City Of Ottawa Quizzed Over Atheist Ad Rejection

I have a good friend and colleague in the advertising business named Brad Boechler from Moodswing Media. His blog this month had a great take on exactly what's the bottom line when it comes to controversial adverting. Here is his take on how

"The City of Ottawa has been Quizzied Over Atheist Ad Rejection. Enjoy this -- its a great piece. -- by Brad Boechler

Ottawa is being questioned over why it rejected atheist ads proclaiming "There's probably no God.”

OTTAWA — the chair of Ottawa's transit committee will demand that city staff explain why they refused to allow atheist ads on city buses, even though ads quoting the Bible have been approved by the city and could appear on buses at any time.
The atheist ads, which say, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life," began in Britain and have spread around the world.
In Canada they've been on buses in London, Calgary, and Toronto, but were rejected by city staff in Halifax and Ottawa.
Justin Trottier, president of the Free thought Association of Canada, the ads' sponsor, said his group might ask a lawyer if their right to freedom of speech has been breached.

DID you spot it? Did you see The Worst Word in Advertising?
It is the word “probably.”
The fact that The Free Thought Association uses the word “probably” implies that even they aren’t absolutely convinced in their message. Is there an after life or not? Does GOD exist? Take a stand as a true believing atheist, (oxymoron) the sign should have read: There is No God, Enjoy Life.
If they are right and there is not a higher power, no harm no foul. Who is going to know? It just means that we are all in for “the big dirt sleep” nothing more.
I think that they use “probably” just in case they are wrong and hope that God has a sense of humor. “Oh, Hello Lord, imagine my red face.”
I find the whole issue humorous.

The Free Thought Association has received thousands of dollars worth of free and undeserved local media exposure.

But the word “probably” is not what has generated the attention.
The key to this campaign’s success is that Free Thought needed some uptight bureaucrat to refuse the advertising and that is exactly what they got. If Halifax, Ottawa and other Canadian cities would have accepted this ad placement as a normal course of business as they accept advertising with religious connotations, this campaign would have caused only mild curiosity and would have gone somewhat unnoticed. The Free Thought people were betting on the fact that the public sector is frozen with fear of offending anyone and it worked. I would be surprised if this story is getting as much play in the news in the cities that have accepted the campaign.

If you want to continue to wonder about whether advertising and marketing works use wishy-washy, milk toast, hedge your bet words like “probably”.
Create concepts that define who you are and what you stand for clearly and imaginatively.

What if some of the most familiar and famous marketers used the atheist approach to advertising. Would you be convinced of their quality of product or the passion for their business?

McDonalds: I’m Probably Lovin’ it.
Nike: You Should Probably Just do it.
Home Depot: You Might do it. We can Probably Help.
Staples: That was Probably Easy.
Allstate Insurance: You’re Probably in Good Hands, Maybe.

WOW! Can you feel the connection, the impact?

If you want your advertising and media dollars to go further, simply offend someone.
By the way, The Free Thought people say the ads are part of a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the rights of non-believers. So I intend to do “nothing.”
There Is Probably No Recession. Stop Worrying. Now Spend Your Money.
I am almost positive that I have made my point today, so I will leave you a few random thoughts:
- Would a sign on an atheist restaurant read; No shirt No shoes No God?
- Do atheists tell their kids about Santa Claus?
- I have heard that atheist dyslectics don’t believe in dogs.
Stay in good mood,

You can reach Brad at Moodswing Media at Brad Boechler@rogers.com, he's a great guy and great marketing pro... and he is out of job and needs work, call him, he can help.

Youth Exchanges and Networking are Growing World Wide, Alive, and Well in Canada

This month, I have decided to discuss networking from students prospective and how students can find ways to develop their leadership skills and become better networkers and ultimately better leaders. There is no age discrepancy in regards to how networks can be built and how one can increase one’s social capital by getting to know others throughout the world. Canada has always had a place at the world table primarily due to its views of freedom, fairness, democracy and diplomacy.

