This time of year is always very exciting for me personally as we get closer and closer to the Manitoba Communicator of the Year celebration. This year, CPRS Manitoba will present the third annual award on March 24 at the Hotel Fort Garry.

I remember when we first started talking about creating the award some four or five years ago. Nearly everyone, especially the CPRS Manitoba board, was enthusiastic. That’s not surprising as we’d been looking for some time for new ways to bring value to our members and to promote both CPRS and our profession in Manitoba. The award has done a great job of that so far and I’m very proud to have played a part in developing it and organizing the celebrations for the past three years.

I want to thank Marketwire for its generous sponsorship of the award since its inception.
The nomination deadline has been extended to Feb. 26. So get your nomination in soon.

And as a special lead-in to the award, CPRS Manitoba is also hosting a half day conference on social media this year sponsored by CNW Group. It features Keith Bilous, President of ICUC Moderation Services as keynote speaker. ICUC has quietly grown to be one of the largest online content moderation companies in the world right here in our own backyard.

The conference also has a host of other homegrown talent on two panels dealing with the changing face of news media and how to leverage social networks. Come out and see, hear and meet: Bruce Owen of the Free Press, Glenn Tinley of Studio Publications, Curtis Brown of Endless Spin Cycle, Shel Zolkewich of ShinyPackages, Corey Quintaine of Kildonan Place, Rebecca McCormack of Cake Clothing, Jason Hasselmann of New Media Now, and Colin Whitney of Mars Hill Group.

It’ll be a great conference with plenty of fresh case studies on how to make social media work for you.

Buy tickets at www.cprs.mb.ca. Early bird rates end March 5!

Good branding requires companies to tell a good story. And the sign of a good story is when others start retelling it for you.

That’s what we’re attempting to do for Keystone Processors Ltd. It’s a new beef plant in Winnipeg. For now, it’s selling beef solely within the province, but it has big plans to reach premium niche markets internationally.

So what? Well, Keystone Processors is the first new beef plant in Manitoba in a generation and it also happens to be owned by Manitoba farmers. When the US shut its border to Canadian beef in 2003, Canada’s beef plants in Alberta and Ontario were swamped with local livestock. With no access to local plants, Manitoba cattle farmers were devastated. A handful of them recognized they had to change the way they did business. So they united behind a vision of marketing a new brand of Manitoba beef to the world - and to own every stage of production from farm to distribution, gate to plate.

Instead of rewarding massive multinational companies, profits will go to farmers - many of them running farms that have been in their families for generations. At the same time, the new plant could mark a turning point in the Manitoba food processing sector too, which has been shrinking in recent years.

We raise great beef here. That shouldn’t be any surprise with our clean air, wide open spaces and history of agricultural leadership. And we want Manitobans to be proud of the company and the farmers behind it.

The company has come a long way in just a few short years. Thanks to dogged determination and countless hours of hard work, the farmers’ dreams of a brighter future are becoming reality. In fact, just last week, the plant received major new funding from the federal government and the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council.

For our part, we’ve begun telling this remarkable story wherever we can. We’ve had considerable success with media relations across Manitoba and in agricultural media across the country. Several international publications have also started following the company’s progress. These efforts are crucial as the company has to build its brand outside of our borders, but advertising is cost prohibitive to reach all the jurisdictions they need.

We’ve also been repeating the story locally, because we need Manitobans to buy in to the Keystone Processors success story first. To do this, we’ve been building a successful Facebook fan page, blogging and Tweeting all about the company. We’ve also run some small advertising campaigns, which we expect to ramp up in the months to come.

Early results have been encouraging. On a limited budget we’ve seen growth in Facebook fans, Twitter followers and, more importantly, traffic into the Keystone Processors’ online and real store to buy premium Manitoba beef.

That’s when you know the story is working: when people are buying.

Dooley Communications was busy again this year setting up UNICEF Canada’s annual pumpkin carving contest yesterday at Kildonan Place. We’re pleased to report the event was even more successful than last year by every measure: we have more teams, more media coverage, bigger crowds and more money raised.

Here are a few clippings of the event:

Fish Find Glory as New Pumpkin Kings, Winnipeg Free Press, October 28, 2009

I’m Not Out of My Gourd, Winnipeg Free Press, October 27, 2009

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest, Chrisd.ca, October 28, 2009

Billie Jo Ross’ blog, Clear 102.3 FM, October 28, 2009

We were also pleased to see CBC TV, Global TV, CTV, CITY TV and SHAW TV all out to cover the event.

Here are a few more photos of the event. 

Glad to see everyone had fun.

