Case Study: From strategy to copywriting, how we propelled one organization’s awareness efforts forward

Meet the Client

Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) is a unique national organization dedicated to ensuring all Canadians can meet basic needs and live with dignity. Their primary goal is to advocate for a national basic income to be implemented in Canada, one that is grounded in principles of universality, adequacy, non-conditionality, autonomy, dignity, and economic and gender equality, and that works in synergy with public services. They are a catalyst for new activity and a trusted resource for anyone wanting to learn more, to be part of the effort, or to have an informed say about this critical societal and economic issue. 

The Client’s Challenge

In 2020, this board-run non-profit, non-partisan organization approached us in their search for an agency to help them better communicate their message to the public. They excelled at a policy and advocacy level but understood that in order to gain greater support, they needed to more effectively engage all Canadians—regardless of how well they understood the issue. 

BICN wanted a new website and a concrete plan to move their communications efforts forward.

Our Solution

We proposed a multi-phased approach to create greater awareness of BICN as an organization, what they stand for, what a basic income means for everyone and why Canadians should join them. 

The first phase involved taking a step back—as we couldn’t propel their work forward without first understanding their existing efforts—to analyze the BICN brand and how the organization communicated their message to the public. What we learned is that their website had become a depository for all information relevant to their goals, leading to much of it being lost in the clutter. 

We also learned that the audience they most wanted to reach was not the audience they were primarily speaking to on their website or through their social media channels. They wanted to engage the less informed (or potentially new) advocate (people comfortable in their lifestyle, may be skeptical of a basic income but want to learn more) and the informed advocate (people already tuned in to the cause). However, their communications primarily targeted the expert community (highly educated policy makers, government officials, academics and experienced proponents).

Armed with this understanding, we set out to write their brand story and key messages. A tactic we typically use when working with new businesses, it was just as important in this case because we needed to make sure their brand was connecting with the right audience, and in the right tone.

From there, we worked alongside BICN’s chair to develop a user-friendly website map that re-organized or removed much of the existing site. When done, we got to work writing over 20 pages of new content about the organization and their values, as well as primers and stories that explained basic income and what it means for Canadians.

We then worked with Katy Jonker of Kosmic Creative to create an entirely new website design. The new website launched in April 2021. 

Finally, a new website was only one part of the strategy to create greater awareness and boost their communications efforts. We then analyzed their efforts on their primary social media channels and, using the brand story developed in phase one as a guide, developed a strategy that outlined both short-term and long-term tactics to achieve greater awareness and growth.

As the board intended to hire someone to, amongst other things, manage their social media, that strategy was used as the basis for the job description and then as a guide to achieve their social media goals. 

Testimonial

“Deborah and Katy were just wonderful to work with—creative, attentive, patient— to meet our needs as our understanding of them evolved. They helped us realize how much our organization had changed in six years — that some of our most important work during that time was not well branded or easy to find — as well as how much the basic income movement overall had changed that required us to adapt. With new interest in basic income exploding in the midst of the pandemic, their work with us contributed greatly to our effectiveness and puts us in a good position to build for the future.”

Sheila Regehr 
Chair, BICN