Take Part in the Ontario wide Billboard Campaign

Transcription

1 Take Part in the Ontario wide Billboard Campaign January 1, 2012, the beginning of the International Year of Co operatives, is less than two months away. It will be a time for celebrating, and for a period of time, the eyes of the world will be on our movement. More than 1 billion co op members in 90 countries will be celebrating the International Year. Just as important, though, is the fact that we will have the eyes and ears of our own members and communities. But we can use should use the International Year for so much more than just an excuse for a party or two. There are four Ontario goals for IYC 2012 that co ops, credit unions and stakeholder organizations should use when you form your own plans: 1. Increase awareness of co operatives (individual co ops, and the broader co operative movement) 2. Government relations and capacity building 3. Legacy initiatives and projects that will continue beyond December 31, Formation of co op clusters and networks For the last few months, On Co op has been promoting four of its Ontario wide initiatives (a) Mobile sign campaign; (b) Billboard campaign; (c) Cluster formation; and (d) IYC subsidy and rebate program. Plus our first legacy project, the All 4 Each highschool curriculum project. This letter will focus on the upcoming IYC 2012 Ontario Billboard Campaign. As you will learn below, On Co op s goal is to partner with Ontario co operatives and credit unions to extend the reach of a province wide billboard campaign. A series of twenty 40 x 10 billboards will start to appear in many Ontario communities December 26, 2011 and will run for one month. We d like to have many more billboards placed across Ontario during that timeframe. Can you help? Sample of co branded billboard, Option 3. See below for all sign types. If your co operative, your federation or co op group partners with us in this endeavour we can either increase the number of billboards or extend the length of the campaign beyond one month. Or both! Through our group buy, the billboards cost On Co op an average of $1000 each + design costs. However, it needn t cost YOU that much. There are several ways that an individual co op, a federation or a co op cluster/group/community could contribute to one or more billboards.

2 IYC Province wide Billboard Campaign BACKGROUND As part of its IYC awareness building campaign of Ontario co operatives, On Co op is purchasing wide x 10 high billboards across the province. The message will support the IYC theme of Co operative enterprises build a better world. The signs will be on display for one month, and will start appearing at the end of December, We are using Pattison Outdoor Signs as our media partner. Our hope is to partner with other co ops and organizations to extend the reach of this campaign either by having the 20 standard billboards stay up longer in certain areas or by adding extra signs (whether basic, federation themed or partially/fully branded) in other locations. SIGN TYPES There are four types of signs possible in this campaign a basic sign and three variants. Examples of sign types appear on the following pages. The basic sign, appearing in Ontario communities with at least 17 co ops, will promote that local co ops build a better community. See Option 1, below. Wording will be Guelph's 45 Co operatives Build a Better Community (or Sudbury s 40 co operatives etc. This is the core of our billboard campaign, and is financed completely by On Co op. The cluster sign will promote groups of co ops. This could be funded by a co op cluster or network (whether formally or informally organized), a federation (such as Ontario worker co ops, a credit union chapter or GROWMARK), or any organization that wishes to promote a sub set of Ontario co ops, credit unions or caisse populaires. See Option 2, below. Wording will be very similar to the basic sign and read something like, Ontario s Credit Unions Build Better Communities, (or worker co ops, child care co ops, renewable energy co op, Ukrainian credit unions etc). Another variant could be Toronto s 103 Housing Co ops Build a Better Community. The co branded sign specifically promotes your co operative, organization or federation. You ll have your logo and name included as part of the standard tagline, plus the QR code will be customized to point to your website. Example: Grand River CarShare Co operative Builds A Better Community. See Option 3, below. The fully branded sign also promotes your co operative, organization or federation. You may fully customize all parts of the sign. For consistency with this campaign, the IYC logo/wordmark, Co operative Enterprises Build a Better World, must appear. See Option 4, below.

