Yield Branding

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of marketing for Porsche Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

Yield Branding was responsible for all of our branding, strategy development, creative execution, and high-level media strategy. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding did creative development for all of our launch campaigns, which involve 3–4 new products every year. They handled all the development and management of after-sales marketing campaigns as well; that involved working with a CRM, direct mail, and digital components. They also developed advertising around some of our special projects like driving events. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Brad (CEO) and an account manager. 

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

My predecessor hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent anywhere from $200,000 to $1 million per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Yield Branding was already on board in September 2011. The partnership stopped when we had to move to a global agency of record. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s hard to speak to any specific metrics, but during our time together, all our metrics on digital engagement, lead generation, and sales improved year over year. It was all very positive, especially considering the fact that we occasionally experienced serious budget constraints and extremely tight deadlines.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

I really liked our relationship with their team. My previous challenge with other agencies is getting them up to speed on our brand and products. Yield Branding had been working on our business prior to when I started working with them, so they already fully understood our brand and products. I could roll into any meeting or presentation and get into it without a lot of setup and briefing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Them being small and nimble was important; it allowed them to react and turn things around quickly. They deeply understood our product, brand, and goals as well. They just got it, which made the whole process from the briefing to revisions so much faster. That was so key to our working relationship. They also had the strongest understanding of the after-sales side of the business than anybody I’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In hindsight, there were things we could all have done better. It’s hard for me to point to specific areas though. 

Any advice for potential customers?

The key to any successful working relationship is fit. That applies to the client’s product and the vendor’s services they’re providing for it, as well as the chemistry between both teams. Yield Branding is small and nimble enough for you to be able to tell if it’s a good fit right away. The people you meet in the pitch is the same people you’ll be working with day-to-day.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called ARHT Media, and we are a global leader in holographic telepresence. Effectively, we beam people’s likenesses around the world in real time, and I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

The two challenges we were facing were both repositioning the company to emphasize new products and services that we were offering, as well as increasing our online presence in general.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team took a very methodical and strategic approach from the start, speaking with a number of our clients, prospective clients, and potential customers who chose not to contract in order to get an understanding of our business’ opportunities and core objectives.

From there they recommended some programs and methods of communication tied into branding that we could use to refresh our image on our website, and they gave us some specific SEO strategies for raising the profile of that new content.

What is the team composition?

They had a team approach to the work, including a project manager who was with us from beginning to end. The initial relationship involved their president, who stayed engaged throughout the work, as well as their head of creative who helped guide his team to provide the final recommendations.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We spoke with a couple of agencies for the work, including Yield Branding, who was introduced to us through an existing relationship that the chairman of our company had. Right from the beginning, they seemed to have the best understanding of our business needs and the most enthusiasm about working with our product and brand.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent around $150,000–$175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started around March 2019 and we are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s hard to measure the direct impact of their work because our company is growing so rapidly, but what I can tell you is that the feedback has been extremely positive from everyone who has come into contact with it, from investors to existing clients, and our own internal team.

Everyone is really enthusiastic about the assets we now have to work with because they have dramatically improved our communication in general, which is helping us on our marketing and sales side as well. Typically, when you make a big creative leap, there are people who love it and there are also detractors, but in this case, I don’t think there’s anyone at all who doesn’t like it.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

I wasn’t directly involved in the day to day process of their work, but our project management teams spoke very well of the agency and the working relationship that they established.

One of the things that we liked about them from the beginning was that they weren’t looking to throw everything we had out. They were looking to incorporate some of our better assets, and I think that made things both more efficient but also a lot more positive and collaborative as a whole.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their two key principals have a very long list of experiences in their industry working with big global brands. Because they’re a smaller agency, you get really personal attention, but they can also tap into their experience to provide really high-quality work. Their involvement in the work is extremely valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t think there’s anything, in particular, they could have done to make the project any better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their instincts. Their team has incredible instincts when it comes to strategy and communication. Some of their recommendations were pretty radically different from what we had been doing before, but we embraced that shift and have benefitted significantly because of it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Crazy Canuck Events that produced events such as Mud Hero, which is the largest obstacle running series in Canada. I was the CEO but sold the company a year ago.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We wanted to generate excitement for the company and needed a professional look that people could trust.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding created our website and chose photos for the WordPress platform. Their team helped with the overall branding and appearance of our website. They crafted logos, our messaging, and one of our best YouTube videos, which had almost 20,000 views. Yield Branding also helped with our sales funnel, directing our strategies, users’ interactions, and navigation.

