e-Holiday card does.

I’ve received quite a few e-cards this year.

Some are well done and you can tell the sender/sending organization actually put a fair amount of time and effort into creating something clever and memorable, like this one from McMillan, an advertising and design agency here in Ottawa – I don’t mind those as much.  In fact, I liked McMillan’s so much I forwarded it to a few people.

However, others have (pardon the expression) been STRAIGHT SHITE!  And worse, a lot of them have been very similar: a winter scene with the ‘cutting-edge animation’ of falling snow and some generic, unoriginal greeting.

Christmas / Holiday cards is a contact with your customers, partners and suppliers, and like all contact with those parties, its an opportunity to build the relationship, so it should be done right.

Now, I’m in favour of electronic versus paper when in comes to most things, but I’m sure I’m not the only person that likes to put received Christmas cards up on the window sill in my office or on my fireplace mantle at home.

Further, at Thornley Fallis & 76design a lot of what we do is electronic communication, but I still think its important to send our clients, partners, suppliers and other contacts an actual card that they keep longer than the time it takes to open and delete an email.

We usually start work on original concepts in October, we then have them printed, pull together about 1000 addresses/labels, and get them out late November/early December.  Over the years, I think we’ve come up with some pretty good cards that reflect the ‘personality’ of our firm. Last year our card included a line of perforated gift labels.  With concept development, design, printing, envelope stuffing, labelling, postage, etc. it’s more costly and time consuming than an e-card, but I think it’s worth it.

Of course, not every organization can design a card in house, but firms (like our design studio) are available for hire. If you can’t do it in-house, hire a firm or freelancer to help you do it right.  It won’t cost that much and will enhance this contact with your customers, partners and suppliers.

I thought this was a pretty good CSR / marketing initiative by Banana Republic.  Bring in a gently used sweater that they will donate to Goodwill and receive 30% off a new one. I brought in a sweater that I hadn’t worn for a while last week and picked up a new one.

I travel a bit, sometimes more for my volunteer activities than for my work (sorry, kids!)

A recent trip left me with a great impression of Detroit, and I never even left the airport.  Indeed, the last time I travelled to Detroit in 2003, I did not really think much of the airport, or of the city. 

This time, however, I was impressed with the quality of the airport facility itself and with some of the little touches they have that indicated to me that the airport authority is thinking about marketing the city frequently.

Airports are the welcome mat to your community, and that’s why they are such a key piece of infrastructure.  People who don’t travel often may not appreciate it, but airports have an impact on investment decisions, on future partnerships, and on a whole host of intangibles that you would not sense from looking solely at the airport — itself — as a business.

Detroit’s welcome mat is now very impressive — bright, airy, modern and spacious, with a look and feel of a city on the move.  Kudos to the designers, etc., although there’s probably been cost overruns, and other challenges, as there always are on these types of projects.

To be honest, however, the thing that stuck with me was the number of languages the airport used to broadcast the kinds of general announcements airports always announce — you know, the “the Detroit airport is pleased to offer a non-smoking environment” ones.  They announced these in six languages, and that told me Detroit thinks of itself as a city of the world.

So why does that matter?  It matters because that’s where the world is going — major urban centres that will thrive are the ones that can welcome diverse cultures and welcome the business they bring.  Airports are hubs of economic and social activity, and they must demonstrate a recognition of their role as a network hub for a world in motion.

In short, I think Detroit gets it, and for all of the city’s challenges in recent times, the airport – at least — told me the city was headed in the right direction.  Indeed, it made me want to come back and visit, and when was the last time you said that about an airport?

Our firm, Thornley Fallis Communications, which is one of Ottawa’s leading public relations firms, is recruiting Senior Public Relations & Communications Professionals 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 a definite 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

I don’t have a home telephone.  My wife and I decided several years ago that since we both have cells, there wasn’t much point in having three phones for two of us.

Unfortunately, we still get the occasional telemarketing call. I can only imagine how many calls people with land lines get, but I have to say getting telemarketing calls on your cell is really annoying.  Particularly the ones where they are selling home (land line) phone plans or features, when my household has already decided we don’t want/need a land line.

I usually hang up during the three second delay between the time I say ‘Hello’ and the person calling mispronounces my name.

I currently hang-up because I know the Do-Not-Call Registry is not in place.  I can’t wait to be able to stay on the line and immediately ask to be added to their do-no-call list.

Why is the CRTC taking so long to implement the Do-Not-Call Registry?

