AE Public Relations
Media Relations
My Track Record
PMAC
The Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) is an 80-year-old national professional association with over 8,000 members who are responsible for purchasing $70 billion in goods and services every year or roughly 10 percent of Canada's GNP. Despite their strong influence on the economy, the association had little public profile.
I led the development of a media strategy to build awareness among top-level executives in the private and public sectors about the importance of purchasing in the e-business economy.
My team helped to identify and train key media spokespeople, draft key messages, write news releases, develop relationships with key top tier and trade media, and identify key events to attract media exposure.
Shortly after launching the strategy, the President was prepped to provide expert commentary on trucking blockades across Canada to protest fuel cost. He was quoted on page two of The Globe and Mail and in a Canadian Press story. More than 10 daily newspapers subsequently picked up these stories.
The association's annual conference was an important component of our media strategy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was our keynote speaker. To spark media attention, we secured an hour of his time immediately following his speech and invited members of the media to sit down with him for a one-on-one session to discuss issues of their choice.
We also allowed our platinum sponsor to stage an entertaining Forklift ballet in the Rideau Centre parking lot during lunch hour to demonstrate the safety of their product line.
We obtained media hits in the two daily newspapers in Ottawa: page two of the Ottawa Citizen and the business section of the Ottawa Sun. The ten-minute Forklift Ballet appeared on the afternoon and evening news of the two prominent local television channels.
Our strategy also lent PMAC's name to a research studies conducted by VISA on supply chain management and another conducted by a university in Halifax on e-Commerce. Both studies received coverage in the Managing Section of the Globe and Mail.