Their team also created a campaign for our fifth anniversary. They created posters, materials for our events, and assets that were available on event sites such as mud meters.

What is the team composition?

I worked with an account manager and the owner of Yield Branding.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

The owner and I had a prior relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $250,000–$400,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in September 2012 and ended the engagement in October 2016 due to budget constraints.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Their team skillfully built the brand, its look, and a sales funnel for our business. We were in a growth phase until 2016 when the market matured. However, we saw a decline that was less than our competitors. We stopped advancing our website, cut budgets, and doubled down on digital efforts but continued with the strategy that Yield Branding developed. The newest company owners use the same strategy that we did.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was definitely a strength of Yield Branding's. Their team was professional and met deadlines. They had excellent communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re creative, out-of-the-box thinkers. Their team was detailed with their requirements. Yield Branding brought an outside perspective that we needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re not as strong with digital advertising as they are with print ads. Their team focuses on branding and creating an exciting look and less on managing day to day digital strategies. They’re not set up to react quickly to digital changes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them. Let them provide you with options but be realistic with your budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a federal agency working on a Canada-wide initiative for a new program that has not yet been rolled out.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We need to develop a new brand for our new organization, and we wanted to have a forward-looking brand that all the employees could be really proud of.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The branding work included a new logo, brand guidelines, and a brand story. Then, we established a visual identity system to communicate those three things. 

They helped develop the things that stand behind the brand — the sum total of perceptions that our stakeholders have about our organization. 

They also conducted a survey of the employees to ask questions about which values they thought the organization should include. Their work included about 20 interviews with key internal and external stakeholders.

Later on, we worked with them again on a project connected to the work we were doing around our vision, mission, and values. They helped create a specific deck for meetings with our board and senior leaders.

What is the team composition?

Ted (President, Yield Branding) and Brad (CEO, Yield Branding) were the key players, and Josie (Senior Account Supervisor, Yield Branding) was our account manager. I really only dealt with those three. We had the same graphics specialist throughout the whole project.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We hired a consultant to give advice on who should be invited to participate in a contest to select a vendor. The consultant helped select four groups that bid on the project. 

We selected Yield Branding for a number of reasons. They had good experience dealing with financial services, and they’d dealt with government agencies. Also, they had performed branding and logo work combined with survey services. Their presentation was very good, and they had a competitive price.

How much have you invested with them?

For the first project, the total value of the contract was probably about $205,000. For the second engagement, we invested about $17,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked from December of 2017 through December of 2018. The second project took place from July to August of 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We haven’t rolled it out to employees yet. However, we’ve gotten very positive feedback from government officials, our board of directors, and senior leadership. They had positive feedback about both the experience and the end result.

They were also quite creative. They helped us hone in on the essence of our brand. A big part of that was the excellent research they set up and conducted with the employees who would be coming on board.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a thorough, professional process for project management. First, they presented a plan about how brand development would proceed. As they started to execute, they were on-time and on-budget. We asked for a couple of extra items and they were able to work with us on those. 

Overall, their account management and billing were very good. They would send a summary each month, which we could discuss before they invoiced us. 

We communicated through face-to-face meetings, telephone, and email on a day-to-day basis. They used a secure portal to showcase information and receive feedback. For example, board members could look at things and comment back. This was very, very helpful for gathering feedback (e.g. looking at drafts of the logo). 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their thorough, professional approach and unique insights about our brand stood out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything was done well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are good listeners. So, make sure you’ve got your key stakeholders in place for them to talk to. A large part of their process is conducting 15–20 stakeholder interviews. They’ll be able to gather valuable insights if they’ve had a chance to interview the right people. 

