Politicians + Target Audiences = Smartphone Apps

Today in class we discussed the topic of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). We learned about how companies and organizations are learning that the traditional methods of advertising, promoting, marketing, and fundraising have come and gone. Businesses have realized that they must change their tactics if they are to successfully connect with their target audiences.

After talking about the issue today, I found an interesting article that details how some Canadian politicians are using; or how they plan to use, mobile applications to their advantage. Within the last couple of years, the number of elected officials - at all levels of government - who have a Twitter account or Facebook page has exponentially grown. Personally, the Twitter-verse is what opened the door for me to recently have meetings with one of our City Councillors as well as our local MP. Politicians have understood that effectively using social media can make their constituents feel connected.

However, this article goes on to explain that iPhone apps are allowing politicians to do one thing that they can't really do via Twitter; ask for money. It explains how Tim Hudak, Leader of the Ontario PC Party, has used an iPhone app to connect with his target audience. To quote the article, which can be found on Wireless Industry News:

iPhone apps that allow wireless users to donate money to charities, recent earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile or to participate in political polls are transforming things in a very positive way for politicians who are savvy in social media and Internet forums. Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, who is considering signing up for a smartphone application, says "there's a whole new generation of people out there that need to be reached, and you're only going to do it by adapting and recognizing the habits in which they consume information." And he's not alone. Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says he has become the first Canadian politician to launch an iPhone application. The free download can transmit policy positions, videos, photos, news, information on coming events in a specific location or city, etc.

And oh yes, let's not forget this: it can also ask you to make a donation to his party...

For far too long, younger generations have been too apathetic when it comes to letting their voices be heard. Hopefully, what we are seeing is the beginning of a cultural shift in the world of Canadian politics; and I look forward to what the future has in store.

Social Media Challenge

To raise awareness for War Child, the Loyalist PR crew will be taking part in a 24 hour social media fast from 9am on Wednesday December 1 until 9am on Thursday December 2.

This means no Facebook, no Twitter, no Foursquare, no emailing, no texting - even no cell phone! The challenge is to see just how much we rely on cell phones, social media, and the Internet on a daily basis.

Loyalist PR is hoping to spread the word and invite other's to partake in the challenge. If you would like to join, feel free!

In the meantime, #onevoice is being used to discuss the challenge on Twitter. Please join the discussion and help Loyalist PR raise awareness for War Child.

The challenge has been issued, will you answer the call?

Executive Bio - Jack Layton, NDP Leader

 The Honourable Jack Layton has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada since 2003. In just seven short years, Layton has made his mark in the House of Commons. As leader of the NDP, he has fought for equality, the rights of women and seniors, and has not been shy to voice his opinions about the environment and climate change. Layton’s hard work and determination was recognized in the last parliamentary session when parliament passed his landmark Climate Change Accountability Act.

Layton is also passionate about homelessness. “As leader, I am proud that closing the poverty gap is a fundamental goal for the NDP,” says Layton. “I have worked on issues related to homelessness and housing throughout my political career.” His zeal for ending poverty became even more visible by the writing of his book, Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis.

Layton’s political journey began in 1982 when he was elected to Toronto City Council. It was the start of a highly successful tenure in which he was re-elected six times. To date he shows no signs of slowing down despite battling a curable form of prostrate cancer; he is meant to be a public servant. “For me, the best part about politics is having the ability to make a difference in the day to day lives of people,” said Layton. That drive to make a difference is what keeps him motivated on a daily basis.

 

Layton obtained a Bachelors Degree in Political Science at McGill University and a Masters and PhD degree in Political Science from York University. In 1974, he became a professor at Ryerson University, and has since taught politics at all of Toronto’s universities. He was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1950, and lives in Toronto with his wife, and fellow NDP Member of Parliament Olivia Chow.

The New Democratic Party of Canada, commonly referred to as the NDP, was founded in 1961 under the leadership of Tommy Douglas. The NDP is a social democratic party, claiming the far left side of the Canadian political spectrum. They advocate, among other issues; gender equality, human rights, increasing corporate taxes, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid.

Re-Branding Belleville

Belleville has always been known as the friendly city. A small sized city with small town values. A great place to raise a family. Yet that started to change in 2010. Due to the rate of crimes committed in Belleville throughout the last year, MacLean’s magazine recently ranked our city as one of the top 20 most dangerous Canadian cities. That doesn’t quite reflect Belleville’s motto, or slogan. I believe that Belleville needs to look at ways in which it can re-brand itself, and this needs to be initiated by the people at City Hall.

