Note: CIRA is a Thornley Fallis client.

On February 25, 2011, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) will host a Canadian Internet Forum (CIF) even in Ottawa at the Brookstreet Hotel.

“Canadian Vision and Leadership” is the theme for this session.

At the event in Ottawa, a panel of Canadian experts will discuss the findings of cross-country internet governance consultations, and leading Canadian technology visionary Leonard Brody will provide the keynote address. The event will also feature sessions for participants to provide their feedback and ideas about Internet governance in Canada and internationally.

This is an opportunity to learn and share about Internet governance in Canada and around the world.

For more information, visit cif.cira.ca.

What: From Storyboard to YouTube: Creating Video with Measurable Results, presented by News Canada

When: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 11:30am-1:30pm (a light lunch will be served)

Where: Sunlife Centre, 50 O’Connor Street, 3rd floor (corner of Queen and O’Connor)

Cost: Cost is $20 for CPRS members, $30 for non-members. Register online at http://cprsottawajanuary2011.eventbrite.com/

About:

With Canadians watching more videos than any country in the world, online video is an important consideration to any communications program. The focus of this presentation is to educate communications professionals who are considering video as part of their outreach as to the planning, production, media relations and measurement aspects of a video program.

During the presentation you will learn tips and insights on:

• Video planning and production
• Considerations when pitching your video
• Measuring your results using the Media Relations Rating Points system

This professional development session is presented in conjunction with News Canada and will feature real world examples that you will be able to utilize in your communications planning.

More info here.

Announcing a new Meetup for Third Tuesday Ottawa!

What: The National Capital Commission Gets Social

When: Monday, January 24, 2011 6:00 PM

Price: $10.00 per person

Where: The Exchange Pub & Restaurant, Rideau Centre (across from Chapters)

“Reticence is often conquered by a win, and the best way to provide a win is via a pilot project.”
Daniel Feeny, Director of Digital Communications, Outreach and Youth Programs, National Capital Commission

Throughout 2010, the National Capital Commission actively explored the potential of social media through a series of pilot projects. They learned from each pilot, refining their approach and incorporating the lessons into the next pilot. A textbook example of an organization learning how to use social media – incrementally, iteratively, intelligently.

At the January Third Tuesday Ottawa, Daniel Feeny will discuss what the NCC learned from its pilot approach, what he would tell other organizations exploring social media and what he sees in the future for the NCC and social media.

According to Daniel, “Strategy isn’t the goal. It’s the path you plan to take to get there (Chris Brogan). While most organizations understand that social media has become a must have in the larger media environment, many still view it as experimental marketing. In large part, that’s because most of them fail in their initial self-started efforts. Before designing a social media strategy, the National Capital Commission (NCC) tried to discouver the best ways to integrate social media into our communication/marketing efforts by using pilot projects to get through the door. It’s just a beginning…”

To RSVP for this Meetup, go to: http://www.meetup.com/third-tuesday-ottawa/calendar/15861130/. You must sign-up for Third Tuesday Ottawa in order to RSVP.

Student Tickets

The Third Tuesday speakers have a lot to teach all of us. And we want students to be able to participate. So, Thornley Fallis is sponsoring free admission for any registered students who want to attend. If you’re a student, please register in the normal way. But when you arrive at the registration desk, simply present your student ID and we’ll refund your registration fee.

Sponsors

Third Tuesday’s sponsors CNW Group, Rogers Communications, Radian6, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts makes it possible to bring great speakers to Third Tuesdays across the country, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Allstate Canada [a Thornley Fallis client] is hosting a FREE safe winter driving seminar next week on Tuesday, November 30^th at Merivale High School (1755 Merivale Road) from 7:00pm to 8:30pm.

You could win an iPad or Sens tickets.

Pre-register at www.GoodHandsAdvice.ca.

Announcing a New Third Tuesday Ottawa!

What: Michelle Kostya on RIM’s approach to social media

When: Monday, December 6th, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Price: $10.00 per person

Where: The Exchange Pub & Restaurant, 50 Rideau Street Unit 100, Rideau Centre (across from Chapters)

When it comes to social media, it’s a mobile world. It’s a long time since social media resided primarily in our browser or in applications on our desktop. Today, our social media connections are rarely farther away than the device we carry in the palm of our hands – our cell phones.