This is the third year in a row where September is our time to get busy with UNICEF’s annual Trick-or-Treat campaign.

Every October since 1955, UNICEF Canada has been raising money for children in underdeveloped nations around the world. This year, the campaign might surpass the $100 million milestone. I hope that our PR services here in Manitoba and Saskatchewan will help put them over the top.

Dooley Communications oversees all the media relations for the campaign across the Prairies region. We also do some event management for the campaign and this year will be hosting the second annual Celebrity Pumpkin Carving contest at Kildonan Place on October 27.

Please give generously and support UNICEF’s efforts to raise money to build and outfit schools in Rwanda and Malawi.

www.TrickorTreatforUnicef.ca

Occasionally someone will ask me if we do news conferences. Yes and no, I answer. We’ll set up news conferences for clients when they’re appropriate, but those circumstances have become increasingly rare. It might still be possible to fill a room with reporters in Toronto or New York, but it’s not easy in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

It wasn’t always this way. Only a decade ago, local news conferences were much more common. Public relations people would dutifully set up rows of chairs, podiums with urns of coffee at the back of the room. Displays and demonstrations and other things of visual interest were set up and media kits full of information assembled. And the rooms would fill with radio, television and print reporters.

That was at a time when news people were more plentiful. Today, there are scarcely more than half a dozen newsrooms of any size and energy in Winnipeg. For radio, you have CBC Radio One, Radio Canada (CBC French) and CJOB, all of which are staffed with more on-air hosts than reporters. For television, there’s CBC, Global and CTV (easily the most important of the three based on ratings). There’s also CITY TV which still airs local news on its Breakfast Television broadcast. In print, there’s the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press. It’s instructive that even The Free Press, which has the largest and most active newsroom, is a tough sell to get out to news events.

All these newsrooms have been shrinking in recent years and many radio stations have given up the idea of generating their own news entirely. So there just aren’t that many reporters around to show up to a news conference.

As a result we tell our clients that the traditional news conference isn’t the way to go except in circumstances where you have intense public interest in a subject and limited time to satisfy multiple interview requests. For example, you might have a genuine crisis on your hands that is of great public interest and you need to release information to a broad audience all at once. (The police still do this on a regular basis as do many other emergency services organizations, though they characterize these events as briefings rather than the more formal ‘news conference.’) On the other hand, you may also have a visiting celebrity to whom you need to restrict access (due to his or her popularity and limited availability).

In the main, except for special events, media relations efforts in Winnipeg and Manitoba are more commonly one-on-one efforts. We tend to pitch our stories more actively and directly than we did before to individual reporters, editors, news directors and on-air hosts. There’s just too much competition for the attention of a dwindling pool of news people.

This scenario is even more pronounced outside of Winnipeg. Brandon has the Brandon Sun, CKX TV and a couple of local radio newsrooms. There are small weekly papers and rural radio stations across Manitoba who are even more strained for resources than their big city counterparts. In Saskatchewan, where we regularly reach out to both urban (Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Prince Albert) and rural audiences, the problem is even more pronounced with even smaller newsrooms. The same goes for Northwestern Ontario where geography and a battered regional economy combine to reduce the local news pool (it’s a five hour drive from Thunder Bay to Kenora and I’d be surprised if there are even two dozen local reporters to cover the whole area).

Notwithstanding the challenge it places on our democracy where the media have long formed an ‘unofficial opposition’, it also makes our job of media relations that much more challenging.

It’s interesting to note that where traditional newsrooms have fallen away from covering some stories, hyper-local news websites have begun to pick up the slack. In Winnipeg, for example, you should check out www.ChrisD.ca. ChrisD.ca is one of many local bloggers we reach out to on behalf of clients. In fact we spend as much time using social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Picasa - and talking to bloggers on any particular topic as we do talking to reporters.

Get used to it. The days of multiple, large newsrooms are over.

A video showed up on YouTube this week that’s a prime example of how one unhappy customer can create a commotion like never before. United Breaks Guitars illustrates how important it is for companies to realize new media is giving average customers very powerful voices.

As the story goes Dave Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, were on a flight from Halifax to Nebraska. During the connection in Chicago the band watched through the plane’s windows as luggage handlers threw around his guitar case containing his $3,500 Taylor guitar. Once he arrived in Omaha and claimed his luggage he was not surprised to find his guitar broken – so began his nine month fight with the airline for compensation.

After it was explained in no uncertain terms there was nothing UA could do, Dave Carroll made the last person he talked to at the airline a promise. He said he would write and produce three songs about his experience with UA and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. His goal is to reach 1 million views within the first year. This is the first installation in the trilogy and has already been viewed almost 500,000 times in the first 48 hours. These views are followed by almost 5,000 comments describing bad experiences with UA and other short messages of support to continue the good fight.

