TOUCHDOWN: EASTER BUNNY WARNING IS TIMELY

Timeliness is a communications tactic. Regular TD&F readers will recall Bob and I writing about this in the past - how some effective communicators latch on to a time of year or holiday and use their creativity to get their message out, a message that otherwise might have fallen on deaf ears. That was the case this week with Toronto Star reporter Noor Javed's story headlined "This Easter, make your bunny chocolate." Both Rabbit Rescue, a Milton-based registered charity, and the Toronto Humane Society were quoted in Javed's piece about why families should be cautious about impulse pet rabbit purchases around this Easter weekend. "Easter purchases are often impulse purchases," said Haviva Lush, Executive Director of Rabbit Rescue. "They will just be returned later on. We do find that in the months following Easter we have an influx of surrenders, because people don't have any idea what they have gotten themselves into." She said most people who think about getting a pet rabbit don't realize that it's an approximate 10-year commitment to the furry member of the family, and that they need to be spayed or neutered given their reproductive tendencies. Added Ian McConachie, a spokesperson with the Toronto Humane Society, which tries to place abandoned rabbits in responsible homes: "We try to screen really carefully, and if we think if someone hasn't considered or thought this all through, we refuse them, and say 'do a little more research and come back in a few weeks.'" It was a timely reminder, well-played by both organizations. At Veritas, we often sit down with clients, get out the calendar and analyze key dates over the coming year in terms of what opportunities lay ahead.