Another frigid night.

The traffic team of Sensational Steve and Chick Magnet Curtis were our hosts for another night with Checkstop.  We started with a group of about 10 officers with the Checkstop van on Regent.  It was SO cold.  I was very impressed again with how courteous both the drivers and the officers were.  I also appreciated how many designated drivers were out there.

One older gentleman that we pulled over received a WARN when given the ASD.  This meant he received a 24 hour suspension.  He was very concerned about leaving his car in the cold without being plugged in.  As it turned out, he didn't live too far away so I volunteered to drive him, his passenger, and his car to his home for him.  He gave me a nice interview,I had a lovely drive complete with Christmas carols on the radio and I learned a little more about the two men.  One had recently retired after 37 years at the same company.  Had never missed a day of work....and I believe him.  He was originally from Chile.  The driver had recently arrived from Halifax.  Two hardworking guys out for a few drinks. But they learned a relatively inexpensive lesson and more than anything....everyone was safe.

Towards the end of the night we were called to a collision near the Norwood bridge.  The driver was clearly intoxicated and he was arrested and charged.  The young woman he hit was in pretty good spirits - but it could have been so much worse.  The guy blew 140 and will lose his licence for at least a year.

Then we were called over to a significant crash on Logan.  Here's the official release.  I took a few pictures at the scene.  The guy was a total menace and although he put two other drivers (in separate collisions) in the hospital in addition to himself...no one was killed.  Serious property damage too.

http://winnipegpolicenewsreleases.blogspot.ca/

This vehicle had been through a lot. 

Was very impressed at how quickly they were able to get this house fixed up to survive terrible temperatures.

This was our last night of filming and I just have to take a moment to thank Steve and Curtis again.  We learned so much about road safety, photo radar, cellphone and distracted driving laws, and impaired driving tests and laws. Steve served in Afghanistan with the Canadian Armed Forces and he's just someone I'm proud to know.  Honest, committed and a sneaky sense of humour.  Curtis is an enthusiastic world traveller - leaving for Ghana at the end of January, a great cook and just a charming rogue.  Between the two of them, we have fantastic content for our road safety video.

Add to that the ever entertaining Dave Gaudet and his enthusiasm for the project, dedication to the cause no matter the conditions and genuine talent of an experienced cinematographer and you get a memorable experience.  A shout out to Shea who assisted with many of the shoot days - helping out a ton.

Dave, Curtis, moi, Steve

Now it's up to me, with the help of trusty George, to cut this into something.

But first...finishing off the last.two more Doctors Care episodes.

Sorry - it's been awhile.

Since beginning production on Doctors Care, I haven't really felt like I've had a lot of "down" time.  When I said back in March that it was an ambitious project - I sure wasn't kidding.  I guess, to be honest, I didn't realize just HOW ambitious.  So this blog is quite out of date.

But - I'll update on Doctors Care later.  Today I want to talk about the Winnipeg Police Service.

The WPS issued an RFP in June and we put together an elaborate proposal.  After a very long wait of 3 months, we were rewarded with the good news that we won in mid-September.

I have such a high regard for the WPS, it's difficult to put into words how sad I would have been if we had lost.  But, be that as it may - we were successful and are pursuing pro-active ways of getting Road Safety messages out there and continuing with Just Slow Down.

We are currently working on a Road Safety video that will encompass messages about Speeding, Distracted Driving and Drinking and Driving.

Last night it was minus 30 degrees celsius, and we were out with the dedicated members of the WPS, filming the Checkstop program.

Getting the lowdown on the process.  

That's me on the right.  Good thing Dave had an extra snowsuit.

First impaired.  Blew 1.2.  

On Disraeli around 1 am.  Too slippery though. 

Driving the wrong way down Osborne was a bit of a tip off.  Blew 1.2

About to get the Breathalyzer at the PSB. 

Getting fingerprinted.  

I don't want to sound holier than thou -everyone enjoys having drinks with friends, but, an evening with the WPS is very eye-opening.  Here's what I've learned as of last night.

