Today our client CIRA announced the .CA Impact Awards at meshmarketing with this video that was created and produced by our firm Thornley Fallis & 76design.

The .CA Impact Awards celebrate Canadians making a positive impact online.

There are four categories:
•  Small Business
•  eLearning
•  Not-for-Profit
•  Web Technology

In addition to public recognition, the winning entry in each category will receive a cheque for $5,000.

Entries can be submitted online at www.impactawards.ca from January 6, 2011 to March 25, 2011.

Winners will be announced in May 2011 at mesh.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is pleased to announce the selection of Thornley Fallis & 76design as their Agency of Record for marketing and communications.

Thornley Fallis & 76design will provide CIRA with a range of services, including brand development, media relations, corporate communications, advertising, sponsorship, creative design, website development, video production and program measurement.

“CIRA chose Thornley Fallis & 76design from a group of very talented agencies based on several criteria. Most importantly, they truly are an integrated, full-service agency. In addition to more traditional, core capabilities such as strategic communications, media relations and advertising; Thornley Fallis & 76design also offers creative design, website development, video production, and public engagement services. All of this in addition to being Canadian leaders in the use social media and the development of online communities,” said David Fowler, CIRA’s Director of Marketing and Communications. “The CIRA team is really looking forward to our new relationship with Thornley Fallis & 76design. In addition to helping us improve communications with our stakeholders, including the more than 1.5 million .CA registrations, our new AOR will also help our team continue to promote and grow the .CA brand, as well as educate Canadians in the value .CA brings to their lives.”

This new, long-term Agency of Record agreement builds on a previous project-based relationship between CIRA and Thornley Fallis & 76design.  Since 2005, Thornley Fallis & 76design and CIRA have worked together on a variety of projects, including annual general meetings, the One Millionth .CA celebration event, online advertising and annual report design and production.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for our agency,” said Keelan Green, President of Thornley Fallis & 76design and manager of the CIRA relationship. “As a marketing and public relations agency that has really embraced the web and become a leader in digital communications, working with the organization that is responsible for managing significant parts of the Internet in Canada is just a great fit for our firm – our team is really looking forward to it.”

About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community and represents the .CA registry internationally.

About Thornley Fallis & 76design
Thornley Fallis & 76design is an innovative, full-service public relations, communications and marketing agency that helps organizations reach, connect with, build and sustain positive relationships with their communities through the integrated use of on-line and off-line communications tactics.

For additional information, please contact:

Jennifer Austin
Senior Manager, Communications & Marketing, CIRA
(613) 237-5335 ext. 296
jennifer.austin@cira.ca

LeeEllen Carroll
Thornley Fallis for CIRA
613-231-3355 ext. 231
carroll@thornleyfallis.ca

Every so often, in public relations, you get the opportunity to help present an event that truly gives back to the community in a way that matters.  Last week Thornley Fallis delivered thousands of dollars worth of non-perishable food items, collected at local Ford dealerships, to the Shepherds of Good Hope; this week we will be on location for Ford’s “Future of Safety Tour.”

Over 30 years ago an experimental airbag was developed. Known today as frontal and side-impact airbag systems, they changed the future of vehicle safety and have saved countless lives.

The latest addition to seatbelt safety is sure to make a splash at this week’s event, a seatbelt equipped with its own airbag – designed specifically for children traveling in rear seats.

On Thursday, October 14th, Sparks Street Mall will be transformed into one of the biggest vehicle safety awareness events in Ottawa, with close to 100 feet of safety technologies to explore and test.

The hands on demonstrations feature award-winning safety products. The general public and the media will have the opportunity to speak with experts in road safety, vehicle restraint safety, and vehicle usage safety.

The “Future of Safety Tour” is Ford’s second global safety event that raises awareness and brings safety from the home and to the roads. Ford’s safety innovations helps customers avoid crashes or protect them when an accident unavoidable. They’re also pioneering new technologies such as radar warning systems to help drivers avoid potentially dangerous situations, as well as auto parking and braking advices to help drivers avoid even more unnecessary accidents.

Experiencing Ford's inflatable seatbelt

Come out and see the excitement at the Sparks Street Mall (outside the CBC Building).

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

07:00 a.m. – Demonstrations begin for general public

12:00 p.m. – News conference begins

12:30 p.m. – Demonstrations for media begin

[Ford and Shepherds of Good Hope are both clients]

As we get closer to Thanksgiving we often remind ourselves of reasons to be thankful. Here at Thornley Fallis we recalled how, this past summer, The Shepherds of Good Hope declared their cupboards bare.

TFC’s LeeEllen Carroll with the Ford Transit Connect – a home office on the road.

We came up with the idea of “Ford Connects with the Community” – a new community fundraising event organized in hopes of making Thanksgiving a thankful time for everyone in the nation’s capital. Ottawa area Ford dealers are filling their Transit Connect mobile units, when packed to the roof, will provide enough food to fill tables with hundreds of meals in the coming weeks.

While the dealers have invited their staff, customers, communities and friends to contribute, we’ve invited the Parliamentary Press Gallery, local areas MPs and MPPs, as well as municipal politicians and candidates to make a difference.

We’ll be driving the Transit Connect to collect the food at the end of this week. We hope you can join us in celebrating the community connecting to help those in need.

LeeEllen loading food donations into the Transit Connect.

