PUBLIC RELATIONS TRADE SECRETS FROM TORONTO CANADA

THE ONGOING HISTORY OF IRREVERANT PUBLIC RELATIONS TIPS FOR FACEBOOK PRACTIONERS

PUBLIC RELATIONS PRESS RELEASE WRITING TIP #4: 

When in doubt use the word BACON.

Often times it is difficult to get people to read your press releases. I have found if you can use the word BACON somewhere in your release, you will get a lot more people opening your emails and reading your PR Bumpf! 

Doesn't matter what you are trying to promote, bacon works magic. Mutton. Head Cheese. Chicken's Feet and Roast Beef just don't seem to cut the mustard.

This is not a new PR tip,   just check out the picture above, it is from a 1926 press release campaign.

As a publicity stunt, a woman climbed into a giant hot frying pan with two slabs of bacon tied to her feet. She is holding an enormous wooden spatula and smiles at the crowd, even though it is really really hot. All part of promoting a Chehalis, Washington event.

PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #3 HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF (OR CLIENTS) LOOK REALLY IMPORTANT ON FACEBOOK

A Facebook Self-Promotion lesson! 

Drive around the city until you find a company that has the same name as you do. Get your photographer (George Socka) to snap a picture that makes it look like you own the place (But do I really look like a guy that is all wrapped up in Minerals and Oil?)

PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #2 GET YOUR CLIENT TO LOVE YOU!

Everything old is new again (except the dead fish in the picture)

Best way to win a client’s heart? Use your well honed PR skills. It is an old strategy but still true today -- give away swag. In the 1890s it was a freshly caught cod! Nowadays it is memory sticks, baseball hats, free lunches and hockey game tickets.

(I found this picture in the University of Miami Archives - it is part of a trading card programme, copies of paintings were given away  with each purchase of a bag of coffee. It was 1896, and the concept was developed by the Arbuckle Brothers coffee company in the US.)

MAKE YOURSELF LOOK THIN – EVERYONE WANTS A SVELTE N PUBLICIST

PUBLIC RELATIONS TIP #1 How to make yourself look thinner on Facebook

Get your son to take a picture of you standing beside a mural of Bibendum, (the Michelin Man). Doesn't hurt to be holding a can of Diet Coke either.

Andrew Weir took this picture of me on the streets of Windsor, Ontario (where a cartoon mural of Bibendum makes total sense!).

Leanne Simpson first winner of Emerging Writer Award

News Release • Monday, March 17, 2014 • Toronto, Ontario

Writer, scholar, storyteller and First Nations activist Leanne Simpson named recipient of inaugural RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award 

Leanne Simpson, a writer, scholar, storyteller and activist for Indigenous Peoples has been named the recipient of the inaugural RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Ms. Simpson was nominated for the Award by Thomas King whose book, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize. Established jointly by RBC and the Taylor Prize to promote emerging talent in non-fiction, the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award consists of a $10,000 cash prize, as well as the opportunity to be mentored by the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize winner.

 “For me, Leanne Simpson was an obvious choice,” said Thomas King. “She is a gifted writer who brings passion and commitment to her storytelling and who has demonstrated an uncommon ability to manage an impressive range of genres from traditional storytelling to critical analysis, from poetry to the spoken word, from literary and social activism to song-writing. She is, in my opinion, one of the more articulate and engaged voices of her generation.”

Leanne Simpson holds a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba and is an instructor at the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge, Athabasca University. She has published over thirty scholarly articles and authored five books that draw upon her extensive knowledge of Indigenous Peoples. She has also written articles for Canadian magazines and newspapers. In 2012 she won Briarpatch Magazine’s Writing from the Marginscompetition for short fiction.

Ms. Simpson is a member of the Alderville First Nation (Rice Lake, Ontario). For the past 15 years, she has worked with Indigenous communities and organizations in Canada and internationally on environmental, governance and political issues. Her third book,Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back (AK Press) stresses the importance of illuminating indigenous intellectual traditions in order to transfer that relationship to the Canadian state.

“Thomas King is a gifted writer, performer, story-teller and one of my biggest influences,” said Leanne. “His impact on my generation of Indigenous artists and writers is profound and I will be forever grateful to him for his brilliant body of work. His work lifts Indigenous peoples up, he makes us laugh out loud, and most importantly, he speaks our truths. With this award I can continue the work I started in Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back, and along with many others, move towards creating a just relationship between Indigenous nations and Canada.”

 “I am so pleased that Thomas King selected Leanne Simpson to be the first recipient of the RBC Emerging Writer Award,” said RBC Taylor Prize Foundation Chair, Noreen Taylor, “Mr. King has worked with Ms. Simpson in the past and has developed an evident regard for this talented individual. It is exciting to consider how this writer, with known strengths in other forms of storytelling, will find new creative strengths and develop new vehicles of communication as she ventures into the heady challenge of non-fiction writing.”

“RBC Wealth Management is proud to support the new Emerging Writer Award and the wonderful opportunity it provides aspiring Canadian authors,” Vijay Parmar, President, RBC PH&N Investment Counsel said. “Thomas couldn’t have selected a more deserving winner in Leanne Simpson. We believe this kind of artist-to-artist mentorship is simply invaluable, and key to cultivating Canada’s new generation of writers.”

The RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award was established to provide recognition and assistance to a Canadian published author who is working on a significant writing project, preferably but not limited to literary non-fiction. Through mentorship from the nominating author, and the cash award, it is intended that the writer will be able to progress toward the creation of a first draft.

The Trustees of the Charles Taylor Prize Foundation are Michael Bradley (Toronto), David Staines (Ottawa), and Noreen Taylor (Toronto). The Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of RBC Wealth Management as its presenting sponsor; along with its major sponsor Metropia; and greatly appreciates the support of its media sponsors The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s magazine, CNW Group, The Huffington Post Canada; Global Television,Quill & Quire magazine, and CBC.ca; and in-kind sponsors Ben McNally Books, Event Source, IFOA and The Omni King Edward Hotel.

For further information please visit: www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RBCTaylorPrize | Follow us on Twitter: @taylorprize

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Issued by / Media Contact:

Stephen Weir & Associates, Publicists, RBC Taylor Prize

Stephen Weir: Direct: 416.489.5868 | cell: 416.801.3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com

Linda Crane: Direct: 416.727.0112 | cranepr@rogers.com

RBC Taylor Prize About To Hit The Toronto Airwaves

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NEWSTALK 1010 presents the third in a three part series:

“In Conversation with the RBC Taylor Prize Finalists”

Interview with 2014 RBC Taylor Prize winner, Thomas King airs this Saturday, March 15th on 6:00 pm program

TORONTO: March 14, 2014: A feature interview with Thomas King, who this week won the prestigious $25,000 RBC Taylor Prize, will air on NEWSTALK 1010 this Saturday, March 15th at 6:30 pm.  The author of “The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America” will talk candidly with host and Toronto communications specialist, Stephen Weir. 

Stephen Weir

Mr. King, a former radio comedian (Dead Dog Café), talks with wit and humour, about how the history of Native people that Canadians studied in school and saw in film and on television is not the history “Indians” know.  He tells listeners it is time we all got over the Tonto and Iron Eyes Cody archetypes and saw the history of our indigenous peoples the way it really happened.

Thomas King

Thomas King has written a book which Prize jurors, Coral Ann Howells; James Polk; and Andrew Westoll found: “subversive, entertaining, well-researched, hilarious, enraging, and finally as hopeful as this very personal take on our long relationship with the “inconvenient” Indian.  King dissects myths (noble Hiawatha, servile Tonto, the Sixties nature guru) against the tragic backdrop of real Indians abused in mission schools, penned together on reserves, and bludgeoned by vicious or ham-fisted government policies. A sharp, informed eye is cast on Riel, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, on the dark and tangled stories of Native land claims, on Alcatraz, Will Rogers (a Cherokee), and the maid on Land o’ Lakes butter; on Batoche, on Wounded Knee. In this thoughtful, irascible account, and in characteristically tricksterish mode, King presents a provocative alternative version of Canada’s heritage narrative.”