During my first year of studies at Loyalist College in 2007, I had a course on political science. One of my major assignments was to write a paper on the subject of what my mandate or platform would be if I were to ever seek political office. As an aspiring politician, I have often thought of ideas I would bring forward to the Council Chamber. I believe there are issues that need to be addressed to ensure that Belleville will have a prosperous future. The main points that I discussed three years ago are still relevant today. I would like to refer back to those previous ideas, and discuss how they can play their part in re-branding our city.

 

Issue #1 - Homelessness/Poverty

Belleville needs to do more to fight poverty. Infomercials that discuss the extreme poverty that currently exists in Third World countries can be seen on television on a daily basis. The conditions that Third World countries have to deal with are mind-boggling; I could not even begin to imagine living in such dire circumstances. Organizations such as The One Campaign have been created with the sole purpose of ending world poverty, and it’s important to fully support such a worthy cause. However, I believe that a lot of people tend to put so much focus on the poverty that exists overseas that they become blind to the poverty that exists on Belleville streets. This may not be extreme poverty, but poverty none-the-less.

I’ve lived in Belleville the bulk of my life, and I still find it hard to believe that our city doesn’t have a permanent homeless shelter. Throughout my past, I have met homeless people all across Canada, and there are many myths about the homeless that need to be corrected. Nearly everyone I know believes that homeless people all suffer from either mental illness, drug addiction, alcohol addiction; or all three. While true in some cases, a lot of homeless people I’ve met are people who suffer from nothing other than bad luck and troubling circumstances.

Another common response from people is that there is no need for a homeless shelter during the spring, summer, and fall months. Consider for a second you were homeless, would you not choose sleeping indoors and having shelter any time of the year?

Also, the number one reason why many people avoid our downtown core is that the homeless population in downtown Belleville makes them feel uncomfortable and unsafe. If Belleville had a 24-hour a day year-long shelter that homeless people could turn to, perhaps more people would feel safe to walk the downtown streets and support our businesses. Yet in the meantime, City Hall needs to educate the public about the problem of homelessness. Walking by and ignoring the homeless on the street will not make them go away. Homelessness in Belleville will only remain a problem for as long as the issue is ignored. Eventually, City Hall will come to the realization that tackling and dealing with the crisis of homelessness is a necessary step in the re-branding of our city core.

 

Issue #2 Emergency Service Worker Recruitment & Recognition

During the past municipal term, Mayor Ellis initiated the doctor recruitment program, which has guaranteed most citizens of Belleville quality health care in the years to come. It is absolutely essential to continue this program so that Belleville is a top choice for top medical school students. However, I believe that Belleville City Council needs to do more to actively recruit police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. Emergency service workers provide essential services and save lives and property on a daily basis. They are the true heroes of our community.

I spent most of my childhood dreaming of one day being a police officer. I discovered a couple of years ago that I would be required to invest $5000 and undergo laser vision correction surgery to meet policing visual acuity requirements. I am sure that there were, and are many financially stressed students such as myself in the same situation.

I strongly believe that the City of Belleville should cover the cost of laser vision surgery for emergency services applicants who pass all other components of the application process; and who would be willing to serve in Belleville for a minimum time period. As well, Belleville could be viewed as a top choice for prospective emergency service personnel if the City of Belleville were to raise their pay. They risk their lives on a daily basis and do not get paid any amount near to what they truly deserve.

Furthermore, once Belleville recruits and hires the best of the best, we need to keep them. City Hall should do more to show their gratitude for our cops, firefighters, and paramedics. Perhaps City Hall can set aside a week or day in which Belleville can recognize the sacrifices of our local emergency service workers. If people celebrate a frozen dairy product on National Ice Cream Day, then citizens of Belleville can surely honour those who keep our streets safe, protect our houses from fire, and save our loved ones by rushing them to surgery rooms.

Issue #3 – Attracting Families

My final point I want to stress is that Belleville needs to do more to attract younger families to our city. We need to renovate and improve the technology at our schools, because parents want their children to get the best possible education. We need to build more parks and playgrounds, and offer free recreational sports so that children will be encouraged to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

In closing, there are numerous tasks and challenges that the City of Belleville faces if it is to do all it can to ensure that it remains a successful and prosperous city for future generations. Acknowledging the homeless, recruiting and maintaining a solid core of emergency service workers, and attracting younger families to our city are just a few of the countless plans or strategies that can be utilized by City Hall.

