Communications Programs

Market Positioning Relevancy | GWL Realty Advisors

Message Matrix

Formerly known as Le Conseil-Scolaire-de-District-du-Centre-Sud-Ouest, or CSDCSO for short, the independent Ontario French school board was plagued with a bureaucratic government-inherited name and acronym most people could scarcely remember. Le Conseil sought to expand its size, but required a strategic repositioning in order to do so. The repositioning strategy we developed involved the creation of a new brand name that is memorable, highly differentiating, and imbued with narrative power, emphasizing an outward foray into the world.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research/Environmental Scan and Review of Competitive Landscape

• Naming (Name change and testing)

• New Value Proposition and Tagline

• Brand Narrative and Core Messaging

• Creative Direction

• New Value Proposition and Tagline

• Marketing and Social Campaign

The merger of two established public healthorganizations in Ontario’s Durham county, resulting in the largest community-based health care organization in the province – serving a population of over half a million – required a new brand and positioning to help it communicate its expanded vision, mission and scope of services. A huge undertaking, named and positioned with care.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research, Brand and Communications Audit

• Brand Positioning

• Naming (Name Change)

• New Value Proposition and Tagline

• Brand Narrative and Core Messaging

• Brand Manifesto

• Key Messaging

• Creative Direction

ServiceOntario is an agency of the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services which provides a single point of contact for most government services in the province of Ontario. It provides services primarily online and in-person at storefront locations; it also operates telephone call centres. ServiceOntario required assistance to help it restate its institutional vision prior to finalizing and communicating its 5-year strategy to internal employees and to external government and para-governmental partners. Following a thorough tendering process, we were selected by the Ministry of Government & Consumer Services to partner with ServiceOntario to deliver on this important strategic communications mandate.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Review Internal Plans and Performance Measures

• Interviews and Workshop Facilitation within Service-Ontario, Senior Leaders in Ontario Government, and Municipal and Academic Sectors Leaders

• Environmental Scan and Review of Service Delivery Trends and Best Practices in Other Jurisdictions

• Present Report of Recommendations to Executive Team

• Organizational Positioning and Value Proposition

• Institutional Vision Statement

The “Gateway to the Muskokas”, seems an enviable designation, but it held the City of Orillia back, as tourists and visitors habitually bypassed it on their way to and from the beautiful adjacent destinations to the north. Located at the intersection of Lake Simcoe and Couchiching, and host to celebrated cultural festivals, Orillia wanted to become a destination of choice for vacationing, cultural tourism, and economic development. To do so, it needed to take the necessary steps toward the creation of a competitive, relevant and genuine brand and positioning. It had to ensure it had the identity and strategy in place to articulate, express and promote itself and support its efforts toward becoming a choice destination for economic prosperity and community vitality.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Internal Employee Survey and Online public survey

• Focus Groups Discussions with City Staff and Leadership

• Facilitated Stakeholder Meeting - Townhall

• Public Consultation and Stakeholder Workshop

• Brand Positioning, Value Proposition and Key Messaging

• New Visual Identity Study and Recommendations

• Communications and Social Media Audit

• Review of the Departmental Brands

• Presentation of Recommendation Report to City Council

• Provisional Visual Brand Identity Recommendations

• Signage and Wayfinding Recommendations

We were engaged to review the Corporation of the City of Guelph’s identity and, if deemed necessary, scope out options to revitalize and position the Corporation as a vital partner with the City in marketing Guelph as a destination for economic and community prosperity. We delivered a report outlining high-level strategic directions, as well as recommending concrete steps and specific tactics to help the City of Guelph live its brand promise to “Make a Difference” in the lives of its residents and the community at large. Our analysis and report of recommendations included a series of measures essential for the brand to emerge stronger and to provide the foundational elements and ground rules for the positioning and marketing of the Guelph brand in all media.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research and Stakeholder Consultation

• Strategy Documentation Audit

• Brainstorming Workshops and Idea Mapping Sessions

• Audit of Positioning of Various Ontario Municipalities

• Foundational elements for brand marketing

• Simplification of Departmental Brand Architecture & Policy

• Presentation of Report of Recommnedations to City Council

• Positioning and Value Proposition

• Key Messaging and Brand Manifesto

• Communications Plan

One of the core challenges facing the United Church of Canada is its difficulty articulating “what we are and how we work in the world.” The UCC’s General Secretary felt the Church was “missing the mark” and that it needed to understand why that was the case. Key to the future of the Church was to find better and more flexible approaches to connect and engage with millennials in ways that are relevant to their lives.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Reaffirmed the UCC’s core values and key differentiators

• Refined the expression of the UCC’s mission and purpose in relevant terms for today

• Evolved a more “relevant” positioning and value proposition for today’s Canadian Christian society

• Created and tested (internally and externally) messaging to reach across a broader, more diverse audience

• Developed various narratives toward a theme and tagline development for a campaign leading up to the 100th anniversary of the UCC (2025)

We were hired by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada to help determine the viability of a planned SOGC “Seal of Approval/Product Certification” market strategy. The goal was to assess the potential financial opportunity (and reputational risk) the program may represent for the SOGC, and to determine how, and to what extent, customers would value and trust SOGC-certified products.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research and Stakeholder Consultation

• Strategy Documentation Audit

• Brainstorming Workshops and Idea-Mapping Sessions

• Report of Findings and Recommendations

• Provisional Launch Strategy, Marketing Budget and Tactical Roll-out Implementation Plan

After a change of ownership that saw SNC-Lavalin’s facilities management division acquire Arcturus, the company wanted to capitalize on the added brand equity the SNC-Lavalin name provided, and signal its expanded scope of capabilities and services to a broader swath of the market, as well as reinforce its positioning as a “one-stop-shop” partner for commercial real-estate facilities management. To do so, Arcturus needed to build broader market awareness, but importantly, it also needed to reassure its existing clientele that the company remained committed to serving its needs. The repositioning initiative also aimed to support the company’s recruitment objectives and to reassure staff (Arcturus and SNC) that their positions were safe.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research and Stakeholder Consultation

• Brand Repositioning

• Value Proposition

• Brand Narrative and Core Messaging

• Creative Direction

An industry-managed regulatory body whose mandate is to modernize Ontario’s apprenticeship and skilled trades system, the Ontario College of Trades (Now renamed Skilled Trades Ontario under the Conservative Government) needed to build up its memberships by recruiting more skilled tradespeople. We develop an informational communications approach and certification materials targeted to prospective members to effectively convey the value proposition being put forth to both mandatory and voluntary members, and help convey the OCOT story to the marketplace.

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Research and Stakeholder Consultation

• Strategy and Brand Audit

• Brainstorming Workshops Sessions

• Recruiting Campaign Theme

• Core Brand Themes and Marketing Messaging

• Brand Design Overhaul

• Creative Direction and Design of Marketing, Trade and Recruitment Campaign Materials