In his post today, a version also ran in the Ottawa Citizen, Michael Geist says:

The unconscionable delay is part of a larger trend of Ottawa failing to set reasonable ground rules to protect Canadians from unwanted marketing.  Not only does Canada trail badly in the creation of a do-not-call registry, but it also stands virtually alone among developed countries in not taking any legislative steps to address the mounting spam problem. Given the near-universal public support for a do-not-call registry, the existence of a law mandating its creation, and successful implementations around the world, there is no valid excuse for leaving this call on hold.

I am an unabashed baseball fan — I think it may be the most pure game there is, and I like nothing better, on a lazy summer afternoon, than to head to the ballpark and watch the Lynx play.

Today, however, my heart is heavy for the future of the game for a very specific reason — I’m worried that Barry Bonds, should he break Hank Aaron’s home run record in the next couple of months, might harm the game in a permanent way that time won’t heal.

No matter you’re opinion of Bonds the athlete, there is no denying Bonds is bad at selling the game.  He’s always been more about Barry Bonds than about the team, or the game, and he’s been one of those athletes unwilling to realize how good they have it, etc.  In short, by all accounts he’s been graceless, tactless, and — here’s the largest condemnation — not a winner.  That’s right, there are no World Series rings on Barry Bonds’ fingers.

Hank Aaron?  World Series winner …

Babe Ruth?  World Series winner …

So, Mr. Bonds, here’s what you can do to preserve the game that has made you wealthy beyond your wildest imagination and has brought you fame and fortune …

Since the Giants finished under .500 last year, unless they are in a tight pennant race, there will be no competitive reason to carry on, so my advice, Mr. Bonds, is as follows: Tie the record, then retire.

Hit 755 homeruns, then say “I’m done.”

Otherwise, it’s an asterisk for you forever, Mr. Bonds, and every discussion of the most home runs ever will start, ” well, Hank Aaron hit 755 homeruns clean, but Barry Bonds got __ and kind of holds the record.”

You might want to ask Roger Maris how he felt about the asterisk for his whole life — particularly since his asterisk was for a much less serious transgression of the rules.

Will Barry Bonds listen?  Has he ever?

Ottawa-based Novel Solutions, maker of handy devices such as the Bookhug book holder and the Handyfold paper/letter folder, now brings us the Rimroller.

Paul Kind’s “labour-saving device” made it onto the front page (above the fold) of today’s Ottawa Citizen.

The device is aimed at assisting Tim Hortons coffee drinkers see if they won a prize during the company’s annual Roll Up the Rim To Win promotion, which started a couple of weeks ago on February 26, 2007.

So the release of the Rimroller is a little late and it is not yet available for purchase, although it will be soon through Lee Valley Tools.

In the Citizen article, they asked a few people what they thought about the Rimroller.  I think this comment from one person sums it up best:

“I won’t be buying one.  Nails and teeth work just as well.  But I didn’t think people would ever buy the pet rock either.”

With Tim Hortons selling 300 million cups of coffee per year, if only a small portion of those customers buy a Rimroller…

The other side of it is, given the popularity of Tim Hortons Roll Up the Rim To Win promotion across Canada, linking the Rimroller to it may be a good way for Novel Solutions to raise awareness of its other products amongst its target market (people that buy handy little time-saving devices) and drive sales of them.

Here’s an example of an excellent viral marketing / social media campaign.

More than 25 million people have watched Utah-based Blendtec’s series of ‘Will It Blend?’ videos on YouTube.

To see all the videos, check them out here on YouTube or on the company’s Will it Blend? site.

There’s also the Will It Blend? Blog.

Since debuting in November, the videos have regularly been among the most popular on YouTube, and Blendtec’s sales have quadrupled.

Blendtec’s Total Blender, the one used in the videos, sells for US$400 and the Connoisseur model sells for US$825.

You’d have to do a lot of blending (basically every meal or at least daily) to pay that much for a blender, but the low-cost campaign is definitely very cool and very creative.  No doubt, there are many people out there that will buy the blender just because of the videos. 

Bill Gates was speaking this morning at the National Arts Centre about the coming decade of change in the world’s ongoing digital revolution.

It was a very good presentation, and the speech was very well received.  What impressed me as well was that he said he’d speak for 20 minutes, and then he did.

Twenty minutes on the future of technology and its impact on our lives.

The lesson for me?  If that only took 20 minutes, then odds are good the longest any speech should be, ever, is 20 minutes.

The event started on time, ended early, and Mr. Gates is now the proud recipient of an Ottawa Senators jersey to boot.

Welcome to Ottawa, Mr. Gates — please come back soon.