3 SIGN OPTIONS AND COSTS Options 1, 2 and 3 below are standard designs and cannot be changed beyond the QR code and edits specified. Option 4 allows almost total design freedom. For approximately $750, we will extend the amount of time an existing billboard remains up by an additional month, subject to availability and premium location surcharges. We will provide you with the exact price for extending a specific sign s life upon request. OPTION 1: BASIC SIGN. Starting at $250* you get an additional standard billboard in your community saying, Thunder Bay s 28 Co operatives Build a Better Community (or Ottawa s 125 Co operatives, or ) No guarantees can be made as to a specific location within your community. Exact price for your town available upon request. ~~~ OPTION 2: CLUSTER SIGN. Starting at $450* you receive a slightly modified billboard saying something like, Ontario s 115 credit unions, (or worker co ops, child care co ops, etc) Build Better Communities, or Toronto s 103 Housing Co ops Build a Better Community. On Co op would work with you to promote whatever co op grouping or sector in whatever community or region you d like, while keeping to the consistent look of the campaign. This QR code can link to your website. (Default is the What is a Co op page of the On Co op website.) It is possible to include your website below the code. We would remove the On Co op rainbow swoosh if requested.

4 ~~~ OPTION 3: CO BRAND SIGN. Starting at $500* you can co brand a sign, adding your name and logo to the standard layout and wording. You ll have your logo on the billboard and name included as part of the standard tagline (i.e. Your Co operative Builds a Better Community ). The QR code can be customized as above. ~~~ OPTION 4: FULLY BRANDED SIGN. For $1000* your organization could have a customized billboard that reflects your current marketing campaign, and ties into the IYC Ontario campaign. As a consistent design element in this IYC campaign, the Co operative Enterprises Build a Better World tagline/logo must be included. Design charges are not included. Here is one sample based on the marketing material used by a newly rebranded credit union:

5 CO OP PARTICIPATION IN THE IYC ONTARIO BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN Your participation extends the length and breadth of this campaign. With On Co op negotiating billboard space across the province, we are able to obtain a volume discount and other benefits of this group buy, giving us more bang for our buck than an individual co operative could achieve. Most billboards cost an average of $1000 each + design. However, it needn t cost YOU that much. There are several ways that an individual co op, a federation or a co op cluster/group /community could contribute to one or more billboards in this campaign. You could (1) Fund more basic billboard signs across the province, or extend the length of any sign currently up as part of this campaign; (2) Direct funds to On Co op to support our billboard campaign. This could be any amount from $20.12 to $ Additional funding here supports the design and layout and the potential to add more signs. (3) Co brand a billboard(s) to promote your co op [example Organic Meadow Co op ], co op sector [ child care ] or your community [ Niagara Region ]; (4) Provide a custom billboard to appear in a particular neighbourhood/district where you have an office, or in any Ontario community (subject to availability); (5) Work with On Co op to place the IYC billboard design on signage you have already committed to. If you already have access to a billboard, transit or other form of outdoor media, we d ask you to consider putting an IYC message on it for January, We can work with you to develop a campaign that is consistent with the provincial campaign. USING OTHER MEDIA On Co op is using a simple but effective message and look in our media buy to begin to address the misperceptions and lack of awareness facing many Ontario co ops. We are using the Pattison Outdoor Company exclusively for the billboard campaign, and we are focusing our efforts on their horizontal posters. This allows us consistency and control. In some regions Pattison does offer other media products such as vertical posters, transit advertising, street level advertising, mall media, etc. Though these are not our primary focus, if you were interested in using another Pattison media product in your region we would work with you and attempt facilitate that under our group buy. This is a list of the media types available through Pattison: products If you decide to use other media for this campaign that is not part of the Pattison Outdoor Company (for example, bus boards), On Co op could provide you with the design elements for a reasonable fee and you would be responsible for all negotiations with the media vendor.

