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----------------------------------------------------------------------- CORA HIRES APEX Quebec restaurant company The Cora Franchise Group has retained Apex Public Relations of Toronto as agency of record for it's Cora's Breakfast and Lunch chain. The agency will develop a national campaign intended to raise awareness of the chain as it expands into new markets. The company plans to open 59 new restaurants this year, bringing its total number of locations to 108. "We chose Apex because it understands the entrepreneurial spirit and because we had a strong chemistry with the Apex team," said company founder Cora Tsouflidou. "Their media relations skills and experience will be an invaluable asset to us as we garner attention for the expansion of our franchise." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LANGHAM JOINS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATORS The International Association of Business Communicators has appointed Jo Langham to the position of director of examiners for its accreditation council for three years. Langham is senior vice-president of Toronto-based Apex Public Relations and a past president of the Toronto chapter of the association. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APEX PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPANDS MEDIA TRAINING SERVICE Apex Public Relations of Toronto has expanded its media and presentation training practice into a more general service that it plans to offer to non-clients. The new service will take the form of a series of seminars aimed at professionals who want to improve their communication skills. “Since inception, Apex has been offering this dynamic and critical service to our clients,” said agency president Pat McNamara. “We are offering participants the opportunity to increase their confidence when articulating their ideas to a wide audience and filling a gap in Toronto’s booming communications industry.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DI ROCCO JOINS APEX Apex Public Relations of Toronto has hired Michelle Di Rocco as a senior consultant. Di Rocco, who was previously in communications at L’Oréal Canada, will work to increase the agency’s presence in Quebec. Apex’s clients in that province include John Frieda, Second Cup and Jamieson. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APEX PUBLIC RELATIONS WINS YOPLAIT ACCOUNT Ultima Foods has retained Toronto-based Apex Public Relations as its agency-of-record for the Yoplait brand of yogourt and cheese in English Canada. Apex won the account in a competitive search involving an unknown numbers of agencies. “We selected Apex as our agency because of the team’s solid experience and excellent track record in food product launches,” said Diane Jubinville, consumer and public relations director at Ultima Foods. “We were impressed with Apex’s strategic approach, creative thinking and the fact that they had an in-house nutritionist.” Apex is currently working on the English launch of a new product called Yoptimal Immuni+, which will be released later this month. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AWARD SHOW ROUNDUP The Canadian Public Relations Society (Toronto) conducted its annual ACE awards on April 25. The awards recognize outstanding PR work from the Toronto area. Strategic Objectives of Toronto received awards for public relations campaign of the year, best creative campaign of the year and best use of special events. All three awards were for a campaign conducted on behalf of Cadbury, which includes a fashion show in which the models wore clothing made of chocolate. In addition, Judy Lewis and Deborah Weinstein of Strategic Objectives were named the top public relations professionals in Toronto for 2006. Among the other winners, Apex Public Relations won silver awards in the new product launch and product brand development campaign categories. Argyle Rowland Communications won a silver award for best use of special events. Environics Communications received silver awards in the community relations campaign and best use of special events categories. Fleishman-Hillard Canada won silver awards in the product brand development campaign and community relations campaign categories. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COCA-COLA PREPARES CAMPAIGN FOR SPRITE REMIX ARUBA JAM Coca-Cola is readying a campaign to promote a new variety of Sprite called Remix Aruba Jam. The product, aimed at teenagers, combines lemon and lime flavours with strawberry, pineapple and passion fruit flavours. This drink replaces the Berryclear Remix variety distributed by the company last year. The marketing campaign will consist of 15-second television commercials and sampling programs in some cities nationally. Product placement will also occur in an online chat room called HabboHotel.ca Canadian advertising for Sprite is handled by Cossette. PR for the brand is done by Apex Public Relations. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KELLOGG CANADA RESUMES ALL-BRAN CHALLENGE CAMPAIGN Kellogg Canada has begun a third iteration of its Kellogg's All-Bran Two Week Challenge. During this initiative, actor William Shatner will spend two weeks at an accounting firm in the position of receptionist and "Managing Director of Making Fibre your Friend." He will lead the staff of the company through two weeks of increased fibre intake intended to make them "feel batter." The campaign this year will also promote two new products: All-Bran Bars and All-Bran Strawberry Bites cereal. "We know that Canadians are only getting an average of 14 grams of fibre per day" said Christine Lowry, vice-president of nutrition and corporate affairs at Kellogg Canada. "We hope to increase awareness and motivate people to add more fibre to their diets by providing them with tasty and portable options." The ad campaign was created by Leo Burnett. A series of four television commercials will run for one week each in English Canada. The first ad broke on May 2. The challenge is also being promoted with special packaging, with in-store and Web-based materials, and with PR by Apex Public Relations. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AWARD SHOW ROUNDUP Apex Public Relations of Toronto received eight awards from the Canadian Public Relations Society at the ACE Awards this week, including one gold, two silver and four bronze awards. The firm was also won the Best of Show award for its work on the BMO Mosaik MasterCard travel rewards program. This effort also took a gold award in the Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year category. The agency's silver awards were for work for Nike Canada's "Think Fast" campaign and Grand & Toy's "The New Reality" initiative. The bronze awards were for work done for ConAgra Foods Canada, Kao Brands Canada, Tetra Pak and BMO Mutual Funds. The Toronto-based World Rock Paper Scissors Society also won two awards at this event. The society received gold awards in the categories Best Creative PR Campaign and Sports, Arts and Entertainment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APEX PUBLIC RELATIONS CREATES FOOD AND BEVERAGE DIVISION Apex Public Relations of Toronto has created a new division called Fresh that will focus on PR for the food and beverage industry. Apex clients in this sector include Kellogg Canada, Butterball, Maxxium, Coca-Cola, the American Peanut Council, the California Cling Peach Board and Tetra Pak Canada. Apex has also created a group called the Fresh Advisory Board to provide perspective on the food and beverage industry. The board consists of author and TV host Christine Cushing, registered dietitian Sue Mah, and registered dietitian and media personality Isabelle Huot. "Whether you're launching a new product, reviving an old one, or just working on getting consumers to notice you, Apex is committed to building and sharing our industry knowledge and expertise and, ultimately, creating effective PR campaigns that will impact the bottom-line," said agency president Pat McNamara. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APEX RETAINED BY JAYTEX Apex Public Relations of Toronto has been hired by clothing company Jaytex of Canada to provide public relations for its brands Tommy Bahama and Penguin. The assignment will include media relations, product seeding and product placement in 2005. "We want public relations to play an increased role in the marketing of our Penguin and Tommy Bahama brands," said Eric Gundy, president of the Jaytex Group. "Apex's experience with consumer brands and its strong relationships with the media made it the clear choice." Apex has also conducted campaigns for Levi's, Dockers and Nike. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KELLOGG CONDUCTS SPECIAL K PILATES GIVEAWAY Kellogg Canada of Toronto has begun a promotion during which specially marked boxes of Special K cereal will contain a free 30-minute Stott Pilates exercise DVD. Special K brands involved in this initiative include original, Red Berries, Soy and CarbFit. Boxes of these products bearing the image of Kellogg spokesperson Cindy Crawford will contain one of three DVDs. In Quebec, the boxes display an image of media personality France Beaudoin. Approximately 1.5 million DVD will be distributed during the promotion. "Just as our Special K step counter promoted physical activity in previous campaigns, we are now sharing the mind-body benefits of Stott Pilates in an effort to help Canadians live active, healthy lives," said Christine Lowry, vice-president of nutrition at Kellogg. The giveaway is being supported with national television advertising in English and French, plus in-store materials, Web promotion and public relations.
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