In my search for stories for this month’s column, I came across AIESEC. AIESEC, (pronounced as one word; originally an acronym for Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales) is an international, not-for-profit, non-political, organisation run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. It describes itself as “The international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society”. Its international office is currently in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The AIESEC network as of February 2008 includes 30,000 students in 113 countries at over 1100 universities across the globe, and realizes around 5000 exchanges yearly.

AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organization, is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential to have a positive impact on society. In partnership with business and higher education, AIESEC has over 50 years of experience in developing high-potential students into globally-minded responsible leaders. AIESEC’s innovative development process consists of unmatched leadership experiences and global internships.

In Canada, AIESEC Canada Inc, is headquartered in Toronto, is a registered national, not-for-profit organization present in 26 leading Canadian universities and consists of 1800 students and recent graduates in 27 universities.

For the past 50 years, Canadian companies have relied on the Global Internship Program to meet their employment needs by gaining access to a global talent pool of the best and brightest young responsible leaders. The Global Internship Program is a tailored and reliable turnkey recruitment and community integration process for high quality international internships. Companies of all sizes have used the Global Internship Program to build their leadership pipeline, increase their competitiveness, and fuel their innovation.

Over the years 5,000 global internships annually in business, technical, and development sectors, 23,000 high-potential students developing into globally-minded responsible leaders annually with a network of one million alumni worldwide including heads of state and prominent leaders.
Each country (sometimes group of countries, or territories within a country) with an AIESEC presence has its own national Member Committee (MC), which coordinates activities for that area. Members also belong to a Local Committee (LC) for each university or city. As stated on its website, AIESEC strives for “positive social change” by using the “AIESEC Way” The AIESEC Way is described as a way of reaching “Peace and fulfilment of humankind’s potential.” According to AIESEC, there are six main values, namely Activating Leadership, Demonstrating Integrity, Living Diversity, Enjoying Participation, Striving for Excellence and Acting Sustainably.
On an individual level, AIESEC aims for the AIESEC Experience, which aims at “young people to discover and develop their potential”. There are five key principles, namely Taking an Active Role (main goal: proactive behaviour), Developing Self-Awareness and Personal Vision (assuming responsibility), Increasing Capacity (learning theory and applying it in practice), Building a Network (networking) and Challenging Worldview (holistic world view).

So Networking is alive in the world and the Canadian Chapter of AIESEC is well established and highly represented in Canada. AIESEC features many prominent world leaders including past President Bill Clinton, Kofi Amman and many prominent business people in Canada representing such firms as the Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, AGF Mutual Funds and Cossette Advertising.

For more information on AIESEC in Canada, check out http://www.aiesec.ca.


Kensel Tracy, The Marketing Coach is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Chelsea, Quebec and is the President of Business over Breakfast (BoB) Clubs of North America. If you have an interesting topic on networking in Canada, you can contact Kensel at kenselt@sympatico.ca or kenselt@bobclubs.com

Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru” – Gives His Personal Opinion on Networking

As a blog writer, you always have your eyes and ears open for interesting networking stories that you can share. One such story comes from the Ottawa Networking Group on LinkedIn where Mike Hughes “Canada’s Official Networking Guru” hangs his hat. I first saw Mike’s networking handle when going through the members of the network to see if I could find a few friends of mine. I contacted Mike to see if he would be interested in giving me a story on who he was and how he became “Canada’s Networking Guru”. The rest was left up to Mike.

