Saturday, December 02, 2006
David McGuinty Newsletter, Fall 2006
I assume David McGuinty sends this out to all his constituents in Ottawa South. I got it in my mailbox last week.
Centretown News, October 13, 2006
Sarah Govan, Canal district PR advisor, managed to get students from Carleton to write this one up. Great work.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
National Post, July 29, 2006
Girl Guides uses sexy imagery to send message
But will ad campaign help enrolment?
Siri Agrell, Weekend Post
Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006
In the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, a rich, shallow housewife played by Shelley Long takes over her daughter's Wilderness Girl group, which is modelled on the Girl Scouts and their Canadian counterparts, the Girl Guides. She knows nothing about being prepared, earning her patches or surviving in the wilderness. Instead, she takes her charges camping at a hotel, helps them redesign the troop uniform and supervises as they sell cookies to their rich neighbours. In the end, the girls learn a valuable lesson and the troop is saved from extinction.
This movie would never work if it were released today. First, Beverly Hills teens are now more likely to be involved in reality shows than building campfires. Second, a film about spoiled fashion-focused tweens would not seem all that unusual compared to today's cellphone-chatting, thong-baring reality. But third, and most important, most film-goers today have but a dim idea of what a Girl Guide is, the institution having suffered a precipitous fall from public consciousness since the 1980s -- not unlike Shelley Long herself.
The Girl Guides of Canada are this year facing an all-time low in enrolment, with slightly more than 108,000 girls signed up across Canada in all age groups -- Sparks (girls aged five and six), Brownies (seven and eight), Guides (nine to 11) and Pathfinders (12 to 15). That's about half the enrolment of 20 years ago, before kids switched from s'mores to sushi.
Just like Troop Beverly Hills, the Girl Guides knew they had an image problem, so when John St., a Toronto-based advertising agency, offered to give the organization a brand makeover the answer was a resounding yes.
The ads, which are drawing positive and negative attention, turn the Troop Beverly Hills concept on its head. The film suggested that the institution needed to be modernized, with an infusion of fashion, money and femininity.
Modern girls, says the John St. campaign, need a good dose of Girl Guides, a perfect antidote to today's highly superficial, highly sexualized society.
The "Why Girls Need Guides" campaign is running in Canadian magazines, including Today's Parent and Chatelaine, for the next three months. Each ad takes a satirical look at industries that target girls.
One, a mock ad for "Carlucci" fashion, shows a teenage girl lying in a field wearing the brand's tight jeans. In a bubble, a cartoon girl points at her and a slogan reads "Why Girls Need Guides." Another satirizes teen magazines with a cover of Modern Girl, advising its young readers to "Lose That Baby Fat" and "Make His Interests Your Interests."
Before the campaign began, the Guides' 1-800 number had one or no calls a day, says Shauna Klein, the marketing and development manager at Girl Guides Canada. When people thought of the organization -- if they did -- they saw images of cookies and camping. Since the start of the campaign, the Guides have been receiving about 30 calls a day.
Not everyone likes, or understands, the campaign. A segment on CBC's The National recently asked several women on the street what they thought of the ads: Almost all seemed to miss the campaign's satirical intent. Similarly, an item in Maclean's Newsmakers section last week described the ads as "provocative" and "risque." And several e-mails from mothers on the Guides' Web site accuse the organization of resorting to sexualized images to garner attention.
Angus Tucker, John. St.'s creative director, a former Cub Scout and the father of an eight-year-old girl who already has an affinity for Britney Spears, says the intention, in fact, is to counter such imagery: "The reasons you think the Girl Guides are irrelevant are exactly the reasons they are relevant," he says. "Given the pop-culture world that girls are exposed to, Guides is a weekly counter just to balance it out."
The controversy surrounding the ads is bizarre, given that straightforward representations of teen sexuality are ubiquitous and usually don't raise an eyebrow or calls for a boycott.
In the John St. office, one wall is lined with images torn from the pages of Teen People and Cosmo Girl. A pre-nose-job Ashlee Simpson stares out from one, beside a photo of Nelly Furtado, whose new album and hit single are respectively -- and unironically -- titled Loose and Promiscuous.
Erin Spano, the writer who worked on the ads with art director Dani Maisels-Cooperman, says she's happy the campaign is sparking discussion. "At least we're getting people to talk about the explicit imagery," she observes. "We're never going to get rid of this stuff, but Guides is one way to help girls judge it for themselves."
The Guides won't know until year's end whether the campaign has had an effect on enrolment, but Klein is confident it will make a difference.
Maybe the next step is a remake of Troop Beverly Hills, with the outdoorsy athletic girls beating out the kids with the nice outfits.
"Yes," Klein says, when I suggest it. "It has been recommended."
sagrell@nationalpost.com
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=e7eba12d-2370-4d0f-a547-f5bfbfdf0e70&k=27957&p=2
But will ad campaign help enrolment?
Siri Agrell, Weekend Post
Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006
In the 1989 film Troop Beverly Hills, a rich, shallow housewife played by Shelley Long takes over her daughter's Wilderness Girl group, which is modelled on the Girl Scouts and their Canadian counterparts, the Girl Guides. She knows nothing about being prepared, earning her patches or surviving in the wilderness. Instead, she takes her charges camping at a hotel, helps them redesign the troop uniform and supervises as they sell cookies to their rich neighbours. In the end, the girls learn a valuable lesson and the troop is saved from extinction.
