Oh The CFL, Who cares?

The CFL (Canadian Football League) has been around for over 100 years and has brought many historic moments to Canada. But with a superior football product (the NFL) just next door, why should anyone care about the CFL? The NFL is faster, harder, stronger, and an overall better football experience.

Well the CFL is strong in sports starved markets: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and the Maritimes. It lacks fan base interest in the key Canadian Markets: Southern Ontario, and B.C. Hamilton has a good fan base, but being so close to NFL territory leaves fans wanting to see the American product more than their home grown game. It’s not the CFL’s fault; the NFL just has a bigger budget and can afford the best players in the world. The rest of the players play in Europe or in the CFL.

First of all they need more teams. Its hard to have an exciting product when almost every team makes the playoffs. A team in Ottawa is probable in the near future and the league is looking into the possibility of a team in the Maritimes. But that still will only be ten teams, with really no other cities big enough for a franchise. Really all the CFL can do is continue to make money in sports starved markets, market the CFL as a true Canadian game, and wait for Toronto or Vancouver to get a real football franchise (NFL) and kill the CFL.

Fundraising:the Greasy Side of Charity

My eyes have been opened to the sleaze that is used for positive causes. Fundraising is essential for charities, and money raised is used to make the world a better place. But the tactics used by professionals in fundraising are unethical and immoral. Although these professionals are doing good for the world, they don’t give a @#$% about the people donating, unless they have their wallets open.

In a fundraising seminar I attended recently I learned two key lessons: fake friendships lead to more donations and that people are worth more dead. By making a donor feel like they are your friend, they will give you more money. Having people donate through wills and life insurance polices are great ways to increase donations from donors. These lessons have left me with a terrible feeling in my stomach towards the fundraising profession.

My favourite quote used in a seminar PowerPoint was, “You wont get milk from the cow by sending it a letter and you wont get milk by calling on the phone. The only way to get milk from a cow is to sit by its side and milk it.” So are people just cows to fundraisers and are they just trying to milk them for all their worth? The answer is a blatant YES! Fundraising professionals just use good honest people to increase donations for their not for profit business.

So don’t give in to the sleaze. When donating, pick causes you truly care about. Don’t give into to sleazy fundraisers pretending to be your friends just waiting for you to die, for their big pay day.

Greenpeace Fuels Environmental War Against Nestlé

With the current green wave and the new need for Corporate Social Responsibility, it surprises me that a major corporation like Nestlé would get caught with their pants down. Nestlé has been accused by Greenpeace of importing palm oil from suppliers who have destroyed rainforests that are home to endangered Orang-utans.

This has started a social media war against Nestlé, headed by Greenpeace. Attacks against Nestlé include, a You Tube video featuring a man eating a Kit Kat bar that turned out to be Orang-utan fingers and the use of their own Face book page against them. Attackers viscously used altered images of Nestlé’s logo and posted them on their Face book page.

Nestlé lashed back at their pundits and went on the defensive with a moderately aggressive post on their Face book wall. This was an embarrassing response that fuelled more attacks from pundits. Two months later Nestlé got the right idea and ceased all business with any company found destroying rainforests.

It is disgusting, especially with today’s green addicted world that a company would get away with such atrocities to the planet. Luckily for them (although it took them two months) they made it right be stopping business with all companies destroying rainforests. Nestle made the situation right, but with the current green insertion, companies need to minimise the size of their eco footprint and use Corporate Social Responsibility to keep a clean/caring image for their company.

Die Social Media Die!!!

So yah, I understand the importance, benefit, and convenience of social media. I understand how it is changing the world and how it has changed PR. I know how it makes research, communication, and geographic target marketing easier. I know that it is here to stay, and I’m generally ok with that. The problem I have with social media is the pointless people that use it to recap their pointless lives. This is not an educated stab at social media, but more of a belligerent rant.

Why do I need to know where you are, what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what you’re thinking about every three minutes? Who cares that you just had a shower and are now thinking about fluffy white kittens. Oh and if I missed your Facebook status about the “cute” boots you just bought, I could just follow your 47 tweets about them or read your “cute” boot blog. I could even follow you on Four Square to find out as your buying your boots where you are and how cute they really are. But don’t worry I will totally check out your MySpace to see pictures of those cute boots and your fluffy white cat.

So can we put a license on social media? Can we keep all the morons on the outside? No, we need these morons on here so we can warp their incompetent minds into buying the products we are promoting. So, I guess we can’t win, I guess we will have to listen to pointless gibber from people that are not so pointless when they open their wallets.

Strong Community Image Helps Lazy Candidate Win Election

Former Port Hope Mayor, Rick Austin came back to local politics with a victory on the October 25th municipal election. But this time he is not the mayor, he is a councillor for ward one. Rick lost his title as mayor, with a loss to Linda Thompson (the current mayor of Port Hope) in the 2006 election. His victory isn’t a surprise, but how he won with so little effort is.