After a few emails back and forth about getting together for the story I got bogged down in making a living and then December rolled around, and Mike and I still had not been in contact. Then out of the blue, an email arrives with an important comment on an area that I should consider in regards to a new business concept I was launching in Ottawa and whose name was signed to that email; Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru”

Mike’s been in the networking game for the past 15 years. He got his impressive title from a newspaper article that ran a story on him and a writer that was so impressed with Mike, his programs and his approach to networking that he called him “Canada’s Networking Guru” and it stuck. He now uses this name to identify everything he does in the area of networking. It only takes a few minutes in conversation with Mike and you know you are talking with a special individual. His rapid delivery of who he is and why he got involved in networking convinces you early in the discussion that he is the real deal. He tells you about his impressive background as Past Chairman of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, his life as a professional speaker at international conferences and his view that “networking is a skill you develop” and “not something you do’ and you are engaged immediately. His social capital is worth receiving and it’s sprinkled with valuable information from the get-go.

“Networking” says Mike “is a business skill that most of us should learn and don’t”. Without catching a breath, he continues “networking should be a corporate required competency that everyone should learn whether they are in management, sales or owning a business” Now Mike’s on a roll. “Networking is about building a relationship on steroids, it’s not about selling yourself or your business but focusing in on building a solid relationship with others and you have about three minutes of conversation to build a meaningful relationship with others so you need to get it right from the start.”

He then goes on to tell me more about his “Networking for Results System” which includes some 40 hours of audio and written work and his ½ day and full day training sessions. Mike says that networking is all about context, communicating effectively and contributing to others. Mike is also a man in demand. He has been training businesses people, associations, government departments, and members of Chambers of Commerce across Canada and has spoken to groups all over North America on his “Networking for Results System’. Mike has me all fired up and I want to learn more. I hope you do too. This column is just the start. To get more information and valuable networking tips from Mike Hughes “Canada’s Networking Guru” check out his website at www.networkingforresults.com.


Kensel Tracy is the Marketing Coach and is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. (www.corporatecoachworkz.com) in Chelsea, Quebec. He is also launching Business over Breakfast Clubs (BoB Clubs) business and breakfast referral networking clubs in all cities across North America.

Donna Messer, Canada's Own Networking Guru- Gives Words of Advice on Marketing

When you reach Donna Messer, Canada’s “Networking Guru”, on the phone, her cheery voice answers as if she has known you for life time. Two minutes into our conversation she drops her first bit of “social capital”. She is sorry she is a bit late as she just got back from lunch with a Senior Vice President from Petro Canada, one of Canada’s largest petro chemical companies. To Donna, “social capital” is the byproduct of networking and the term she uses extensively to cultivate value for her network.

“The key to understanding “social capital” says Donna “is to learn as much as you can about the person you talking to so that you can develop and understand what you can offer and later on potentially receive”, one of her golden rules of networking. “Social capital” she says also means to: “never ask for money, never sell and always find out what others want to buy, then have something that you can offer that fits the bill.”. You can now see why Donna Messer is called Canada’s “Networking Guru”.

Donna was born a networker. Starting out working for the Director of Agriculture for the State of Illinois, one of Donna’s first jobs was to help build business with the State’s biggest trading partner Canada and Canadian companies wanting to do business in the State. She became a major corporate match maker finding out what companies had for sale and providing buying opportunities for everything from the famous “No Name Brand” brand of products, dairy and other agricultural products including working with the one of the first exporters of shitake mushrooms.

From there she formed her own company called “Connect Us” which was a bit of play on words for her business and soon she had a thriving database of high level contacts from which she has built an impressive array of business by linking individuals from her network with other individuals or with outsiders wanting in.

Her business is also an extension of her own personal ethical business philosophy. She gives much more than she gets and has a significant amount of business referred to her directly based on her own “social capital” and the relationships she has formed and gifts of gold that she has given to others. One of her strengths and one of the things she says that that others should consider when building their network “is to develop a database of contacts, to cultivate a contacts “social capital” and to keep intensive records on your computer so that when you recognize an opportunity for someone in your network and then you can pass it along right away.” Donna has over 10,000 people in her own personal database.

Donna has also built a network of clients and fans through getting out there and talking with others through ongoing paid public speaking engagements, training others on networking and using the media, by writing articles on networking and by launching a women’s magazine called “Business Women Canada”. She has also written a
Canadian bestseller called “Effective Networking Strategies” which is available at Amazon.com or can be downloaded for free from her website.