 

Ben McNally

The first interview on this Saturday’s program will air at 6 pm with RBC Taylor Prize Finalist, David Stouck.  Host Ben McNally of Toronto’s Ben McNally Books, will talk to the author about his short listed book, “Arthur Erickson: An Architect’s Life”.  The interview with the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize winner, Thomas King will follow.

David Stouck

This is the third year NEWSTALK 1010 has presented its series, “In Conversation with the RBC Taylor Finalists”.  In previous years, the show aired as “In Conversation with The Charles Taylor Prize Finalists”.  Each year, all finalists for the Prize come to Toronto to be interviewed. The series runs for three weekends leading up to and following the RBC Taylor Prize winner announcement.

 This weekend’s hour long show is the final segment. The three-part “In Conversation with the RBC Taylor Prize Finalists” can be heard on podcast here: http://www.newstalk1010.com/feature/charlestaylorprize/  

For information on the RBC Taylor Prize visit: www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca

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For further information about the RBC Taylor Prize:

Media contact:

RBC Taylor Prize publicist

Linda Crane: 416-727-0112 | cranepr@rogers.com

NEWS Advisory Attention: Arts Editors & Assignment Desks

RBC Taylor Prize to Announce 2014 Winner, Monday, March 10th

Luncheon: 12 noon / Announcement 1:30 p.m.

Why:  One of this year's RBC Taylor Prize finalists will be announced as the 2014 winner of the $25,000 RBC Taylor Prize. The winner will be announced shortly after 1:30pm.

Where: The Omni King Edward Hotel, Sovereign Ballroom,

Main Level, 37 King St. East, Toronto     

Who: Meet 2014 RBC Taylor Prize Finalists:

                  

Charlotte Gray (The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Country)

Thomas King (The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America),

J.B. MacKinnon (The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be)                 

Graeme Smith (The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan);David Stouck (Arthur Erickson: An Architect's Life)

Prize Jurors and Foundation Members available for interviews:                 

British-based university professor and literary critic, Coral Ann Howells; Editor, author and professor, James Polk; author, English and creative writing instructor and 2006 Charles Taylor Prize winner, Andrew Westoll; RBC Taylor Prize Founder, Noreen Taylor; Prize Trustee Dr. David Staines

            

Since 2000, this prestigious national book prize has been a driving force behind the growth and recognition of literary non-fiction. Now in its 13th awarding, the Prize celebrates Canada's rich literary heritage, and the exceptional authors who captivate us with their stories. The Prize commemorates the life and work of the late Charles Taylor, one of Canada's foremost essayists.

With the support of its sponsors, this privately funded Prize is presented annually to a Canadian author whose book best demonstrates a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style and a subtlety of thought and perception. The Prize has been awarded annually since 2004.

For more information visit: www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca and follow us at www.twitter.com/taylorprize.

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Media contacts and to confirm attendance, coverage requirements & interviews:

Stephen Weir, (416) 489-5868, cell: (416) 801-3101, Stephen@stephenweir.com

Linda Crane, (416) 727-0112 cranepr@rogers.com  

The International Festival of Authors featuring the authors nominated for the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize

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IFOA TO PRESENT AN EVENING OF LITERARY NON-FICTION WITH THE SHORTLISTED RBC TAYLOR PRIZE AUTHORS ON MARCH 7

The International Festival of Authors’ 40^th season continues in March with an event featuring the authors nominated for the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize.

All five finalists for this year’s RBC Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction will take the stage at Harbourfront Centre for a lively panel discussion. Join Charlotte Gray (The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Country), Thomas King (The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America), J.B. MacKinnon (The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be), Graeme Smith (The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan), and David Stouck (Arthur Erickson: An Architect’s Life) for an event like no other.

This panel discussion is supported by Maclean’s Magazine. It will take place at 7:30pm in the York Quay Centre along the waterfront (235 Queens Quay West). Tickets are $10 to the general public, FREE for supporters of the IFOA, students and youth 25 and under with ID. 

