One week left to make a child's dream come true

November 30, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • makeawish, MustachesforKids

I’m one week away from the end of my moustache growing for Mustaches for Kids. Through Mustaches for Kids, men across North America to help raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation, which grants the wish of a child with a terminal illness.

That’s me on the right. Looking like an old, decrepit, suspicious character. But it will all be worthwhile if you and others like you contribute to help a child’s wish come true.

Please help. Click on the donate button on the Mustaches for Kids home page to make a child’s wish come true. And remember, I’ll match every dollar up to $1,000 contributed by readers of my blog. So, when you make your contribution, please email me at joseph.thornley [at] gmail [dot] com to let me know that you’ve contributed.

A Third Tuesday Toronto dinner with David Alston

November 28, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • radian6, ThirdTuesdayToronto

David Alston, Vice President of Marketing from Radian6, will be in Toronto Monday evening prior to a speaking commitment at a Canadian Institute Conference on Social Media.

Based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Radian6 has broken through as one of the best, possibly THE best, social media monitoring and analysis solutions. It has been adopted by social media consultants and organizations like Dell Computer. It’s truly a great Canadian success story.

If you’re curious about how Radian6 has managed to conquer the social media measurement world from its base on the East Coast of Canada, then plan to attend this dinner with David Alston, one of the driving forces behind Radian6’s success.

We have only a limited number of seats for dinner. So, if you’re interested in spending an evening with David Alston and others who share an interest in social media monitoring and measurement, click over to the Third Tuesday Toronto Website to reserve a place.

Where do you find data on Canada's public relations industry?

November 23, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • students publicrelations

Through the Canadian Council of Public Relations, I received an email from a university student in search of data about Canada’s public relations industry. She wrote:

I’m doing a term paper for one of my university courses and need to find information on the Canadian public relations industry facts such as market trends, demographics, economic, cultural and social factors. This information is widely available for US market, however I cannot find anything on the Canadian market.

I would appreciate if you could let me know where I could find this type of information.

Good question. I have to be honest that I don’t have good sources for this information at my fingertips.

Do you have authoritative sources of information on Canada’s public relations industry that you rely upon?

(This is cross-posted at the CCPRF Weblog. I decided to cross post here because I know that more people read ProPR.ca. However, if you haven’t checked out the CCPRF Weblog lately, please try it again. I think that you’ll find more frequent posts from heads of Canada’s public relations consulting firms.)

Meet the heads of Canada`s public relations consulting firms

November 19, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • CCPRF

If you haven`t been reading the Weblog of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms, you`ve been missing a series of video interviews with the heads of Canada`s leading public relations consulting firms.

I`ve just posted an interview with Freda Colbourne, President of Edelman Canada. Earlier interviews include: Trevor Campbell, President of Porter Novelli Canada, Pat Gossage, Chairman of Media Profile, Dan Tisch, President of Argyle Communications, and Jane Shapiro, former Senior Vice President of Fleishman Hillard Canada.

Blogger Outreach: Sharp Aquos Thin Panel HD TV

November 13, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • Aquos, bloggeroutreach, Sharp

I’m doing something I rarely do. Talking about a piece of Thornley Fallis‘ work.

But I just have to point to something that makes me very, very proud – a blogger outreach pitch that our team did this week for the Sharp Aquos XS1. That’s the new thin, thin HD television that Sharp has introduced. Thin? 1″ at its thinnest point.

Smart people have taught me that great design is knowing what to leave out so that you can get at the essence of something. And that leads to simplicity. And impact. And comprehension.

So, imagine my delight when Tod Maffin’s post showed up in Google Reader last night. You have to see to understand. Here’s Tod’s post:

Form mirrors content. Awesome.

The team could simply have sent the news release to the bloggers they wanted to reach out to. But they didn’t. They did something else. A slimmed down pitch that conveyed in its form the core feature of the Sharp Aquos XS1.

A simple pitch. An elegant pitch. An effective pitch.

I’m really, really proud of the creative people I work with. So, here’s a public shoutout to Michael O’Connor Clarke and his Sharp account team. Keep it up

And thank you Tod for liking the pitch.

Moustaches for Kids Week 1 – Make a child's wish come true

November 12, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • MustachesforKids

Mustaches for Kids Week 1

I’m one week into this year’s Mustaches for Kids campaign to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. And as you can see from the head shot on this post, the people who live and work with me are having to put up with the dirty lip phase of moustache growing. As my daughter said, “Eeeewwww.”