You should also work really closely with them to make sure you're comfortable with the project timeline. If you tell them what you want to do and when you want it done, they will get it done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the chief of member services for the Ontario Medical Association. I also serve as the CEO of OMA Insurance, a subsidiary of ours. The Ontario Medical Association is the professional association of all doctors in Ontario. We look after their professional and personal interests by providing them with a range of services including insurance, discount programs, and practice management training.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

Our OMA Insurance subsidiary lacked an identity. We evolved a lot in the five years prior to starting with Yield Branding, and we anticipated even more changes in the coming five years. We engaged with Yield Branding to create an identity and a value proposition to our customers. We hoped that the brand would be consistent with the larger parent organization but also be different enough from the parent organization to survive as a standalone identity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding ushered us through their genesis process, which allowed them to meet with our stakeholders and our clients to determine the current state of our brand. Following that, they helped us build our brand pyramid that outlined our overall brand promise and how we’d represent that internally to our employees and externally to our business partners and our clients.

Once the identity was created, Yield Branding designed a new logo and a new design for all of our materials and collateral. While we separately developed a website, Yield Branding helped us determine the tone of our online presence.

What is the team composition?

Our primary contacts were Brad (Founder/Chief Brand Strategist, Yield Branding) and Ted (President, Yield Branding).

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

I worked with them at a past job, and I was impressed by the quality of their work and their understanding of what we were trying to accomplish. We conducted an RFP process, and we invited three finalists for an interview and a presentation. We selected Yield Branding through that process.

How much have you invested with them?

Over several years, we spent around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in 2014, and the bulk of the work was complete within 12–15 months. We worked with them on a retainer for another two or three years. During our time working together, we developed our internal marketing department, so we no longer have them on a retainer basis, but we’ll still work with them on a project-by-project basis if it falls a little beyond the scope of our capabilities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s difficult to determine how much of our success is attributed to this work, but I can highlight that 79% of our members have one or more insurance product through our offerings. We also know that our material gets read because we have a higher open rate, and I receive positive anecdotal feedback. We also had no website before, and now we experience thousands of online visitors a month.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever we missed a deadline, it was likely because the approval process took longer on our end because we were unsure of what we wanted. But we held regular meetings to update the project plan and stay on task. Because of our occasional indecisiveness, they sometimes put more time and effort into specific tasks, but they still honored their original cost estimates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their approach to understand what we’re trying to accomplish. They remain mindful of their client’s clients—the end users—and what they need. The insurance industry can sometimes be full of jargon, and we were a bit too insular at times, so Yield Branding helped us break down our information into language that our customers could easily understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re not a huge international shop, so if that’s what people look for, they can deliver really well within their marketplace. That’s not a big issue for us, but I suspect it could be for other people. Further, when we branched into the digital strategy, we relied on a different firm. Yield Branding has clear creative strengths, but they’re not as strong technologically.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of public engagement for World Vision Canada, an advocacy and relief global organization that works to improve the well-being of children living in poverty in about 100 countries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We engaged Yield to help develop our brand familiarity to help increase donations and contributions that support our work. We needed help defining our brand value proposition and any supporting messaging.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield developed a brand value proposition and initial brand messaging architecture, along with a promotional plan. After doing a deep dive into our brand health and all the research we'd already done, they provided an assessment of our challenges. They then led an exercise that helped us clarify what we wanted to express from a customer-facing perspective and presented recommendations based on their research.

From there, they developed some creatives based on our cause and supported us in working with an external service provider to test the concept. A 24-month promotional plan was developed to attract new audiences and ensure interest and support was maintained from existing audiences.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Ted (President, Yield Branding) and Brad (Founder, Chief Brand Strategist, Yield Branding), as well as a designer and writer.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We researched companies in Canada and considered a few different companies through an RFI process. We liked that Yield had a clear mission, was affordable, and smaller in size so they could give us more personalized attention. As a nonprofit, we also appreciated their experience in the financial sector, providing insight into how people feel about their money.

How much have you invested with them?