This movie would never work if it were released today. First, Beverly Hills teens are now more likely to be involved in reality shows than building campfires. Second, a film about spoiled fashion-focused tweens would not seem all that unusual compared to today's cellphone-chatting, thong-baring reality. But third, and most important, most film-goers today have but a dim idea of what a Girl Guide is, the institution having suffered a precipitous fall from public consciousness since the 1980s -- not unlike Shelley Long herself.
The Girl Guides of Canada are this year facing an all-time low in enrolment, with slightly more than 108,000 girls signed up across Canada in all age groups -- Sparks (girls aged five and six), Brownies (seven and eight), Guides (nine to 11) and Pathfinders (12 to 15). That's about half the enrolment of 20 years ago, before kids switched from s'mores to sushi.
Just like Troop Beverly Hills, the Girl Guides knew they had an image problem, so when John St., a Toronto-based advertising agency, offered to give the organization a brand makeover the answer was a resounding yes.
The ads, which are drawing positive and negative attention, turn the Troop Beverly Hills concept on its head. The film suggested that the institution needed to be modernized, with an infusion of fashion, money and femininity.
Modern girls, says the John St. campaign, need a good dose of Girl Guides, a perfect antidote to today's highly superficial, highly sexualized society.
The "Why Girls Need Guides" campaign is running in Canadian magazines, including Today's Parent and Chatelaine, for the next three months. Each ad takes a satirical look at industries that target girls.
One, a mock ad for "Carlucci" fashion, shows a teenage girl lying in a field wearing the brand's tight jeans. In a bubble, a cartoon girl points at her and a slogan reads "Why Girls Need Guides." Another satirizes teen magazines with a cover of Modern Girl, advising its young readers to "Lose That Baby Fat" and "Make His Interests Your Interests."
Before the campaign began, the Guides' 1-800 number had one or no calls a day, says Shauna Klein, the marketing and development manager at Girl Guides Canada. When people thought of the organization -- if they did -- they saw images of cookies and camping. Since the start of the campaign, the Guides have been receiving about 30 calls a day.
Not everyone likes, or understands, the campaign. A segment on CBC's The National recently asked several women on the street what they thought of the ads: Almost all seemed to miss the campaign's satirical intent. Similarly, an item in Maclean's Newsmakers section last week described the ads as "provocative" and "risque." And several e-mails from mothers on the Guides' Web site accuse the organization of resorting to sexualized images to garner attention.
Angus Tucker, John. St.'s creative director, a former Cub Scout and the father of an eight-year-old girl who already has an affinity for Britney Spears, says the intention, in fact, is to counter such imagery: "The reasons you think the Girl Guides are irrelevant are exactly the reasons they are relevant," he says. "Given the pop-culture world that girls are exposed to, Guides is a weekly counter just to balance it out."
The controversy surrounding the ads is bizarre, given that straightforward representations of teen sexuality are ubiquitous and usually don't raise an eyebrow or calls for a boycott.
In the John St. office, one wall is lined with images torn from the pages of Teen People and Cosmo Girl. A pre-nose-job Ashlee Simpson stares out from one, beside a photo of Nelly Furtado, whose new album and hit single are respectively -- and unironically -- titled Loose and Promiscuous.
Erin Spano, the writer who worked on the ads with art director Dani Maisels-Cooperman, says she's happy the campaign is sparking discussion. "At least we're getting people to talk about the explicit imagery," she observes. "We're never going to get rid of this stuff, but Guides is one way to help girls judge it for themselves."
The Guides won't know until year's end whether the campaign has had an effect on enrolment, but Klein is confident it will make a difference.
Maybe the next step is a remake of Troop Beverly Hills, with the outdoorsy athletic girls beating out the kids with the nice outfits.
"Yes," Klein says, when I suggest it. "It has been recommended."
sagrell@nationalpost.com
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=e7eba12d-2370-4d0f-a547-f5bfbfdf0e70&k=27957&p=2
Saturday, July 22, 2006
CBC, July 14, 2006
Also a report on CBC nationally if you haven't seen it already.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/14/ad-guides.html
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/14/ad-guides.html
Maclean's, July 31, 2006
Check it out, we're in Maclean's again. Except this time, it's not my fault.
The full headline says, "We need to get the message out. Girl Guides are still here, still relevant." - Spokesperson Shauna Klein, on the Guides' new - and somewhat risque - ad campaign.
BTW, loving the new ads, ladies/John Street.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Ottawa Citizen, April 16, 2006
This was in the Citizen today. Now, I didn't submit this, but it's great to see that other people are submitting things to the media! Thank you to the mystery honourary public relations adviser.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
Ottawa Citizen, July 20, 2005
We purchased an ad in the Citizen to thank everyone for sponsoring our 95th anniversary celebrations on Parliament Hill.
New PR blog
This will be a place to post articles about Ottawa Area Girl Guides. Email lbrown@connect.carleton.ca if you have something scanned that you would like to submit.
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