Constantly on the road speaking to groups, organizations and companies, she recently finished a stint coaching public service employees for the Ontario Government on how to network amongst other government departments in order to make contacts to get major projects completed.

Besides using the term “social capital”, Donna also preachers and uses a term which she developed called RISE™ which has become the firm’s personal strategy for successful networking. RISE ™ stands for: Rapport, Information, Solutions, Ethically. It’s a simple process and one worth noting for any personal networker which includes working inside a culture of integrity. Donna’s company now works world wide developing rapport, gathering information, coming up with solutions and doing it in an ethical manner. Her RISE™ system is used extensively for networking throughout international markets in helping to build business for companies throughout Canada, the U.S. and internationally.

While she agrees with the smaller structured networking groups and clubs like BNI and Business over Breakfast (BoB) Clubs for small businesses or individuals just starting out, she believes that everyone needs to be open to understanding what another company or person needs and doing their best to try and help others; which is the true point behind effective networking. Donna’s company has also worked with all kinds of groups including individuals with special needs, seniors, not for profits, for profit, government organizations and major corporations. A lot of people call themselves a “Networking Gurus” however Donna Messer is truly someone that walks the walk and talks the talk

Thanking Donna, I am just about to hang up the phone and she stops me saying “I need to know about you and your “social capital” Kensel and what is it you do and what is it that I can help you with”. I promptly say “well nothing really”. Within minutes, Donna has me talking about marketing and my marketing coaching company, The Corporate Coachworkz Inc. and then gives me two people which I should contact to help me build my business following up with an email after our interview to remind me; the sign of a true networker and a true “Networking Guru”.

To reach Donna Messer to get more information on how Donna can help you personally or your organization, see Donna’s Website at www.connectuscanada.com.

Kensel Tracy the Marketing Coach is a Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. a coaching company that specializes in marketing, coaching and executive coaching and helps small, medium and large sized businesses grow and prosper.

U.K. Networking at its Best, Comes to North America

When you talk the founder of Business Over Breakfast Clubs International, Geoff Cox, over the phone from Birmingham England, you immediately get energized and you know you have met someone that has a passion for networking. Geoff sounds really excited about bringing his Business Over Breakfast Clubs (or as they are commonly called in the U.K, Bob Clubs), to Canada with the first ones expected to open in Ottawa and Toronto in early 2009.

Started by the former IT sales professional while he was still selling to blue chip, hospitality and international companies in 2004, there are now 25 Business over Breakfast clubs all over the U.K. and with dozens more forming throughout other parts of England, India, South Africa, and Australia and now in Canada and the U.S.

BoB Clubs operate like other breakfast networking clubs, such as Business Networking International (BNI) where only one member of a business category is allowed to join, but with BoB Clubs, there is a major difference.
If you join a BoB Club you only need to go to a meeting once every two weeks.

Geoff’s groups originally met every week. However after polling the club’s members it was realised that most preferred meeting every two weeks. Members also quickly noticed that the amount of referrals did not reduce and that the real networking took place more heavily between meetings. BoB Clubs were also attracting members from other clubs that met weekly as these new members felt they could no longer make the time commitment or the pressure some organizations put on members to attend a meeting every single week as most already had plenty of other weekly family or business commitments.

Another difference in meeting every two weeks is the added benefit of reducing the cost of meetings by over 50% through reduced breakfast costs and also a reduction of a member’s carbon footprint as well by over 50% through a saving of fuel and travel costs. Meeting every two weeks also reduces the stress on members to attend a weekly meeting and therefore BoB Clubs have a extremely high retention rate and this also makes it easier to ensure that more visitors can also attend every week.