We'll invest $150,000–$200,000 by the time we're done.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in July 2018, wrapped up most of the work in November, and continue to work with them on other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The value proposition Yield developed has resonated very well with our targeted audience, performing well from the initial research we've conducted.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They maintain a clear channel of communication, and delivered on their promises within set timeframes. There were just a few times we had to follow up on next steps due to a lack of clarity.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ted and Brad complement each other very well. Brad is very creative, energetic, and passionate, while Ted brings a lot of rigor, research, and customer service to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They work hard to understand the needs of the client.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former vice president of marketing at Giant Tiger stores, a major Canadian food, fashion, and general merchandise retailer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

I was recruited to the organization to help elevate the business. I was assigned a limited budget, resources, and time, and was going up against massive, established competitors whose budget largely exceeded mine.

I needed a strong agency partner that was nimble, entrepreneurial, and that could not only help me to deliver the vision that I was building within the organization for what the brand could be but also help deliver and execute that under some very tight constraints.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They assisted with our branding, advertising campaign, media strategy, customer research, and PR efforts. By the time the management team at our company bought into the vision and strategy we created, we had very little time to execute—under eight weeks. It was a brand-new campaign, and a completely new approach for the business, with its first time ever on television. It truly was one of the most exciting, challenging, and insane experiences I’ve ever had, and Yield Branding was an outstanding partner throughout.

As we received feedback from my business partners and our executive team, we needed to adapt and implement it quickly, which Yield Branding did with excellence. They knew that our competitive marketplace would be watching our every move, so there was no place for error considering our timeline and budget constraints.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their president, Ted Nation, and CEO, Brad Usherwood, as well as with their senior team.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

I had known Yield Branding from the past and brought them into the RFP process along with many other agencies. We went through a test case scenario with all of them and chose Yield Branding as a result.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016 and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

All in all, I’m very proud of not only what Yield Branding put forth, but also of my own team that supported the initiative. We gave women what they wanted in a simple way that resonated with them, which stood out over our competition. Yield Branding was amazing and pushed us hard, which is exactly what one would want from a creative partner. They were honest, had integrity and brilliant ideas, and were able to execute within our timeline and budget, which was short of a miracle.

We have a lot of fun working together. When both sides can be honest and challenging, great ideas and insights come out. It’s always about being customer-centric and never losing sight of that. Yield Branding keeps us very grounded in that.

The strongest metric would be that we achieved the two billion corporate sales revenue mark. We successfully launched or rebranded 15 brands with Yield Branding’s partnership in under three years. All these projects have been very successful, and those businesses continue to thrive and grow.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very aware of our time and budget constraints, and we had an excellent understanding that if anything was to go above, that it needed approval first. They were effective in tracking, monitoring, and helping us make choices. They also helped us understand the financial repercussions of some of our decisions and would tell us where they thought our money could have a greater impact. Their insight and guidance have been valuable. They’re also very financially responsible, which is hard to find in other agency partners.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They went over and above to research our marketplace, at their own cost, to bring that insight to us when we had gaps in our understanding. That level of investment, curiosity, and passion for our business really made me feel that they were not just an agency we hired, but rather a partner in our success. They've been challenging, but in all the right ways, having the confidence to tell us where we can do better and how.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don’t have in-house media, but they did introduce us to a media planning agency that they worked closely with. It isn’t a one-stop-shop situation for us in this sense.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of sales and marketing for an asset management firm based in Canada. We manage hedgefund strategies on behalf of institutional and high net-worth clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We were trying to bring more awareness to our company and further define our brand. We hadn’t put much thought into direct marketing and finding potential clients, so we wanted a team to do a full brand review for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding began by having extensive meetings with our team and tried to understand our business visions and goals. We had a “brown-paper” session in which we brainstormed ideas and generated suggestions. From there, they created materials for us that included a new logo, website, and other marketing collateral. The team helped us find strategies to enhance the global perception of our company.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with Ted (President & Partner, Yield Branding) and Brad (Founder, Yield Branding).