Media interested in covering this event should contact Stephen Weir at stephen@stephenweir.com

Presented annually to the author whose book best combines a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception, the RBC Taylor Prize recognizes excellence in Canadian non-fiction writing and emphasizes the development of the careers of the authors it celebrates.Since its inception as The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, the Prize has helped engage Canadians in literary non-fiction and boost sales of its finalists’ books. The winner of this year's $25,000 prize will be announced Monday, March 10.

The RBC Taylor Prize was founded to commemorate the life of the late Charles Taylor, one of Canada ’s foremost essayists and a prominent member of the Canadian literary community. Charles Taylor was a foreign correspondent with The Globe and Mail and the author of four books: Radical Tories, Reporter in Red China,Six Journeys: A Canadian Pattern, and Snow Job.

The Trustees of the Charles Taylor Prize Foundation are Michael Bradley ( Toronto ), David Staines (Ottawa), and Noreen Taylor ( Toronto ). The Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of RBC Wealth Management as its presenting sponsor, along with its major sponsor Metropia, and greatly appreciates the support of its media sponsors CNW Group,

The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s Magazine,  The Huffington Post Canada, Global Television, Quill & Quire Magazine, and CBC.CA, and its in-kind sponsors IFOA, Ben McNally Books, Event Source, and The Omni King Edward Hotel.

Since its inception in 1974, IFOA has hosted over 8,500 authors from more than 100 countries, including over 20 Nobel Laureates. Their season runs from September to June and includes the annual International Festival of Authors (October 23–November 2, 2014), including Young IFOA and IFOA Ontario, and the annual ALOUD: a Celebration for Young Readers with Forest of Reading® Festival of Trees™ (May 14–15, 2014).

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For further information, please visit: www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca

Follow the Prize on Twitter: @taylorprize 

Follow IFOA on Twitter: @IFOA

Join IFOA on Facebook: IFOA: International Festival of Authors

Visit IFOA online: ifoa.org

To download high-resolution images related to the 2014 prize, please visit:www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/2014/photogallery_14.asp

Issued by/Media Contact:

Stephen Weir & Associates, Publicists, RBC Taylor Prize

Stephen Weir: Direct: 416.489.5868 | cell: 416.801.3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com

Linda Crane: Direct: 416.727.0112 | cranepr@rogers.com

IFOA Media Contact:

Maeve O’Regan: moregan@ifoa.org; 416-973-5836

Muppets, Puppets and Buckets Of Mucus at the Science Centre

Where in the world is Dr Jay?

William Doyle-Marshall interviews Dr. Jay and Dr. Julielynn Wong

Today he was at the Ontario Science Centre. Pictured, radio host William Doyle-Marshall interviews medical doctor Julielynn Wong and her puppet Dr. Jay. The two doctors were taking part in a special media family day at the Science Centre -- they were talking to the media and their children about public health care issues during their visit to a new children's health exhibition at the Toronto facility.

Julielynn Wong is a Harvard-educated, award-winning physician and journalist. Dr. Wong trained in public health and preventive medicine and serves on faculty at Singularity University, where she co-founded the Health and Wellness Program. She is a blogger for Huffington Post.

And Dr Jay?  Dr Wong says he is originally from New York City and now lives in a large suitcase here in Toronto. Dr. Jay will have his radio debut on William Doyle-Marshall's CHYR-fm show this Tuesday (spoiler alert - Dr Jay isn't much for radio -- he lets Dr Wong do all the talking).

The media family day was in conjunction with The Science Centre's newly opened exhibition -- the Body -- which is being stage in concert with the long running Sesame Street TV Show. 

Created by Sesame Workshop, Sesame Street Presents: The Body is an engaging, free-flowing learning experience set in the fun, familiar and reassuring world of Sesame Street. The Muppets anchor an exciting collection of interactive multimedia experiences that allow children to study the human body and learn how to keep it healthy. Each exhibit area has multiple activities to provide exciting, age-appropriate learning opportunities for children at a variety of developmental levels. The exhibition emphasizes scientific investigation and developmental learning goals for children ranging from two to eight years old.