So, there has to be a reason to subject myself to the laughter that people emit when they look at my stubbly lip. And there is. Helping to make an ill child’s wish come true.

Read about what a wish come true meant to Rachel or what it meant to Jesse, and I’m sure that you too will understand why I am doing this.

So, help me out. Please click on the donate button on the Mustaches for Kids home page to make a child’s wish come true. And remember, I’ll match every dollar up to $1,000 contributed by readers of my blog. So, when you make your contribution, please email me at joseph.thornley [at] gmail [dot] com to let me know that you’ve contributed.

John Wiseman, Dave Fleet, Parker Mason and Francis Wooby all made donations following last week’s post. Thank you John, Dave, Parker and Francis for helping to make a child’s wish come true.

If you’ve read this far in this post and you want to make a terminally ill child’s wish come true, please contribute.

Steve Rubel is coming to Third Tuesday Toronto

November 6, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • SteveRubel, ThirdTuesdayToronto

One of the real pioneers in social media, Steve Rubel, is coming to Third Tuesday Toronto on November 24. When I first started to explore blogging and social media, Steve was already there. From the outset, Steve Rubel had a clear focus of the potential of the new social digital media. Steve staked out his territory and his vision with his very first post on his blog, Micropersuasion, in April 2004:

The proliferation of Weblogs and RSS news feeds has changed the practice of public relations forever. Despite all of the hype about media consolidation, we are no longer living in a mass media world dominated by conglomerates.

Today we’re just as likely to be influenced by something we read on a blog like Scobleizer as we are by an article in the Wall Street Journal or a segment on Good Morning America.

This means that the role of the public relations counselor is changing…quickly. Clients are still looking to agencies to reach key audiences. This hasn’t changed. The difference, however, is now PR pros must not only secure “earned media coverage” but also know how to influence influential bloggers, many of whom are part of the audiences we covet.

The rules of engagement are different in this world of micro persuasion. PR pros now must: 1) continually study how news spreads online, 2) identify and qualify the most influential and vocal members of their audience, 3) know how to reach these influencers and 4) learn how to easily assimilate into the audiences they want to reach by launching and promoting their own weblogs.

Talk about prescient!

Today, Steve can be found not just on Micropersuasion, but on other platforms like Twitter and Friendfeed. Of if you want to know what Steve is reading, you can subscribe to Steve’s shared items on Google Reader. While he (like the many of us) has backed off the frequency of his posts, he is still looked to for his ability to identify and make sense of trends.

This past summer, I had a chance to hear him make a killer presentation at the IABC International Conference on the trends he’s watching. I’m hoping that he’ll talk about this at Third Tuesday. If he does, I know we’ll all leave with a lot to think about.

We know that lots of people will want to meet and hear Steve. So, we’re moving this month’s event to a larger venue, Pravda.

If you’d like to hear and meet one of social media’s true pioneers, RSVP at the Third Tuesday Toronto meetup site.

Thanks again to our national sponsor, CNW Group, for enabling us to keep Third Tuesday a free community-based event.

Double your money for a good cause – and watch me grow a 'stash

November 4, 2008 • Joseph Thornley • MustachesforKids

Make a child’s wish come true

Over the next five weeks, you’ll have a chance to see me grow (or attempt to) a radiant, bushy, geeky moustache. Yep, I’m going hirsute.

I’m growing my ‘stash as part of the Ottawa Mustaches for Kids campaign that some of the fine fellows in my community have organized.

Clean shaven - one last time

Between now and December 5, my fellow mustache-growers will go razorless (at least on our upper lips). And as we do this, we’ll raise money from family, friends and even strangers on the street for a most worthshile cause – the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Make-a-Wish grants wishes to create hope and happiness for children with life-threatening illnesses around the world. It has granted more than 210,000 wishes since it was founded.

Mustaches for Kids was first organized in 1999 in Los Angeles. Since then, it has spread to cities throughout North America. Participants have raised over $150,000 for worthwhile causes like Make-a-Wish through the annual mustache-growing campaign.

Last year, our local Mustaches for Kids campaign granted wishes for Victoria, Jakob and Michael. I don’t think I need to say more. This is worth doing.

Every dollar you contribute will turn into 2 dollars

This year, I will match every contribution that is pledged through me up to $1,000.

If you’d like to pledge a contribution of $25 or more, simply contribute directly on the Mustaches for Kids site and email me at joseph.thornley[a-t]gmail[d.o.t.]com. I’ll match your contribution.

So, please consider making a contribution to help a child’s wish come true. I know you’ll feel good that you did.