ONTARIO WOOD

CONTEXT

Ontario Wood is a provincial government brand, designed to drive sales of wood and wood products grown and/or made in Ontario.

Think of it like Foodland Ontario, for wood.

As the Director of Strategy at Citizen Relations, I was tasked with helping the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (MNRF) drive awareness of the commodity brand in order to help build a more resilient provincial economy.

Since its inception 5 years prior, Ontario Wood had been trying to drive sales of all types of wood (i.e. raw lumber, flooring, furniture, handicrafts), through multiple channels (i.e. lumber yards, big box retail stores, decor retailers), and to various audiences. But demand was non-existent and most channel partners weren’t interested either.

For us there were three key questions:

1. With limited resources, where should the brand focus for its immediate go-to-market strategy;

2. How could their go-to-market strategy evolve knowing their long-term aspirations; and

3. How should the brand be positioned for both immediate and long-term success.

I led a thorough analysis of all existing proprietary research and secondary research, conducted our own primary research, and consulted with the clients and our internal teams to figure out the path forward. The result was a plan to rebuild the brand from its roots.

I led the charge of adjusting and clarifying the brand’s mission, simplifying the go-to-market strategy to focus on key audiences with specific product types through one sales channel, and developed a positioning that made sense for both immediate and future needs. I then had the privilege of working with talented creatives to develop a new brand platform and visual identity, including brand guidelines. We then developed a full campaign.

We had a 3-year mandate for the account, which unfortunately was put on hold midway due to the provincial election, and it’s unlikely Mr. Ford will continue with the work.

The video below provides a nice summary of the first year of the campaign and what we achieved. A proper tracking study evaluating campaign effectiveness was not executed for the same reasons as mentioned above, but I’m confident that we did the right thing for the brand.

My responsibilities included: Business analysis, analysis of existing primary and secondary research, managing analysis conducting by team members, designing and executing two types of qualitative research (IDIs and Focus Groups), developing the go-to-market strategy, developing the brand strategy, creative brief development, brand stewardship and overall campaign oversight.

LINKS

Content Series: Kaza Wood Furniture

Content Series: Live Edge Forest