At the conclusion of the Ford Food Drive, Ottawa’s AChannel had a chat with Rob Eady from the Shepherds of Good Hope, Phil Torrinha from Donnelly Ford and a group of Ottawa Sting minor hockey players who wanted to apply their teamwork to their community.

[Ford is a client.]

Here’s an easy and efficient way to take one’s home office on the road. Literally.

Ford’s Transit Connect was developed to be a smart new choice for small business owners. The Ford Work Solutions in-dash computer is capable of linking into a business’s main office computer network or a home computer via the cellular broadband connection.  When I gave it a spin I found the word processing and on-board inkjet printer handy for my own work. It also has a handy “Tool Link” where the RFI will scan the vehicle to ensure all inventory is onboard. This has potential to ensure all hockey and sports equipment makes it back safely as well!

The navigation system contains features including listings for local stations and coffee stops, which both came in handy during my test drive.

CTV’s Paul Brent also got behind the wheel and spoke with an Ottawa-based business about why it’s their choice of business vehicle.

Sometimes good things come in twos, and with the hire of two senior marketing communications practitioners, who both started at the company in early September, the Toronto office of Thornley Fallis & 76design is now bursting with senior thinking and strategic smarts!

Sean Howard joins as Vice-President of Digital Communications.  For over 15 years Sean has delivered insight and innovation to clients in the digital marketing space including Aeroplan, Aviva, Unilever, Microsoft Xbox, Pfizer and TD Bank. Most recently Sean was Strategy Director at Twist Image, where he was co-creator of the emerging strategy discipline.  Prior to that he was Director of Strategy and Innovation at Lift and he also ran his own digital media firm, Spinglobe Inc, from 2002-2007.  Sean has worked with clients and agencies on product innovation, UX and the development of digital strategies.  He also helped plan and launch TVO’s AgendaCamp where they used open innovation techniques to engage Canadians across Ontario.

Sean’s immediate responsibilities will include taking on the social media/digital communications team lead role, but he will also be driving new business in the digital space.

Deborah Knight has joined as a Senior Consultant in the traditional communications practice.  Deborah is an experienced publicity, promotions and marketing strategist with a solid track record in the arts, corporate and entrepreneurial environments.  Her category expertise includes B2C package goods, beverage and alcohol, automotive, telecoms, financial, food, retail, airline, healthcare and entertainment.  Prior to joining Thornley Fallis & 76design, Deborah ran her own firm, dkpr public relations, and she also spent two years at WestJet as National Manager, Public Relations and Communications, and three years at SkyDome Corporation as Public Relations Manager.

Deborah will step in immediately to take media relations capabilities to the next level.

[Ford is a client of Thornley Fallis]

On Friday, June 18^th, Doug Heeney of Campbell Ford demonstrated SYNC on A-Channel with Kurt Stoodley.

Check out the clip:

A-Channel – SYNC – Campbell Ford – June 19, 2010

[Ford is a client of Thornley Fallis]

On Friday, May 7^th, Dave Rossy of Lincoln Heights Ford Lincoln demonstrated Ford’s Active Park Assist Technology on A Channel Morning with Co-host Angie Poirier.

Check out the clip.

Disclosure: Enstream / Zoompass is a Thornley Fallis client and I manage the account.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to demo the Zoompass Tag for CTV Ottawa’s Technology Reporter Paul Brent. 

Here’s the CTV Ottawa Report

While we can’t be accused of opening a hardware store, our front lobby has started to accumulate a nifty little collection of awards. Last week we were honoured at the inaugural CPRS Awards Gala when we won the PuRe Elements Awards of Excellence for Innovation in Communications (Water category). VPs Aimee Deziel and LeeEllen Carroll accepted the award on behalf of Thornley Fallis and 76design. They were part of a great team that ran the SHARP 1080pD82 challenge and helped Sharp succeed in getting Canadians to identify the Aquos television as the leader in high definition televisions. To take the TV from trade publications and into family living rooms, the team conceived and ran an integrated campaign which engaged first time bloggers in social media while reducing their carbon footprint.

Emcee Stephen Heckbert entertained the audience with his “Top Communications Moments of 2008″ presentation and he announced the winners of each category when he opened the sealed envelopes. “This was a creative ad compelling program with a great use of new technologies and an innovative way to involve your audience,” Heckbert quoted a judge as saying.

Canwest’s David Akin was the keynote speaker of the night. He regaled the audience with his behind-the-scenes take on CIBC faxing private banking information to a junk lot in West Virginia. It was a story he uncovered while working at CTV News. Listening to his storytelling was like imagining a kimono being unwrapped. Except this story involved the nation’s most trusted anchor.

Three other awards were presented. The Earth Award for Internal Communications went to the Queensway Carleton Hospital, the Air Award for External Communications was awarded to the Canadian Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists, and the Fire Award for Communicator of the Year was bestowed on Robyn Osgood of Blueprint PR.

CPRS pulled off this inaugural event by pulling together a solid group of volunteers, led by CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau President-Elect Laurie Murphy, LeeEllen Carroll (Thornley Fallis), Leisha MacDonald (76design), Katie Boland (Algonquin student), Adam Weitner (Service Master), and Calline Au (Queensway Carleton Hospital).

“We have very talented public relations practitioners in this area who uphold the values of the profession and of our society through their excellent work,” said CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter President Danielle Côté. “It’s important for us to recognize their work and their contribution to the field of public relations. Awards like these allow us to celebrate this excellence and share it with other who can learn from their work,” she added.