The year is getting off to a great start for everyone at Dooley Communications with new clients coming on stream (stay tuned for more info) and old clients coming back with new projects.

It’s exciting to see the firm continue to grow. As we do, we’ll maintain our focus on being a service-oriented PR firm for the Canadian Prairies. Our focus remains on the Winnipeg and Manitoba markets for public relations and corporate communications services, but we also routinely reach into both Northwestern Ontario and Saskatchewan for our clients.

We use a variety of tools and tactics for our clients from traditional media relations to corporate communications, newsletters, magazines, social networks and blogs. We also develop and execute advertising campaigns, stage special events, and host photo ops and public speaking engagements.

As we get started on our third full calendar year in business, I’d like to personally thank all our suppliers for their highly professional and excellent help. They include:

• Twist Design and Communications
• Nova Design
• Prairie Research Associates
• GRP Media Services
• Mirek Photography
• Tony Nardella Photography
• Tint Marketing
• Contemporary Printing
• Marketwire LP
• Cision
• The Great Promotional Products Company

All the best in 2010!

Adam Dooley,
President

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.

This is the time of year we get very busy with UNICEF Canada activities. As public relations consultants Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we help organize all the media relation activities for the annual Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign.

We help coordinate campaign launch events in multiple cities, set up interviews with radio, television and print reporters across both provinces, and work with UNICEF’s national office to ensure it’s all working in concert with the national campaign.

Among our various October projects for UNICEF, this is the second year we’re organizing a Celebrity Pumpkin Carving contest. We’re currently locking in our guest carvers and sourcing our pumpkins for the big showdown Tuesday, October 27 from 11:45 to 1:15 at Kildonan Place Shopping Centre. So far, it looks as though we’ll have more carving teams than last year with organizations such as CTV, CBC, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Police Service, Hot 103 and the Winnipeg Goldeyes attending.

Events like this are a great way to get some attention for your organization. This one works well because it has several really good elements including notable contestants from media, business, arts and other walks of life. It also has good visuals: cameras like this whether they’re shooting for a television station, a paper or a website. It ties in to a major cultural event: Halloween. And it supports a good cause in UNICEF.

Grand Chief David Harper sure made the most of things this week. He’s the one who led the symbolic protest against Health Canada over the body bag fiasco.

Health Canada apparently sent shipments to some remote Manitoba reserves that contained body bags in addition to hand sanitizer and other items. Harper found out about it and decided to make the most of the situation. He brought the body bags to the Health Canada office in Winnipeg and marked the boxes “return to sender.”

He told Canada AM that the reserves in question have been awaiting emergency preparedness kits in anticipation of more H1N1 flu cases, but have yet to receive them. Instead, they got body bags.

The emotional and political impact of this story was immediate. Opposition leaders postured that the government was betraying its callousness. The Minister of Health apologized and promised an immediate investigation. The story has led the national news cycle replacing the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington and Parliament’s avoidance of a fall election.

The entire episode is an example of why ongoing, open communications with stakeholders is vitally important.

I have no way of knowing why Health Canada has apparently been slow in delivering the kits Chief Harper referenced. I suspect that body bags may well be an appropriate item to deliver to communities that are expected to face a higher than average incidence of severe flu this fall. Preparedness isn’t always sunshine and light. The problem, I believe, was less in the delivery than in the surprise.

Communicate clearly with your stakeholder groups. Tell them what’s coming, listen to their response, remind them what’s coming and what you heard… and then, once done, tell them what you just did.

Health Canada deserves the headache it’s getting. Harper had every right to exploit this situation. His aggressive use of the media here will help his communities get the medical supplies they need sooner.

I recommend that Health Canada start its investigation with its communications protocols.

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

Dooley Communications is pleased to be celebrating its second full year in business this summer, offering senior level public relations and corporate communications services. From our base in Winnipeg, Manitoba, our firm now serves clients from across Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

We have organized small and large media events for clients and created entire public relations strategies for others. We regularly conduct media training seminars, and counsel organizations through the minefields of issues management and crisis communications. We’ve helped write and produce annual reports, newsletters, brochures and websites, and we’ve written countless blogs and advised on the best use of social media.

It continues to be a fun, exciting challenge as we build a service-oriented public relations firm here in the Canadian Prairies.

So thank you to all our clients. We look forward to serving and growing with you in the future.

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.
-30-
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.

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.

Dooley Communications is pleased to announce the hiring of Dustin Plett as Communications Specialist. Dustin is a recent graduate of Red River College’s Creative Communications program.

Dustin will be working on a wide variety of projects for Dooley Communications as the company continues to grow as a service-oriented public relations firm serving Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. He has been working with Dooley for a number of months, blogging for client ICUC Moderation Services on its user-generated content daily news blog snoo.ws. He is also working on other accounts including Keystone Processors, UALocal 628 of Thunder Bay and UNICEF Canada.

In addition to the skills he brings from Red River College, Dustin also has a great deal of other varied experience. Growing up in rural Manitoba just outside of Portage la Prairie, he began working at the family welding shop and learned his father’s trade through watching him. Dustin became a Journeyman welder and spent time in both Manitoba and Alberta working on a number of large and small scale projects and owning and operating his own company while doing so.

Dustin shifted his focus to communications after years in the welding trade. He brings a unique point of view and skill set to the field of communications where his creativity, intelligence and client-centred focus is put to good work.

There was good news for fans of quality, locally-produced food and supporters of the Manitoba cattle industry earlier this week: Keystone Processors Ltd. opened its doors and announced it was shipping Manitoba-raised beef to local stores.

Dooley Communications organized an official “tenderloin cutting” ceremony (in lieu of a ribbon) that generated a significant amount of publicity. Media covering the event included: Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun (I love that print reporters make video now), CBC English TV, CBC French TV, CTV Winnipeg, CKX Brandon, CITY TV Winnipeg, Global Winnipeg and the Manitoba Cooperator. The story was picked up by a number of other print and radio outlets across the province.

So why is a new beef packing plant a big deal? Well, if you’re a fan of high quality, locally-produced food, then you’ll be pleased to learn that Keystone Processors is planning on launching a new premium-quality brand of aged, Manitoba-raised beef this spring. It’s difficult to find premium, aged beef as it is and nearly impossible to find Manitoba-raised products.

But more important is the potential impact the plant could have on the provincial cattle industry. The company plans to make this the first sizable, federally-inspected beef packing plant opened in this province in a generation. That federal licence is needed to sell to national retailers and to export our beef products to the world, including fast growing markets in Asia (where forecasters are predicting most food demand growth will be in the next 50 years).

It also marks the start of the creation of a Manitoba brand of beef. Keystone Processors has an opportunity to capitalize on consumers’ demand for high quality, premium products.

Having a local plant will also be a great benefit to local cattle producers who currently are forced to truck their animals across the continent (Alberta, Ontario or into the U.S.) to get them to market. Once Keystone Processors ramps up its operation, there’ll be another local option that will create more competition among buyers of cattle and one that will save local cattle producers significant transportation costs.

Dooley Communications is working with Keystone Processors on its branding and public relations efforts. Stay tuned. We cooking up some good things together.