A significant municipal issue in Edmonton right now is affordable housing, and specifically the need for more of it. The City of Edmonton has plans to add quite a number of new affordable housing units in the coming years, but is aware of some resistance to the idea, mostly from people who don’t want it to be
near them.

There is a significant body of research that shows that affordable housing in an area—if done well and kept to minority of housing units in any one area—actually confers social benefits to the area and doesn’t negatively impact property values.

As such, the City of Edmonton recently hired us to design and build an information sharing campaign around affordable housing. We started with a market research exercise where we identified the primary oppositions that people have to affordable housing in their area, and then, based on solid academic studies, provided information to help assuage peoples’ fears. Our work included a website, online ads, an explanatory video, posters, postcards, and a
media launch event.

Most cities don’t see $5 billion worth of investment in their core in 20 years - we’ll see it in 5. It’s hard to even appreciate what that means for us. What is $5 billion?

Well, for starters, it is a whole bunch of traffic headaches, road closures and sidewalk detours. It’s confusion and unpredictability. It’s unanswered questions and a bunch of rumors about what’s going to happen when, which alley is closed this week, and who couldn’t get into their parkade yesterday.

 But it’s also a buzz - a gentle rumble that’s created by the thousands of people pulling in the same direction. A collaboration between the City, developers, business owners and the people who live, shop and spend time in the core. We’ve had a sense, for a long time, that this City wasn’t what it could be - that it was underperforming. Not any more. A decade of change and change agents has brought the core to the cusp of something pretty incredible.

 Our job was to build messaging strategies and a creative platform that would allow the collaborators to communicate using a unified, upbeat voice. Strategies that help to proactively address questions and concerns, and a platform that expressed the celebratory, future-focused nature of this change.

Community Pot-luck / Ground-breaking event

The Ritchie Market is a unique project that reinvigorates the idea of a “local” by creating a place that serves as a community hub. Set to house some of Edmonton’s most beloved local businesses, the multi-use building is a neighbourhood-centric project in one of Edmonton’s oldest communities. Berlin was hired to provide strategic counsel on how to introduce the Ritchie Market to the community, provide event implementation and media relations.  

Like a new neighbour, we wanted to introduce Ritchie Market to the community and its residents in a way that was friendly and welcoming. We reconsidered the idea of a stuffy ceremonial ground-breaking and instead invited residents to our community pot-luck. Serving BBQ from ACME meat market, coffee from Transcend, and sweet bike rides from Velocity Cycle (all future Ritchie Market vendors) to residents and well-wishers in the area.  Project leaders Greg Zeschuk and Poul Mark were also on hand to meet the neighbours and answer any questions people might have regarding the development. The event was featured on multiple news outlets and generated buzz on social media, but perhaps the biggest success was getting into the community and receiving their support for the project - making the event more than just a groundbreaking but more of a “welcome home”.

Formerly known as the Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families (AASCF), Align is an umbrella group of front-line agencies that provide contracted services for Alberta children and families. After 48 years, the organization had become a bigger, stronger and more confident body that needed an update to its brand (all of it).

We hosted facilitated sessions with the executive board and the membership to discuss the organization, its current direction and its future objectives. As good things often come unexpectedly, the name Align came out of conversation:

“When all the moving pieces come together perfectly and just work. It was like the stars were aligned…”

We explored a host of other ideas, but ultimately, it was from that conversation that the name Align was born. Just as stars cluster around each other, a collective like Align is a group of entities that work together to achieve a common objective.

The visual platform and identity we developed to support the brand alludes to constellations by referencing star trails. These connections represent the movement and accessibility of Align in an expressive and open way.
 

The Base is 16,000 square feet of advanced training, sports therapy and injury recovery. Big and bold in its approach, it needed an identity and space design that reflected the ambition and energy of the space.

Our role started early: naming it, building the logo and developing a plan for the interior of the space. We designed many elements – illustrations of the training philosophy, neon signs… - but the piece with the most significant impact was the feature wall, where we were given carte blanche.