Rick barley did anything to ensure his victory. His campaigning efforts were weak without any sign of effort. He didn’t go door to door like his competitors and he had very few election signs. In fact Rick spent a month of the campaigning season in Calgary visiting family. So how does a man who barley shows any sign of caring in his campaign efforts win so easily? The answer is a strong community image.

During his time as mayor, Rick showed that he truly cared about Port Hope. He didn’t always make the best mayoral decisions, but his heart was always in the game. He wasn’t in it for the money or power he truly just wanted to make his community a better place. For this reason he is a well liked man within the Port Hope community and won the election with ease.

So what is the moral of today’s story? Having a positive personal brand image can go along way. It can help you get a job, impress clients, and maybe even win an election.

Bell’s Poor Customer Service- Killing Them Softly

Bell has been Canada’s most trusted phone service since the beginning of phone service in Canada and in recent years, Bell has become Canada’s leading multi media conglomerate. But with the emergences of another powerhouse multi media conglomerate (Rogers) and the negative image Bell has been giving their brand, how long can it be before they are second best?

In recent years Bell’s poor customer service has been their Achilles heel. When calling Bell about a simple customer problem, you will be in for an hour of wasted time. When you finally get a hold of someone that can help you, they will try to scam more money out of your pockets. So after two hours of wasted time you’re left confused, mad, and your problem isn’t fixed at all. It is the people that make the brand and when the company turns their back on the customer; the customer loses loyalty. When the customers lose loyalty to Bell; they will switch their multi media needs to a company that has great customer service (Rogers.) Rogers has almost all the same multi media capabilities as Bell and is a more user friendly company.

Bell has been the number one brand for so long; it has gone to their heads. They think they are better than the people, better than their customers. By not caring about the customers they have left themselves weak and have given Rogers a chance to exploit their weaknesses. If Bell doesn’t improve their customer service/relations they will just have to sit back and watch as Rogers replaces them as number one on the Canadian multi media conglomerate podium.

PR Not Just a Big City Game

When thinking about a successful career in the Canadian Public Relations industry; cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver come to mind. People may even think about smaller cities like Winnipeg, Regina, or even Oshawa. No one would think about a smaller Northern Ontario city like North Bay. But Jason Corbett has had a successful PR Career in the city of North Bay for over twenty years.

Although Jason’s educational background is in paralegal studies; his natural communication skills and his passion for politics led him to a career in PR. His career started when he took a volunteer communications position for a local liberal MPP candidate. After a successful campaign Jason’s PR Career was launched and he was offered a full time communications position. Jason would go on to work on four more successful campaigns in North Bay: one at the provincial level and three at the federal level. After his last successful campaign, Jason took the position of manager of development and community relations with One Kid’s Place (a non-profit company that provides rehabilitation and related support services for children and youth, up to the age of 19 and their families living in the Districts of Muskoka, Nipissing and Parry Sound.) He still currently holds this position.

So yes, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal are the ideal cities to pursue a successful career in public relations. But when looking for a career, keep in mind that small cities also have a lot of PR industry jobs. So maybe the big cities are where you want to be and maybe that’s where the best jobs are, but when looking for a career in the Canadian PR field never count out the smaller cities.       

 www.onekidsplace.ca

Toronto Maple Leafs Brand Image Good or Bad?

The Toronto Maple Leafs is a storied franchise in the NHL and in Canada. They have been around for almost a hundred years and have thousands of loyal fans. The question with this franchise is about their brand image. Do they have a positive or negative brand image? Arguments can be made either way for this historic hockey team.

Sure the Leafs are the richest franchise in hockey, but lately they haven’t been able to buy themselves into the playoffs. They have thousands of loyal fans, but are these fans starting to lose faith. The answer is slowly becoming a yes. After five disappointing post season less years the Leafs brand is starting to look like more of a joke than a historic Canadian icon. But even though the brand image is starting to slip they are still one of the richest sports franchises in North America. It kind of seems like a marketing/PR conundrum.

So should the Toronto Maple Leafs Be worried about their brand image starting to slip? The answer is a simple NO. Luckily for them all they have to do to put their brand image back on the positive side is to win games and make the playoffs. Being a Leafs fan I know they are a joke, but being a Leaf fan I am Loyal and know they can turn things around. So maybe the Leafs brand image isn’t the shiniest right now, but when the team gets polished and they start winning some hockey games, everything will be ok for Canada’s team.

My Mission Statement

To apply my education and skills in design, advertising, and communication to achieve a successful career in the integrated marketing communications field
To then use my career success to give back to my community and help financially support environmental preservation.

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