R&G Strategic

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Communications Coordinator for Rayleigh Solar Tech. A cleantech startup based in Halifax, Nova Scotia that is working to commercialize the next generation of solar technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire R&G Strategic?

Our website was no longer serving us. It got the job done in our company's early days, but it was no longer representing us as a company, which made it difficult to reach our key audiences. We enlisted R&G's help to create a new website that was hosted on a more accessible platform, that better represented who we are and what we do.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We wanted to work with someone local to us. Out of the two options we identified, it was clear that R&G had the expertise we needed, and shared our company's values. They also made it clear that they were excited to work with us, which made us excited to work with them.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project began with a discovery meeting where we worked together to outline everything we needed in our new website. From there, wireframes were developed, and we filled them out with photos and text.

Once we had a version that fully represented us, the website was moved from R&G's servers and launched on our own domain. Once the website was launched, a training session was conducted so myself and my team members could competently maintain the website on our own.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with four members of the team on this project:

• Andrew Chaisson - Designer and Strategist
• Sarah Riley - Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
• Liz Gosselin - Founder and Chief Creative Officer
• Jayde McPhee - Junior Strategist

Riley and Liz led our discovery session and kept us on track while identifying needs we didn't realize we had. For the rest of the process, we worked very closely with Andrew and Jayde. Andrew took the lead, and we had weekly meetings. He was very responsive to all of our requests, and offered great guidance to make sure the finished product had everything we needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our new website was beautiful! It is already serving us well. It has prompted a number of media inquiries, and helped us find talented new additions to our team. We receive far fewer emails requesting services we do not provide, because our website now properly communicates who we are and what we do.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow on this project was so effective that the project was finished weeks ahead of schedule! Using a combination of email, Slack, Google Drive, and InVision, we were able to communicate well, and share ideas and files with ease.

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

The most impressive part of this process was when I phoned Riley one afternoon in December and said "we just learned that we have a big announcement coming up the first week of February.

Would it be possible to bump up the website launch by an entire month so it's ready in time for our announcement" and without skipping a beat, Riley said "we can make it happen". The project was already a couple weeks ahead of schedule at that point, but they were able to accelerate it even further without sacrificing the quality of the finished product.

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

I honestly can't think of anything they could have done differently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Mine Shift Foundation. We work within the mining industry, but we’ve branched into other industries as well. We focus on workplace culture, teaching company members about allyship and bystander intervention in the workplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with R&G Strategic?

We originally started operating in 2018 under a different name. We just wanted to start a conversation within the mining industry about the workplace challenges that women, specifically, were facing in mining for being a male-dominated industry.

Through years of growth, we heard from a lot of men who had experienced inappropriate behaviors in the workplace. Additionally, the LGBTQ community was also facing challenges, so we came up with the bystander intervention training because no one was really teaching companies about that.

When we approached mining companies, they were really excited about what we were doing, but they were hesitant about our name, so we knew we had to rebrand ourselves. Thus, we reached out to R&G Strategic to help us with a new name and branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

R&G Strategic helped us come up with our new name and branding, including our new branding materials. Among other deliverables, we now have a letterhead, a full set of business cards for all of our directors, and a branding materials package, including banner templates, for the conferences we will have this spring or early summer. Currently, They’re also working on a PowerPoint template for us.

R&G Strategic has taught us a lot of things along the way about company names, logos, and branding. Throughout this process, they’ve also given us enough options to choose from for every deliverable. Some of those choices were difficult because we strongly liked at least two of the options. However, those were decisions that R&G Strategic helped us make.

The set of deliverables created by R&G Strategic so far is just the first stage of our rebranding process. We’re now looking forward to working with them on other stages to create branding assets for our website and other materials we need, but we need more funding to continue.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two main people from R&G Strategic. Andrew (Designer), who has acted as the project manager, leading a lot of the presentations, and Liz (Co-Founder & Chief Creative Director). We’ve also worked with Sarah (Chief Strategic Officer), who has popped now and then, overseeing the process to see how things are going.

How did you come to work with R&G Strategic?

R&G Strategic was a referral from another association. We reached out to a few different companies, including them, and we really liked the work they were doing. They also came back to us very excited about the project. We had a very short timeline, and they had the capacity to meet it, so we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

This first stage of the project has cost around $5,000. As we’re a nonprofit organization, R&G Strategic has worked with us around our budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first contact with R&G Strategic was around November 2021, and we started working with them in December 2021. They’re still working on the PowerPoint presentation, which should be ready in the next few days.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had very positive feedback from the mining industry about our new name, whereas some mining companies were hesitant about working with us before. Rebranding was a big move for us; it led us to serious conversations with important companies. For example, we’re in the negotiation phase with a couple of the larger mining companies in Canada. We have no contracts signed yet, but we’re very optimistic about our future.

Mine Shift members are mainly geologists and engineers, so we’d never been through a rebranding process before. Thus, working with R&G Strategic has also been a really educative and amazing process for us.

How did R&G Strategic perform from a project management standpoint?

R&G Strategic’s project management is excellent; we’ve been really happy with everything they’ve presented to us. When they’ve delivered something we’ve felt uncomfortable about, we‘ve given them feedback, and they’ve changed it.

On occasions, R&G Strategic resorted to some of the stereotypical mining emblems we didn’t want to see because they were very easy to go to. However, they understood and listened to us, and we were then presented with something that reflected the high level of interest we were looking for.

We communicate via email and online meetings, and we’ve also used an online data transfer site.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It is impressive how well R&G Strategic has listened to everything we’ve needed, wanted, and didn’t want; it has been a very positive part of the experience. They didn’t have any preconceived notions about what they were going to deliver. Instead, they listened to us and delivered something that fits our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything R&G Strategic could improve on. We’re really happy with everything they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before working with R&G Strategic, we had many meetings within our organization to talk about our vision and what we were looking for from this process. Everyone had the chance to provide input so that we could create our mission, vision, and values statements, and we discovered that we were all on the same page, focusing on the same ideals and goals. Going through a process like this is a key part of any rebranding project so that you can understand your company’s true mission.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Tier 1 Canadian Financial Services Brand

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire R&G Strategic?

Activation at North America's largest green and healthy living show with a reach of 30,000 people

What were your goals for this project?

Raise awareness of the organization's efforts in the space of sustainability and financial services

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Creating a pavilion with branding and activations ranging from interactive quizzes, seminars etc.

What was the team composition?

Marketing managers, Director of Strategy

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Development of key assets

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Effective communication and management of expectations

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their execution was strong across the board.

Are there any areas for improvement?

More formal tracking of takeaways from meetings