The Globe and Mail has named our very own Jane Cox among the top ten winners of its Catalyst talent search for creative Canadians.

We’re all a little bit blown away at the moment, but feeling honoured and proud to be among such a talented, creative group. Reading about all of the other winners and nominees just reminds us of how diverse and compelling the Canadian creative community is.

Excerpts below from the Globe and Mail feature by Deirdre Kelly

Why she’s a Catalyst

She initiated the popular Vancouver arts and culture series Movers and Shapers and founded the Vancouver edition of PechaKucha Night, billed as an evening of ideas, images and inspired conversation.

Our judges say

“Jane has connected people through her creativity and her branding, and most of all other cultures and communities”
-David Lee

About the selection process

The Catalyst judges – Hudson Bay president Bonnie Brooks, award-winning chef David Lee, Arts&Crafts president Jeffrey Remedios and the Globe’s Life & Arts editor Gabe Gonda – spent two months poring over almost 500 nominees from the worlds of arts and culture, food and drink, and style and design.

See the full list of winners at the Globe and Mail

Read the initial feature on Jane in the March 19 Globe and Mail

Watch a short video feature (with glimpses of our new office) here

However, our clients in the social and environmental world often struggle to relay the intricate issues at play in a way that sticks with the people they want to reach. 

The people within these groups are often ensnared in the complicated policy, research and science vital to their issues. They are also fueled by their powerful convictions and underlying values. These are incredibly well informed and passionate people, but when considering all the issues to address, can have trouble communicating beyond their inner circle.

The result is that the audience they need to reach receives difficult, complex, sometimes contradictory messages, which are often diluted by the media to match the story of the day. These messages tend to be more focused on what the environmental or social group believes, rather than what benefit they can offer the audience.

At the same time, these organizations’ well-funded, powerful opponents are also working to spin their messages with much bigger budgets and influence. It’s enough to make most people tune out entirely.

Not to be melodramatic, but these are the problems of our time.

We are suffering, Canada. Suffering from the inability to have an honest and informed discussion about the issues that are most important. If we can achieve anything with our work in the social/enviro sector, it’s not to rally the troops or harden the lines; it’s actually the opposite.

We want to soften the divides and help our clients inform the middle, allowing the people that are trapped between the extremes to hear both sides of the story. Only then can we have a proper discussion about them.

An example of making the good, cool

Equilibrium was a perfect example of a company doing incredible work without the proper recognition because of a weak brand.

Prior to our rebrand of Equilibrium, the casual observer (or potential client) wouldn’t easily understand that they are among the top structural engineers in the country or that they’re a world authority on wood construction.

The new Equilibrium brand communicates this expertise and confidence through a simple and forthright logotype, a visual aesthetic that celebrates not only the finished project, but also the creative process behind it, and a proud tone of voice.

The rebrand started with a Brand Audit to identify Equilibrium’s audience and how to best connect with them. With this understanding, we moved on to brand design work that included logo design and the creation of a visual identity, web and print design and copywriting.

Equilibrium has an impressive portfolio of work that is only going to grow over the years. Visit the new Equilibrium website and see how they may be responsible for some of your favourite buildings in Vancouver, in British Columbia, in Canada and beyond.

Oil Sands Reality Check is the result of collaboration between the Tar Sands Solutions Network, eight of their partner organizations as well as internationally-renowned academics, scientists and economists.

The launch of the Oil Sands Reality Check has been covered by CTV News, Vancouver Observer, Financial Post, the Tyee, Huffington Post, and an AP story that went worldwide to at least 100 major sources in the US and around the world.

Our work was also used  to illustrate this short video, which is already garnering significant views.

Cause+Affect joins LOCO BC

We are proud to be the newest members of LOCO BC – a growing alliance of local companies working to strengthen our communities, grow the local economy and build strong, sustainable businesses.

We’re also proud of the work we did to develop their brand and some of the communication assets that helped them recruit so many city-defining members.

Whether you’re a consumer who wants to support great local businesses or you’re a business that wants to join a community of great local companies, check out the LOCO BC site for more.

After three good years at East Cordova and Carrall we have moved. But we didn’t move far. We’re still in Gastown, just two blocks north at #1 Alexander Street, directly above The Portside Pub and Chill Winston overlooking Gassy Jack square.

So we’re well situated if you ever want to grab a drink after work.

Sharing office space with Invoke

We’re now sharing office space with Invoke Media, which is responsible for the interactive marketing for great big clients like AOL, Futureshop, NBC and Men’s Health, and of course a history that includes the creation of Hootsuite. We’re also across the hall from Invoke Labs, which continues this tradition of product creation through a start-up incubator that has created Food.ee and Sprout, among others.

They’ve got the south-facing views of Gassy Jack square, while we get to stare out north at a beautiful collage of Vancouver’s industry and nature with the rail lines and docks in the foreground and Burrard Inlet and the North Shore Mountains behind.

It’s inspiring to be amidst this hub of activity and we’d like to thank Invoke for making us feel so welcome. We look forward to our future in this beautiful place.

Our brand work for what is now known as the Tar Sands Solutions Network involved both the naming and the design of the core brand assets for a first of its kind within the environmental sector.

The Network represents a range of voices from a diverse array of international groups including First Nations, environmental ngo’s, landowners, scientists, community leaders, academics, and grass roots organizations located throughout North America and Europe all wanting to catalyze a clean energy economy. 

Together, they aggregate and amplify information about their efforts in one central website, while at the same time actively promoting solutions to address what is becoming the problem of our time – something that we believe will make the difference when reaching out to new audiences.

The Globe and Mail made a short video on ‘catalyst’ nominee and Cause+Affect founder Jane Cox’s thoughts on brand connecting communities to culture, and vice-versa.

Watch the video at The Globe and Mail

“I have a history of helping others by uncovering their natural abilities and giving them a sense of how what they do connects with the world. I now do this for businesses and organizations in shaping their brand,” she says. “When I see something unique, I’m excited to see how it might end up changing perceptions. Creating potential is how I get a thrill.”

-Article by Deirdre Kelly
Read the full article

When you’re deeply involved in something, it’s easy to see its flaws. It also means that you are in the best situation to do something about it.

Progress cannot occur without criticism. And the best criticism comes from an invested person’s realization that something needs to change. That investment brings insight, which propels criticism, which starts a dialogue, which ignites actions, which brings change. It’s a cyclical loop that needs to be repeated if we are to continue to move forward.

Those that resist and ignore change are always the first to fight back against criticism because they know it is an agent of progress. You can often judge the value of your criticism by the degree of resistance it receives from these people.

All that being said, criticism without action and criticism without dialogue – screaming your complaints into the wind and then walking away – are ugly things that get us nowhere. It’s selfish to think that only your opinions count. It’s foolish to think that you know better than everyone else. And it’s wrong to think that you solution is the only one that works.

Criticism is the first step, but it must be followed up with action if we are to make a positive change in our environment..