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Portfolio
You can browse our portfolio in the way that suits you best: by keyword in the tag cloud or by scrolling down the page to see all our projects.
publishing Projects
Project: The UNESCO City of Literature
Client: Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia
Brief: Impact Study | Strategic Plan
Background: A broad-based community group in Vancouver is working to secure a UNESCO City of Literature designation for Vancouver (a formal recognition akin to a World Heritage Site designation). We were engaged to conduct an impact study and to work with the group to develop the goals, scope of activity, and operating structure associated with the designation. After concluding the study, we were retained to prepare the formal application dossier for UNESCO.
Project: British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction
Client: British Columbia Achievement Foundation
Brief: Launch | Media | Marketing
Background: The British Columbia Achievement Foundation asked us to help launch a new national literary prize in 2005. We developed a positioning strategy and media and promotions programs, as well as an approach to the award presentation that, as the Canada Council for the Arts noted, “imbued the entire day with a dynamism and realness seldom seen at awards ceremonies”. With its cash value of $40,000, the British Columbia Award is now Canada’s largest prize for literary non-fiction. We continue to work with the foundation to build awareness among Canada’s publishers, authors, and readers, and to develop new collaborative partnerships around the award program—including a 2007 media partnership with CBC Radio One.
Project: Outward Bound? An Exploratory Study of Magazine Exports
Client: British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers
Brief: Market Study
Background: How interested are British Columbia’s magazine publishers in developing export markets? How ready are they to do so, and what does it take to succeed? We set out to answer these questions in 2004 with this study, which explored a range of export strategies, including single-copy sales at retail; subscription sales; licensing and joint ventures; and branded content and rights sales.
Outward Bound? stands as some of the only formal work in this area. We presented its findings in BC and at national conferences in Toronto.
Project: Southern Exposure: Newsstand and Subscription Marketing in the United States
Client: British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers
Brief: Market Study
Background: If you’re a Canadian magazine publisher in search of new readers, it’s hard not to be enticed by the US market, given that it has ten times Canada’s population, few trade restrictions, a shared language, and a fair bit of common social and historical ground. This 2005 study looks at major circulation sources in the United States, including direct mail, subscription agents, the Internet, and cross-promotional partnerships, along with current issues and strategies for success on US newsstands.
Project: London Calling: The Magazine Market in the United Kingdom
Client: British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers
Brief: Market Study
Background: The United Kingdom is Canada’s third largest export market worldwide, and our most important market in Europe, accounting for one-third of all Canada-European Union trade. This 2005 study provides broad recommendations for export development in the UK and a detailed overview of the British magazine market, addressing both major circulation sources and the island’s famously efficient national distribution system for newsstand.
Project: The Made Here, Read Everywhere Campaign
Client: British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers
Brief: Strategy | Advertising | Promotions
Background: The BC Association of Magazine Publishers (BCAMP) represents a diverse group of consumer and trade magazines, so diverse that a main challenge of this project—a public awareness campaign—was to develop a unified message that could speak for all BCAMP members. We built a campaign strategy around the common thread running through all of them regardless of subject or readership: pride of place and connection to BC. The campaign was first introduced in 2006 and extended in 2007. It included magazine placements, outdoor media, animated pre-cinema advertisements, and point-of-purchase collateral—supported by a campaign website and contest promotion.
Project: BC Book & Magazine Week
Client: British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers/Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia
Brief: Media | Promotions
Background: BC Book & Magazine Week is an annual festival that offers dozens of ways for the public to rub shoulders with local writers and publishers. It features readings, workshops, parties, and performances in communities around British Columbia. We worked with the two industry associations that organize the festival to develop media strategies and secure expanded print and broadcast coverage. Beginning in 2006, we incorporated an online outreach program and dedicated blog that added a highly effective viral component to BCBMW promotions.
Project: The Book Retail Sector in Canada
Client: Department of Canadian Heritage
Brief: Market Study
Background: Commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage and conducted in 2007, this study created the first comprehensive overview of the Canadian consumer book market, including the dramatic changes taking place in book retail. The Book Retail Sector in Canada is structured as a collection of linked studies, each of which explores a major aspect of the marketplace: reading and book buying behaviour, the size and composition of the consumer book market in Canada, the traditional book retail channel, the book market in Quebec, non-traditional sales channels, and online book retail.
The Globe and Mail has called the study an “essential reference work” for the industry and policy makers alike.
Project: External Review: Event Magazine
Client: Event Magazine
Brief: Management | Strategy
Background: In a bid to improve its operating effectiveness and long-term viability, Event magazine commissioned this external review of its operations, editorial position, and strategic direction. The review process consisted of an extensive discovery process, two facilitated workshops with the magazine’s staff and advisory board, and one-on-one interviews with staff and members of the advisory board. Findings provided the magazine with a strategic framework for further planning and served as a catalyst for greater engagement with the advisory board and other key stakeholder groups.
Project: Business Plan: Geist Magazine
Client: Geist Magazine
Brief: Management | Strategy
Background: Undertaken over a two-year period of planning and pilot implementation, this project resulted in a comprehensive business plan for Geist, Canada’s most widely circulated literary magazine. It included strategies for expanded fundraising and advertising sales as well as newsstand and subscription sales. We worked closely with the magazine to develop and test many of the ideas in the business plan, and later presented strategies from the plan at a national conference for magazine publishers.
Project: Geist House Advertisements
Client: Geist Magazine
Brief: Advertising
Background: Geist is Canada’s most widely circulated literary magazine. It spearheads many innovative programs and offers for readers, aspiring writers, educators, and others. We developed this series of “house advertisements” (advertisements about the magazine itself) that ran extensively in Geist and also in other Canadian literary magazines.
Project: Magazine Economics and Management 101
Client: Magazines Canada
Brief: Management Training
Background: Magazines Canada is a national association of magazine publishers. The association produces a series of resources for publishers, including Magazine Economics and Management 101. We contributed a chapter on management that explores the functions of management, key organizational strategies, and the nature of leadership in organizations.
Project: New Title Promotion
Client: McClelland and Stewart/Macfarlane, Walter & Ross
Brief: Marketing Strategy
Background: Working closely with the publishing team, we identified non-traditional sales channels, sponsorship opportunities, and cross-promotional partnerships for selected Macfarlane, Walter & Ross titles.
Project: PExOD Business Plan
Client: Simon Fraser University
Brief: Strategy | Marketing
Background: PExOD is a web-based bibliographic database software tool developed as an industry service by the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing (CCSP) at Simon Fraser University. It is designed to allow small and medium-sized publishers to record, access and exchange bibliographic data (i.e., descriptive and trading information about the books they publish) with their business partners according to the international ONIX data standard. We worked with the PExOD team to develop key positioning, operational, and financial strategies for the national launch of this specialized software application.
Project: Writing Assignments: Toronto Life and Saturday Night
Client: St. Joseph Media
Brief: Feature Editorial
Background: From 2004 to 2006, we took on a number of editorial commissions from the editors of Toronto Life and Saturday Night, with subjects ranging from personal finance to online bookselling to a feature interview with Iron Chef Rob Feenie.
Project: Theytus Books Business Plan
Client: Theytus Books
Brief: Strategy | Marketing
Background: Founded in 1980, Theytus Books is the leading First Nations-owned and operated publishing house in Canada. Theytus engaged us to conduct an assessment of the house’s operations and practices; identify opportunities for improvement; and recommend ways the firm could increase its effectiveness in the near term—by building revenues and improving practices to optimize staff time and other key resources. The strategic plan that resulted addressed a number of key areas within the firm, including branding, operations, sales strategy and management, and online marketing.