Propelling business growth with brand

Sagard, a fast-growing alternative asset manager, needed help to ensure its relatively young brand caught up with its business successes, growth and aspirations. As an emerging player in the industry, Sagard needed to define its unique brand position and voice in the market.

After a series of in-depth consultations, Ove developed a brand architecture strategy that positioned Sagard as a global platform, allowing for an optimal balance of flexibility and structure as the business continues to grow. Working closely with the clients, Ove developed a new brand strategy grounded in Sagard’s unique community of business builders. The new Sagard brand was brought to life with a fresh brand identity inspired by its Canadian roots and values, leading to the design and launch of a new website to inspire business builders all around the world.

Our contribution:

Three iconic Canadian brands become one

Three trusted names. Over 170 years of history. Serving one in three Canadians.

The opportunity was to unite Great-West Life, London Life, and Canada Life to create a unique value proposition in a crowded market.

After an intensive discovery phase of internal and external research and consultation, Ove worked closely with the client’s leadership and brand teams to develop a positioning that would equip the new Canada Life to connect with its customers in powerful, new ways. The new brand positioning not only celebrates the here and now, but trumpets inclusion, openness, fairness and community—the values that define and strengthen Canada today.

Ove also designed and developed the new brand identity, visual expression and communication platform to help tell the story and launch the new brand. The outcome: the new Canada Life is well-positioned to become an iconic brand built on a combination of deep heritage and contemporary relevance.

Our contribution:

This brand is your brand

CBC’s The National belongs to us all. As the country’s most trusted nightly newscast for longer than most of us can remember, it has taken up the CBC mandate to tell our stories with an unparalleled passion and commitment to excellence. So much so, that The National itself has become part of the Canadian experience. We were thrilled to be asked by the CBC to help The National redefine its brand and identity for the future following the retirement of host Peter Mansbridge. The solution centred on making the news relevant and accessible to an increasingly diverse audience, with a renewed commitment to putting the story at the centre of everything. Cutting through the clutter to get to the truth of the story became the inspiration for a bold new back-to-basics visual expression and design system that impacts all of The National’s content and communications.

Our contribution:

We’re talkin’ about a
(r)evolution

200 years in, Canada’s first bank continues to be defined by its innovation and commitment to customers. Our 30-year alliance with BMO Financial Group has allowed us to work alongside leadership teams through massive shifts in their industry and in the world. We support BMO holistically from a brand-building perspective on a myriad of activities and initiatives. Ours is a trusted partnership that spans five CEOs, more than a quarter century of excellence in annual reporting, and the creative expression and application of the BMO brand and identity across four continents and a vast array of businesses.

Our contribution:

From air fare to air care

A challenger brand that’s quickly become one of Canada’s most iconic companies, WestJet is a company whose leadership is always looking to innovate and bring air travel forward. WestJetters, as their employees are often referred to, are continually redefining the experience and are known for their friendly and personable twist on customer service. Over the years – with our sister agency Publicis – we have worked with the team at WestJet to evolve and keep the brand vibrant, fresh and focused through consistent brand messaging and tools that keep the company truly connected with its guest travellers.

Our contribution:

“Can elephants really dance?”^*

For over a decade, working alongside our counterparts at Publicis, we have been part of the transformation that has seen the 252-year old institution embrace changes in the landscape and deliver the online world. We work collaboratively with our partners at Canada Post to help them realize their commitment to innovation and exceptional customer service – by continually challenging conventional thinking and facilitating excellence through strategic design.

When technology changes your world, you change too.

Our contribution:

A love letter TO Canada

In preparation of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation, City of Toronto wanted to support this event with their own campaign. This campaign had to capture Toronto’s contribution to Canada’s history as a vibrant world class city and a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture. Working in collaboration with our colleagues at Publicis, Ove supported the City of Toronto by developing the campaign theme, tagline and visual identity system that was applied to a number of mediums, programs and event celebrations throughout the city.

Our contribution: