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    Toronto, Canada
    416.366.7735

We Make News.

4.8
3 reviews

Strategic Objectives is Canada’s most award winning public relations agency. Headquartered in Toronto, with associates across the country, we partner with our big brand clients to create breakthrough, integrated marketing strategies that cut through the clutter with effective communications that make good news, build positive awareness and drive sales.

Our Strategic Objectives team of master storytellers has a proven-successful track record of building, maintaining and protecting brands.

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$10,000+
 
$100 - $149 / hr
 
10 - 49
 Founded
1983
Show all +
Toronto, Canada
headquarters
  • Strategic Objectives
    184 Front Street East Suite 400
    Toronto, ON M5A4N3
    Canada
    416.366.7735

Reviews

4.8
3 reviews
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Public Relations for Trampoline Company

"They really understand how a brand can benefit from creating relationships with bloggers and influencers."

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4.5

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.5
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Mar. - Sept. 2017
Project summary: 

Looking to widen their brand awareness and consumer reach in Canada, a trampoline company solicited Strategic Objectives to generate earned media impressions, blog posts, and overall social engagement.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Markham, Ontario
Director of Marketing, Trampoline Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Earning over 100 media stories and social interactions, Strategic Objectives met the business objective and exceeded expectations. Their talented team is unique from others in that they take the time to understand the market and will clarify questions before delivering solid PR strategies.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for a sports brand with branches in North America and Europe. We sell trampolines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Objectives?

We were looking to grow our brand awareness in Canada. We have pretty strong brand awareness and we always have new customers that come into the market. We wanted to capitalize on some things that were happening within Canada around the Canada 150 celebrations and we wanted to leverage our athlete ambassador. We asked Strategic Objectives to help us create a program that would reach our target demographic that was fun and a little outside the norm of what we would do.

One of the big goals that we have in marketing is to have customers try all of our products. Integrating a trial program within the larger scope of our reach, Strategic Objectives was able to help us deliver a strong PR program that helped us reach our goals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The process was pretty straightforward and easy to follow. We had a couple of discovery sessions where Strategic Objectives got to really know the brand, the players, and what our objectives were. They were really good at coming back and refining the objectives and making sure that we were all aligned. From there, they created a couple of options for us within our budget and our scope. They came up with three programs and told us we could mix and match and create a custom solution if there were areas within each program that we liked. We liked two big ideas that they had and we combined them into a final plan which we then executed.

The deliverables were to reach impressions through earned media as well as have the opportunity to get our product in front of as many people as we could so they could try our products. We have three core markets in Canada and we needed to make sure that we focused in on those three. Strategic Objectives delivered on reach. They delivered on the trial opportunities and definitely did a really great job of weaving in our athlete ambassador into all of our key messaging and outreach.

What is the team dynamic?

Our primary contact was Taylor [Account Manager, Strategic Objectives]. We also worked with Michael [Vice President, Strategic Objectives]. Deb [Co-founder and Partner, Strategic Objectives] was involved a little bit behind the scenes. Then there was a young woman named Mia [Strategic Objectives] who was more of a coordinator on the backend for us. The entire team was fantastic.

Taylor is very on top of details. He is engrained in the program and he knows everything that’s going on. He’s very proactive in giving updates along the way. Any time that we ran into any kind of bump in the road around our plan, he always came back with a solution or a different approach that we could take to make sure that we’re still delivering on the objective. He was a really great partner.

Michael was really great from a strategic standpoint, making sure that we were delivering on the strategy and the brand deliverables. Mia was also great. She was involved in a lot of the execution details and even showed up at one of our trial events. She did a fantastic job of helping manage the employees and making sure that the event went off without a hitch. The whole team was fantastic. We had a really great time working with them.

How did you come to work with Strategic Objectives?

Last year, we worked with a small boutique agency in California for the spring and summer season. We were launching a new product in 2016 in the Canada and U.S. so we needed a new team that was across the border and that was a little bit bigger than the team was had in the U.S. prior. We needed to upgrade the resource side, so we contracted a larger, multi-national company. That relationship ended after the product was launched because it was very expensive and unsustainable.

