Company: Canada Post Corporation
Company Division/Group: Communications, Central
Company Description: Canada Post delivers 37 million pieces of mail each day to more than 31 million Canadians located at almost 14 million addresses and over 1 million Canadian businesses from coast to coast. Its more than 55,000 people and 7,000 postal outlets - the largest retail network in Canada - are a trusted presence in communities across the country, as they have been for more than 150 years.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Corporate Communicator

Nomination Title: Sandra Chiovitti, Deliverer of Magic

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Just shy of her one-year anniversary at Canada Post, Sandra Chiovitti led the
Special Saturday Delivery of Harry Potter #5 campaign to a resounding success.
The Saturday, June 21, 2003 launch of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
presented a business opportunity for the corporation, and media relations and
special event challenges for a Communications professional.

The ‘Pottermania’ Communications objective was both internal and external – to
instill excitement in employees and external audiences, including the media, that
Canada Post successfully delivered 90,000 books between launch day and the
following Monday, June 23, 2003.

To promote the largest special Saturday delivery in Canada Post’s history, Sandra
developed and implemented a full-blown Communications strategy. Typically,
major launches of national scope are handled from head office in Ottawa, Ontario.
Working from Toronto, Sandra was the Communications lead keeping colleagues
across the country abreast of key messages, overall project status and media
interviews.

While ‘Pottermania’ is a phenomenon on its own, one challenge was to get
reporters to interview spokespeople from the corporation, and to mention Canada
Post as the delivery agent. This was not the only challenge, however, as Canada
Post ‘delivered the magic’ for both Amazon.ca and Chapters.Indigo.ca, rivals in
book retailing. Sandra was faced with ensuring that both commercial customers
equally benefited from prepared media materials and media coverage. Further, she
had to create equal opportunities for a balanced presence at a special event held
at Toronto’s Casa Loma (a castle built in 1910).

The magical castle selected as the launch venue, Sandra’s next challenge was
creating hype around the Canada Post-hosted event taking place the same day as
major retail bookstore launch parties. Strategic thinking ensured strong media
attendance at the Casa Loma event. With literacy being the corporate cause of
choice, children were invited from Toronto Public Library’s Leading to Reading
Program; the room was decorated in a Harry Potter theme; a magician was hired
to entertain all guests; and both Amazon.ca and Chapters.Indigo.ca made sure
each child left with their own brand new copy of the book and other Harry Potter
gifts. With a room full of excited Harry Potter readers, the media couldn’t resist the
endless photo opportunities.

A first ever media hook for Canada Post was to invite top tier reporters to “ride
along” with selected delivery employees. The objective – have media capture
children’s reactions when they received their pre-ordered copy of the book
delivered by a uniformed Canada Post employee. Working with the Canada Post
Group of Companies, and other internal groups including Operations, Network and
Legal, Sandra and the team generated additional positive print and broadcast
coverage following the special launch event.

Canada Post enjoyed unprecedented positive media coverage across the country
including 98 print and online articles, 32 television and 24 radio hits. Highlights
include a New York Times mention, front-page story and photo in The Toronto
Star, repeated mentions in both of Canada’s national newspapers and feature
interviews on national TV networks, Canadian Television (CTV) and Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.newswire.ca/releases/June2003/17/c3834.html

http://www.newswire.ca/releases/June2003/23/c6010.html

Additional supporting materials for this nomination were submitted offline.

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

Sandra joined Corporate Communications at Canada Post following three years at
a Toronto Public Relations agency. While there, she held progressive positions
working with clients in the consumer product sector. Sandra holds an honours
Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications and a Public Relations Certificate.

Sheer determination to get the job done well and strong organizational skills are
key ingredients to Sandra’s success in her role at Canada Post as a regional
coordinator for the Canada Post Literacy Awards and Santa Letter-Writing
Program.

Sandra is a pro when planning special events and major launches.