The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is pleased to announce the selection of Thornley Fallis & 76design as their Agency of Record for marketing and communications.

Thornley Fallis & 76design will provide CIRA with a range of services, including brand development, media relations, corporate communications, advertising, sponsorship, creative design, website development, video production and program measurement.

“CIRA chose Thornley Fallis & 76design from a group of very talented agencies based on several criteria. Most importantly, they truly are an integrated, full-service agency. In addition to more traditional, core capabilities such as strategic communications, media relations and advertising; Thornley Fallis & 76design also offers creative design, website development, video production, and public engagement services. All of this in addition to being Canadian leaders in the use social media and the development of online communities,” said David Fowler, CIRA’s Director of Marketing and Communications. “The CIRA team is really looking forward to our new relationship with Thornley Fallis & 76design. In addition to helping us improve communications with our stakeholders, including the more than 1.5 million .CA registrations, our new AOR will also help our team continue to promote and grow the .CA brand, as well as educate Canadians in the value .CA brings to their lives.”

This new, long-term Agency of Record agreement builds on a previous project-based relationship between CIRA and Thornley Fallis & 76design.  Since 2005, Thornley Fallis & 76design and CIRA have worked together on a variety of projects, including annual general meetings, the One Millionth .CA celebration event, online advertising and annual report design and production.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for our agency,” said Keelan Green, President of Thornley Fallis & 76design and manager of the CIRA relationship. “As a marketing and public relations agency that has really embraced the web and become a leader in digital communications, working with the organization that is responsible for managing significant parts of the Internet in Canada is just a great fit for our firm – our team is really looking forward to it.”

About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community and represents the .CA registry internationally.

About Thornley Fallis & 76design
Thornley Fallis & 76design is an innovative, full-service public relations, communications and marketing agency that helps organizations reach, connect with, build and sustain positive relationships with their communities through the integrated use of on-line and off-line communications tactics.

For additional information, please contact:

Jennifer Austin
Senior Manager, Communications & Marketing, CIRA
(613) 237-5335 ext. 296
jennifer.austin@cira.ca

LeeEllen Carroll
Thornley Fallis for CIRA
613-231-3355 ext. 231
carroll@thornleyfallis.ca

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the City of Ottawa’s Light Rail website!

Many Ottawans felt as though they were left in the dark when it came to the City’s big Light Rail Transit (LRT) plans. Well folks, there is no longer any need to feel mal-informed. Thornley Fallis and 76design in collaboration with the Light Rail Implementation Team have created an “information-sharing mechanism” that arms the citizens of Ottawa with more than sufficient information relating to the project plan.

The communications efforts applied by Thornley Fallis & 76design were strategic and smart; we have received positive results on the site and its search functions, information content, structure and ease-of-use.

The website in particular has proven to be the most crucial piece of the puzzle. The website we’ve created is meant to engage the entire City; to provide all the facts our users require to fully understand the project and to provide them with a platform to communicate their feelings towards the project.

With the integration of various social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), interested citizens are able to keep up-to-date and connect with the Light Rail Implementation Team with any questions or concerns. Any questions submitted to the team will be answered in a timely fashion; responses will then be posted on the website. The LRT website helps make a difference by providing comfort to Ottawans by reminding them that Light Rail green and it will only improve the City.

Since yesterday’s launch, the LRT project is getting great media play, print and radio; it is noted that there are happy people all around.

As designers during these rapidly changing times it is more important than ever to exercise flexibility and adaptability in the approach we take to our work. With the competitive nature of our business, the ever evolving vehicles of communication and the state of our recovering economy, our clients have become pretty demanding when it comes to us delivering the goods. If we can’t deliver to their expectations, they know someone else is waiting in the wings, hungry and ready to take over. 

I said it before and I’ll continue to say it “one size does not fit all”. Each client we work for and every individual project we work on has unique objectives and goals and therefore we need to make sure that we take a unique approach to each one and that means being flexible. 

A lot of times it’s smooth sailing. Good ideas flow quickly and client “buy-in” happens without a hitch. However, there are those occasions when things become a little more challenging, when it takes more time and effort than normal to deliver “the goods”. It’s during these times that we ask ourselves “what happened?” The reality is a number of things could have happened and the fact of matter is you still need to deliver. Great designers find a way to adapt on the fly, extending themselves further and further with each new challenge that’s thrown their way. In the end it’s a win-win situation, the client gets delivery of a project and the designer has taken the opportunity to grow and work beyond their past limitations. We are fortunate enough at 76design to have on staff a group of great designers that have shown me the true meaning of adaptability and flexibility. I’d like to take this opportunity to say, “thanks guys!”

Being a designer is not always easy. Deadlines can be tight, projects can be challenging, clients can be really demanding. But being adaptable in the face of challenge makes it easier for everyone involved and that’s a good thing.

To further illustrate my point I leave you with a quote from the late great Bruce Lee, one of the greatest martial artists in history, “Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” 

Sometimes, to keep myself sane during long work days, I tend to doodle and draw — it’s just what I do and have done since a wee lad.
I was going through some old notebooks and found a few characatures of some co-workers I sketched.
More to come …

Campaign design by our very own Ben Watts.

A strange yet mysterious veil falls gently over the 76design office in Ottawa every year in the month of November. It is a veil but more accurately it is a mustache – many mustaches. Yes, Mustaches!

We grow mustaches not only for the style and sophistication but for a truly greater purpose – the enhanced visual appeal is just the icing on the cake. We are growing for Mustaches for Kids (M4K) to raise money for Make a Wish Eastern Ontario. Our mustaches make wishes come true – read more on how the helped some local kids in need of a wish.

M4K has grown and matured within the walls of 76design. Legend has it that M4K was in fact brought to Ottawa and nurtured to greatness by the shameless dedication of 76designers. Over the years we’ve seen many a stache. Including our fearless leader, Joseph Thornley, who is growing with us yet again – and matching any donation to him. But all fun aside, we’re proud to have contributed to M4K and Make a Wish.

M4K is now in its 5th year in Ottawa and we’ve raised a combined amount of $50,000. Last year we raised $20,000 and this year, with over 100 growers, we are aiming at $25,000.

Help us make our mustaches worth more than they look. You don’t need a mustache to help.

I am pleased to announce  the launch of  Thornley Fallis & 76design’s new online presence.

Our new websites, conceptualized, designed and developed by  our team of creative masterminds and technology all-stars, exemplifies our capacity to push the limits of innovation  in the world of social media and digital marketing.

Thornley Fallis & 76design is made up of individuals with fun, smart and professional personalities; personalities that have all contributed to the success of marketing & communications projects. To fully demonstrate  the range of personalities, talent and intelligence our  team has to offer, we’ve done something  a little outside the box.  Something very brave… or maybe something very stupid – we’ll let you know ;-)

We’ve created a live LifeStream for every one of our employees. This is more than just a standard funny profile picture and biography.  It is an aggregate of their work and online profile, intended to paint a picture of who they are, what they do, what they think and what they are interested in.

To explore the diverse and unique characters at Thornley Fallis and jokers at 76design, take a look through our people profiles and find out who you could be working with on your next project.

Not only is our team exceptionally talented (and good-looking), we are experienced & passionate about the work we do.  While adventuring through our People pages, zoom over to the Work & Services sections to see what Thornley Fallis & 76design has to offer.

My colleagues and I hope you enjoy perusing through our new sites.

Oh and one more thing… if you like what you see, don’t hesitate to call us, we’d love to hear from you!