Geoff says that BoB Club members now see the meetings as more of a classroom to allow members to connect and learn more about each other businesses through one minute infomercials and presentations. Members are then able to take two weeks to develop qualified business referrals or find other ways to promote each others business through activities between each meeting. Members are also encouraged to network outside of the club environment as a way to increase more business options which in turn helps to grow the overall Bob Club network.

There is also no ‘hard sell’ for visitors to join, if they like it they can join with no pressure providing their business category open. Statistics show that over 60% of all visitors join a club. BoB Clubs also provide a cost effective, structured and enjoyable meeting platform which provides measurable results by generating quality referrals, a high percentage of which turn into long term profitable business opportunities for all members. BoB Clubs also do not open a new club until they have officially signed up 15 members. This ensures that each club operates with a solid base of members before it opens its doors allowing for maximum interaction and solid business referrals right away

Unlike BNI which focuses on pushing members to give referrals, BoB clubs do not pressure members to give referrals every week as this tends to generate bits of paper instead of good solid business opportunities. Instead BoB Clubs focus on providing innovative online tools to train members in other aspects of selling and promoting club services and stressing why business building and why quality permission based referrals are important to the growth of the club. The club uses a referral slip that also better pre-qualifies the referral by asking more direct business questions and making sure there are more details for members to consider.

The Clubs also provide members access to powerful online tools, including online referral programs, a high quality membership pack and additional benefits and value added business services at no additional charge. BoB Clubs also utilizes online technology as much as possible to ensure that running and marketing the clubs is as automated as much as possible and therefore removes much of the manual effort required by the leadership team and the members.

Club members also have access to a powerful online Business-2-Business website called www.network2connect.com where they can network with many tens of thousands of other business people locally, regionally, nationally and even internationally. This allows a club member to look for opportunities for each other as it is available to any business, not just BoB club members.

In January 2009 BoB Clubs be launching two new clubs in Mumbai, India and then expanding throughout India, at the same time BoB Clubs will open the first clubs in South Africa and has hopes to have the Canadian clubs open in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario later in the year. At the present time Geoff has interest from other 8 other Canadian Cities and provinces such as, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Vancouver, B.C. Oakville, Toronto, Mississauga, in Ontario and U.S. markets like New York, Lexington and San Francisco. In Canada it’s expected that club memberships will include a participation fee of around $480.00 to join along with a one-time registration fee of $120.00 plus GST with a similar fee range for the U.S. market to be competitive with other clubs.

BoB Clubs are not only a good networking group to help build one’s own business and can also be a great small business networking opportunity as a Bob Club coordinator can build a network of members and a small business opportunity at the same time.

This is done by coordinating a club, setting up the venue and encouraging members to join and earning 50% of all club membership revenues. The role of Regional Membership Coordinator will allow these individuals the opportunity to licence the club management system in a protected territory and own their own clubs. In this case 15% of all membership fees are remitted to BoB Clubs and the owner manager retains the rest of the membership fees and has a option to open up a number of clubs in his or her area. This is all done through an online payment and marketing system. Although BoB Clubs does not sell franchises, as Geoff says this tends to attract to wrong type of people that don’t want help build a networking system, but by selling regional club management software licences it gives those individuals sincerely interested in building a business and a business networking group in a protected area by owning a protected area or city a real opportunity to have a business that helps others and has residual income at the same time.

For more information on BoB Clubs in Canada contact Kensel Tracy at kenselt@sympatico.ca or Geoff Cox at BoB Clubs International at bobclub2003@aol.com.
Kensel Tracy is a business coach and Senior Partner in the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. located in Chelsea, Quebec.

Online Networking, Continues to Grow with the Introduction of TmyBC in Canada

As the world of social networking online continues to expand, a new company from Canada is planning on becoming the next “Face book “for business. TMyBC (Take My Business Card) is a social business networking site that connects businesses and customers globally through its new website www.tmybc.com. Founded in September 2007, by Mr. Kabir Datoo, from London, Ontario, TMyBC is expected to fill a void in the market by developing a new social network for business.

