United Way of London & Middlesex’s 2009/10 campaign concluded this afternoon with a successful announcement that the donation goal was exceeded. An accomplishment of generosity from our community.

This gives me a bit of pause to reflect on my involvement developing the campaign branding and marketing during my time working as United Way’s communications coordinator. The work I was proud to develop for this past campaign will always be a career highlight.

Actually, proud isn’t the right word at all. The personal significance of my involvement with the campaign branding wasn’t the work itself; but rather the experience of discovering the marketing stories and the people behind them. I was inspired by the three story subjects, and deeply touched as I worked with them to nurture their stories into powerful messages to share with the public.

In the posters above are Colton, Bernardine and John. You can learn more about them through the campaign brochure (462kb .pdf download) or meet them through the campaign video.

Each of them are individuals from the community whose lives have literally been transformed from periods of challenge to great success. But none had previous experience being in the public spotlight… so in working with them I was actually able to be a part of another transformation.

I worked over several months to learn and write the stories of how each of these three amazing individuals’ lives changed for the better. Each of them was also developed into confident public personalities: I arranged their first-ever studio photo and video shoot and coached them in public speaking. Soon, they were ready to stand in front of their community as the public faces of United Way.

Not only was I very touched to see their stories develop into messaging that inspired the public… but we were all moved to witness how much Colton, Bernardine and John also gained from the experience. John sent me several emails over the course of the campaign telling me of the thrilling experiences he had speaking to the public on behalf of United Way. The audience was gaining inspiration by hearing his personal story… and yet John kept on saying: “thank you for this opportunity… this has changed my life… this is really my passion.” John is going on to a clear path of public speaking: his employer TD Canada Trust has invited him to speak to national audiences and profiled to his journey as the public face of United Way.

The three story subjects gave a lot to United Way to create a powerful and inspiring branding campaign… but the transformation they all experienced as we worked together on building the campaign has touched my life forever. It’s really the finest type of branding: truly inspiring stories of people’s lives who have changed. And the fact that their lives changed again through their involvement in the marketing project is the finest legacy I could ever wish for any communications work.

This project was hugely supported by the creative agency I worked with, Vivid Communications who developed the visual identity and campaign video, Jackie Nobel who took the beautiful portraits, and my former colleagues Nathalie and Johanna who continued telling these amazing stories to the public after I moved on to my current employment.

Last year, I was surprisingly honoured by the London chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) with the Best of the Best distinction in the communication skills category of their Virtuoso Awards.

As a result, they approached me this year to put together some “tips for a successful award entry.” I was a little uncomfortable being called upon to offer advice, so I responded with some humour. At least I’m not afraid to make a fool of myself. Watch the video below:

People around me are starting to talk about Olympic withdrawal, and I’ve even heard some talk along the lines of “Where do we go from here, Canada?”

As in: it was a display of Canadian pride… past tense, now over, what next?
Talk and thoughts like this alarm me. All that we achieved in building something so special for our country cannot stop here… and, frankly, I don’t think it will stop here.

Because this is our moment to be proud of ourselves!

*****A golden conclusion to a golden Olympics for Canada

Yes, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games have now come and gone - and concluded in a way that was truly breathtakingly triumphant, euphoric… GOLDEN. It was entirely appropriate that the final gold medal and closing ceremonies would be filled with such suspense and excitement, for the games themselves were filled with all the most extreme human dramas, from grief to jubilation:

as The Globe and Mail’s Christie Blatchford perfectly explained, “These Games were everything a human can feel.”

Or as IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge said at the closing ceremony, “Together, we have experienced many strong emotions. We have shared the grief of an Olympic dream cut short… we have shared the joys of dreams fulfilled. We have been moved by tears of elation and tears of disappointment.”