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

We followed a referral and interviewed Yield Branding for the project. We chose them because of the strong interest they took with our ideas. They didn’t try to sell us on an approach they've used with other clients. Instead, their team took the time to understand our business and gave us a personalized offer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the branding review in December 2014, and we wrapped that project up in September 2015. We’re still working with them on other tasks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Around a year and a half into working with Yield Branding, we saw our assets under management double. Additionally, we’ve added a significant number of new clients since beginning our work together.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They excelled at managing workflow, following guidelines, and keeping us updated on progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Yield Branding team has a comprehensive process that works for them, and they molded it to fit our needs. They took the time to understand our business and treated the new client acquisition phase similar to our company's approach.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing I can think of for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Marketing Communications Consultant

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides marketing communications consulting to clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Yield Branding to accomplish?

• Generate leads to the sales force.
• Create awareness and understanding of the UREEQA Inc. and UREEQA Music brands in the marketplace.
• Promote relevant products and services to the diverse target audiences.

SOLUTION

How did you find Yield Branding?

Referral

Why did you select Yield Branding over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Yield Branding were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

1. Review provided intelligence and conduct an environmental scan of the landscape to validate business assumptions and challenges. 
2. Develop a communications strategy and go-to-market tactical plan. 
3. Develop and implement the creative to support execution of the tactical plan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. Paid Media performance 
2. Earned Media uptake 
3. Landing page engagement

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yield clearly communicated very detailed information throughout the project - managing mutual expectations, timing and budget control reports, so there were no surprises. They are very transparent, consulting at the right time and work like a true partner.

What was your primary form of communication with Yield Branding?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are very smart and do their homework. They hit the ground running and really take the time to understand your business. In our case, we were a start-up with an extremely complex communication challenge and little time to get to market. They responded to the challenge with a well-thought-out strategy without cutting corners.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Yield Branding could have done differently?

As a client, I have to admit, my demands were high. They were so flexible and a joy to work with. So I don't believe I have anything to identify here.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director, Development of Ontario Medical Foundation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Ontario Medical Foundation (OMF) is the charitable arm of the Ontario Medical Association. The OMF works to achieve a more equitable, effective, and efficient health-care system in Ontario.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Yield Branding to accomplish?

OMF Rebrand

SOLUTION

How did you find Yield Branding?

Other

Why did you select Yield Branding over others?

Referred to me

What was the size of Yield Branding’s team?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The OMF tasked Yield with coming up with a brand strategy to support our new Case for Support. Yield helped to develop a public facing creative articulation of our strategic platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Key collateral pieces to be developed, including a designed Case for Support, Executive Summary, Image Bank/Graphics, and PowerPoint/Proposal/Report template.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yield worked within our very tight timelines to turn around some fantastic work for the OMF. The team was responsive, attentive to detail, and worked hard to understand our project needs. The team worked extremely hard to deliver results on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Yield Branding?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to take our thoughts and bring them to life creatively was extremely impressive. They took the time to listen, ask questions, and understand our work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Yield Branding could have done differently?

N/A.

UPDATED REVIEW

Wendy Seed

Senior Director, Ontario Medical Association

Healthcare

201-500 Employees

Toronto, Canada

Confidential

$200,000 to $999,999

May 2019 - Ongoing

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director for member communications and marketing at the Ontario Medical Association. My role is to manage all the marketing and brand management as well as oversee a number of communications channels with our members online and offline. 

The OMA is the provincial body that represents all physicians in the province of Ontario, which is the largest province in the country, with the largest number of doctors. Our role is to represent them with the government in negotiating pay. We also provide them with other services to support their everyday business, professional life, medical qualifications, maintenance, and advocacy in some personal life support, too.

We do a lot of public marketing, advertising, and market research with our members being our primary targets. We also do a lot of work in terms of strengthening the brand of physicians with the public so that it keeps us strong in negotiating with the government.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yield Branding?

We needed a go-to agency for a couple of projects, so we hired Yield Branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yield Branding had already been working with our sub-brand, OMA Insurance. We are a nonprofit, but we create and curate insurance programs for our members so that they can get business and personal life insurance at good rates, which we negotiate on a group basis. They had been doing a lot of product marketing for the insurance programs for a couple of years already.

When I came in, the program people had created a brand new product, which is a group retirement plan for physicians in Canada, the first of its kind. We wanted to create a really good marketing plan for that, which Yield Branding has worked on. 

