Amy Lewis

Guest Blogger: Amy Lewis is currently completing her Bachelor of Management, with a major in Marketing and minor in Corporate Social Responsibility from University of Lethbridge. Amy has a diverse range communication experience, including marketing, media relations and, event planning. Amy enjoys exploring the variety of options that Marketing and Public Relations presents. 

You don’t have to look far these days to find a story on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This ecological disaster is on the forefront of everyone’s minds and makes for an easy target for criticism. As someone with a background in pr and who is in the infancy stages of learning about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the role it plays within an organization I can’t help but follow the developments in the Gulf and how BP responds. Read more »

Guest Blogger: Amy Lewis is currently completing her Bachelor of Management, with a major in Marketing and minor in Corporate Social Responsibility from University of Lethbridge. Amy has a diverse range communication experience, including marketing, media relations and, event planning. Amy enjoys exploring the variety of options that Marketing and Public Relationspresents.  

Recently I was approached on the street by a well-known charity and was asked to give. The street educators filled in the gaps of my understanding, clarified a few details and answered my questions. They improved my understanding of what the charity did and whom they served.  After their spiel they asked me if I was interested in becoming a regular donor - I wasn’t comfortable leaving financial information with somebody on the street, regardless if they wok for awell-known cause or not, and agreed that a representative could call me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why people do-good? Is there one under lining characteristic or motivational factor that do-gooders share that motivates them to do all the good they do? Read more »

Guest Blogger: Amy Lewis is currently completing her Bachelor of Communications-Public Relations Degree at Mount Royal University with an anticipated graduation Summer 2010.  Amy has diverse range communication experience.  Including marketing, media relations and, event planning. For her first internship Amy held the position of marketing coordinator for WorldSkills Calgary 2009.  Amy enjoys exploring the variety of options that Marketing and Public Relations presents. 

Things as of late are looking pretty good, the housing market is in recovery, the economy is beginning to rebound but it wasn't that long ago that we were all crying the sky is falling. Everything appeared to be doom and gloom. Read more »

You’ve probably heard your parents say, “if you save up enough money to buy your first car, I’ll match you.” So, what would happen if the same was said for giving? What if what you donated was matched by a charity? TOMS – a company that makes shoes does just that. For every pair of TOMS bought, one pair will be donated to a child in need. You may be asking yourself: now what kind of business model is this? Right…that’s exactly what I thought. Can this really be a business that’s focus isn’t on the bottom line, but instead on helping those less fortunate?  Read more »

What would happen if we looked at philanthropy through the lenses of the “Own the Podium” campaign?” This campaign has been the center of much controversy; but as the Olympics culminate tonight, with a gold in Men’s Hockey, I think it’s safe to say much of this campaigns controversy has dissipated. Overall I think all of us are proud of everything our Olympians accomplished, but did the campaign put too much pressure on Canadian athletes? Can we really call this Olympics a failure? How can we as Canadians say we didn’t reach “our” goal? First of all who’s goal is the Canadian Olympic Committee talking about? These Olympians reached a goal that many of us only dream about – they made it to the Olympics. However you look at it, Canada did not only make it to the Olympics, but – today – holds a world record with a count of 14 Gold medals and is third over all. If we approached philanthropy with this all or nothing mentality, wouldn’t we all want to just give up at first sight of trouble? Wave the white flag in defeat like the COC did at the half way point during the Olympics.

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I’ve just finished reading an article in the Calgary Herald and it has spurred much self-contemplation.  The article, highlighting Calgary's second “My World” conference, which was organized by Bruce Johnston, principal at Simon Fraser School. More than 550 students – grades five to nine - from 38 schools across the city attended. Students spent the day learning about 24 different non-governmental organizations and social agencies working to improve access to water, education and economic opportunities in developing countries. While reading this, all I could seem to think of was ‘WOW,what a fabulous idea’ – but why didn’t I have this opportunity as a kid in junior high?  Read more »

Guest Blogger: Amy Lewis is currently completing herBachelor of Communications-Public Relations Degree at Mount Royal Universitywith an anticipated graduation Summer 2010. Amy has diverse range communication experience.  Including marketing, media relations and,event planning. For her first internship Amy held the position of marketingcoordinator for WorldSkills Calgary 2009. Amy enjoys exploring the variety of options that Public Relationspresents.

The more I learn about the philanthropicsector, the more I am beginning to see the similarities between dating andgiving. I bet you’re scratching you’re head thinking this girl has got somecase of the crazies, but before you come to that conclusion hear me out. Read more »

What does being the official sponsor of the 2010 Olympic Games mean? Well for one thing it means that rival competition everywhere is going to try and capitalize on the event without paying any sponsorship bucks. Canadian retailer Lululemon is showing that they are not too Zen or too nice to play dirty. Organizers of the 2010 Olympics publicly scolded Lululemon Athletica, after Lulu released their new special edition clothing line called "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011 Edition". This new special edition clothing line ruffled many feathers because Lululemon is not an official sponsor of the games. In 2005 Lululemon and long time Canadian athlete supporter Roots lost the bid to be the official outfitter of Canada's Olympic team, to Hudson's BayCo. for the 2006 Games in Italy; subsequently resulting with The Bay having contract rights to outfit the Canadian team from the 2006 Olympics until 2012. Read more »

These days social media is being utilized for a variety of innovative campaigns; whether as a way to attract potential customers, garnering attention or brandrecognition. Einstein Bros. Bagels’ used a Facebook campaign as a way to gain fans(friends) of their product. Be my friend, get a free bagel! Was the motto behindtheir fan page. The bagel give away increased Einstein Bros Facebook fan count from a 4,700 to a336,000-plus. Their Facebook wall was plastered with praise from bagels eaters.  Read more »