TORONTO, September 7, 2011 – Hill & Knowlton’s interactive online election predictor has made a return for the upcoming Ontario provincial election. Available at www.hillandknowlton.ca, the predictor allows politicos to become armchair campaign strategists and takes the guesswork out of the punditry game for Ontario’s 41^st election.

“In the recent federal election and in the 2010 City of Toronto election, we saw numbers change overnight, so this provincial election is very much still up for grabs,” said Judy Pfeifer, vice president of public affairs at Hill & Knowlton. “All of us are affected by government decisions and our predictor can help to show how different swings in voter support might affect the outcome on October 6^th.”

Digital technology and social media are changing Canadian politics by helping voters connect with the political process. With a downloadable Blackberry app (for devices running OS5 and higher), the predictor makes it easy for political junkies of all stripes see how potential changes in popular support might translate into wins and losses on election night.

“Our predictor uses interactive technology to engage people and educate them about what’s happening in the election,” said Cassandra Richards of Hill & Knowlton’s digital communications practice. “Since launching the predictor franchise in 2004, it has predicted elections in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and many federal elections, with a strong record of accurate results. At the same time, no seat calculator will ever give a 100 per cent accurate prediction. Ours is first and foremost intended to be fun and engaging.”

Election results can be predicted right down to the riding level. The predictor uses a mathematical formula based on the concept of proportional shift to generate seat predictions. Proportional shift generates new seat counts by taking each party’s percentage of the 2007 popular vote and shifts those percentages based on current polling data. These new percentages are then compared to the 2007 election results and differences are allocated proportionally on a riding by riding basis.

Participants can weigh outcomes using split or swing predictions and share their predictions with friends via Twitter and Facebook.

The predictor will be available until Ontario Election Day, October 6, 2011. Follow @hk_canada on Twitter or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HKCanada for real-time results and updates.

With eight offices across the country, Hill & Knowlton Canada is Canada’s industry leader in public relations, public affairs and strategic communications. The company specializes in corporate, crisis, consumer marketing, technology, natural resources, health care, digital communications, public affairs, and financial and investor relations. Hill & Knowlton Canada is a recipient of the Order of Excellence from the National Quality Institute, and has been recognized as one of the Best Workplaces in Canada for 2011. Its parent company, Hill & Knowlton, Inc, is a world leader in public relations and public affairs, with 80 offices in 44 countries, and is a member of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY) (www.wpp.com), one of the world’s largest communications services groups.