RIM – Research in Motion – is the Canadian standard bearer in the mobile device wars and Canada’s leading technology hope. As social media has evolved and as apps have moved onto mobile devices, RIM has been challenged to evolve its own approach. And we’re seeing it do this. Earlier this year, RIM introduced a new operating system with social features built in as well as the Torch, a new generation of BlackBerry that combines a large touchscreen display with a slide out keyboard. In the new year, we’ll see the Playbook, RIM’s tablet offering.

As RIM evolves its platform, it’s also using social media to reach out to its users and engage with them in online community and social media. Michelle Kostya is one of the people charting out RIM’s path in social media. And she’s our next speaker at Third Tuesday.

Attend Third Tuesday Ottawa on December 6^th to hear Michelle talk about how Research in Motion uses social media and how it views the future of social on its platform.

To RSVP for this Meetup, go to: http://www.meetup.com/third-tuesday-ottawa/calendar/15182785/. You must sign-up for Third Tuesday Ottawa in order to RSVP.

Student Tickets

The Third Tuesday speakers have a lot to teach all of us. And we want students to be able to participate. So, Thornley Fallis is sponsoring free admission for any registered students who want to attend. If you’re a student, please register in the normal way. But when you arrive at the registration desk, simply present your student ID and we’ll refund your registration fee.

Sponsors

Third Tuesday’s sponsors CNW Group, Rogers Communications, Radian6, and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts makes it possible to bring great speakers to Third Tuesdays across the country, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Thornley Fallis & 76design CEO, Joseph Thornley, today announced the promotion of Keelan Green, Senior Vice-President & General Manager of the firm’s Ottawa office, to the position of President.

“When you join a company in an economic downturn, you have the opportunity to cower or to stand out. Keelan Green stood out from the beginning and he continues to stand out,” said Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis & 76design. “Keelan has always demonstrated a will to succeed. He demonstrates the truth that that good enough isn’t good enough. Work has to be great to be worth doing. Clients love him. And team members gravitate to him. Over the past two years, he demonstrated his leadership by bringing our Ottawa office through the recession, not only surviving but growing. So, I’m looking forward to working alongside him as he takes responsibility for the entire company.  I’m sure even greater success lies ahead for Keelan and Thornley Fallis & 76design.”

This announcement comes in the wake of several new hires at Thornley Fallis & 76design over the past few months, including Jo Langham, Senior Vice-President & General Manager of the Toronto office; Pierre Killeen, Vice-President, Public Engagement; Laurence Smink, Creative Director; Carrie Croft, Consultant; Eric Portelance, Consultant; Laura Townson, Account Manager; Brent Charbonneau, Senior Web Developer; Frank Carr, Senior Web Developer; and Samantha Hartley, Account Coordinator.

“This is of course a great and very exciting opportunity for me personally,” said Keelan Green. “But, I think what is most exciting is where our firm is right now and the tremendous opportunities I see for us in the months and years ahead.  While the past 18 months was a difficult period for our industry, our agency included, we have come through it with several new, high-profile client relationships, a strengthened team, and an improved and expanded our service offering. Thornley Fallis & 76design is definitely well-positioned to continue providing outstanding service to our existing clients and to take advance of the growing number of new opportunities we are seeing in the market.”

About Keelan Green
Keelan Green joined Thornley Fallis & 76design from the federal government 8 years ago as a Consultant. Since 2002, he held a series of progressively more senior roles until becoming General Manager of the firm’s Ottawa office in January 2007.  Keelan leads many of the firm’s top accounts, including Lockheed Martin, Ford, Enstream, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), a variety of Government of Canada organizations and the City of Ottawa. In 2008, Keelan led the firm’s Ottawa office to the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Award for Professional Services Firm of the Year and was selected as one of Ottawa’s “Top 40 Under 40” by the Ottawa Business Journal. He serves on several volunteer boards and committees, including the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, the Salvation Army Ottawa Advisory Board and he is President of the Canadian Public Relations Society Ottawa/Gatineau Chapter. Born and raised in Ottawa, Keelan attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he received a Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration. Keelan is an avid golfer at Rivermead Golf Club and plays on two rec league hockey teams. He lives in downtown Ottawa with wife Laura and son Peyton.