We also designed and executed a media strategy that included earned media and both online and non-traditional out-of-home ads.

Online, we structured the campaign in two flights: One to build awareness, and a later one designed as a call to action. For out-of-home, the client had identified elite under-18 hockey players as a key audience, so we took over series of walls at the arena in town where all of those athletes pass through. While they play all over the city, Bill Hunter Arena is known as a hotspot, and one that those athletes are likely to visit at times throughout the season.

“18 Recreation Centres. Endless Possibilities.”

The City of Edmonton Recreation Centres act as community hubs and provide Edmontonians across the city with a wide variety of health and recreation opportunities. However, with new recreation centres opening year after year, facilities became disconnected and inconsistent in their individual branding practices. In order to help our client unify these facilities while still communicating the uniqueness of their individual offerings, we developed a modular visual identity system for the overall Recreation Centres brand that could be adjusted to reflect the different types of facilities.

In addition to a logo, the system includes a colour palette, graphic shapes and textures. All of these elements work together to both strengthen each facility’s own identity and identify them as part of a unified network.

The Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission (ACRWC) is a waste water transmission network providing wastewater services to 13 municipalities in the Alberta Capital Region.

ACRWC wanted to hold a media event for the launch of its new $19 million dollar pump station in St. Albert. We were hired to plan and execute the media event - which invited media and community members to tour the facility and learn more about system operations. To further help knowledge translation and increase public understanding of the pump station we also built a visual vernacular and 3D renderings that were on display around the perimeters of the facility.  

A long-time client, River Valley Health was embarking on a new (and wonderfully ambitious) venture.

Applying their unique 43/22 system to 16,000 square feet of rehab and performance training. 

Step one was introducing the idea and philosophy to their committed and passionate client base, and we did that in a way that made heroes out of athletes that work with RVH (and, for the record, RVH believes that we are all athletes). 

We worked to find a balance between aspirational and achievable - between strength and humility. And, in the end, we created a takeaway that include both a fold-out poster of their athletes and a booklet describing the practice and principles that have made them an industry leader - and the reason that Olympic athletes and world champions seek them out.

Representing employees of the City of Edmonton, Edmonton Public Libraries, The Telus World of Science, EPCOR and Capital Power, CSU 52 recently issued a request for proposals for design and development of a new website. Our response to that RFP diverged from the scope of work that it outlined.

Rather than diving into sitemapping, our response to the RFP laid out a process of consultation with their members designed to begin the kind of dialogue that is necessary if they are to meaningfully evolve to better serve their membership. 

We started with a member engagement process, designed to begin the meaningful dialogue with their members. We drew on our experience in stakeholder consultation and brand communication to design a process that would set the stage for this organization to evolve. 

We believe that they hired us because we pushed hard on “why”. We worked with them to understand what was lacking and what they could do to get where they wanted to get to. We didn’t simply design a website - we needed to help them learn about, build and strengthen the relationships they had with their audiences.

We conducted a series of workshops focus groups and member consultations with and for them, and we developed a new identity system. We completed a web strategy and web design, and developed their new online presence.

Steeped in the skateboard and punk scene of 80’s and 90’s, Aaron’s career started with a revelation: that he was better at capturing the moment than creating it. Realizing early that he’d never land an inverted heelflip, he started exploring photography by documenting his community. 

 His curiosity and the opportunity to uncover truths about his clients and subjects drive his photography and film. He has shot people like Romeo Dallaire, Henry Rollins, Elvis Costello and Cadence Weapon, and his work has appeared in publications like The Guardian, British Vogue and Observer Music Monthly. 

We work with Aaron a lot, and when he came to us to talk about re-exploring his brand, he wanted to focus more on opportunities that allow for creative collaboration with the client, or to make the project more his own through strong artistic direction. He wants to be known for the way his work brings out the character and personality of the subject.

