Brand Marketing Design That Drives Membership and Public Awareness

 

Client / Skilled Trades Ontario (formerly the Ontario College of Trades)
Industry Sector / Government Agency, Industry Regulator
Services / Recruitment and Brand Awareness Campaign

This program exemplifies how we can leverage a client’s existing brand identity and evolve a new and more cuttng-edge brand style to bring about a completely fresh attitude and personality to an organization’s communication approach. In this particular instance, we did not create a new brand identity; however, we leveraged the communications strategy work that we had been engaged to develop for the client to exact a bold new creative expression within the framework of a largely lackluster and prescriptive visual branding approach. The result was a fresh, engaging and contemporary attitude that speaks to present and prospective OCOT members, as well as to industry leaders, employers and government audiences, in a relevant and dynamic manner.

 
 

The Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) is an industry-driven regulatory body that has a mandate to modernize Ontario’s apprenticeship and skilled trades system. The College allows for all tradespeople and employers voices to be heard, protects the public interest, and is responsible for establishing the scope of practice and setting out policies and procedures for the trades. One of OCOT’s mandates is to put skilled trades on a similar footing with teachers, doctors, and nurses, who have their own professional regulatory colleges.

We began by developing a brand communications strategy. The strategy established that the communications messages, tone and manner must:

  • Be clean, crisp, and approachable

  • Be industry-led vs. government-run

  • Enable the target audience to see themselves in the organization (appropriate imagery and words)

  • Evidence diversity of audiences (age, gender, ethnicity, sector/skill)

  • Be relevant for a variety of industry sectors

  • Display a simple, “plain language” explanation of the role of OCOT and the objects of the legislation

  • Feature the OCOT logo and colour palette (blue, black, white) prominently

  • Employ a graphical treatment that conveys authentic, relevant messaging to audiences

  • Feature entirely bilingual content

 
 

We developed and managed the production of a wide array of communications materials from design, copywriting, translation and final production:

  • Brochure and trade-specific inserts for professional trades

  • Brochure to tradespeople and members of the public

  • Apprenticeship brochure

  • Variety of trade publications advertisements for recruitment and event marketing

  • Event and display materials

  • Postcards

  • Recruitment letters and packages

  • Membership cards

  • Membership certificates and certifications diploma

  • Variety of poster and banners

  • Coordination of custom photography and creation of a bank of images for use in future OCOT materials

 
 
 
Jean-Pierre Veilleux