About Thornley Fallis & 76design
Thornley Fallis is an innovative, full-service public relations, communications and marketing agency that helps organizations reach, connect with, and build and sustain positive relationships with their communities through the integrated use of on-line and off-line communications tactics. 76design is a creative services and web development agency that conceptualizes, designs and develops brands, identities, print materials, website applications, widgets and tools that enable organizations to reach, connect with and create value for their communities.

Contacts:

Jo Langham
416-515-7517 ext. 340,  langham@thornleyfallis.com

LeeEllen Carroll
613-231-3355 ext. 231, carroll@thornleyfallis.com

In order to reinvigorate and revitalize downtown Ottawa businesses hit hard by the recession and the bus strike, Thornley Fallis and 76design  conceived, developed and executed the Picture it Downtown campaign for The City of Ottawa, where residents were encouraged to go downtown, snap a photo and share it online.

Point, shoot, share – a simple concept to get Ottawa excited about all it has to offer. The “Picture It Downtown” concept we developed served to visually promote downtown Ottawa as a whole, but also the eight specific areas being promoted:  Byward Market, Downtown Rideau, Sparks Street, Bank Street, The Glebe, Chinatown, Preston Street (Little Italy) and Wellington-West Village.

Residents could participate in the campaign contest to win daily ($50), weekly ($250) and grand ($500 to $1200) prizes by taking pictures of downtown activities and uploading them to the campaign website.

The campaign included a media launch event involving the Mayor, a website with a list of downtown activites, a description, videos and photos of each area, contest rules and regulations, a photo gallery for people to submit and view photos, and YouTube videos, featuring all that’s cool in several neighbourhoods, print, radio, online and transit advertising, weekly news releases and ongoing online outreach using other social media tools including Twitter and Flickr.

Thousands of people participated and competed for prizing provided by local businesses.

The campaign was to remind Ottawans of all the diverse experiences and excitement downtown Ottawa has to offer, and entice them to visit downtown — ultimately spending money while engaging in the various activities highlighted in the eight main areas being promoted.

For the City of Ottawa, running a marketing campaign with a heavy online and interactive component was not only a smart business and communications decision, but its creativity generated a lot of buzz within Ottawa and got people sharing ideas and photos of great things to do and see in the city.

The fall 2009 campaign resulted in over ten thousand unique visits to the campaign website, more than 1300 entries (photos uploaded to the website), significant earned media in targeted outlets, photo and video assets for future use by the City, and a general buzz across the City about the creativity of the campaign, particularly by government.

Picture it downtown would not have been possible without our lead technologist Brett Tackaberry, senior web developer Steve Lounsbury, our superb designer Steve St. Pierre, the ad campaign led by Laura Mindorff, the videos by Ryan Knuth, writer and producer LeeEllen Carroll and our SEO expert Shaun Scanlon. Special thanks to our GM Keelan Green, who has a knack for assembling the best teams to deliver outstanding results.

Thank you IABC for the recognition. It’s nice to bask in the spotlight… and great to share successes. As I used to say in my former journalistic career, you’re only as good as your last story. So that means back to work. Right now.

In an attempt to reduce the cost of its annual report, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) engaged 76design and Thornley Fallis for our unique concept of a paperless report. Highlighting achievements and documenting successes,  World Class Care (TOH’s 2008-2009 Annual Report) contains a special feature allowing readers to create their own versions of the report including only the sections and stories appealing to them.

For some, those stories include the 6808 hospital births, the woman who was paying it forward by donating her kidney to a stranger because her own husband was receiving one from an anonymous donor in Ottawa – who had selflessly stepped forward to transplant hope, or the CF soldier, blown to bits in Afghanistan after coming into contact with a land mine. He died. Twice. The second time he was resuscitated during his evacuation flight. He arrived at TOH doped up on morphine. Months of therapy and compassionate care in the Rehabilitation Centre got him back on his feet- running in fact – he recently took part in The Olympic Torch Relay Race, with a new ‘bionic’ leg.