We designed a new identity and system that creates a collaboration between the foreground and the background, between the photographer and his subject. Our identity system is modular, and allows Aaron to use the elements of the identity to highlight truths in the work - just like he does every day for his clients and collaborators. His job isn’t to create the truth, but to bring it forward, and the identity we developed for him does the same.

Research showed that our audience seeks a sense of community, and that they do lots of research. So, ads needed to create a more emotional connection - not list details. And, as warm memories of home are developed early we invited people to rediscover the joy of youth in some of our most “neighborly” communities.

In the first month that these hit the street, direct traffic to the Brookfield site more than doubled. And - as this is an annual campaign, we decided to check ourselves against previous years. The year-on-year ROI increased by 25% - and the only change was that Berlin developed the creative.

Our client was enthusiastic about the work - here’s a quote that she provided for us afterwards:

“Simply said, Michael and the team at Berlin are creative geniuses and it all starts with the time they take to get to know your business, the consumer and the market. Their remarkable level of service and unique creative solutions can only be described as ‘elite’ within the industry. If you’re looking for smart, compelling communication that engages your consumers, you should be talking to Berlin.” 

Multiple IABC Capital Awards, 2014.

Establishing the model for a Canadian pub, Hudsons burst onto the bar scene in western Canada a decade ago. Since then, many copycats have waded into the new “canadian pub” market. 

In late 2013, Hudsons hired Berlin to be its agency, developing the brand strategies for its 10 locations. Our first campaign was built to distinguish Hudsons from all the other “cheap drinks!” campaigns favored by other bars and pubs. Our creative defined the Canadian pub culture through the proprietors of more stereotypical pub cultures. Though it's sometimes hard to articulate, there is a model for the Canadian pub - and it's embodied in the party you find at any Hudsons. Sometimes it’s hard to see how unique we are, and as Canadians, we are particularly reticent to draw a hard line, or to vocally assert our uniqueness - so, we let others speak for us.

River Valley Health was one of our first clients. We’ve had the pleasure of working with them for years.

As an integrated injury recovery and performance centre, RVH has helped Edmonton athletes find their potential for years. One of the most highly regarded group of experts in Western Canada, they work with olympic athletes, internationally-ranked boxers and fighters and professional soccer, football and hockey players.

In all those years, they have developed an integrated system that helps those athletes win. It is a system that works. Our role on this project was to articulate, communicate and create a brand around this unique system.

This sub-brand proved the broader RVH Brand promise: we are all athletes. Our job was to help the world understand it. 

The name, identity and other materials were designed to communicate the unique, methodical system, and get people excited about it.  The design of the Red Pyramid in Egypt inspired the “43 22” name. Built at a rise of 43 22, it was the first smooth sided pyramid to stand - others, built at other angles, didn’t survive. It was the perfect balance of foundation and elevation that made this one strong. And, that’s what makes the RVH system different.

“No more crap!” 

It has been a few years since former mayor Stephen Mandel famously cried out for beautifully-designed buildings in downtown Edmonton. Since then, Edmonton’s downtown skyline has indeed improved and has drawn investment from out-of-city developers. Brad Lamb, Toronto’s Condo King, announced his entry into the Edmonton market in 2014 to build on his international success. 

We were hired to help access the Edmonton market with the exciting news of Jasper House, Lamb’s first foray in Edmonton. The first press release over the summer led to coverage on the front page of the Edmonton Journal, on Global Edmonton TV, on 630Ched, in Metro Edmonton, and in the Edmonton Sun. 

In the fall, we organized a party to introduce Brad to Edmonton. With over 200 guests on a night that it was pouring rain, local influencers, dignitaries like the current Mayor of Edmonton, and supporters of gorgeous architecture came out for a memorable evening. 

While Lamb was in town, we set up a series of back-to-back interviews during his brief stay in Edmonton. These led to coverage again in the Edmonton Journal, the Edmonton Sun and 630Ched, but also on CTV news. Not only that, but he interviewed for future features in widely-read publications, like Avenue Magazine. 