6 *REGARDING PRICING: LOCATION: Certain locations may only be available at a higher cost, even with On Co op s group buy. For example a billboard on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto costs considerably more than one on a GTA side street or in Kitchener downtown. If you have specific location requests, we will confirm your cost before proceeding. DESIGN: There may be an additional charge for customization of the QR code (either to point to a different website or to include a different logo). A charge may apply to option 3 if your logo requires any graphic design manipulation. Design charges are not included in option 4. EXTENDING THE TIME A BILLBOARD IS DISPLAYED Billboard signs in this campaign may remain up for longer than 4 weeks if funding can be found (and if the availability exists). If you are interested in having the contract for any billboard extended, contact On Co op as soon as possible and we will let you know the cost to you. The earlier you make your request, the better the chances of having the sign remain. You may extend almost ANY billboard in this campaign, including a standard sign (option 1) that you did not originally fund. TIMELINE and ACTION ITEMS Discuss your signage requirements with On Co op as soon as possible, preferably before November 15 so the group buy can be finalized. It may be possible to secure a billboard location after that time. Billboards will start appearing December 26, On Co op reserves the right to approve the design of all materials and media being created and placed as part of its group buy with Pattison Outdoor Company. SUMMARY On Co op has worked hard to include a number of affordable options as part of this IYC Ontario co op awareness campaign. I hope you ll be able to take part. If you are not able to participate as an individual organization, we encourage you to talk to other co ops and co operate in purchasing a sign (or two or three) together, or contributing to a general fund that supports the billboard campaigns Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Mark Mark Ventry, Membership and Communications Manager, Ontario Co operative Association # Speedvale Ave. W., Guelph ON N1H 7Y6 Tel x30 Fax mventry@ontario.coop

7 Below is a summary of the number of co ops in towns and regions in Ontario and potential billboard locations. REGION NAME CITY # CO OPS # CO OPS IN REGION Primary billboard locations could include: Toronto Toronto 295 # in GTA region 413 Ottawa Ottawa 125 # in region 186 Middlesex County London 76 Peel Region Mississauga 71 Hamilton Hamilton 68 Wellington County Guelph 45 Brant Brantford 40 # in region 47 Sudbury Sudbury 40 Niagara Region St. Catharines 39 Waterloo Region Kitchener 36 Halton Region Burlington 32 Frontenac County Kingston 30 # in region 30 Toronto Etobicoke 28 Thunder Bay District Thunder Bay 28 # in region 34 Essex County Windsor 27 Waterloo Region Waterloo 25 # in region 93 Simcoe County Barrie 17 Waterloo Region Cambridge 17 Nipissing Region North Bay 15 Secondary billboard locations could include: Toronto Scarborough 52 Durham Region Oshawa 25 Peel Region Brampton 23 Toronto North York 23 Lambton County Sarnia 18 # in region 37 Chatham Kent Chatham 17

8 IYC BACKGROUND The International Year of Co operatives was declared by the United Nations and will be celebrated by more than 90 countries and 1 billion people worldwide. IYC officially runs from January 1, 2012 til December 31, In Ontario, the International Year launched during the Co op Conference and Gala, October 19, Two morning plenary sessions introduced IYC to our audience, and an afternoon workshop (patterned after an IYC Ontario meeting) provided participants with greater details and support for to make their International Year activities successful. There were a number of booths and displays that promoted IYC. Canada will be celebrating the International Year on January 12, 2012, with celebrations taking place in 12 locations across the country on that day. Globally, the International Year of Co operatives will be launched at the United Nations in New York on October 31, 2011 and by the International Co operative Alliance at its conference in Cancun, Mexico, November 14 18, CO OP AWARENESS IN CANADA IS LOW: In 2010, a national IPSOS REID survey commissioned by CCA highlighted very low understanding and awareness of Canada s co ops in most areas of the country, including Ontario. Some highlights: 59% of Canadians are not familiar with co ops; 36% of respondents thought that Costco was a co op; and 52% said that Gay Lea Foods Co operative was NOT a co op. On Co op is suggesting that organizations use 2011 to increase awareness of their coopertives within their board, staff and memberships, and use 2012 to further increase awareness within those groups and include your communities. IYC will give co ops like yours (and federations such as On Co op, Central 1 Credit Union, the Canadian Worker Co op Federation, GROWMARK, Inc, Canadian Co operative Association and many others) a forum to increase co op awareness and knowledge. Co ops will have the attention of the entire world during Working with On Co op and the co operatives, credit unions, caisse populaires and sector stakeholders within your community will ensure that your message and your co operative gets noticed. The IYC Ontario billboard campaign can work with your own International Year messaging and ongoing branding and marketing efforts. To become inspired about IYC, view a speech from Tanya Gracie to the On Co op membership earlier this year. To learn more about the International Year, click here.