Allow me to cast the awards spotlight on other members of our talented team, who took those stories and turned them into an attention grabbing report: writer Bradley Moseley-Williams, who’s never met an adjective he can’t love, web developers and code masters- Brett Tackaberry and Steve Lounsbury, Mr. Shaun Search Engine Optimization Scanlon, ‘video is the new media’ Ryan Knuth, Resource and Account Manager Laura Mindorff, video killed the radio star LeeEllen Carroll, and top 40 under 50 SVP and GM Keelan Green.

A very special thanks to TOH’s CEO Jack Kitts and VP Nic Ruszkowski for renewing their investment in TF and 76 by inviting us back to partner on their next online annual report.

Here’s to more success stories for The Ottawa Hospital, Thornley Fallis and 76design, our peers at IABC and everyone in our communications community.

[Ford is a client of Thornley Fallis.]

On Saturday May 29, nearly 200 Ford Mustang drivers came out for Dupuis Ford Lincoln’s Mustang Poker Run and helped raise $101,666 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The grand total was double what they expected and surpassed last year’s record donation. The tears of joy I witnessed at this event gave me enough goose bumps to lift the hair off my skin.

Breast cancer research ranks amongst the top causes Ottawans support and will do anything for – including running a marathon to raise money and awareness for what matters most: the women they love.

Six years ago, Dupuis Ford Lincoln in Casselman decided to take their fundraising initiative for CIBC’s Run for the Cure to a whole new level. For decades, marathon and Race Weekend participants have ran, biked, or rollerbladed across the Eastern Ontario region. A dealership stocked with horsepower and  transmissions, Dupuis Ford Lincoln has a need for speed and a commitment to one of the longest community support initiatives in the Ottawa  area. It was their passion and support from the community that helped create their unique and innovative fundraising event, the Mustang Poker Run.

The 6th edition Mustang Poker Run covered the Eastern Ontario region for a distance of nearly 230 km. Participants stopped at five stations and collected playing cards in attempt to win the grand prize with the best poker hand. Entertainment for the whole family included, “Show & Shine,” “Ford talk,” contests, games, a used books sale, and live performances from local band Hometown.

The fun-filled day was complete with caring families and their beautiful Mustangs, sports car drivers sporting shirts saying “Je t’aime ma femme” or “Je t’aime ma maman,” and stories of survival, honour and praise.

Time spent at the Mustang Poker Run proves there’s more to the pink ribbon campaign than just tying up laces or revving up engines:  there are real people, true stories, and thousands of battles worth fighting.

R to L: Nicole Bourgeois (Cancer survivor and pace car driver), Marie-Claire Ivanski (Organizer), Martin (Son of Nicole), Sylvie (Daughter of Nicole)

L to R: Nicole Bourgeois (Honourary guest), Marie-Claire Ivanski (Organizer), Carole Séguin-Millaire (Organizer)

Michel Dupuis (Owner of Dupuis Ford-bottom right) and Mustang Poker Run team

Mustang Poker Run participants

"Show and Shine"

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the City of Ottawa’s Light Rail website!

Many Ottawans felt as though they were left in the dark when it came to the City’s big Light Rail Transit (LRT) plans. Well folks, there is no longer any need to feel mal-informed. Thornley Fallis and 76design in collaboration with the Light Rail Implementation Team have created an “information-sharing mechanism” that arms the citizens of Ottawa with more than sufficient information relating to the project plan.

The communications efforts applied by Thornley Fallis & 76design were strategic and smart; we have received positive results on the site and its search functions, information content, structure and ease-of-use.

The website in particular has proven to be the most crucial piece of the puzzle. The website we’ve created is meant to engage the entire City; to provide all the facts our users require to fully understand the project and to provide them with a platform to communicate their feelings towards the project.

With the integration of various social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), interested citizens are able to keep up-to-date and connect with the Light Rail Implementation Team with any questions or concerns. Any questions submitted to the team will be answered in a timely fashion; responses will then be posted on the website. The LRT website helps make a difference by providing comfort to Ottawans by reminding them that Light Rail green and it will only improve the City.

Since yesterday’s launch, the LRT project is getting great media play, print and radio; it is noted that there are happy people all around.