The party was strategically scheduled to occur a week before the sales centre was set to open. There was so much buzz in town that  Jasper House condo units were more than one-third sold out in the first five days of the sales centre opening - already enough to secure the financing for the 36-storey condo tower. Lamb Development Corp quickly confirmed plans for Brad’s next development in Edmonton: North. 

As an agency, we’re used to creating campaigns for other people. Often our work exists for a short window of time, intended to make an impact and then fade into the background to make room for the next campaign. A creative project born out of a desire to experiment with our knowledge of consumers and clients, the Berlin Desk was designed in partnership with industrial design graduate Jaymes Barone and produced in partnership with Oliver Apt. Its design balances aesthetic simplicity with the hard-working functionality of an agency desk.

About 16 months ago, Berlin’s Creative Director wondered: what if an ad agency could apply its understanding of the consumer to more than advertising? What if that agency was able to direct product development too? The Berlin desk is an experiment, conceived while reading Bruce Mau, refined in an Industrial Design context and now entering the traditional purview of the ad agency. 

Months of research into the use of desk space in agencies, more months experimenting with solutions, and days debating how creatives might share needs with account folks have resulted in a desk that is simple, compact and uniquely useful.

With features that bridge a historical account-creative divide, and that are useful both for small, boutique shops and the giants that need to find a way to fit 100 desks in a room, this is, aesthetically and functionally, the best desk on the market for creative professionals. 

Independent, Confident and Innovative. This is a region where businesses are focused on getting stuff done. This is not a group of soft or tentative people. This region has a history of risk taking, innovation and industry. There is a sense that anything is possible here, and that “getting ‘er done” is more important than ironing your suit. Here, you’re judged by your actions, not your tie.

Berlin was hired to create a new look, feel and platform for this unique brand.

The Edmonton Literacy Coalition wanted to see more government support for adult literacy programming, and were looking for a way to make the need relevant. In our research we uncovered a shocking statistic: 40% of adult Albertans don’t read at a “working” level.

We developed an ad campaign that aimed at showing the other 60% (the adult Albertans who read well) what daily life is like for the other 40%. Our campaign integrated targeted public relations, a media event and public-facing advertising. Collectively, the work was designed to create constituency for the issue and bring it closer to the top of the list for policy-makers.

Our campaign ran in different print mediums in the Edmonton market, and won us two ACE Awards from the Advertising Club of Edmonton, as well as recognition on international advertising resource - Ads Of The World.

More importantly though, once the campaign was in market our client was invited to meet with the Mayor of Edmonton to talk about how to move the needle on this issue at the municipal and provincial levels of government.

Multiple ACE and IABC awards, 2013

Massive cuts & a quietly passionate audience. Our job was to help individual Albertans make some noise & apply pressure in the right places.

In Alberta, 98% of parents hope their kids will complete post-secondary. Our concept grew from a simple and clear idea: that Alberta universities support everything. We built a simple and clean public facing campaign, launched the program at a news conference (that included a 11 foot tall Jenga tower) and built animated online ads and tools that helped Albertans easily and clearly communicate with MLAs. We structured this initiative to ensure that pressure on the minister [who seemed immune to public pressure alone] would come from his fellow MLAs. The Premier, the Minister and other MLAs received hundreds of letters from their constituents – all delivered through our campaign site.

And – weeks after our campaign, the Government announced that they would begin to repair the damage, starting with a $50 million re-investment. Gentle, firm and clearly expressed, this campaign is one we’re all proud of.

IABC Award of Excellence, 2014

How could one little card require 6 plates?

It’s great to be able to use one’s own self-promotion material to play with the craft. In this case, Rian’s design was broken into layers, and each was hand printed for us by our friends at Fort Heavy.

The back of the card is printed blind (no ink) then white, then black then gold - in four distinct processes. The front of the card (actually a different sheet) is printed once with gold ink and once in black. The two sheets are then glued together and cut - and THEN the edges are painted (2 or 3 coats) with gold paint. 

The result is an elegant, strong, intricately creative and easy to understand card. Perfectly balanced, like our approach.

Recognized/featured by FPO