Marketing City
Resume:
JAMES CANNING
**** ******** **. • Detroit • Michigan • 48228 • 313-***-****
*****@*********************.*** • www.canningcommunications.com
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Award winning public relations professional with nearly a decade of experience leading the
communications and marketing efforts in the following industries: government, real estate
and finance, non-profits, hospitality, retail, technology, entertainment, unions, and
manufacturing. Has a proven track record of securing prime earned media placements;
managing communications during difficult crisis situations; designing eye-catching visual
marketing campaigns; implementing far reaching social media plans; crafting effective
community and business outreach strategies; and writing clear communications that are
appealing to target markets.
CAREER EXPERIENCE
Founder, CANNING Communications 9/08-Present
A Detroit-based marketing, communications, and public affairs consultancy with five clients
under contract; in 2009 firm earnings for 3rd and 4th quarters tripled 1st and 2nd quarter
earnings. Examples of retainer and project clients include:
• Movement Electronic Music Festival 2009 & 2010: Responsible for leading all
media activities for both festivals including forming partnerships with news outlets
locally, nationally, and internationally; developing the overall communications
strategy for both festivals; managing communications budgets; securing several
million media impressions for both festivals and its producer. Developed new
process for managing onsite media requests; created a new and improved
credentialing process for the three day festival; implemented a special media
center; and was responsible for managing a team of public relations interns and
contractors.
• Detroit Restaurant Week 2009 & 2010: Designed and executed four month
media campaigns in the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010 to increase public
awareness about the 10-evening dinner special at 17 restaurants in Detroit.
Secured and managed partnerships with as many as 20 media and community
organizations for each campaign, developed press and community events that
garnered several million media impressions which significantly increased traffic to
the participating restaurants. Additionally was responsible for managing PR
budget, advising on design aspects of campaign collateral materials, and writing
content for the web site, e-newsletters, advertisements, and collateral materials.
• Fountain Bistro At Campus Martius Park and Bookies Bar & Grille: Serve as
agency of record for both establishments and provide media relations and event
planning counsel year-round.
• Detroiters for Council by District: Led communications strategy that successfully
persuaded 72% of Detroit voters to approve a proposal on the November 2009
ballot to elect city council members by districts; the first citizen-sponsored
amendment to the city of Detroit charter.
• Michigan State Representative Rashida Tlaib: Created winning media strategy
to help her share her story through news outlets as she faced a possible recall.
The Wayne County Election Commission unanimously voted against validating any
of three recall petitions that were filed.
• MGM Grand Detroit Hotel & Casino: Contracted by agency of record
Commerce Communications Group to develop media strategies, pitch story
angles, and land media coverage for the casino’s signature restaurants.
JAMES CANNING
6466 Archdale St. • Detroit • Michigan • 48228 • 313-***-****
*****@*********************.*** • www.canningcommunications.com
Contributing Writer, The Detroit News 4/09-Present
The Detroit News is a daily newspaper based in the city of Detroit that is owned by
MediaNews Group.
• With four years of experience in Detroit government, the Assistant City Editor for
The Detroit News provided an opportunity for me to contribute blog-articles to the
newspaper’s City Hall Insider blog because of my knowledge about the inner-
workings of government. Contributions have included posts about the mayor’s
agenda for his administration, the Detroit Police Department’s proactive efforts,
and live election coverage.
• Contribute commentary to both online and print news articles about the Detroit
Mayor’s Office and city operations.
Media Specialist Contractor, Global Hue 12/09-5/10
Global Hue, based in Southfield Michigan, is the largest minority-owned, full-service
marketing and communications agency in the nation with a specific focus on multi-cultural
markets.
• Lead pitch efforts for the 2010 United States Census to obtain national media
placements with African American news outlets. Stories pitched included the
national and regional road tour’s visit to Atlanta to educate Americans about the
importance of the U.S Census and the work of Census celebrity profile partners.