1.  The bottom line is...the police want you off the road when you have had too much to drink.   The WARN reading on the ASD (alcohol screening device) means you will have your licence suspended for 24 hours and you will need to find another way home.  This is a big part of what Checkstop is all about.

2.  Having said that....the police do not believe that an impaired charge is a minor or insignificant charge.  It is a criminal offence.

3.  Many of the people who received the 24 hour suspension expressed gratitude.  Certainly they were relieved that they did not blow over the .08 legal limit - but they also were very courteous to the officers and praised them for what they were doing.

4.  It takes more alcohol than you might think to be over the legal limit.  We witnessed people we thought were quite impaired who received only the 24 hour suspension. (The ASD device can indicate the WARN or the officer can merely determine if you are impaired through your behaviour and certain observances they are trained to make.)   It is not a good idea to refuse a Breathlyzer - there's a very good chance that you aren't over that legal limit - and a 24 hour suspension is really a very small penalty to pay.

5.  The officers were very courteous to everyone.  I do not believe that this was only because our camera was there.  They were courteous, respectful...but firm.

6.  It was SOOOOO cold!  That is not an easy job.

7.  For a time we were on Disraeli Freeway.  The roads were so icy the officers felt they themselves might cause some difficulties in that spot - and they were very concerned about safety for the drivers and for their own personnel (and for us!)  So we did not stay there.

8.  We knew that word was out that we were outside a particular Beverage Room - and yet the drivers kept coming and we kept pulling them over.  It was a bit weird.

9.  There is a lot of paperwork involved.  It ties up the officers for quite some time when they find a driver that shouldn't be out there.

10.  One of the drivers who was pulled over had a suspended licence from 3 years ago.  His vehicle also was not licensed. It is likely that he has been driving illegally all that time.  He also blew a WARN into the ASD.  A really good thing to get him off the road.

11.  Not really much point in lying when the officer asks you how much you've had to drink.  (everybody does.)  The officers really do know .  It's quite funny watching each respondent make up their number.

12.  One of the officers was relatively new (1 year) on the force.  She is in general patrol but likes working with Traffic.  She feels it is a very important job.  I couldn't agree more.

13.  The 23 year old who blew 1.2 and so will receive a number of charges - ie Driving while impaired plus Driving over the legal limit - was primarily worried about his mother's reaction.  Some things are just so consistent - we hate to disappoint our moms.  (This was the guy who was observed doing an illegal u-turn and then heading up Osborne the wrong way.)

14.  Cameras don't really like it when it gets that cold.  And batteries like it even less. Big challenge keeping everything running.   Kudos to Dave Gaudet for capturing all the great footage out there.

15.  It was a very interesting evening and I believe people will be impressed by what they see in the video.

If possible, I have even more respect for the WPS now, than I did before.

Doctors Care in pre-production.

Picante Advertising is heading into a very busy spring.

We'll launch a new awareness campaign on bustails for the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists in Winnipeg and Brandon.  The E.D. Adam Chrobak is just a pleasure to work with.

We're busy working on an update for the website for the Manitoba Institute of Patient Safety.  They have so much valuable information on their website it's going to be quite a task.  Their new fresh look should be in place by June.

Right now we're in pre-production for new television commercials for the Massage Therapy Association of Manitoba.  We'll be shooting them during the last week of March.

Very excited to be working Susan Freig and a large multi-national consortium on the City of Winnipeg new Pedestrian and Cycling Strategy.  Presented new creative to Susan yesterday and she seemed to enjoy the fun, positive approach - just what I was hoping for!

Grant Park's new spring campaign will be out next week.  I have to tip my hat to photographer Sami Katz, designer Char Lannoo, printer Mark Davis and of course, Jennifer Larrazabel and Sandi Haganaars at Grant Park for making this such a fun project.

And of course, we've now received the final green light for Doctors Care from Doctors Manitoba.  This ambitious project will keep us very busy over the next several months.  Will try to post production photos and updates as we go along.

