MEDIA RELATIONS

Media relations is both proactive - we suggest story ideas to reporters, editors, and producers - and reactive, where we are asked for help in creating stories, or offer assistance and content to an existing story.

Pallett Valo LLP is the largest law firm in Canada’s sixth largest city, Mississauga. First Principles Communication has been doing media relations for the firm since 2005 and has obtained, on average, between 24 and 36 “media hits” annually since 2008.  Media hits include: newspaper articles, legal industry publications, and TV appearances.

VISIT Pallett Valo's news story archives here.

In Business host David Wojcik, left, with Ray Mikkola, head of the Commercial Real Estate Practice at Pallett Valo, and Dan Bates, president of Hectare GMAC Commercial Realty.

PV ON TELEVISION Pallett Valo lawyers are frequent guests on In Business, the only television show aimed specifically at business leaders in Mississauga and Brampton, the two cities most important to Pallett Valo. Here's one of those interviews, as Pallett Valo partner .Murray Gottheil discusses Family Business Succession Planning Issues (In Business VIDEO) MEDIA TRAINING First Principles Communication provides media training programs. See Services

Here's a Globe and Mail story from 2008, pre-dating our assignment. Rene Hamel, mentioned in the story as being with KPMG, Ireland, is now a partner at Digital Wyzdom. He and FPC's Jana Schilder worked together at KPMG Canada before FPC was established. The story also quotes Digital Wyzdom president Daniel Tobok. It's about money laundering. Read the story. 

More recently, Globe and Mail National Technology Reporter Omar El Akkad interviewed Digital Wyzdom president Daniel Tobok in the summer of 2010 about RIM-BlackBerry security internationally.

Here's a PDF file of that story.

Reams of articles and interviews since FPC was established in 2004 cover legal publications, CBC network and local radio, all national English television and CBC Radio Canada French television, all the major newspapers from St. John's to Victoria, and lots of community papers.

Many of our clients have benefitted greatly from our knowledge of and relationships with the trade and business publications that focus on their industries.

NEWSPAPERS & THE WEB
When FPC works with newspaper reporters and editors, we recognize that most newspaper stories appear first on the papers' web sites, then are picked up on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, perhaps internationally, before they are printed on paper.

Depending on the newspaper, stories are available in the papers' archives long after the paper itself has been wrapped around fish bones.

EDITORIAL AND SPECIAL SECTION WRITING

Jana Schilder has been writing for The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation daily newspaper, about online trading (discount brokerages) for more than three years. Ms. Schilder created the original Toronto Star Online Trading special section's look and feel, and stayed with the section when The Star reallocated resources and moved the section to its own editorial department.

She writes about the process of online trading, the calibre of thinking needed to improve online trading skills, as well as useful tips, and trader profiles. Online Trading, the 8-page Special Section, is published quarterly by The Toronto Star. She also writes for The Star on Wealth Management, Mortgages, and Investing.

Tyler Bollhorn, founder of Stockscores.com, is a favorite of audiences at finance shows, and was featured in Online Trading in an article by Jana Schilder.

One of her editorial challenges -- successfully met in The Star and other publications -- is taking technical or speciality subjects such as engineering or law, and making them understandable to consumers. And, in contrast, taking populist subjects and adding the technical details and scientific insights that meet the needs of industry professionals.

In the world of quality Canadian journalism, reporters and editors are very careful to not only avoid conflicts, but even the appearance of conflicts.

FPC is proud that The Toronto Star, The Law Times, and other publications recognize our ability to write, with integrity, to their editorial standards.

Our knowledge of these standards is reflected in all our writing.

Our words sound authentic in a world of marketing hype.

First Principles Communication believes in the value to our clients of trade magazines and industry publications. For Blixitt, we took our background in magazine publishing, combined it with our ability to write to the specific editorial style and requirements of Environmental Science and Engineering Magazine, and supplied this story that led directly to dozens of inquiries from potential customers.
 

Custom Publishing grows out of First Principle's Editorial and Special Sections work, and our background in magazines and newspapers. Custom Publishing is the writing, design, and printing of information about clients in a format that looks similar to magazine articles.

Custom Publishing allows us to use the design aspects of magazines that draw readers into a story, and includes photographs, and quotes from various stakeholders. The challenge is to be credible but not cause readers to think they are being misled with published editorial.

Case studies are a natural for Custom Publishing.

FPC produced a Custom Publishing spread for Blixitt, to accompany an executive on a trip to Asia. It let business contacts get a better idea of Blixitt  than they would get from a conventional brochure.

Here's the Blixitt feature: Link

EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS

For Canadian National (CN), one of Canada’s two freight railways, Ms. Schilder created and implemented an employee communications strategy while on staff from 1995 to 1998.

The heart of the strategy was to support change at the railway: to show employees that CN was not the best railway in North America (which came as a shock to them); to explain why CN had to control costs; to explain what other railways were doing; and to motivate employees to help turn the company around.

When Paul Tellier was voted “Canada’s Most Respected CEO,”—twice—he credited employee communications. In his view, employee communications was crucial to affecting the major change necessary to turn around Canadian National from a Crown Corporation, historically dependent on government subsidies, to Canada’s most successful Initial Public Offering (IPO).

A big challenge facing CN when Jana Schilder was Director, Employee Communications, was the need to transform its Operating Ratio - the key indicator of railway success - and each issue of CN Magazine was devoted to one aspect of this program, including improving customer satisfaction.

WEBSITES

We handle website strategy, and/or website content alone, or strategy, content plus technology.

For our client airKrete Canada, a “green” foam-in insulation for retro-fit homes, we designed the structure and navigation of their website, wrote all of the copy for the website, and did the photography of the Canadian actual on-site installations for a customer. 

See the web page.

VISIT:  www.airkretecanada.com