news archive 2009

Death of Giancarlo Ramaioli

Our dear friend and colleague Giancarlo Ramaioli died on Tuesday 26 May 2009, after fighting a long illness.

Giancarlo was a hugely important person in our development being a co-founder of both Graphiconies Design Studio in 1989 and subsequently Public Communications Centre in 1995. His unique personality, skills and self-taught but remarkable design style contributed hugely to our reputation in those pioneering days. Along with Jole Bortoli he wove a winning and exotic Italian strand into our creative and organisational DNA. Ah, those wonderful meals. Those amazing Christmas parties. Those thrilling Ireland-Italy world cup matches.

Gian was one of the first designers in Ireland to foresee and understand the importance of the internet and new media for NGO’s, charities and not-for-profits. In the early days of PCC he developed activelink.ie and Community Exchange, which he later further developed with Hyperlink after leaving us in 2001. Of course his contribution was not just professional. He was a beautiful man in so many ways, kind and caring to all. Those who had the thrill of playing basketball or soccer with him witnessed his amazingly warm and joyful spirit which his natural shyness sometimes kept hidden. All of us will testify to his graceful physical skills, abhorrence of conflict and enormous generosity to those of us who were less adept on court or on the pitch.

Though we didn’t see nearly enough of him lately, Gian was, and continues to be, a significant influence on all of us who worked with him and were lucky enough to have him as a friend. Gian, you will remain an angel at our shoulders.

may 2009

New website for the Equality & Rights Alliance which was designed and produced by our new media partners ThinkTwo. The site uses the inContext content management system, which we will be using to drive our own site in the near future. We are also currently working on two new projects with ThinkTwo that use this system to provide easy to manage, design independent content management services for our clients.

If you would like to know more contact Daragh.

We attended the National Fundraising Conference in Croke Park on Thursday the 26th of March. While we were there we conducted a quick poll to gauge the mood of fundraisers. You can download a PDF of our findings here.

We just finished a series of short motion pieces for the window of Fighting Words. We had lots of fun playing around with these and trying to learn After Effects! Look out soon for more of these by ourselves, Martello Media and friends.

This is a promotional piece we produced on our fundraising work. It's printed on a recycled card and paper. If you would like a copy just send us an email and we will pop one in the post to you.

February saw us working on several projects including a set of full page adverts for IMPACT. These adverts were targeted at the unions members and other key stakeholders and are part of their national lobbying campaign against the recent public pension levy. The adverts were very successful generating national media coverage and hundreds of responses. You can look at the full versions of the ads here and here.

We are also working on a new projects for the National Drug Strategy Team, GLEN, the Higher Education Authority, the Irish Hospice Foundation, Crumlln Children's Hospital, the Teen Parent Support Programme and the City of Dublin Youth Service Board.

In January Susan attended the recent IDMA seminar on how best to survive in the recession - she was there to see how the commercial sector is coping and what ideas they are testing. John, Susan and Charlie will be attending the Fundraising Ireland Conference on March 26th where PCC are sponsoring the morning teas and coffees (which means our clients get extra biscuits).

The CDYSB Good Practice Guide toolkit provides a clear and accessible blueprint for best practice in youth work and is designed to be used in all aspects of youth work delivery ranging from voluntary clubs and groups to regional youth services with employed staff. We designed the pack, materials for the launch and also provided copywriting services for a number of the policy development guides.

We’ve had the pleasure of producing YNOW for our bright and creative friends in the City of Dublin Youth Service Board and frankly it’s a labour of love. This is the fifth issue and it’s really making a huge impact in the youthwork sector. For us, it’s especially fulfilling as we were charged to develop the initial structure, format and tone of the magazine. We also sit on the editorial/commissioning team with Gerry and Mary in CDYSB and we subedit, design and layout the entire publication.

Dial to Stop Drug Dealing
Dial to Stop Drug Dealing is an innovative direct marketing campaign aimed at tackling drug dealing in local communities around Ireland. Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy and Community Affairs at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr John Curran TD launched the campaign on September 29th last.

Dial to Stop Drug Dealing is a freephone number that can be called at any time of the day or night. It provides a safe, confidential and completely anonymous way for individuals to pass on information on drug dealing in their local community. The individual is never asked for their name, their address or any other information which might identify them. The information gathered is passed on directly to An Garda Síochána. Altogether fifteen local campaigns will be run over nine months in three phases, five campaigns per phase. Phase 1 ran from October to November and generated over 800 calls. Phase 2 is scheduled to launch in mid February.

Christian Aid Ireland - Christmas Stocking Appeal
Last summer Christian Aid commissioned the development of a new Christmas schools appeal. We undertook qualitative research with school children and teachers and on foot of the findings developed the Christmas Stocking Appeal. The 2008 appeal is a test project and we targeted 250 primary schools. If successful the appeal will be rolled out and developed in 2009 and 2010. Early results indicate that the appeal is going well and final results will be known in February.

Since September we have developed two successful appeals for The Children's Medical & Research Foundation (CMRF).

The first appeal was a tax effective appeal and CMRF aimed to target their donors who are Republic of Ireland PAYE tax payers, who have given €250 or over in any one year and who pay tax at either or both the standard and higher rate. CMRF have audited their donor base and have identified thousands of donors who are eligible for the appeal. Donors were written to and asked to complete and return a revenue form so that CMRF may claim the tax back on the donation. The appeal is on-course to reach its target.

The second appeal was developed and launched at Christmas and involved two mailings, one to donors and another to possible new donors. Ireland's Littlest Heartbeat Appeal is a committed giving ask and aims to upgrade once off donors to regular giving and also to acquire new regular and once off donors. The appeal is set to exceed its target of raising hundreds of thousands of euros for vital services and equipment.

Fighting Words is a new creative writing centre inspired by 826 Valencia in San Francisco. The centre helps students of all ages to develop their writing skills and to explore their love of writing. PCC helped out with signage, web and various bits and bobs. Working with the very talented team at Martello Media we also developed a nifty projection-based 'shop window'.

If you are an Illustrator and are interested in the project have a look at this?

www.fightingwords.ie

FOMACS - Moving Worlds: Cinemas of Migration
The Forum on Migration and Communications (FOMACS) is a collaborative public media project, producing film, photographic, digital storytelling, radio, animation and print stories on the topic of immigration and integration in Ireland, with the aim of reaching and engaging diverse audiences. We designed material for the Moving Worlds Film Festival in late 2008 and are currently helping to develop a new educational resource pack.

We were very happy to help design and write the first ever Annual Report for Christian Aid Ireland in late 2008. You can download the full report from www.christianaid.ie

PCC designed this Annual Report to help mark the centenary of the Probation Service in Ireland. As part of this project we worked with the Service to create a visual timeline that illustrates the history and development of probation alongside significant events in the history of the state. www.probation.ie

youngballymun PCC has been commissioned to work with youngballymun on the implementation of an extensive programme of communications activities over the next three years. youngballymun is a completely unique, ambitious and locally-rooted initiative to transform the learning and wellbeing of children and young people in the area. It works with local, national and international partners offering six new crucial services to children and young people from pre-birth up to 21 years. PCC will be assisting youngballymun in producing key communications materials and in planning and organising a number of important events. www.youngballymun.org

Dolphin Decides is a truly unique and exciting project. PCC won the tender to assist the community of Dolphin House, the largest inner city flat complex on Dublin's southside, to define and present their informed vision around their own regeneration. PCC partnered up with Community Action Network and the task involves best practice community consultation, communications and the drafting, design and print of key communications tools.

news archive 2008

The Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland (CFAI) together with Public Communications Centre (PCC) won a coveted award for excellence in communications for the CFAI ‘“Sick Waiting” campaign.

The Public Relations Institute of Ireland awards sets the industry benchmark for excellence across all areas of PR.

The CFAI commissioned PCC to generally raise public awareness of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and in particular to launch its 'Sick Waiting' campaign for decent minimum services for people living with CF.

The aim of the 'Sick Waiting' campaign by CFAI was to secure decent minimum services for the 1,100 Irish people who are living with CF – Ireland’s most common life-threatening inherited disease. It highlighted that individuals with CF are sick waiting at home for admission to hospital, for admission to ward, for adequate and safe ward facilities, for the required number of professional staff and, in some regions, for even the most basic facilities.

Following the launch of the “Sick Waiting” campaign in April 2007, PCC and the CFAI worked together to meet media demands for information and interviews. CF patients and families themselves played a central role in the campaign and took up opportunities to speak on radio and TV and to write articles on their experiences.

Pictured above (Left to Right) are Godfrey Fletcher (CEO of CFAI), Susan Smith (Project Manager, Public Communications Centre), Brendan Lonergan (Secretary of CFAI and also PWCF (person with cystic fibrosis) and Martin Cahill (Fundraising Manager of CFAI).

www.cfireland.ie

An end to the personal, social and economic loss of underachievement in education

PCC designed the New National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education, which was published by the HEA in July. www.hea.ie

Recent work for the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme included this newsletter and booklet. www.hospicefriendlyhospitals.net

Materials designed for the Irish Heart Foundation active@work programme. More details here.

New work for Samaritans Ireland included this general information leaflet. We also created a radio ad and supporting press ads for the Samaritans 25:7 national fundraising day www.samaritans.ie

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Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Week took place from Monday 28th January to Saturday 2nd February 2008. Awareness Week is to help promote general awareness of Cystic Fibrosis and the fact that it's Ireland's most common life-threatening inherited disease. Approximately 1 in 19 people are carriers of the CF gene and where two carriers parent a child together, there is a 1 in 4 chance of the baby being born with Cystic Fibrosis.

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Visual identity and promotional poster for www.heritageknowhow.ie a heritage toolkit compiled by An Taisce.

As part of the new Stamp out Stigma campaign we undertook benchmarking research into public attitudes to people with HIV and Aids. For more information see www.stampoutstigma.ie

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We have just produced the second of our fundraising dm appeals for Vita. On this appeal we developed the branding, the pack, the mailing database and a radio ad. The appeal targets both current and potential donors. For more information see www.vita.ie

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This September, October and November the Ombudsman for Children's Office (OCO) is working with more than 1,000 schools and training centres to hear the views of thousands of young people. Using the mechanism of the 'Big Ballot' young people will directly influence the work of the Ombudsman over the next few years.
PCC were delighted to have worked with the OCO on this exciting project. We developed all the print materials, teaching manuals and Irish and English language packs, along with directing, producing and authoring content for the Schools DVD.

As part of the project we also planned and project managed a nationwide tour by Emily Logan to over 30 schools and centres.

You can find out more about the Big Ballot by visiting www.oco.ie

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It's been a busy few months! We produced Annual Reports for The Probation Service, The Irish Human Rights Commission, Léargas, Coolmine Theraputic Centre and GLEN.

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Once again we devised the branding, and produced and placed the advertising, for the Heart Foundation's Heart Week public information and education campaign. For more information on the importance of daily exercise and a healthy heart see irishheart.ie

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We've just edited, designed and produced the second issue of YNOW, the
exciting new large-format magazine of the City of Dublin Youth Service
Board. The publication – its content and design – is getting a hugely
positive reaction from the sector.