When 2017 rolled around, we thought there was a big opportunity with Canada 150. We also wanted to leverage the fact that our sponsored athlete was just coming off of winning a second gold medal in the Olympics. Strategic Objectives is a company that I've known for a while. We reached out to them and it ended up working really well for both parties.

I met with Michael [Vice President, Strategic Objectives] in 2008 at a different company. He helped me with another retail brand that I was working on at the time and he did an amazing job for us. When it came to looking for a new provider in 2017, I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in pitching in. It was the ongoing relationship I've had with them over the last decade that really helped me make the decision. It was a great fit. They understood the needs. They could scale the project up and down for us based on budgetary requirements. It just made sense to work with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $65,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017 until September 2017. We are working with them to discuss 2018 plans going forward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From a statistical standpoint, Strategic Objectives generated about 117 earned media stories, about 18-20 blog posts through influencers, and a whole bunch of social media mentions for us. From a quantitative standpoint, they’ve done a phenomenal job and exceeded our expectations. From a qualitative standpoint, the stories and feedback we heard back from our target audience about the programs were all extremely positive. The engagement that we saw with the program on our social channels was a really great indicator that the program was being delivered successfully and that it was resonating with our target audience.

Overall, I believe that the earned media Strategic Objectives generated for us had a huge effect on our results in terms of the sales numbers we’ve seen in this last quarter.

How did Strategic Objectives perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic. Taylor [Account Manager, Strategic Objectives] was on top of every detail of our account and our program. There was never a point in time where I didn’t know what was going on or I was out of the loop of what they were working on. They had weekly meetings with us by phone to give us status updates. They used a lot of project management tools to send documents back and forth of what we've accomplished that week and what we would work on next week.

Anytime there was a bump in a road, Taylor was the first one to pick up the phone and deliver some bad news and come up with the solution of how we could fix it. I have no complaints at all. We were very much kept in the loop with what they were doing. I was very impressed by the hours and the time that they committed and invested into our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a lot of due diligence to understand the partner they’re working with and to understand what their business objectives are. A lot of PR agencies are just about media pitching or getting a bunch of influencers together to get a story out. Strategic Objectives is really good at doing the research upfront and if they have any questions during that process, they're great at clarifying instead of just assuming, which I think sets them apart from a lot of other agencies.

They have spent a lot of years working on and honing their influencer blogger relationships, which is another thing that sets them apart. They're not a very traditional PR agency in that they only do earned media. They really understand how a brand can benefit from creating relationships with bloggers and influencers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The big thing I’m hoping for in 2018 is to come up with bigger ideas and really challenge our thinking to come up with things that might scare us a little bit but that we can still try. There are no major changes I would suggest for Strategic Objectives, but I would appreciate hearing from them some bigger, newer, more interesting ideas for us to build on in 2018.

4.5
Overall Score I’m extremely satisfied with the service that we got and the deliverables that we got. There’s always room for improvement. There were a couple of bumps in the road, but we sorted them out and still delivered.
  • 4.5 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They had some turnover in people that set us behind a little bit. The program was still executed on time and met the objective, but it was something that unfortunately happened during our project timeline.
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    If I benchmark them against other agencies, they’re not the cheapest. They’re not the most expensive either. The value that we got for the cost was well worth it.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    There was no point in the execution of our program that I ever had any issues or concerns with what they were delivering to us.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    For sure. I have no issues recommending them to anybody.

Public Relations for Tissue Product Manufacturer

"In terms of creativity and innovation, they go beyond what one could expect."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.5
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
2003 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

In collaboration with other agencies and suppliers, Strategic Objectives has served as the primary PR provider for a tissue company, aiding them in media outreach, impressions, and other metric-based objectives.

The Reviewer
 
201-500 Employees
 
Canada
VP of Marketing, Tissue Product Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

When partnering with Strategic Objectives, the team members they dedicate to the project include their top executives and main leadership. Results-driven and committed to business objectives, the SO team works hard to ensure their projects' success can be measured on a quantitative scale.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a manufacturer and marketer of tissue products. We are Canada’s number one tissue company and we are number one in the consumer product spectrum. We are also a sizeable player in the United States. We market key trademark brands and provide private label consulting and products to specific retailers in North America.

I’m the corporate vice president of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Objectives?