The final day of the Olympics was personally quite an exciting afternoon: after competing in an indoor rowing championship, my teammates and I rushed home down the highway back to London… eagerly listening to the live coverage of the final men’s hockey game on the radio. I returned in the nick of time to join my friends at a downtown bar, just before the start of the overtime period where Canada scored an epic overtime goal. Immediately, the bar began a spontaneous chorus of O Canada. A golden moment indeed; just look at the excitement in this clip I shot with my phone:

The crowd started spilling out onto the streets with thousands of other revelers; and in so doing we became a part of millions of revelers across Canada and many more people around the world… all of us connected with this moment.

*****The sum of a million golden moments

… but not just this gold medal hockey moment. The magnitude of what we’re all feeling in our hearts (the joy, the relief, the countless other emotions we can’t really put our finger on), can’t possibly all be tied up in that gold medal hockey shot or the public euphoria. No, what we’re feeling now is the culmination of many very special moments over these last 17 days:

• Like the pitstop that my rowing team took on our drive back to London, at the highway rest stop in Woodstock. With Tim Horton’s sign in the background, a hundred highway drivers were glued to the televisions silently watching the hockey game.

• And at the same pitstop a beautiful display of how our country is a special blend of vibrant multiculturalism and national pride: the father and two young daughters in line in front of me… he clearly a recent immigrant from India with Hindu attire, ordering a double double with a thick Indian accent while his tiny daughter (with an event thicker accent) suddenly asked, “daddy, are we winning the hockey game?” [we... OUR country; where else can newcomers feel this sense of belonging?]

These are just two richly patriotic moments that I observed in the span of a minute on the final day of the Olympics. Every one of us felt, saw and heard many more profound moments that touched us over these 17 days.

So many intense memories… though probably the greatest moment of all was not so much a moment; but, rather, a groundswell. I’m talking about the most beautiful turnaround story a country has ever pulled in front of an international audience.

*****Canada stands up to show just what we’re made of

You know what I’m talking about: our Olympics were basically sputtering. The organizers and volunteers did everything and more to “save” the games (the continuous online dialogue I shared with my friends working at the Olympics made me so proud of their Adam vs. Goliath spirit! Way to go guys!!); but that was only half of the story.

Without even realizing there was this desire within ourselves, we discovered that we needed these games to be a truly great Canadian moment. So we did something about it… all of us did.

VANOC CEO John Furlong nailed it (as he always did… he’s probably the most eloquent spokesperson I’ve ever heard!) when he described what exactly took a good Olympics and made it unforgettably great: it was every Canadian making it a personal mission to show the world that we are incredible. Screaming our anthem at the top of our lungs, turning curling into a loud spectator sport. Showing we’re confident, cool, proud and happy. We’ve always been proud to be Canadian, but perhaps we took it for granted; now we needed the floodgates to open for the world to see… and out poured more pride than we probably even knew was built up inside us!

“A beautiful kind of patriotism has broken out across the country,” Furlong said. [from The Globe and Mail]

Or: “The swagger was already there… we were just looking for the opportunity to show it!” [from Stephen Brunt's beautiful video montage of the Olympic's dramatic turnaround CTVOlympics.ca]

*****My generation’s time to be proud Canadians

With the games’ conclusion, I said I was alarmed by people asking, “Where do we go from here, Canada?” I’ve also been perplexed by so much media coverage saying that Canada is prouder than ever before, coming out of its shell, showing a new confidence.

I think we clearly know where we’re going from here… and it’s where we’ve been before! Canada has been proud before in its short history: I’ve heard about the national spirit behind the centennial in 1967 and Expo 67, the Montreal Olympics in 1976 (financial mess aside), Expo 86 and of course the beloved Calgary Olympics in 1988. Canada has, indeed, displayed this modern and young excitement several times before.

The thing is, my generation and I don’t really remember much about any of these previous international-scale national celebrations. And that’s why the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are so important to us. My generation of Canadians is showing that we’re talented, engaged, eager, friendly, energetic, creative and open-minded.

And now we’ve finally had our major international chance to shine. In so doing, not only did we pull off a stunning achievement of a truly magnificent Olympic games… we grew a sensational level of national pride.

We’ve seen what we’re capable of. And we’re truly made of gold!