We have all been in this position – we are unhappy with the way we are being treated but feel helpless. Even if we do boycott the giant company in question our few dollars don’t impact its bottom line, therefore they don’t seem to care. But with the advent of new media websites designed to disseminate user-generated content to the masses quickly and freely it is now possible for any unhappy customer to cause a stir forcing a company to pay attention.

As a PR consultant and a consumer, I understand both sides of the story. As much as I am glad individuals have a tool like YouTube to tell their stories, I feel for companies that are unprepared to deal with this new form of unhappy consumers. Companies need to realize that the days of ignoring a complaint because it is just one person is over, those late in realizing this are more likely to become victims of crusades like the one Carroll is on.

The phenomenon is called a swarm and it is a  scary prospect for many companies who fear they’ll fall victim to this sort of attack. But on the other side of great adversity there is also great opportunity. The rule of thumb is to engage your complaining customers urgently, sincerely and in the medium they’re using. Apologize for transgressions if there are any and make amends quickly and professionally. If the complaint demands a new way of business for you and your industry, and if it makes sense, why not consider becoming an industry leader? Be the first to tackle the issue. For UA, can the company forge a better policy to deal with damaged luggage? By responding in the appropriate manner to Carroll’s complaint UA may even be able to win over the many other dissatisfied customers who have logged comments in support of the anti-UA effort.

As media changes and evolves, the rules of PR change as well. Companies need to know what is happening with their brands at all times. Just as the assaults are getting more imaginative the responses must be as equally as inspired to win over a very fickle public that loves to see someone sticking it to the man.

City affairs columnists have it easy. Local politicians serve up mistakes and miscues like so many softballs at a Blue Jays batting practice. I’m glad we have two daily papers in Winnipeg holding city politicians to account. It’s just too bad when facts get in the way of righteous outrage like they did with Tom Brodbeck’s column in the Winnipeg Sun today.

Brodbeck is famed in political circles for his surly, populist attacks on the misuse of public cash, the laziness of bureaucrats and the general incompetence of society in general. Today, he attacked the city for supposedly increasing its budget for public relations staff and consultants. Citing the increases to salaries to a couple of city staffers, he expressed holy roller indignation over the sheer waste of it all.

Too bad it isn’t true, or at least not wholly true. As I noted here last year, the City of Winnipeg has actually gutted its communications and public relations staff over the past few years, slashing the head count from 20 in 2004 to 4 in 2008 and now it’s down further with the departure of one more senior staffer this summer.

Contrary to what Brodbeck thinks, or doesn’t as the case may be, having a capable communications team is a vital business function these days for corporations and municipalities alike. And no, it’s not about spin. And it’s not just about media relations. As important as it is to have good relations with the media, it’s not all about them. For the city, it’s about communicating about significant issues, policies, regulations and services directly to taxpayers and clients of city services. Whether that’s a website, a brochure, a leisure guide, a tax form, a garbage day calendar or a radio commercial, it’s all important.

Communications departments also take on the job of making sure employees are well informed about a host of issues - from regulations and service issues to employee benefits and right down to department picnics. This kind of thing is vital because it informs people and when people are armed with knowledge, they can do their jobs better. When they’re robbed of it, morale skids, taxpayers complain, and the business of running the city slows to a grind.

Brodbeck’s larger point of how the city’s payroll is rising too quickly is worth examining, but don’t hoist this one on the PR folks, Tom. They’ve already been run through. Perhaps the remaining rump of PR people were paid more because they were doing the jobs of 20?

Dooley Communications was very pleased to work with Global Wind Group Inc. to help the local company unveil a major installation of vertical-axis wind turbines today in Rosenort, Manitoba.

We helped coordinate the media relations and social media efforts for the company and were happy to get coverage on CTV Winnipeg (watch it tonight), CBC Television (last night), CJOB, CBC Radio Noon, BobFM, CFAM and the Golden West Media network, Altona Echo and the Emerson Southeast Journal.

 Here are some photos from the event.

Here’s our news release:

The RM of Morris first to feel the winds of change

RM of Morris will unveil the first ever vertical-axis wind turbines installed on a Manitoba public service garage

Rosenort, Manitoba, June 24, 2009 – The RM of Morris has become the front line in the battle against greenhouse gases and airborne pollution from fossil fuels thanks to an innovative Manitoba company specializing in renewable energy.

This morning Global Wind Group, Inc. unveiled an installation of three new roof-mounted, vertical-axis wind turbines on the Morris Municipal Public Service Garage. The installation is the first of its kind in the province and will generate enough energy to power the building’s geothermal heat exchange pumps, effectively giving the building a carbon footprint of almost zero.

