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Branding moment We specialize in getting our clients noticed. Advertising may not be the answer to that so we’re not slaves to it. PR, digital media, or an iPhone app may be the answer. It’s about finding the best voice to break the clutter with our client’s message.
Portfolio sample Athome Furnishings sells upscale furniture for the style-conscious homeowner. Our strategy was to appeal to the female demographic that by far had the most say in furniture sales in the household. By combining the visual ideas of fashion and furniture we delivered a campaign that said loudly, “Style For Home”. We knew we had achieved success when women started asking if the pillow purse was actually available.
Date of birth October 29, 2001. Based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, we began with a vision to build a world-class agency right here at the edge of the North Atlantic. With 35 per cent of our revenue coming from outside the province, we are proving you can live where your heart is while letting your creative mind do work anywhere on the planet.
Contrarian view Our team’s guiding philosophy remains unchanged: Always challenge conventional thinking. Question everything. Blending in is not something that interests us – we’re all about ideas that disrupt the sea of sameness and change long-term behaviors and actions.
Niche We specialize in strategic communications, social marketing/health care, retail, and interactive and social media.
Signature work In 2004, The Idea Factory was asked to complete a comprehensive national brand audit of a cable company called Persona Communications. After an eight week intensive coast-to-coast business review which included consumer research, interviews from inside the company, an evaluation of past marketing campaigns and mapping competitive landscapes, we recommended a holistic and integrated brand strategy and creative platform. Simply put, they needed to stop acting like a utility company and start acting like an entertainment company. And this had to happen from the ‘inside-out’. In its 2004 rebrand, Persona Communications donned a top hat and became The Amazing Persona. This award-winning marketing campaign created a newly-focused team with the energy to deliver a more robust suite of services in an uncomplicated and entertaining campaign. In 2007, EastLink, based out of Nova Scotia, nationally took notice and acquired the brand and the company. The Idea Factory remains EastLink’s Agency of Record to this day.
SPECTACLE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Definition We are an award-winning, visual communications, graphic design and marketing studio based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. With a permanent staff of six, and professional relationships with respected animators, illustrators and media buyers, we are confident in our ability to take on any project.
Results oriented Crafting communications that work is our only business. We believe in putting the client’s needs first. Spectacle Group projects don’t have a signature look; we think that the client should be the star of the creative, not the designers.
Everyone works We work closely with our clients; we don’t have account managers shuttling between the client and the creatives. Principals at Spectacle Group aren’t just there for the presentations: We work on the nuts and bolts of branding, advertising, signage, interpretive materials and web sites. We take the strategy-driven approach of the ad agency world, and meld it with the hands-on, design thinking approach of a design studio.
Ambidextrous Spectacle Group doesn’t have a specialty. Each member of our team is expected to have multiple skills: that way we can apply a problem-solving, cross-disciplinary approach to every project.
The way we roll We created the Eastern Trades College brand for a new trades college, and supported the brand with radio, television, print, outdoor and web advertising, along with a micro-site to capture sales leads. The result was just what we were aiming for: all the courses rapidly sold out. For us, the highlight of the campaign happened when a prospective student called to enroll before any ads had run. Surprised to get a call so soon, the career advisor asked how he had found out about Eastern Trades College. He replied: “I just installed your billboards.”
