Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
The Youth Services Bureau (YSB) is a non-profit organization that has been providing a range of services to youth in the city of Ottawa for just over half a century. At the broadest level, the YSB offers mental health, community, youth employment and youth justice services.
YSB runs many government-funded services and programs with specific communications needs. As part of the organization’s 50th anniversary year, the YSB took a close look at how the organization was delivering services to the community. The organization wanted to present a unified look and feel to the organization’s diverse stakeholders and audiences, including affected youths and their families, donors, government and not for profit organizations, the media and program partners.
The Challenge
In 2009, the YSB Communications Office approached BSL to devise a strategy that would raise visibility through the creation of a new brand identity and website, blanketing all YSB program areas.
The Strategy
BSL staged a brand workshop held at the YSB offices, welcoming representatives from each department to join in the discussion. Throughout the half-day session, both BSL and YSB engaged in a number of exercises, designed to address various aspects of the YSB brand and encourage in-depth analysis from key personnel. From the workshop emerged a clear vision of the desired perception that the new YSB brand should solidify.
The New YSB Brand
The first consideration was the direction of the new logo. BSL updated the current YSB logo to reflect a more modern, youth-oriented look and feel, while effectively preserving the historical YSB icon. The second consideration was in the development of the new brand tag line. It was critical to weigh all of the core messages expressed in the workshop, and translate these statements into a clear, concise and powerful promise that will reach all audiences. This message became “Impact Tomorrow, Today”.
The final approach was in the inclusion of imagery to the new communications materials. Key insights derived from the workshop expressed that youth needed to better identify with YSB, and see themselves in the kids that YSB supports. In order to spark this recognition, BSL worked together with photographer Dwayne Brown in developing original photography of actual youths in the Ottawa community, to allow for a more authentic depiction of those who YSB helps on a daily basis.
The Campaign
The new YSB brand was revealed in tandem with the Bureau’s 50th anniversary, and was applied to a series of internal and external collateral including the anniversary event invitation, letterhead and kit folder, posters, signage and a full-colour multi-panel brochure.
Website
The new site was built to reflect the new brand identity and provide real utility for youth. A widget was developed to help youth get to the services they need. This widget was presented with high visibility on the site homepage and on other pages in the site where youth would visit. Also, the site provides a framework for stories and websites developed by youth who receive YSB services.
The Help Us Make an Impact section of the site is the home for the newly created YSB Charitable Foundation. It engages potential and existing donors by focusing on the real impact that the YSB makes in the community, provides an area to talk about donors, and invites participation through calls-to-action and by signing up for the YSB newsletter.
It should come as no surprise that a community organization like the YSB would also provide plenty of opportunity for community generated content. The Stories section of the site showcases the experiences of many young people’s contact with the YSB over the decades. The site provides a tool to invite users to submit stories.
Built in CMSMS, the new YSB website was designed to be easily updated by the client, in such areas as “What’s New”, where upcoming events and media releases can be posted on a regular basis. The structure also allows for e-newsletters, online donation and survey tools, and access to social media environments – all elements that work to foster stronger relationships with audiences, and achieve greater visibility throughout the online community.
The Results
Since the successful implementation of the new brand, our clients at YSB have received several comments from outside communications professionals on the impressive increase in news coverage and visibility of the organization. Internally there has been much positive feedback – in particular for the website redesign, which staff insists they are “proud to share with other people.”
This past spring, YSB was awarded a generous grant by a foundation outside of Ottawa – a grant that is offered to only one charity per year. The Fundraising Director of YSB attributes this opportunity to the higher profile YSB has achieved through the recent increase in news coverage (which has exceeded the expectations of many staff).
