Are you the Communications Consultant we’re looking for?

Do you have a passion for being in the know? Do you start every day getting up to speed on what’s happening in your city and around the world? Does the idea of working with a wide range of clients from a variety of industries excite you? Then this job may be for you.

COMPANY PROFILE:

Elettra Communications is full service communications agency that offers stakeholder communications, media relations, event management, and social media services. Our clients include Granville Island, YVR, Emily Carr University, Cactus Club Cafe, Harbour Centre, and GWL Realty Advisors.

We are a team of smart, informed, resourceful, quality-driven, and accountable individuals. We currently have an opening for a dynamic Communications Consultant.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Writing and project management form the core responsibilities of this position. The successful candidate will be responsible for the following:

Stakeholder Communications

• Planning campaigns, managing projects, and creating budgets, timelines and status reports.
• Producing compelling communications materials (written and visual).

Media Relations

• Executing media relations campaigns, which includes preparing written and visual materials, researching and crafting story angles, and pitching media.
• Preparing spokespeople for media interviews and assisting with formal media training sessions.

Events

• Supporting the development of comprehensive event plans and working with suppliers to create top-notch event solutions.
• Handling event logistics, collateral production, and aspects of project management.

Digital

• Developing social media content calendars, creating content and managing paid ad campaigns.
• Working with videographers to produce compelling videos to support campaigns.

ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES:

The successful candidate will demonstrate the following attributes:

• Smart: You are sharp and quick-thinking.
• Informed: You’re a newshound who is informed about our city and our country.
• Resourceful: You are not daunted by obstacles or uncertainty. You simply find a way to get it done.
• Quality-driven: You are dedicated to producing work of the highest standard.
• Accountable: You keep your commitments. You take responsibility and ownership over your work.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Business, Arts, Marketing, or Public Relations.
• 3-6 years’ direct experience in a public relations or communications environment.
• Exceptional writing skills. You write clear and sophisticated prose in a variety of styles.
• Experience in communications project management, working with multiple suppliers, managing timelines and budgets.
• Strong knowledge of regional/national media landscape.
• Proven success in conducting media relations campaigns.
• Experience developing social media content calendars, creating content and managing paid social ad campaigns.
• The following are considered assets: Adobe Creative Cloud proficiency; photography skills; WordPress skills; experience with video production; agency experience.

POSITION DETAILS:

This is a permanent, full-time position. While we encourage work-life balance, the nature of our industry means that you will occasionally be asked to respond to media/client inquiries and work at events outside of the 9-5, Monday-Friday work week.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive salary based on your experience
• Extended medical
• Downtown office close to transit
• Annual professional development grant
• Mobile phone plan subsidy
• Guidance and mentorship from PR industry veterans
• A group of coworkers who love discussing current affairs and politics just as much as you do

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Demonstrate your exceptional writing skills by sending a well-crafted cover letter and resume to careers@elettra.ca.

Application closing date: March 28, 2018

Media professionals and public relations / communications practitioners enjoy a symbiotic relationship.  It’s important to know what types of stories appeal to specific outlets and reporters and how they like these stories to be pitched.

Lorna Allen from our team recently took over responsibility for supplying journalist profiles on the CPRS Vancouver website. Her first subject was Tim Renshaw, managing editor at Business in Vancouver.

Check out the article here.

BC Aviation Council's Silver Wings Awards at YVR's South Terminal

The critical first step in planning a gala is selecting the right venue. To help take anxiety out of venue choice, here are some tips from Elettra’s event team.

Decide whether you prefer a traditional or non- traditional venue

Traditional venues include hotels, conference centres, and restaurants. A non-traditional venue can be anywhere, really – a farmhouse, an airplane hangar, or an outdoor plaza to name just a few. The appeal of non-traditional venues is obvious – they tend to be more interesting, creative, and unexpected than the (often) beige four walls of a hotel ballroom. Start by asking yourself if this element of surprise is important to your organization and your guests.

While the cost of hosting at a hotel or conference centre may seem high at first glance, remember that a non-traditional venue is usually a blank slate. That means you’ll need to consider the cost of bringing every single spoon, glass, and chair to the event site. Not to mention the audio-visual and décor required to make the space come alive and the extra event planning and labour hours required to pull it all together.

But when it comes together…wow, you can truly blow your guests away! Elettra worked with the BC Aviation Council (BCAC) on their Silver Wings Awards. For their 20th anniversary they didn’t want the typical hotel ballroom, so we turned YVR’s South Terminal into a gala awards show venue, complete with staging, AV, and a dinner buffet. It was so worth the time and effort to create something unexpected for BCAC’s guests.

Venue size

A half-full room, no matter its size, suggests that an event is not a success. Before booking your venue, do some serious thinking about how many people will attend. Is your invite list 500? Consider realistically how many people will come at the ticket price point you are setting.

Hotel and conference spaces offer a bit more flexibility on room size as ballrooms often have air walls that can divide up the space. This means you can often make adjustments to your venue footprint once you have a sense of how ticket sales are going. In a pinch you can also use pipe and drape to section off a space, but this isn’t ideal and it’s much better to choose the right size of space in the first place.