There was also a master brand. We had to create an ongoing project to support the continuous efforts of building the brand of physicians. This meant going out with a message that was relevant but not necessarily tied to any specific call to action. Yield Branding has created something for us, The Value of Doctors campaign, which is completely tested and evidence-based. It was launched in January 2020, and it was in the market for a month before we had to pull it. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Ted (Partner & President) but Brad (Founder, Head of Strategy & Creative) is our key guy. He is phenomenal. We have worked with project managers and creative folks. My team works very closely with Yield Branding, so I would say there are about 6–7 members that we have worked with.

How did you come to work with Yield Branding?

Yield Branding was already the agency of record when I started at the OMA. They had been with the OMA previously for about a year or so, hired by a predecessor of my boss, but I had worked with Yield Branding for a different configuration 25 years ago.

All the agencies’ contracts were up last year so we had to go to market according to our procurement rule. They competed with a whole bunch of other people and won the ad agency vendor of record competition by a mile. It was not just because they showed all the work that we had been doing with them, but because they showed that they had all the capabilities that we were looking for.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in May 2019, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Even though we were only out for a very short time, the branding had a huge impact with the public and especially in advance of a pandemic. We won a bunch of awards for that campaign, and what’s more is that people really, really connected with it. It was almost like it was a good primer for COVID-19.

After a week in the market, at least a quarter of Ontarians had seen at least one of the ads. Three quarters described their overall reaction towards all the ads as very or somewhat positive. Even many of those who were not satisfied with the healthcare system and those who have less trust in doctors said they had an overall positive impression of the ads. 

All three ads scored 75% or more for believability, personal importance, and relevance. There was really good awareness and high positivity after a week. It had an impact on shifting perceptions of doctors, with 44% of Ontarians who said they had a more positive impression after seeing the ads, including 27% who were unfavorable towards doctors initially.

How did Yield Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They are brilliant. I don’t think I have ever seen an agency manage projects so well. I can’t speak highly enough about them. End to end, the creative strategy, project management, and the courage of their convictions were solid.

I think we have met pretty much everybody that works on the account more than a couple of times. They aren’t one of these agencies where you only see the CEO and the creative head; you get to see whoever is working on the business.

Yield Branding shares my philosophy that whoever is working on something needs to understand and needs to be present when in discussions. I don’t want to have people second-guessing how to translate what anyone on my team has told them, and then they have to go back and tell their team. It is sometimes more efficient to have everyone in the room.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was really impressed with how they went about the branding strategically and creatively. Yield Branding is honest and courageous. They don’t take any guff from us, and I mean that in the best possible way. If we start going down a rabbit hole that doesn’t meet with our objectives or our strategy, they will bring us back, keeping us on task and on strategy.

They make us feel like they are taking really good care of our business. They really care about doing a great job for us and really care about bringing their best game. It’s not difficult to have a heart for the work that we do because we represent 43,000 people who are saving lives every day. 

They put so much effort into everything, and I feel like they are an extension of my team. I don’t feel like they are listening because they have to or because we pay them to; I feel like they are listening because they really want to contribute to the work that we are doing.

I had previously worked in the government for 20 years and in the health sector which had a 25-million-dollar annual marketing budget — unheard of anywhere else. We had a lot of money to spend and as a result, I got to work with the best agencies in the country and Ontario. I was impressed by Yield Branding because they had matched anyone I had worked with during that time as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have difficulty finding anything. I would be nitpicking.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest and forthright with them, and appreciate their honesty and forthrightness back to you. They will never bring you back something that is off your brief. They will always stretch the limit, and they will always bring you ideas that you didn’t think you needed. You need to give them latitude to do that because they will listen and will manage your business. 

Brad himself comes in really handy in that he has real courage when it comes to presenting his creative ideas. There are times where I wasn’t sure I could get behind something, but he won’t stamp his feet and dig his heels in. Instead, he will give it his best shot, which is what I like about Brad in particular. He is awesome.

RATINGS
Overall rating: 5
Quality: 5
Cost: 5
Schedule: 5
Willing to refer: 5