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Canadian Business

Behind The Brand: Town Shoes

Crissi Town Shoes

Name: Crissi Giamos

Position: Director of Public Relations

Professional role model:

Mary Symons, luxury publicist and president of Mary Symons Communications. Everything this lady touches in PR is done with perfection. She oozes elegance and class. My nickname for Mary is “VVVIP”.

In 140 characters or less, what is your favourite part of your job?

The fast paced environment and how each day differs. The best part? Shoe shopping of course—one pair for the photo shoot, two pairs for me.

What are your daily responsibilities?

Fuelling the business of the Town Shoes Limited banners by consistently garnering meaningful targeted media impressions and driving sales, of course. This is ongoing daily, working with media, influencers, stylists, television stations, fashion shows, events, photographers, shopping centres and the country’s tastemakers.

Which tools or software do you use at work?

Microsoft Office 365, Cision, Meltwater, MRP Data

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July 11, 2016 by

Q&A With Dustin Brown, Co-Creator Of The Brief

Dustin Brown

Toronto-based advertising and communications agency Elemental recently launched a four-part web series called The Brief. Dustin Brown is a partner at the agency who co-created the series.

Why did you decide to make a web series about agency life?

We have always tried to do promotional pieces about the agency to either attract new clients or new employees, bring on new talent and [create] stuff to show our clients what we’re capable of doing. We have run some campaigns in the past and then when one of our new copywriters came on board, he was a director and had the background. I had toyed around with making a full-length series once upon a time and he had some ideas about how to do a web series, which I had never really explored. We brought these two things together and created these shorts and we just had fun with it. From there, it grew into this four-part series, which is great.

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March 15, 2016 by

Networking With Janet Kestin And Nancy Vonk

Nancy Vonk

Nancy Vonk

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was discussed repeatedly in high school and university, so when I learned that Ogilvy’s former co-chief creative officers who were responsible for the work were speaking at a Women of Influence event, I couldn’t resist. On Wednesday night, Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin shared how women can get ahead by speaking up and networking at a Women of Influence event.

In the age of personal branding, I was surprised when they said that women are taught it’s wrong to talk about themselves. Whether it’s at a networking event or an interview, it’s beneficial to have an elevator pitch ready and be a good storyteller when you have the opportunity to talk about your life and career.

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December 17, 2015 by

Career Lessons From Mia Pearson

Hot On The Street - Women of Influence - Mia Pearson and Sarah Prince

On Tuesday night, professional women gathered at One King West to hear Mia Pearson, co-founder of communications agency North Strategic, speak at a Women of Influence event. From cocktails at the beginning to the keynote speech to the networking session, the two-hour-long event was run very efficiently. After working in leadership positions at a few of the country’s most reputable agencies, Mia had a lot of advice on entrepreneurship to dispense, which she eloquently shared with the group.

1) Find a niche where you can excel, ensure that you have something valuable to offer and then become the best in your field.

One of Mia’s first managers discouraged her from specializing in tech PR, but she disagreed with his advice because she recognized that specializing could lead to huge career opportunities. In the end, she co-founded High Road Communications, an agency that specializes in tech PR and Omnicom eventually acquired it. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, Mia said you should always look for growth opportunities. She emphasized that big ideas can come from any level, reminding the audience that you don’t need to be the co-founder to think big. If you work hard within your niche, then you can become famous for your work.

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September 16, 2015 by

Ten Thousand Coffees Chat With Lisa Kimmel

Lisa Kimmel - Edelman

From early morning meetings to late night client dinners, Edelman Canada’s President Lisa Kimmel is a busy woman. Thankfully she took time out of her schedule to talk to young professionals for a Ten Thousand Coffees group chat.

Here are some takeaways from our conversation:

  1. No matter how hectic your job, it’s important to make time for yourself so you can stay healthy. Lisa exercises 3-4 times/week and appreciates the alone time.
  2. In an agency environment like Edelman, a good PR professional is highly adaptable, reflexive, flexible, solution-oriented, collaborative, curious and able to deal with overwhelming client responsibilities.
  3. A few of the most important skills for a PR professional are sales, public speaking and critical thinking.
  4. Effective internal communication, something I was particularly interested in learning about, involves honesty, transparency and frequent discussions. An account executive should understand the strategic plan for the entire agency and open communication makes this possible.
  5. Employment engagement is an essential priority. Lisa advises employers to recognize that employees are your best advocates, so equip them with the right tools to talk about your company at a party.
  6. An effective employee engagement program invites contributions from employees at junior and senior levels so management can gather insights for operations.
  7. Media companies like Facebook and Twitter sometimes eliminate clients’ agencies as the middleman and go straight to presenting solutions to clients. This is an obvious threat to agencies who want to be involved in all campaigns, so some agencies like Edelman are starting to partner with media companies like The Globe and Mail to present solutions to clients based on joint capabilities.
  8. Lisa understands the value of information interviews, but young people should realize that she’s inundated with requests. Tell a story in your email invitation to capture her attention because too many people say, “I’m passionate about public relations and want to meet with you over coffee.” If and when you are awarded an information interview, make sure you come prepared. Know your elevator pitch and research the senior employee’s company.
  9. For job interviews, ensure that you can articulate your point of view on the industry. Do enough research so that you can confidently predict future trends and think about your portfolio so you can describe the work you’re most proud of doing.
  10. Young professionals without a family should take advantage of opportunities to work abroad, such as landing a job within your agency’s international network.
June 22, 2015 by