Location & accessibility

How easy is your event to get to? The answer to that question has a direct bearing on RSVP numbers. Is your event in the downtown core and starting right after work? Great. Have you chosen a far-flung spot that’s not easy to get to via transit? No problem, but you’ll need to budget for shuttles or taxi vouchers to facilitate guest transport.

Atmosphere & décor

Oftentimes hosts treat décor as a “nice to have,” but it’s every bit as critical to the event’s success as food and drink. A good event manager will insist that this is part of the plan. When choosing your venue, consider what it will take to create the desired atmosphere for your guests. If you choose a beautiful spot like Vancouver Art Gallery’s Rotunda, it might not take much more than a bit of lighting and some florals, but if you choose a windowless ballroom or a warehouse, be prepared to devote some serious budget and effort to creating an atmosphere worthy of your event.

Have an event you need help planning? Contact Gwen or Simone at Elettra Communications. We have a combined 30 years' experience in creating successful events of all shapes and sizes. 

Vancouver film buffs will have the opportunity to catch a number of critically acclaimed international films over the next fortnight at the 34th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), which kicks off on Thursday.

As a former film journalist and self-confessed film fanatic, I am really excited about this year’s selection of films. It is chock-full of features and documentaries I have been looking forward to seeing.

I’m also excited to be volunteering in the VIFF media office where I get to combine my passion for communications and my love of cinema!

One of the perks of volunteering is that I get a pass granting me access into most screenings so have eagerly scoured the VIFF schedule and selected the movies I most want to watch.

Here are the top five movies I intend to check out:

Room

Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of Emma Donaghue’s powerful bestseller is at the very top of my list.

While the subject matter may not be for everyone (it’s inspired by the horrendous Josef Fritzel case) the film generated rave reviews at Telluride and Toronto – even winning the People’s Choice Award at the latter.

Brand: A Second Coming

Documentarian Ondi Timoner’s film about British comedian and activist Russell Brand is screening in the documentary section of the festival.

This promises to be a revealing and intimate portrait of Brand’s life over the last few years and his struggle with addiction. 

Beeba Boys

I’m a sucker for a gangster film so when I saw the trailer for Beeba Boys, a film about a ruthless mobster loosely based on “Bindy” Johal, I was very intrigued.   A gangster film set in Vancouver and directed by a woman no less!

I love seeing this city on the big screen and it’s especially nice to enjoy it for itself and not as a stand-in for a US location.

London Road

Received enthusiastically at TIFF, this unorthodox musical recounts the chaos that followed the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich, England in 2006.

Evolving from the stage musical of the same name it is based on actual taped interviews conducted with inhabitants of London Road, the quiet residential street from where the victims were picked up.

45 Years

This drama generated glowing reviews from critics and earned Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay best actor awards at the Berlin Film festival earlier this year.

It tells the story of an older couple whose lives are rocked when the husband receives a letter revealing that his past love’s frozen body has been recovered from the Alps five decades after she fell to her death.

By Lorna Allen

Welcome to the new Elettra Communications website. We’ve got to say, there’s nothing quite like a fresh start and a new look to put a spring in a PR agency’s step.

Putting together a new website is a great opportunity for a bit of organizational soul searching. It’s as much about honing in on what we do best, as it is getting crystal clear about the kind of work we really want to do. You know, the stuff that makes us excited to come to work every day.

And we think we’ve pretty much nailed it with our Services page. There it is all in one place – the media relations, communications strategy, events, and community relations work that makes us so grateful to be working as communicators.

Of course, launching a new website is the perfect time to make sure your SEO i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. Thanks to Leanne Kedrosky on our team for supporting that process.

Thanks to Michael Young for the photography of our beloved office space. We think it really makes the website sing.

And thanks to everyone in the office for putting up with weeks of hearing me say “what about this?” and “how about that?” and giving their honest, but ever constructive, feedback.

- Simone Abt

Whistler Brewing Company president Bruce Dean was featured in Business in Vancouver’s Life Lessons column over the Christmas holidays. Whistler Brewing Company celebrated its’ 25th anniversary at the end of last year and the article gives a valuable insight into the evolution of the brand and the importance of adapting to changing situations and taking calculated risks.

Well worth a read!

We are pleased to welcome Leanne Kedrosky back into the Elettra Communications office! Leanne first came to Elettra as an intern in March 2014. She completed a nine week internship as part of her BCIT Marketing Communications Program. Leanne then spent the fall coordinating our YVR School Tour Program at Vancouver International Airport. She had a two-part role, both as a tour guide for Grade 5 students visiting the airport and a  support resource for our Airport Authority clients.

Leanne has now taken on a new role as an Account Coordinator at Elettra Communications. We are thrilled to welcome her back into our office where she will provide support to a number of our clients including Vancouver magazine and YVR. We look forward to her continued growth within the company.

Welcome back Leanne!

