Project
Branding and Marketing
Services
Brand Development
Creative Marketing Strategies
Video and Graphic Design
Web Development
Expertise
Indigenous Relations
Non-Profit And Non-Government Organizations (NGO)
The Seed
In 2017, Indigenous Institutes were officially recognized as accredited providers of post-secondary education by the Ontario Government—becoming the Third Pillar of Ontario’s post-secondary education system along with the province’s colleges and universities. Having advocated for this recognition for decades, the Indigenous Institutes Consortium (then called the Aboriginal Institutes Consortium) recognized that it needed to rebrand and redefine its strategic direction.
As a membership organization made up of seven Indigenous Institutes from across Ontario, the Indigenous Institutes Consortium (IIC) needed a brand that would unite its members and position them for future growth. IIC hired Spruce Creative to deliver on this work because of its unique positioning as an Indigenous owned company with experience in strategic marketing and Indigenous-focused graphic design.
MyChoice. MyPath. - Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig
My Choice. My Path. - Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute
My Choice. My Path. - Anishinabek Educational Institute
Roots
Spruce Creative helped IIC realize its new brand through a renaming and value proposition exercise. With a new name in place, Spruce Creative designed a logo that incorporated the work of First Nation’s artist Tracey Mettalic. Drawing on Metallic’s colour palette, as well as the branding of each member Institute, Spruce Creative developed a modern and cohesive brand to represent the IIC and its membership. This look was applied to a new IIC website and all its corporate materials.
Working in collaboration with the IIC Governance Circle, Spruce Creative helped support the development of a new strategic plan, followed by a marketing and communications plan to achieve these new strategic goals.
Growth
To meet IIC’s strategic and communications goals, Spruce Creative developed a video marketing campaign targeting Indigenous students, parents, communities and other stakeholders. Spruce Creative’s team visited all seven Indigenous Institutes and interviewed their students, staff and leadership about the value of Indigenous education.
To highlight the important role of each Indigenous Institute in its community, a unique video and poster series were produced for each Institute. A compilation “highlight” video was also produced to brand and market the IIC membership as a whole. The look-and-feel of the campaign was applied to a special section on the IIC website, designed to inform funders and engage future students.
Spruce Creative is now supporting the campaign and helping the IIC gain greater recognition as a key partner in post-secondary education through a social media-driven digital marketing strategy.
Fruit
The IIC has a unified and recognizable brand which appropriately represents the critically important role played by the organization and its members, and it has a suite of marketing and campaign materials to help the IIC advocate for its membership. Each member Institute is clearly recognized in the new branding and each one has a set of marketing tools at hand which strengthen and unite them as members of the IIC.
Through strategic, creative marketing, Spruce Creative continues to help the IIC reach its audiences and grow its brand by raising the profile of Indigenous Institutes in Ontario.