Introducing Doctors Care

Back in June, 2012, Picante Advertising was invited to meet with the CEO and COO of Doctors Manitoba. We had preliminary discussions and Picante put together a draft of a communications document, complete with proposed strategic objectives and an analysis of what other similar organizations across the country were doing.

By November, Picante had a plan to present with an unusual and innovative idea.

We received early approval in concept  but still had to receive broad general approval of the Doctors Manitoba board.

This was accomplished on January 16th and Doctors Care is now in pre-production.

Doctors Care is a 13 week television series that will focus on the daily lives of some of Manitoba's hardest working and most accomplished doctors.  It will focus on health and wellbeing information for Manitoba patients and highlight research and other activity that is putting Manitoba's medical community on the global stage.

This is an ambitious project and we're confident that Doctors Care will deliver a powerful message to the citizens of Manitoba about their own, building pride, trust and confidence.

The series will launch in September, 2013 and will be available on Shaw.

Happy New Year!

Definitely time for a quick update on the fall/winter season thus far at Picante.


City of Winnipeg - Know Your Zone

General Grader

Following a very busy October with the Massage Therapy Association of Manitoba, we got busy with the relaunch of Know Your Zone 2012.  As it happened - nothing went quite as planned.

Last year, the City of Winnipeg launched a brand new snow removal system, and Picante Advertising was selected from several different agencies to create a public information campaign.

We developed two animated characters, General Grader and Lieutenant Loader and created the award-winning Know Your Zone campaign.  Then, in a very unusual circumstance for our fair city, there was little snow in the winter of 2011-12 and a residential snow clearing operation was never called!

This year it was decided to re-launch the campaign on a more modest basis.  The campaign elements were all there - we just needed to place the media.   Target launch date:  November 15th.

On Saturday, November 10th....it began snowing.  And snowing.  And snowing.  I received the call on Saturday afternoon from client Ken Allen from the City of Winnipeg Public Works - a residential plow would begin on Monday, November 12th - 4 days before the planned launch of the campaign!

To add to the challenge, November 11th (Remembrance Day) triggered a holiday day for many Winnipeg citizens.

Kudos to those within the city who worked tirelessly over the weekend to plan the snow clearing operation, inform 311, develop and send out the news release, the IT people who updated the website etc. etc.

And a big thanks to members of Winnipeg's media who attended our hastily prepared News Conference on a frigid Monday morning.  While I'm at it, I'll mention those 311 operators who received an inundation of calls.

All in all, there were very few complaints about this massive and complicated first implementation of the new system.

And I have to say, there was excellent exposure from the media campaign which kicked off one week late....(keep in mind that the buy was arranged in August.)

I love an all's well that ends well story.  Thanks to Ken Allen for his devotion to this city and his enthusiasm and support of our campaign.

Grant Park Shopping Centre

November and December meant getting Grant Park Shopping Centre ready for the holidays.  We developed a stunning outdoor campaign that mirrored the new creative Everyday Essentials.  And we created a sensational Holiday Gift Guide.  The merchants were really involved, helping us select unique gift ideas.  Thanks to Samanta Katz Photography and a special shout out to Sami who modeled the Spirit Hood for the brochure- she looked mahvelous.  Quick turnaround by Corporate Source Printing and thanks to The Sign Source who help with all the special decals and posters we create each season for Grant Park.

Sandi Haganaars has done a wonderful job of managing all the significant changes at Grant Park and Jen Larrazabel does a fantastic job with the social media there.

Thanks to designer Charlene Lannoo for another terrific job and Tyler Bachewich for the radio spots.

Bothwell Cheese

New Labels for some exciting new cheese flavours for Bothwell.

The Winnipeg Police Service

Continued to fine tune the Winnipeg Police commercial and presented a final version just before Christmas to Staff Sergeant Rob Riffel.  Can't wait for it to go to air in the new year.



Working on some very exciting things in the new year that I can't wait to blog about.  Updates shortly.

I hope 2013 brings peace and joy, health and happiness to you and yours.  The year promises to be full of new and dynamic challenges for us and we can't wait to get started.