Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

OVATION Awards Winning Entry
Communication Management
Media Relations with budget greater than $100,000
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Entrant’s name: Jo Langham, ABC
Entrant’s organization: Thornley Fallis Communications
Client organization: Elections Ontario
Title of entry: Elections Ontario Makes Voting Easy
Division and category: Division 1, Communication Management, Category 4c, Media Relations
Time period of project: July 2011–October 2011
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Elections Ontario tasked Thornley Fallis Communications with creating a proactive media relations
campaign that would inform Ontario’s 8.5 million electors about new voting processes in the province.
During past elections, coverage about Elections Ontario had been almost entirely negative as a result of
reactive‐only outreach. TFC developed a media relations strategy that timed the majority of outreach
during the pre‐writ period (i.e. before the election officially began) in order to build the goodwill of
journalists before potential issues about the mechanics of voting could arise. By the end of the threemonth
campaign, TFC had earned 206 pieces of coverage for Elections Ontario with a potential reach of
over 29 million. As well, the tone of all coverage about Elections Ontario including during the election
was 83% positive or balanced, exceeding the program goal by 33%.
NEED/OPPORTUNITY
Elections Ontario, the non‐partisan agency responsible for running Ontario’s provincial general and byelections,
had always been a silent partner in the electoral process. Politicians, stakeholders and interest
groups were the voices heard during an election while Elections Ontario only spoke up when issuing
mandated media releases about the mechanics of voting (e.g. opening of the advance polls or extending
voting hours) or when something went wrong (e.g. missing names from the Voters List or inaccessible
poll locations). Because the majority of Elections Ontario’s outreach was reactive to complaints when
people were unhappy, it meant that the coverage was almost always negative. As well, the organization
had focused its local outreach to media through its 107 Returning Officers (RO), which had led to
inconsistent messaging and confusion.
Following the 2007 Provincial General Election, Elections Ontario was directed by the Legislative
Assembly to make changes to the electoral process in order to make voting more accessible. Previously
the Ontario government could call an election at any time up to five years after it had been elected.
Now, Ontario’s provincial elections were on a fixed 4‐year cycle, enabling Elections Ontario to spend
guaranteed time leading up to the 2011 election researching and implementing new voting processes.
These changes included providing “More Ways and More Days” to vote:10 days of advance polls, the
province’s first mail‐in Special ballot and poll locations that met the province’s accessibility standards.
In late June 2011, with only three months until the provincial election, Elections Ontario engaged
Thornley Fallis Communications (TFC) to support its mandate to conduct public education on the new
electoral process. In response TFC developed a proactive regional media relations campaign to inform
Ontario’s 8.5 million voters on all the ways and days they could vote in the upcoming provincial general
election.