Client Portfolio | Redbird Communications

Acumen Communications is Redbird's roommate and sister agency, providing PR, media relations, government relations, and crisis management to public and private sector clients. They asked Redbird to put a little sizzle on their steak, with a new look for their website.

After losing close to 6000 forestry jobs over the past decade, the Port Alberni area was transitioning into tourism as a revenue base. Redbird held a public open house, interviewed First Nations stakeholders, wrote a strategic marketing communications plan, hosted an online photo contest that attracted 400 entries, and developed creative executions to launch their new brand.

This skilled carpenter and his team pride themselves on the quality and craftsmanship of their work, and needed a brand identity that would resonate with architects, designers, and homeowners alike. Redbird created a logo, business cards, and vehicle graphics that do justice to their talent.

The AFC is the first co-op of its kind in BC. Its members grow, harvest, and process organic aromatic crops and wildcrafted conifer branches into therapeutic grade essential oils. They were starting from scratch and needed some marketing tools to get their message out. Redbird obliged, with all the essentials.

A group of local tourist attractions pooled their resources to attract new visitors, using non-traditional marketing vehicles... literally. In an exercise that was as much diplomacy as design, Redbird created a moving billboard on a double-decker bus and a children’s board game in an on-board ferry magazine, which made all the members happy.

The Office of the Auditor General is the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia's independent auditor.

Every few years, the province appoints a commission to study the boundaries of BC’s electoral districts. Redbird produced a province-wide campaign to advertise public hearings and created oversize information supplements that were dropped to half a million households.

When summer wildfires razed the BC interior, BC Lottery Corporation employees put in long hours to work the phone lines, feed and comfort the evacuated homeowners, and provide shelter to displaced people and pets. Redbird interviewed BC Lottery Corporation staff and supervised a photo shoot for a volunteer recognition ad, once the dust had settled.

The Vancouver-based BC Ready-Mixed Concrete Association came to Redbird with two urgent needs: visual development of a new award for safety in concrete construction, and coordination of an Annual General Meeting being held in Victoria, complete with registration, liaison with speakers and venue, and production of a conference program.

The oldest wool shop in Victoria, and one of the largest in Canada, needed a rack card to take to trade shows, and an online shopping site that would do justice to their stunning yarns. From studio photography to e-commerce, web design and development, Redbird delivered.

For CanWest Shopping Centre, Redbird developed print ads for special promotions, as well as TV and radio for the mall’s popular Christmas train display. When it became West Shore Town Centre, we produced a Pennies for Playground fundraising campaign involving local elementary schools.

One of Redbird’s pro bono projects was the Big Brothers Big Sisters Chocolate Fest, with a slogan, ‘It’s sweet of you to care’, and delicious designs for ads, posters, tickets, presentation folders, and chocolate bar wrappers.

Originally known as Boutique Hotels of BC, this client changed its name after identifying its brand promise in an intensive brand workshop facilitated by Redbird. The look and feel of their website, as well as that of The Cove in Kelowna, one of their properties, was also created by Redbird.

The BPCPA (now renamed Consumer Protection BC) held a student film contest for film classifications in British Columbia. In addition to conducting a brand workshop and facilitating the name change process, Redbird created a poster and a postcard to promote the contest in film schools.

Winners of several awards for design and construction, these quality-conscious builders came to Redbird for development of open house invitations, ads, and print collateral material.

This observatory, a fascinating tourist destination just off the beaten path, was looking for a new brand identity to raise its profile and increase awareness among the public. Redbird developed several concepts to show off its astronomical attributes. The final decision? Still up in the air.

Client research is never more fun than when it involves a vineyard. After much taste-testing, Redbird developed a series of illustrative wine labels for Cherry Point Vineyards that clearly differentiated the winery from its Island competitors, while building on its First Nations connection.

Construction is a risky business, and the Construction Safety Network of BC has their work cut out for them. Redbird wrote a marcom plan to reach 30,000 construction companies in the province, crafted a new brand identity, trade show display, and home page design, and developed ads and posters to promote their services.

Over the past few years, Redbird has created and produced print materials for the Mountain Pine Beetle program, Forest Expo advertising and trade show banners, and market activity reports for international markets.

Look up; look way up. A great big theatre calls for great big ideas, and Redbird created high-impact newspaper ads to promote their very affordable season’s pass.

After several years of declining enrollment, Redbird helped turn the situation around with a four-page newspaper supplement that went out to carefully selected postal codes, and boosted registrations the following September by 9%.

For six years prior to the dairy co-op’s purchase by Agropur, Redbird provided Island Farms with print and broadcast campaigns for all media, along with sales materials for their grocery retailers. Hum along with the Island Farms musical anthem, which was written, composed, and performed by Redbird, and generated hundreds of complimentary letters and emails to the dairy.

Better tasting milk from better looking cows... The richer-tasting milk from brown Jersey cows made for a compelling brand promise, and some very tasty marketing materials.

Such an exciting project, and such a sad ending. This start-up company had developed a blackcurrant juice, fresh, flavourful, and loaded with anti-oxidants. Alas, shortly before product rollout, their finances went up in smoke. Check out the juicy packaging, trade show, and sales materials that might have been.

With a breakthrough line of organic chicken sausages, this Mom and Pop operation is trying to make it big in the organic food industry. Redbird created sales sheets, coupons, and product labels to get them started.

This Crown Corporation managed the physical resources of the province, but its four divisions had differences of opinion on their mandate and messaging. Redbird conducted a brand workshop to bring the key players together, developed a strategic marcom plan, and executed the creative tactics in time for a major trade show.