Was able to provide information for inclusion in articles to The Root and secure
interview opportunities for census officials with TheGrio, which is an affiliate of
MSNBC
Marketing Communications Contractor, VisionIT 5/09-3/10
VisionIT, headquartered in Detroit, has offices in 14 U.S. cities and operations in Mexico,
the Middle East and India. It is a $106M vendor management, IT staffing, and managed
services firm. Named the fastest-growing inner city company in America by the Initiative
for Competitive Inner City in 2009
• Develop internal and external strategies to improve executive leadership’s ability to
communicate with targeted media and community stakeholders.
• Manage creative processes for visual marketing materials such as sales sheets,
web site, corporate videos, newsletters, and special publications.
• Corporate event planning and management for internal and external audiences.
• Compose speeches, speaking points, scripts, marketing materials, and documents
for information kits.
Deputy Press Secretary, Detroit Mayor’s Office 3/06-9/08
Communications Coordinator, Detroit Mayor’s Office 12/04-2/06
Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, and the 11th largest city in America. More than
900,000 people reside in Detroit and it has a strong mayor form of government.
• Directed public information officers from major city departments including
Transportation, Recreation, Homeland Security, Health, and Public Works.
• Created and implemented communications strategies to inform media, community
and business stakeholders about annual city budget process, policy initiatives,
major economic development projects, and annual volunteer campaigns.
• Established best practices and oversaw team who implemented the first Mayor’s
office online communications strategy. Tactics included using social media tools
JAMES CANNING
6466 Archdale St. • Detroit • Michigan • 48228 • 313-***-****
*****@*********************.*** • www.canningcommunications.com
such as Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace, dedicated blogging efforts, and
Wikipedia fact checking. Additionally was responsible for developing content and
managing a weekly e-newsletter that shared information about the Mayor and
department activities with targeted stakeholders.
• Implemented rapid response strategy to handle crisis situations for the Mayor’s
office and city departments.
• Wrote content and worked with graphic designers to create visual marketing
materials including annual reports; informational mailers; and special newspaper
inserts.
• Coordinated city of Detroit communications for Super Bowl XL, NHL Stanley Cup
Playoffs and Detroit Red Wings victory parade, America’s Thanksgiving Day
Parade, and the annual Target Fireworks
• Served as lead spokesperson for Mayor and city departments.
Account Manager, Berg Muirhead and Associates 6/02-12/04
Detroit-based public relations and marketing firm that specializes in grassroots and
diversity market communications.
• Responsible for coordinating all media relations, event planning, and product
launch activities for Faygo Beverages, a subsidiary of National Beverage Corp.
Developed award winning “Information with a Pop!” campaign that helped raise the
beverage company’s profile in the Detroit area.
• Directed the team that developed an award winning campaign for the nonprofit
Detroit Area Agency on Aging. Responsible for all media relations, visual
marketing material, and events planning for the campaign and other agency
initiatives.
• Created media relations activities and the development of visual marketing
materials for a suburban Detroit public library system millage campaign that earned
the support of 56 percent of the township’s voting population.
Education
Graduate of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation FastTrac© New Venture™ Program,
1/10-3/10; Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Relations, Wayne State University in Detroit,
7/98-12/02; currently conducting research about MBA and master’s degree programs.
Technological Proficiencies
Microsoft Office programs; Adobe Photoshop; digital cameras; social media networking
tools such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube; and WordPress web applications.
Awards & Honors
2010 recipient of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Horizon Award for Communications
Services, Recipient of two Renaissance Awards from the International Association of
Business Communicators Detroit Chapter, and was also awarded of The Michigan
Chronicle’s “Young History Maker” award.
Boards & Memberships
Detroit Regional Chamber, PR & Marketing Advisory Council for the Detroit Regional
Chamber, Fusion, United Way of Southeastern Michigan’s Leadership Next initiative, the
JAMES CANNING
6466 Archdale St. • Detroit • Michigan • 48228 • 313-***-****
*****@*********************.*** • www.canningcommunications.com
Wayne State University Alumni Association, Detroit Synergy, and Catholic Social Services
of Wayne County.
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