“Global Wind Group is a North American leader in wind energy technology. We specialize in easily transportable designs that help urban, rural and remote communities realize green alternatives to fossil fuels,” said Alex Stuart, President of Global Wind Group. “The cost of non-renewable energy is only going to rise in the future. These turbines will play an important role in helping Manitoba meet its Kyoto targets.”

Dignitaries from around the province were on hand to help celebrate the occasion, including MLA Rob Altemeyer who brought greetings from Hon. Stan Struthers, Minister of Conservation; Herm Martens, Reeve of the RM of Morris; Alex Stuart, President of Global Wind Group, Inc. and Ernest Buhler, Chief Administrative Officer for the RM of Morris; and MLA Mavis Taillieu.

The Rosenort installation has three 1.2kW vertical-axis wind turbines delivering a total of 3.6kW of clean, renewable energy. That is enough to power a typical energy efficient 1,000 square foot bungalow. Global Wind Group turbines are well suited for mounting on roof tops and can exceed green building standards. The turbines’ vertical-axis design offers many advantages over traditional propeller style wind turbines, including silent operation, very little vibration, and no bird-kill. The wind turbine installation in Rosenort is an important step towards reducing Manitoba’s carbon footprint and is a symbol of our innovation in developing new sources of renewable energy. The new turbines now give many other locations around the province a new alternative for renewable energy.

The installation was partly funded by a grant from Conservation Manitoba Sustainable Development Innovations Fund. The fund supports and encourages processes, practices, materials, products, substances or energy that avoid or minimize the creation of pollutants and waste, and reduce the overall risk to the environment and human health.
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Adam Dooley
For Global Wind Group
Phone: 204-291-4092
adooley@dooleycommunications.ca

About Global Wind Group (www.globalwindgroup.com)
Global Wind Group (GWG) is a Manitoba-based company that sells and installs durable, quiet and versatile vertical-axis wind turbines in Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Nunavut. In addition to providing wind testing services, the company helps its clients identify, and apply for, available rebates, to achieve cost-effective solutions for their energy needs. GWG is a leader in vertical axis wind turbine technology and wind-energy generation. The company is member of a the Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Green Building Council, Manitoba Environmental Industries Association (MEIA) and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.

For companies, brands, organizations and people that ever doubted the value of social media as a powerful means of communication, the events of the last week in Iran must be an eye opening experience. Since the Iranian government has expelled almost all foreign correspondents the only news getting out of the country is being sent via social networks, namely Twitter.

What makes this particular situation different is that the content being shared on social networks is not remaining just on the social networks. Images and videos from inside Iran are being broadcast on television channels around the world – from CNN, to the BBC, to CBC.

The world is seeing the Iranian situation through the eyes of the Iranians. The news is coming from people living the event, not just reporting on it. This new free way to share information instantly around the world is forcing the Iranian government that has been accused of illegitimate actions in the past, to take notice and tread a little more carefully (witness the call for a review of some election returns by the clerics who run things there).
Some people and news outlets have called this the tipping point for Iran. Many feel that if ever Iran was going to throw off the cloak of old world thinking and reenter the world stage as a positive contributor that time is now.

Recent movements for positive change - the falling of the Berlin wall, the solidarity movement in Poland, the end of apartheid - have all come by way of people coming together, joining in the fight for change and slowly gaining the upper hand. It took communication; it took people understanding and drawing strength from their neighbours. With new technologies that enable anyone, anywhere in the world to instantly share their experiences through photos, videos or even their own voice, these movements now have the ability to do in days what used to take years.

It is hard to imagine this happening so quickly had it not been for Twitter, the killer social network with the silly name. Almost over night, a world that looked down on Iran has come to hope for it, to hope for its people. Some say that this could have all been possible without social media and they are right. Major change has happened many other times in our history without social media. However, a big contributor to the movement in Iran gaining momentum so quickly is because the people inside the country did not feel alone, they knew their messages were and are getting out and the people of the world are listening.

Many people are calling social networks a trend, and some aspects of it are trendy. There will always be a newer, hipper social network to be a part of, but social networks will always be there. The opportunities for communication that new media affords the world are just to great to ignore.

If you’re unsure how new media and social networks can benefit your business or organization, give Adam Dooley a call at 204-291-4092. We’d love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with you to discuss the potential.

Just a quick post to say I’m looking forward to giving a presentation on social media tools in modern communications to the foodManitoba Group later this month.

Many thanks for the invitation. I hope it’s an interactive and lively session.