With the planned closure of the National Defence Air Base in North Bay in the mid nineties and the potential loss of several thousand jobs, the City of North Bay undertook an initiative to attract new business and investment.

The plan included the establishment of an Economic Development Commission to address a number of essential marketing tasks, one of which included a new brand to attract IT and “new economy” businesses that would be able to take advantage of the sophisticated fibre-optics infrastructure that was the legacy of the Defence Department installation. The City retained Kenneth Caplan and Associates Limited to plan and implement the new look and the ensuing marketing program.

Aware of earlier problems that the city encountered with attempts at branding, KC+A organized a series of community forums to introduce the proposed repositioning strategy and provide the opportunity for residents and representatives of business and community organizations to express their views regarding a new image for the City. This process propelled the brand planning process and brought forward key supporters for the new strategy. The implementation continued with the formalization of the brand and development of a comprehensive graphic standards system for its use.

We developed and produced and advertising campaign and marketing supplement which was published in Canadian Business Magazine. The supplement announced the City’s new strategy to attract investment and a focus on education to increase the responsiveness of the city to business needs. An investment weekend was held that brought business visitors to the City for plant tours and open houses.

We spearheaded and published a second marketing supplement that appeared in National Post Business Magazine. It reached a combined audience of subscribers and incremental readers of over one million.