How does it work? By registering as a member of TMyBC, businesses can locate both businesses and customers by using the site, anywhere in the world. In order to improve your company’s marketing and networking the site allows the member to build a unique business profile. Members can promote their business by uploading images and videos of their products and services as well as company brochures helping them to build a unique marketing profile called a BCard. The format is simple enough. Once you and your company are registered, you have the option to design your own profile through a "BCard".

The TMyBC network made up of two networking options. For example, you can network around the site itself looking for potential partners by sending a BCard or just post your business card and attract business to you. By using some of the sites’ additional features, TMyBC enables everyone, everywhere to improve their marketing image and helps them to build their own unique business network.

A business can also send instant messages across the TMyBC network to connect with other businesses instantly providing a very unique marketing format. Anybody can join TMyBC as all that is needed is a valid business or occupation. At the present time, there is no charge and Mr. Datoo mentioned that he hopes to secure advertisers and sponsors to help offset the cost of running the site.

Social networking is on the rise and business sites are no different. At the end of the day, it’s all about making contacts and creating more opportunities for your business and Mr. Datoo’s site is no exception. In the modern era it is possible to get a critical mass of contacts within a very short-time and who knows this site could go on to become a major business networking site. At the present time, check it out and see it has some potential for you. The more contacts and networks you have the better chance you have of growing your business.

To contact TMyBC go to www.tmybc.com
Kensel Tracy is a professional business and personal coach, is Senior Partner in the Corporate Coachworkz Inc., and helps business to grow and prosper. If you have a topic of interest originating in Canada, he can be reached as ktracy@sympatico.ca.

Zone 5 – Ottawa – Networking in High Technology in the Nation’s Capital

Have you ever wanted to meet the key marketing industry players in your business category and were unable to find the right group? Well here is one the key happenings that is taking place in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.

ZONE 5 a high technology networking group and has been actively helping technology marketing people build their networks and relationships for the past 8 years. Originally formed by the Ottawa Carleton Research Institute (OCRI) in 1999 to capitalize on the high technology boom in Ottawa, which was then classified as Silicon Valley North, the event has grown and managed to keep its members and adding new member each and every year.

ZONE 5 was originally setup as a one off networking event, which brought suppliers, consultants, knowledge based companies and government organizations together to meet and exchange information in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. As the group grew the networking part of the meeting was combined with knowledge based seminars and public speakers who now present at each meeting. The event has developed a professional reputation for presenting some of the regions best speakers and highly recognized local experts in the technology field.

Zone 5 brings together a cross section of the Ottawa’s 126,000 members of the technology community. By joining OCRI and paying a membership fee, approximately 1819 members of the community are entitled to come to ZONE 5 events. Guests can come and pay a guest fee while members are entitled to come a monthly ZONE 5 event the second Thursday of the month held over the lunch hour.

The agenda allows 45 minutes to meet, great and eat, in a tightly controlled area, which allows participants to be in close proximity, a drink in one hand and a sandwich in the other with your eyes focused on the name tag of the person in front of you. The rules are simple; get to meet as many people as you can within the 45 minute networking session.

Upon the call to order, participants are then led into a small theatre where information sessions are presented by some of Ottawa’s top success stories, which can include new marketing campaigns, products, and events, which are delivered in a format of sight and sound. Usually professionally produced video, power point and music highlight each presentation. At the end of the presentation, back to that tiny little area once again for 30 minutes more networking, coffee and desert. Everything is wrapped up by 2:00 pm.

ZONE 5 has had a loyal following and its growing. It proves that if you provide enough good information, a highly targeted audience and a way to network and interact, that good networking is still a part of every business category.

Kensel Tracy is Senior Partner with the Corporate Coachworkz Inc. and is the Marketing Business and Personal Coach helping advertising, sales and marketing people grow and prosper and can be reached at kenselt@sympatico.ca . Check out his website at www.corporatecoachwork.com