The Cold Unites Canadians

Every Canadian knows the importance of staying warm. Virgin Mobile Unite capitalized on Canada's climate by launching the Toque Campaign. Not only do you get to do something great for the community by supporting at-risk youth and helping raise awareness for youth homelessness but you also get to keep your head nice and toasty. It's a win-win (especially in the colder areas in Canada). Virgin Mobile paired with Raising the Roof to help make sure all the homeless youth in Canada have a chance to stay warm. In Canada 65,000 youth are without much more than a toque every year.


The toques are used to help promote awareness for the campaign. It is a tactful way to connect with their target audience. The toque has a youthful feel to it with a cool, modern logo. This is part of what makes the campaign such a success. Celebrity endorsements and having a passionate, visionary at the helm of the company don't hurt either.


Richard Branson is not only the founder of the Virgin enterprise but he is also very passionate and invovled in all the CSR campaigns, including the Toque campaign. Branson's noterity and status are an asset to the campaign and along with celebrities including Lady GaGa and Cory Monteith the Toque campaign has become a great success helping to but a cap (or in this case a toque) on youth homelessness.




The Bottom Line: A picture is worth a thousand words. Having celebrity endorsements and a PR guru as big as Richard Branson is always an asset to pull off National campaigns and only helps to add to the buzz and make the toques that much more desirable. Put a toque on it!

Wanna find out more about the Toque Campaign? Check out Jade, Aneeta, Andrea, Roshni, Maram and Cindy's blogs!!!

The New Realm of Public Relations

A new face of Public Relations is emerging with technology being at the forefront. Public relations practitioners have formally relied on print news to get the message from the company to the public. Now with the emergence of Deirdre Breakenridge concept "PR 2.0", company's are able to have conversations directly with their public concerning their brand on the internet.
Consumers are able to get involved in areas where there was previously limited access. PR can now keep the public at the top of the agenda and connect ideas and people in a way that contributes value.




The advanced technology of our time has allowed for a extremely high level of connectivity between companies and the public that has never existed before. Mitch Joel a "Rock star of digital marketing," and one of North America's leaders in digital communication, coined the concept "Six Pixels of Separation." This is a play on words regarding six degrees of separation. We are related to everyone in the world by no more than six degrees. Joel believes that the same holds true on the internet. We are never more than six pixels away from anyone else in the world.

Joel's concept reinforces the notion that with PR 2.0 an innovative class of public relations practitioners will emerge being able to but the public back in public relations through broadband connectivity.



Bottom Line: The more things change the harder it is to remember how they once were (Courtney Barnes, editor, PR news). Because of the increasing broadband connectivity throughout the word the function of public relations professions will never be the same. Get Connected!!!

How to use Google Docs

When searching the Internet for information on "How To" use Google Docs you will come across an array of materials. Choosing which source to use should be dependent on the skill level of the user. Many You Tube videos exist with tutorials on how to use the program and all the elements that Google Docs entails. This program is useful for those collaborate with multiple people on documents or power point presentations. If you are looking for a fairly comprehensive tutorial that is easy to understand this video seems to be the best. It is the most concise and illustrates how to use Google Docs step by step.



Other video illustrations on You Tube are either to long or have demonstrators that are difficult to understand. If you are just looking for a basic overview without getting technical there are videos for you as well.
Google Docs itself has a website that illustrates everything needed to successfully use the program. This publication is quite dry and has no video aspect to it so if you have a short attention span or need visuals to help you learn this website is not for you. After you have learned how to use this website you can also learn how to embed a document
for Google Docs into another Google site.
Wakoopa is a site that offers feedback on the application and has a running feed that users can comment on.
The bottom line: The site also provides access to multiple programs that have similar software. For additional information on how to use Goggle Docs go to Nadine's blog or Mike's blog.

click here to find find a list of "How To" reviews on other social media applications!