The following work samples were completed by Leslie as an independent communications consultant. She also can provide numerous samples of communications solutions she conceived and implemented as an employee or within a larger agency.

Threads of Life: Forget Me Not Book
Challenge: Launch a not-for-profit’s book to raise awareness of the ripple effect of workplace tragedy on national Day of Mourning (and the same week as a federal election, royal wedding and a global terrorist’s unanticipated demise).
Solution: Generate pre-launch awareness by providing relevant bloggers with a unique chapter to cover, a gift book and one book to giveaway to readers. Position and pitch localized stories to mainstream media. Promote and reinforce all coverage through new social media channels.  Strategy generated 21 articles, more than 3.9 million impressions, social mention passion of 46% and extensive online buzz – leading to book inquiries and sales.

Carna4 Hand Crafted Pet Food
Award Winner: MarCom Gold 2011 – Small Business Website
Challenge: Launch a first-of-its-kind synthetic-free dog food in a crowded but cynical market.
Solution:  Develop a robust website with links to third-party references to establish transparency and build credibility. Implement a pre-launch online survey to identify audience’s interests and unmet needs. Then connect with opt-in respondents to establish an online audience at launch (through blog, twitter and facebook). Build awareness and brand advocates within target audience through value-laden content that addresses information gaps, acknowledges challenges and builds rapport.

Mississauga Halton Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)
Award Winner: MarCom Gold 2011 – E-Annual Report
Challenge: Boost awareness of the Mississauga Halton CCAC’s value and the expertise of its clinical case managers, while meeting its annual, mandatory governance requirements. 
Solution: Produce a multimedia report to the community that highlights the organization’s achievements, clarifies its role through client-focused stories and raises its case managers’ credibility with personal profiles. Embed a PDF copy of financial statements, message and key highlights.

Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services (ACSESS)
Challenge: Establish public awareness of this recently merged industry organization and boost its profile as Canada’s national advocate for the staffing services industry.
Solution: Established a proactive media foundation that generated approximately 1.5 million impressions and helped grow its membership by almost 10 per cent in one year.

Toronto District School Board (TDSB): Urban Voices
Award Winner:  CPRS (Toronto) ACE Award 2001
Challenge: Launch the first poetry anthology for Canada’s largest school board with favourable support, amidst a cynical media and public backdrop.
Solution: Offer exclusives to the arts reporter at Canada’s largest newspaper and the assignment desk at City TV. Strategy generated a front-page feature, televised newscast and follow-up coverage that drove books sales to double projections, prompt a re-print (selling 10,233 books, including 8,000 outside the TDSB community) and recover all production costs.

Trillium Health Centre
Challenge: Launch external leasing of hospital’s West Wing assets as new revenue channel, while ensuring seamless internal support of initiative.
Solution: Promote initiative with non-clinical micro-website, brochure, media relations, Google and Board of Trade ads. Build internal interest through hospital’s established channels and incentive program. Simplify operations and mitigate risks with templated toolkit for internal staff.

Writing Work Samples (click on images below to open and view PDF versions)