Left to right: Jess Hunichen, partner of Shine PR, Caroline Huang, director of Orbis Canada, Danielle Leduc, donor relations at Orbis Canada, Emily Ward, partner of Shine PR.
Toronto’s Shine PR, which opened for business in January, has landed its first official win: Orbis Canada.
Orbis Canada is part of a global non-profit organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide. Shine was selected to handle public relations and social media for Orbis Canada’s Plane Pull for Sight campaign.
On May 23 in Toronto and June 28 in Vancouver, teams of 20 will pull a 60-tonne FedEx cargo plane 12 feet. Now in its sixth year, the Orbis Plane Pull for Sight campaign aims to raise over $100,000 for the cause.
“A lot of times clients are looking for that big idea. Orbis has that big idea… they just haven’t had the manpower behind them to really blow this out and get the word out,” said Emily Ward, partner at Shine PR.
Shine is also tasked with creating strategic partnerships and encouraging participation from corporations across Canada. One of the main tactics will be to use social media to play on people’s competitive spirit.
“We want to have companies challenge each other to see how fast they can pull the plane,” said Ward. For example, fitness gyms or ad agencies can compete against each other, or traditional media versus bloggers.
“This year we wanted to take the Plane Pull to the next level of success,” said Caroline Huang, director of Orbis Canada, in a release. “Shine’s media relations and event expertise made them an ideal partner. They quickly understood our goals and became an extension of our team. We can’t wait to get started.”
According to Orbis, the organization prevents and treats blindness through hands-on training, public health education, improved access to eye care, and partnerships with local health care organizations in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness.
