Account Director | Harbinger | Toronto | Age: 29

Lisa Lang got into PR because she wanted to plan events. “It seemed like fun,” says the Montreal native, who planned several fundraisers while studying English Literature at Queen’s University.

Upon graduation in 2001, she enrolled in the year-long PR program at Humber College. She quickly learned “there’s a heck of a lot more to PR than [event planning].”

She earned her PR stripes at Weber Shandwick working on the McDonald’s account. By the time Lang left for Harbinger in 2005, she was a senior account executive.

Today, Lang develops communication programs for Harbinger’s Whirlpool, Zipcar, Axe, Kinder Chocolates and Dove accounts.

The 29-year-old account director helped shift Whirlpool’s advertising focus from women in sport to the productivity of its appliances, which is a testament to her strategic thinking skills, says Jeff Weiss, president of Harbinger. “Lisa laid it out in terms of ‘here’s where you’re at now, here’s where your consumers are, here’s the disconnects and here’s where we should go,’” he says.

In the past year, Lang has secured Mom Show host Catherine Marion and Food Network host Sandi Richard to act as brand stewards.

“We do things that connect directly with our female consumers…talking to busy moms in a language and with an approach that resonates with them,” she says.

Under Lang’s leadership, Harbinger completed Whirlpool’s first ever PR/marketing program for its Inglis Brand. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, the brand asked consumers to pick 150 items they felt best represented Canada in 2009 to be included in a virtual time capsule. Lisa and her team drove consumers online to vote for their favourite item at InglisTimeCapsule.ca.

Last month, Lang launched the Great Green Challenge that promotes the environmental credentials of the Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Maytag brands. The effort follows three families from across Canada for a month as they undergo an appliance makeover.

The families will blog about their experience, while environmental experts from Whirlpool share tips on reducing energy consumption.

Lang also led the development of the “Ridiculously, Ridiculously Good Summer Gig” for Unilever’s Axe Canada brand. The program offers two college or university students (one male, one female) the chance to work as “consumer consultants” next summer. Participants can upload a photo or video online and include a “reference letter” from the opposite sex. The top 10 finalists will be determined online by public vote, with an Axe panel selecting the winners. The two finalists will be put up in apartments in downtown Toronto, given a salary of $10,000 and asked to “live it up Axe-style” and blog about their experiences.

Even though the PR game isn’t what she originally thought it would be, Lang loves what she does. “I still do a lot of events… it’s just on a much bigger scale now,” she says.