Strategic Objectives was brought in on a pitch several years ago and the challenge was a brand name transition. Our organization bought another large paper company in 1997. We had a ten-year period to transition brand names, knowing that one of our competitors could possibly re-enter the marketplace in that period.

As a specific example, we were marketing the leading brand in Canada at that time. I was brought in to not only decide on what names the brand would be, but to also come up with the strategy and the programs that we would implement within a five-year spectrum to defend our brand against this imminent threat and to maintain our market share at that time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The process began with having us present as detailed a brief as possible. We had a very exhaustive brief on the category, the business, our competitors, our vision, our plans, and a lot of consumer insights. Beginning with the insight that we had, we integrated Strategic Objectives into our mix of other partners and suppliers. We work collaboratively with ad agencies, public relations firms, and packaging suppliers, so some of our key partners at that time were brought in to make sure that our marketing elements were connecting seamlessly to our consumers. This is one of the key benefits of working with a team like Strategic Objectives. They embrace this concept and they work well with our other partners. Often times, we don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, but in the end, it’s really a synergistic effect that is highly efficient for us as a client.

What is the team dynamic?

One of the benefits of working with Strategic Objectives is that we get to work with their top executives. Deb Weinstein [President, Strategic Objectives] has been a key element of continuity for us. She is a great mastermind behind the thought process, writing, creativity, and even the execution. She has a range of other people that have been working on our projects, and we feel very fortunate that we’ve had a key senior person involved.

How did you come to work with Strategic Objectives?

Strategic Objectives was one of several different groups that specialize in the area of expertise we needed. Strategic Objectives was brought in from a public relations mandate to help us understand how we could exploit the name we had decided on. Strategic Objectives came in through an RFP with several other contenders of leading firms in Canada and they were the best of the best. They were the most innovative and creative and they won the business without having done any work for a company before. They introduced a campaign that is still running 14 years later and they have delivered to our group exceptional programs, continuous innovative thinking, and seamless execution with tangible results.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Strategic Objectives in 2002. Since then, they’ve grown as an organization and have evolved to become a best practice agency. Their business has grown with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very metric-based. At the conclusion of one of our big events, we go through the specific KPIs. From the outset, we will articulate an objective, whether it be in terms of impressions, a measure of a public relations score, or a cost per thousand. We’ve augmented those scores each year as we get more ambitious. In many instances, those measures have been presented in different cases and awards shows. Obviously, there are some intangible measures that speak to the success we’ve had with Strategic Objectives, but the specific metrics are what we rely on the most.

How did Strategic Objectives perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s seamless. Their team is highly organized and very well run. They’re an independent team and we trust them implicitly. They’re always hiring third parties to execute for us. To manage our projects, we have tight time tables and work schedules. Strategic Objectives has installed classic management systems that have worked well. They are also brilliant in execution. I have worked with other public relations agencies and advertising agencies that often time are flawed in their execution. Strategic Objectives is flawless at execution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they are exceptional in terms of their passion for excellence. They deliver exactly what they say they are going to do. The passion they have trickles down to all levels within the organization and it’s contagious. Second, they are distinct for their commitment to measurable results. They are not a qualitative group. You can say that something looks and feels good but when you work on KPIs, that is how you truly measure your success. Strategic Objectives will come in with quantifiable, specific measurables. Finally, in terms of creativity and innovation, they go beyond what one could expect. They bring brilliance, a really smart sense of style, and an evolving knowledge and insight of the consumer with every project they take on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.5 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Social Media & PR for Cosmetics Company

"It’s been an absolute delight to be working with them again."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
3.5
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
June 2017 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

For the past few months, Strategic Objectives has been the PR lead for a cosmetics company, working to manage their social media campaigns and maintain relationships with influencers in their industry.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Montreal, Canada
Director of External Communications, Cosmetics Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Awarded the best agency of the year for the last six years, Strategic Objectives is one of the strongest providers in the PR and social media fields. Their professional demeanor reflects directly on the quality of work they produce, confirming the trust their clients have in them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Right now, I’m working at a cosmetics company that encompasses four separate sub-brands. I am the director of external communications, public relations, and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Objectives?