From big, squishy noses to fuzzy, furry feet, Sesame Street Presents: The Body allows children to learn about the human body from the inside out. Pictured is a giant nose and a bucket of mucus - all part of an interactive display within the Body exhibition.

More Pictures From the Media Family Day Are Posted At: http://www.stephenweir.com/gallery1/index.php/Body-exhibition-has-a-media-family-day-at-the-Science-Centre

Murder in Toronto the Good (back on February 8, 1915)

  Canadian Best Seller On The Shortlist For The RBC Taylor Prize

99-years ago tomorrow, Bert Massey was shot to death on the steps of his modest 169 Walmer Rd home by his live-in 18-year old housemaid.

Award winning Canadian historian Charlottte Gray's The Massey Murder. A Maid, Her Master And the Trial That Shocked Country is a true Toronto crime story that rolls the curtain back on one of the city's most important families and examines - street address by street address - a city that was growing out of its Toronto-the-Good Victorian roots, into a modern urban centre where women were beginning to get rights and a role in politics and law.

His wife away in the US,  Charles “Bert” Massey—of the Masseys, they of Massey Hall and Massey College—walked towards his Annex home. As he approached the front door, his young English servant, Carrie Davies, burst out, brandishing a revolver. She is reported to have yelled “You ruined my life,” before she pointed the handgun and fired. The first shot missed, the next found his heart. He was dead within seconds.  Davies was arrested, confessed and taken to the Don Jail.

As one reviewer has written, "the irresistible storyline of a poor but virtuous maiden defending herself from disgrace made the ensuing trial a sensational affair, attracting reams of newspaper coverage and packing the courtroom with blue-collar workers and society mavens alike".

Gray tells the story of Carries Davies and the legal team that saved her from the gallows.  We learn about the real Massey Family.  Yes they were good corporate citizens (Massey Hall, Fred Victor Mission etc) but they were less kind to their own.  The Massey Family attempted to have the murder charges thrown out of court and the house-maid sent to a mental institution rather than have the family's dirty laundry aired in the papers.  Massey was a disenfranchised Massey - a "vain ne’er-do-well, a respectable cad". A man who “took much enjoyment out of life,” according to one newspaper, Massey was “quite a popular figure among the younger society set,” said another. Put less charitably, Massey liked sports cars and fast women even though he was married with child.

The case was fodder for a raging newspaper war in the city. In Gray's book we meet John Ross Roberts and Black Jack Robinson (The Toronto Telegram), Joseph Atikinson (Toronto Star) and Toronto's ace female reporter Helen Ball (Evening News).   Despite the horror stories coming from Europe (World War 1), these papers kept the murder story, the  arrest, the inquest, the Supreme court trial and the Massey family on the front pages throughout the month of February.

The house-maid was from England, sent to Canada to raise money for her impoverished UK family. She was little more than an indentured slave.  She shot her master after he made lurid passes at her while his wife was away.

The plight of women like Carrie, both in terms of living/working conditions and treatment by the courts was of concern to Florence Gooderham Hamilton Huestis (Toronto Local Council of Women) and suffragette Nellie McLung.  The two women are featured in this book.

Newspapers debated the merits of the case, and Davies’ character, in extended coverage of the trial and the verdict. The editor of Women’s Century argued: “She was as justified in killing the man for her honour as a soldier is in shooting the enemy for the honour of his country.”

Spoiler Alert - Davies' lawyer Herbert Dewart, brings in medical experts who testify that the house-maid is a virgin.  Supreme Court Judge  Sir William Mulock and the jury find Davies not guilty and on February 27th she walks out of court a free woman!

Naming streets, homes and buildings that still stand, this is a riveting read for Torontonians wanting to know about their Hog Town's roots.  And for those that really want to know about the Massey Family the book includes a fold-out family tree chart, vintage photographs and information on where each Massey family member lived in Toronto and where they all the bodies are literally buried.

Journalists - if you would like to know more about the book, the author and /or the RBC Taylor Prize (formerly the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction) contact Stephen Weir at stephen@stephenweir.com.