Lakehead University Appoints New AOR

(December 6, 2007 - Thunder Bay, ON) Lakehead University is pleased to announce it has hired the services of Toronto-based agencies Fantail Communications and BIG to handle its next generation of marketing communications requirements for an initial term of three years. Fantail/Big joined forces to respond to the RFP and won the account based on a collaborative strategy of providing targeted expertise in public and media relations, publications, awareness building, and branding.

"As the new AOR, Fantail and BIG will work closely with Lakehead University to help achieve its short- and long-term marketing goals, including strengthening marketing integration efforts among marketing-driven departments such as Communications, Admissions and Recruitment, Advancement, and Continuing Education and Distributed Learning," explains Lakehead University Director of Communications Eleanor Abaya. "Of the 15 agencies competing for the Lakehead University account, Fantail/BIG best demonstrated knowledge of the university sector and the particular challenges and opportunities facing Lakehead University. They were the clear winner."

Jim Warrington, President of Fantail Communications says, "Fantail and BIG separately have had opportunity to work with Lakehead in the past, and we were particularly attracted to Lakehead because it has stood out from other institutions of higher learning in its willingness to innovate and experiment. In 2003 when the university first started its awareness-building campaigns, Lakehead was the first to use cinema and bus shelter advertising in the GTA. And, of course, the university hit a publicity streak with their edgy YaleShmale postering campaign, which was also a great case study in effective viral marketing. This willingness to push boundaries in a normally staid sector is what makes Lakehead attractive to us."

Lakehead University President Dr. Fred Gilbert adds, "Lakehead University is special in the way we are prepared to experiment by travelling the less well-worn path. Our students tend to be individualists who create their own opportunities. It requires a special type of marketing services agency to help us convey Lakehead's particular strengths within the cacophony of university sector advertising. The combination of Fantail and BIG should help us maintain our hard-won advantage in the competitive university marketplace."

Fantail Communications has worked on major groundbreaking PR campaigns, including the HSBC Bank Canada Fans Face Off hockey sponsorship activation program, Xstrata Nickel, Rogers, and Shoppers Drug Mart LifeFest, while BIG does work for the Ramada chain, Bruce Telecom, and the Royal Winter Fair.

Fantail/BIG began working with Lakehead in an official capacity as of December 1, 2007.