I’ve worked with Strategic Objectives not only in my new role, but also at a past role with a separate cosmetics company based in the UK. In my current role, I wanted to work with Strategic Objectives to help us to better manage our social media platform within one of our sub-brands.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

What I love about Strategic Objectives is that they’re a seasoned group of professionals. Everything that they present is always buttoned up to the tee. Before hiring them to work with my current company, they came down and gave us a presentation of their capabilities deck. They showed us what they were able to do for our sub-brand and they also highlighted what they as a company have been doing over the last 30 years.

What was really refreshing was that they kept their presentation at a very high level and tailored it to results. At the end of the day, we are really interested in determining how we are going to address the success of these campaigns once we’re done with them. I like that they were able to hit every nail on the head beginning with coming in very well prepared, giving us a proposal that makes sense, and then tracking their results to ensure that we met or exceeded our expectations.

The process was a lot of back and forth. We wanted to come up with an influencer social media campaign. Strategic Objectives came in to put together a list of influencers that we then had to approve with our team. We really appreciated that they are actually in the field day in and day out, talking with the different influencers. We were really leaning on them heavily to give us good recommendations when it came to influencers. The fact that they were managing those relationships made it that much more interesting for us as well.

What is the team dynamic?

What I love most about Strategic Objectives is that Judy Lewis [Founder, Strategic Objectives], who is one of the presidents there, is heavily involved in everything, including all of the projects that we’re working on. For me, that makes me feel much more secure because I know that she knows exactly what’s going on with all of our projects. We also work with Adriana Lurz [Vice President, Strategic Objectives] who’s the vice present and we’ve also been working with Vanessa Powell [Account Manager, Strategic Objectives].

How did you come to work with Strategic Objectives?

I had worked with Strategic Objectives at a prior cosmetics company. With that company, their brand was really built on public relations and Strategic Objectives had been working with them for over 30 years which I think is quite exceptional in this day and age. I was able to work with them while doing PR for about four years.

When I was moving into my current position, I was not considering any other PR firms besides Strategic Objectives. What I love about them is that not only do they specialize in PR, but they also do social media. They are just an extremely seasoned agency.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I just started working at this new cosmetics company about three months ago. I think it’s safe to say that it was roughly three months ago that we started talking with Strategic Objectives and we awarded them the business on two of our campaigns. Our partnership with them is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At this point, we do not have any metrics just yet because our campaigns are still in motion. However, while I was working at my past firm, there were numerous campaigns that we worked on with Strategic Objectives. One of them was a campaign we did to stop sex trafficking of children and young people. We had a huge media event in Ottowa where our president at the time did a press conference. There were tons of media outlets there and we went to Parliament Hill to really work towards changing the law in the effort to stop sex trafficking of children and young people.

Through our company's efforts and through the public relations we did with the help of Strategic Objectives, the government actually said that they were willing to invest $25 million over the four years to really put a plan in place to stop sex trafficking. We feel really proud of that event because we really helped to elevate the voice of that campaign and we also won an award for that campaign. It was a big moment for us as a brand and as collaborators.

How did Strategic Objectives perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re extremely quick. They’re on it. With PR, we need be reactive and extremely fast in sending out an email and getting a reply, whether it be 7:00 PM Saturday night or first thing Monday morning at 9:00 AM. Strategic Objectives understands the way we have to work which is an extremely fast paced environment. They love it.

We mainly correspond over the phone and through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I really love about Strategic Objectives is that they are an award-winning agency. There are not too many agencies out there in PR and social media that could really say that they continuously win awards. If I’m not mistaken, I think they won agency of the year for the last five or six years which I think is pretty impressive. That alone I think speaks volumes for them as an agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes I feel that the way they go about managing their business might be a bit too corporate. I think they could relax a bit in terms of the way they handle themselves as an organization. With Strategic Objectives, you definitely get the sense that they are serious about their business, but sometimes it can be perceived as too corporate.

5.0
Overall Score It’s been an absolute delight to be working with them again and to be making magic happen again in social media.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They never missed a deadline. If anything, they will present to me earlier than anticipated.
  • 3.5 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    They are good on the price. I do feel at times that they are pricey, but in the same breath it’s also reflected in the work that they are providing us with.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    Every campaign that I’ve worked on with Strategic Objectives has exceeded expectations.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    It’s with great pleasure and honor that I would recommend Strategic Objectives to any of my fellow PR and social media people in the industry.