Canadian Cancer Society Case Study

Background

The Collective/RAW was retained by the Canadian Cancer Society to conduct a RAW process of Insight and Discovery for their National Brand. This would enable them to more effectively connect with key stakeholders, regain their leadership position in the marketplace and raise the necessary funds to deliver critical research, program and services to Canadians living with, or touched by cancer.

The Collective’s strategic planning division, RAW, was engaged by the Canadian Cancer Society to:

• Determine a unique “brand” identity and supporting “story” for CCS National that will drive awareness, participation and financial support.
• Bring clarity to the organization’s purpose, driving a greater degree of engagement and impact... answering the questions:
  • Who are we?
  • What do we do?
  • Why do we do it?
• Implement a process that connects with and engages multiple stakeholders to ensure buy-in and support.

Based on the above, develop a Brand Strategy and Communications Platform that supports the organization’s mission.

“The Canadian Cancer Society had engaged The Collective to support several revenue initiatives in one of our provinces. Building off their knowledge, experience and depth of understanding of the Society, we leveraged their talent for a nationwide brand renewal. The Collective used an innovative insight process that assisted our leaders to fully understand the passion, motivations and areas for improvement from our partners, our clients, and our most loyal donors. These are the people who know us best, have shaped our past, and will help us create a new future.

External resources brought in to support an initiative, sometimes never get to know an organization. In our case, The Collective was with us at every step of the way. They helped us understand our current reality, reinforce that sense of pride and purpose for the work we do, and ultimately challenged us to think differently. They guided us through a process to synthesize information and ideas, debate the perceptions and formalize a new brand architecture and positioning for the Society that highlights our unique place in the marketplace”

Rick Perciante

National VP Engagement at Canadian Cancer Society

Vision

• RAW began by delving into the Insight phase of the strategic process, learning from key stakeholders through a series of one-on-one interviews their “essence” or “reasons why” they are involved with the Canadian Cancer Society. This authentic storytelling method allowed us to uncover the deeper subconscious motivators of the respondent’s association with the CCS.
• As part of the Insight process, RAW completed the stakeholder interviews, analyzed the data and looked at the competitive landscape, leading to a written report that was shared with the CCS National Marketing Taskforce core team members.
• The Insight report acted as the framework for the Discovery phase to begin in earnest.
• The CCS National Marketing Taskforce, key internal stakeholders from across the country and the RAW experts came together in a Discovery workshop. Over the course of three days, they participated in a series of facilitated exercises meant to make sense of and find deeper meaning of the information collected through the Insight phase.
• Discovery enabled the team to begin to better understand what our “best” customers were telling us in order to build out a more meaningful expression of the current national brand identity.
• The RAW team then took all learning that emerged from the Discovery session and used the information that was considered, shared and agreed upon to begin the Connection phase.
• Moving toward consensus for a successful new National Brand Identity, a Brand Architecture, Brand Strategy Map, Brand Proposition, Brand at a Glance and a Engagement & Communications Plan were developed and shared.