The LGMA represents municipal and regional district managers, administrators, clerks, treasurers and other local government officials in the Province of BC. They came to Redbird for a brand workshop, a marketing communications plan, a new logo, and an updated website and brochures.

Their mission? To lower heating costs for commercial landlords and property management companies. Their tactic? A regular newsletter that provides helpful hints to their clients, and demonstrates their expertise beyond the boiler room.

Called in for temporary assistance during a client’s maternity leave, Redbird provided timely creative executions for point of sale materials, including a hand-crafted Christmas tree dress, posters, unaddressed ad mail, and radio commercials. (Have a chuckle at the Lucky Me spot!)

Merridale is more than a cider orchard; it’s a popular agri-tourism destination and BC’s first estate cidery. Tour the orchard, taste the authentic award-winning Merridale ciders, try the new distilled products, and check out Redbird’s marketing materials while you’re at it. Posters, ads, brochures, and more -- done after much tasting (er, testing) of the product.

Several years ago, Carol Vincent wrote and produced two commercials for the ministry’s Adoption Branch. Over the three weeks that the commercials aired, the Adoption Branch received 1700 phone calls from potential parents, as compared to 56 calls during the same time period the year before. More recently, we’ve worked on a Framework for Action for Children and Youth with Special Needs.

Last year, Redbird created a graphic identity for the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue, and a spin-off look for Revenue Services of British Columbia, comprising report covers, bulletins, posters, and other collateral items. This year, we are working with the Regulatory Reform Initiative to launch Straightforward BC: Regulation, clear and simple.

The Nancy Wood Design one-woman shop designs playful children’s wear and flexible fitness gear, and needed a professional looking hang tag for the high-quality merchandise. It’s a clean and streamlined look that does justice to the products.

BC’s new Representative for Children and Youth was invited to a potlatch-type ceremony in Prince George, where she would be officially welcomed and given permission to work with local First Nations children. Her office called Redbird for a quick video capture of the event. Despite tight protocol and challenging shooting conditions, the resulting video captured the flavour and highlights of the event in an upbeat and respectful way.

Previously OneStop Business Services, this client changed its name and logo after Redbird’s research revealed that potential customers thought they offered faxes and photocopies, rather than registration for GST, PST, and Workers’ Compensation. We subsequently launched the service with stationery, a website, and print collateral in the shape of file folders.

This upscale men’s wear store needed a new logo, signage, bags, boxes, and all the trimmings, prior to their move to a bigger location. Redbird also designed a stylish booklet for their spring mailer, to inspire their clientele to ‘Get Dressed’.

Still under construction when they came to Redbird, the new Poets Cove resort on Pender Island needed a complete start-up package. After a brand workshop with the management team, we tweaked their logo to better reflect the elegant Poets Cove property, and created in-room materials, sell sheets, menus, ads, spa packaging, door hangers -- the works!

As a 14-year-old baker’s apprentice in Holland, the owner of the Portofino Wholesale Bakery developed a lifelong commitment to quality. It showed in his baked goods, but not in his marketing materials. Redbird developed a new brand identity, order forms, sales letters, price lists, and a mouth-watering promotional brochure.

Power To Be Adventure Therapy Society - Kids with brain injuries or physical challenges, troubled teens, and their families, all benefit from adventures in nature, learning and life. Power To Be had a vital role to play in BC communities, but no budget to execute materials. Redbird provided pro bono creative services for several years, and was rewarded with an excellent Power To Be adventure of our own.

There’s no tiptoeing through the tulips for people with foot problems -- until they kick up their heels in a pair of Precision Orthotics. Redbird has written and designed sales letters, brochures, posters, and web pages for this manufacturing laboratory.

Network intelligence. It’s not what you use at a Chamber of Commerce mixer, it’s the decision-making ability you get when you use Total View One on your IT network. This global technology company came to Redbird for case histories. We interviewed distributors and end users, and crafted a series of success stories for their sales team.

Redbird Communications is an advertising and communications agency in Victoria BC, Canada.

Tucked away in an overlooked corner, this HR company needed some big visibility to match their Fortune 500 calibre expertise. Redbird gave them a new brand identity, stationery, ads, web design, and a bright new paint job on their premises.

School District 74 is rightly proud of its commitment to the five-year Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement. For two years running, Redbird has designed their annual report, identifying goals and celebrating progress.

Silken Laumann's career had evolved from Olympic athlete to motivational speaker and founder of a children's charity; but her brand communications weren't keeping up. Redbird conducted a brand workshop to establish her brand promise, brand personality, and key messaging, and created a website that would form the foundation of her new marketing.

Redbird created a series of television commercials for Thrifty Foods that ‘romance’ the fresh products they’re famous for. We also provided for Thrifty Foods, concepts and copywriting for full-page print ads to be produced by their in-house staff.

This supplier of photocopiers and other business equipment is reliable, quick and confident, and they want promotions that get noticed. Redbird developed a cheeky ‘win a trip’ mailer, as well as a stopwatch giveaway that emphasized their prompt service.

Twenty years in the making, the Victoria International Marina is finally becoming a reality. Redbird assembled a prospectus for presentation to city council, and provided a website. Next up: a community mailer to update the locals about the victoria international marina.

At 150 years old, the long-serving victoria police department was ready for a new name (VicPD), a new look, and a complete communications overhaul. Working with Acumen Communications for issues management, public relations, and strategic planning, Redbird created a new brand identity for the police department, and a look and feel that rolled out into corporate materials, recruiting brochures, banners, web design, and more.

Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands have a vibrant emerging wine industry. In the earliest days of their development, Redbird was there to help build a brand, with a logo, touring booklet concepts, and assistance with grant applications for government funding.