The Kettle Society, Harbour Centre, and the Vancouver Lookout are inviting Vancouverites to celebrate the season with a twist this year. Instead of photos with Santa, they are offering people a chance to get ‘Snow Globed’. Visitors to Harbour Centre’s lobby can have a photo taken inside a giant snow globe with their own camera or phone between now and December 20th.

A minimum donation of $5 is suggested with 100% of proceeds going to The Kettle Society, a local non-profit that assists people living with mental illness

A sneak peek was held on Friday, November 28 when participants were given the opportunity to have their photo taken with the Whitecaps FC president Bob Lendarduzzi, club ambassador Carl Valentine, and mascot Spike.

The Snow Globe will be open Mon-Fri and on two Saturdays, Nov 29th and Dec. 6th.

Whistler Brewing Company celebrated its 25th Anniversary on Saturday evening at the Longhorn in Whistler with a special customized cask competition. Earlier this month six BC personalities tapped into their inner brewmaster to create a customized cask of ‘anniversary ale’ by developing their own recipes using a Whistler Brewing base beer and selecting their own combination of hops and other ingredients.

The contestants tapped their casks and their special brews were judged at the company’s anniversary party this weekend by a judging panel including representatives from BC Craft Brewers Guild, Whistler Blackcomb Food and Beverage, Whistler FM and headed by Whistler Brewing Company president Bruce Dean.

The participants were:

• Rob Boyd: Olympian and World Cup downhill winner
• Kristin Gordon: Global BC Meteorologist
• Bob Kronbauer: Publisher of Vancouver is Awesome
• Sean Pettit: Canadian freestyle skier
• Sophie Lui: Global BC Morning News co-anchor
• James Walt: Executive Chef at Araxi

James Walt’s “The Missing German” brew was announced the winner and was awarded a special 25th Anniversary trophy.  Sean Pettit came second with his “The Root Beer”.

Pacific Centre and Richmond Centre opened their doors at 7am on Black Friday to cater for early morning shoppers on the hunt for pre Christmas bargains.Cadillac Fairview (operator of both Pacific Centre and Richmond Centre) introduced a special “Fits you” platform this year, focused not only on offering great deals and promotions from top retailers but also on providing customers with a personalized fashion experience through a number of fun initiatives including:

• One-on-one sessions with professional stylists.
• The CF SHOP! App to help customers get the fashion finds they’re looking for.
• Fashion advice from Canadian fashion journalist Patricia Gajo through the CF SHOP! App and the Pacific Centre and Richmond Centre Facebook pages.
• Contest rewarding one lucky shopper in each property with a $1,000 shopping experience with a professional stylist on Black Friday.
• SHOP! CARD giveaways and in-mall “fashion spotting” on Black Friday.

With consumer and media interest in the growing popularity of Black Friday in Vancouver high both Richmond Centre and Pacific Centre attracted journalists and reporters from a number of media outlets including CBC, CTV, OMNI, The Province, Sing Tao and Ming Pao.

We are delighted to be working with alumni UBC to publicize Fashioning Cancer, a fundraiser in support of the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC. The event, part of Western Living Design Week, will feature the auction of ten exquisite evening gowns that were designed as works of art by Jacqueline Firkins, Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Theatre and Film, to encourage honest and open conversations about cancer.

The gowns were inspired by colourful microscopic images of cancer cells and cellular systems and auction and ticket proceeds from the event will go to the Canadian Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Centre at UBC.

In addition to the auction there will be a live performance by Canada’s queen of punk, singer/songwriter and cancer survivor, Bif Naked.

The Fashioning Cancer fundraiser will take place in the Porsche Centre Vancouver on Tuesday, September 23

For further information and to buy tickets, visit www.alumni.ubc.ca/fashion.

Local company Mahony & Sons opened the doors to their newest location in South False Creek earlier this week and Vancouverites have been flocking to the new restaurant to check out the detailed authentic Irish décor and sample delicious dishes and drinks on the stunning waterfront patio.

Prior to the opening Breakfast Television’s Dawn Chubai came down to Mahony & Sons to broadcast four cooking segments with Executive Chef Paul Nguyen and the Mahony brothers.  Viewers learned how to make Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos (a Mahony & Sons best-seller), Lily Belle’s Shrimp Salad, and Lee’s Lamb Dip, and Bar Manager Barry Quinn gave some useful tips on how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness.

Executive Chef Paul Nguyen prepares a shrimp salad at Mahony & Sons for BTV

The opening of Mahony & Sons Stamps Landing has proved of great interest to the local media and food bloggers with rave reviews appearing on the Georgia Straight website, Vancity Buzz, Modern Mix, and My VanCity (to name just a few), as well as on the websites of national food trade publications such as Canadian Restaurant News and Foodservice and Hospitality.

Follow @MahonyAndSons on Twitter for details on further coverage in the coming days and weeks.

Elettra’s clients Mahony & Sons are featured in Malcolm Parry’s column in today’s Vancouver Sun. The article touches on the family’s extensive history in the hospitality trade and reveals some of the exciting features to be enjoyed at the fantastic new location at Stamp's Landing when it opens next month.

Click here to have a gander.