City of Abbotsford

CLIENT:

City of Abbotsford Economic Development (CAED)

Open For Business.

Located in the heart of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford is a city with a lot going for it – a great location, a young and educated workforce, and excellent infrastructure. The City of Abbotsford’s Economic Development Department (CAED) was tasked with putting Abbotsford on the map, in order to attract global business investment. However, they were a relatively new department within the city, and with only a team of three people, they needed some extra help bringing their unique story to the world– and to do this, they turned to Original Ginger.

When their newly appointed Executive Director, Wendy Dupley, reached out to us she was essentially starting from scratch, but with a very clear mandate: be innovative, push the envelope, inspire team members and also potential investors, and demonstrate approachability, community and accessibility. And though Wendy knew they needed a website, she wasn’t yet certain how it could be best utilized. This required a deep dive into their brand strategy. Using our unique, in-depth brand discovery process, we developed a comprehensive brand guide that established a unified theme and style for all their materials, as well as guidelines for content and messaging.

Services:

Brand Strategy
Art Direction
Video Production
Custom Website Design
CSS3 Animation
Illustration
Motion Graphic Design
Mobile Web Development
Print Design
Content Marketing Strategy
Email Marketing
Photography

Building A Business-Friendly Brand.

Using their brand guide as a template, we delivered customized logo design, copywriting, photography and a full collateral package including matching business cards, stationery, letterhead, branded envelopes and office supplies. We then crafted a brand-new website that not only serves as an information and contact point for investors, it also features conditional logic forms and social media sharing tools to increase user engagement and reinforce CAED’s new tagline, “Tomorrow’s Thinking Today”. Then we launched the new website in a big way by developing an award-winning 3D motion graphic video to coincide with both a launch event and the Mayor’s Breakfast.

Forward Thinking.

This initial engagement spanned a full year and equipped the CAED team with compelling brand messaging, unified marketing materials and a website that reflects the city’s progressive thinking. The team was also left with a better understanding of how the website can be used to its utmost advantage, as an essential touchpoint for future investors.

The Executive Director, Wendy Dupley, was so impressed by the results, that over the next five years, she continued to work with us, to help evolve the brand as City of Abbotsford Economic Development (CAED) launched a number of new initiatives. As the CAED team grew, the website needed to evolve. We recently launched their new website with a fresh twist in visuals and messaging, all inspired by the same beautiful branded logo and taglines we created for them at the beginning. Now, they have a more sophisticated look, to match the changes in their branding. We’ve also created several videos to support the Mayor of Abbotsford and the City’s initiatives, as they share their messages about Abbotsford with the world.