Actions can be taken to ensure that citizens, and entrepreneurs feel comfortable in the downtown core. Actions can be taken to ensure that our city recruits and maintains the best cops, firefighters, and paramedics. Actions can be taken to ensure that Belleville attracts young families, our future generations. With some effort from City Hall, Belleville can be re-branded, and can once again be known as a safe place to raise a family.

I strongly believe that if the three issues I’ve discussed were to be considered by City Council; they would be taking steps in the right direction as the City of Belleville tries to re-brand itself after a year in which Belleville was on the radar for all the wrong reasons.

 

November 11, 2011 a Stat Holiday?

Earlier this week, Lisa Macleod, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Nepean-Carleton, introduced a private members bill calling for Remembrance Day to be recognized as a statutory holiday in Ontario. Tabled as the Respect for Ontario Veterans, Soldiers and War Dead Act, Macleod seeks to have Family Day abolished in favour of a yearly stat holiday on November 11th.

"Canadian veterans, soldiers and our war dead have done their part for freedom and democracy," says Macleod. "Now it is up to us to enshrine in law a statutory holiday that would allow all Ontarians to show their pride and support at Cenotaphs across Ontario on Remembrance Day."

As usual, the MPP has drawn hefty amounts of criticism - but she's also received a lot of support. Personally, this is a bill that I fully stand behind. In fact, during my first year of studies at Loyalist College in 2007, political science was one of my subjects. For my final assignment in the course, I had to write a report on what I would do or what my goals would be if I was ever elected to political office. In my report, I discussed how we should do more to honour our veterans, and even mentioned the idea of Remembrance Day being a holiday.

On a local level, I think Belleville can do more to improve its veterans affairs/relations. Belleville hosts a great ceremony at our Cenotaph and parade on November 11th. Yet maybe Belleville can do more to help veterans communicate just what they experienced in the front lines of battle. Perhaps City Hall can negotiate with the Empire Theatre or Cineplex and offer free showings of a film such as Saving Private Ryan, or maybe they can ask some of our local Afghanistan war vets to write articles for The Intelligencer highlighting some of their memories of war - just some ideas....

C'mon CFL. Really?

If a player wants to wear some pink gear to raise awareness for breast cancer, no big deal, right? After all, most would view that as good PR for the league, wouldn't they?
Apparently not. It appears that the Canadian Football League lives by the any publicity is good publicity adage.

This past week, the CFL fined Jon Oosterhuis, a member of theWinnipeg Blue Bomber squad,  $200 for wearing pink gloves during a game against the Toronto Argonauts on October 23.

So, why did the CFL fine one of its players for wearing a pair of pink gloves on the field?

According to a CBC article, the CFL has a strict uniform policy that requires players to wear team approved colours. However, in the United States, the National Football League allows its players to wear pink gear during games for the entire month of October, then the game worn gear is auctioned and all proceeds go directly to breast cancer research. As a result, many CFL players have been requesting to wear gear that promotes breast cancer awareness, and  many of them are speaking out against the leagues strict policy.

Saskatchewan Roughriders player Marcus Adams is one of those players. "It's very frustrating because this is a professional league, and the NFL is a professional league, and that whole league supports pink and breast cancer and stuff like that," Adams said to a Regina radio station.

I for one never really pay much attention to the CFL. I find NFL games to be much more entertaining. And with this recent fine, I likely won't pay any attention at all to the CFL until they understand the concept of good PR.

RIM to Apple: Those Are Fighting Words

Forget about the UFC. There's a new heavyweight brawl in the making. I'm talking about the on-going smartphone battle between RIM and Apple. In recent days, the rivalry between the competing companies has heated up.

The reality is that Apple is easily winning the profit war over RIM, but RIM has been doing whatever it can to take a bite out of Apple. First, they released the BlackBerry Torch, their effort to offer devoted RIM clients a phone that is designed to compete with the iPhone while still maintaining a full QWERTY keyboard. Now, they are trying to market the PlayBook in an effort to attract corporate iPad users.

However, the two rivals have recently, and publicly, dropped the gloves. The public relations departments at RIM and Apple, and even Steve Jobs & Jim Balsillie, are willing to throw any punches necessary to defeat the other. "I don't see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He also went on to say that all of RIM's PlayBooks will be dead-on-arrival when they hit the shelves. In response, RIM CEO Jim Balsillie referred to the distorted world of Apple and Jobs himself.

It seems rare to see rival companies debating and throwing jabs so publicly. You never see McDonald's bluntly ripping apart Burger King.

That is all.