When St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation decided to change its name to Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation, we had no idea how much work was involved with a name and branding change.
Everything needed to be re-done – letterhead, envelopes, signage, business cards, banners, posters, display panels, website, social media pages, donor forms, brochures, receipts, thank you cards, folders and any promotional items like pens, magnets and tote bags. And that’s not even everything.
All-in-all, it was a lot of work and the road ahead was daunting.
Our first train of thought was to try to get as much done as locally as possible to support our community the best we could. After all, our community has supported our Foundation for over 23 years, and it was time to return the favour. If certain things could not be made locally, then we would try to order them through local businesses in the Comox Valley.
First, we had to design a new logo, tagline and branding. For that we sent out Expression of Interests to Island-based creative companies. Blackberry Creative out of Qualicum was chosen, and worked tirelessly in this transition with us and our Board of Directors. They designed the logo, tagline and branding colours that you see today. The brilliant brains and instinctive nature of Blackberry’s Po and Sandy are a big part of what CVHF is as a brand and as a charitable organization in our community, and their work will impact many for years to come. Their tagline “When you give… it changes everything” has changed everything for us, and as such, will help change everything for many patients and extended care residents in the Comox Valley.
Once the new name, logo and branding was decided on, the next step was to change everything over from our old name and branding to the new. As we mentioned above, that was a ton of work.
We turned to ABC Printing & Signs in Courtenay and Parksville’s Coastal Colour Printing to get us through it. After months of proofing and printing, long days and late nights, these two companies helped launch our new branding from digital format to hard copy across Vancouver Island and the province. Their work is in your mailbox, hanging over Comox Hill, displayed on walls, stacked neatly in brochure holders and in the hands of donors and community members.
For our 8-page newsletter, we consulted local print shops and it was feared that we would have to go to Vancouver to get them printed — that’s when Bryan of ABC Printing & Signs said “Let us give it a shot,” and lo and behold, his team pulled it off for the first time in ABC’s 20-year history. It was a huge feat for ABC to do in-house and a huge win for local business.
Here is a video of ABC Printing & Signs’ production of the CVHF newsletter:
Next up were the promotional items (or “swag”) to show off our new name and brand. To get these done, we called on Aero Art Screen Printing & Embroidery in Comox as well as Engrave It in Courtenay. Aero Art helped design and print our golf shirts, tee-shirts and tote bags, and Engrave It helped design and order in our pens, magnets and note pads to give to donors. Both businesses made sure we were satisfied with all of these products, and were lovely to work with.
Once the re-brand was complete and the marketing items were ordered, it was time to get the word out to the public about the name change.
The official unveiling happened at our 26th Annual St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation Golf Classic (the last of its name) at Crown Isle on June 16. Robert Mulrooney and the Mindset Wealth team, as well as the hardworking Golf Committee, went above and beyond to make sure the event and the unveiling went off without a hitch, and was one of the most successful Golf Classics in 26 years.
It was a fantastic way to introduce ourselves to the community.
A big thank-you must also be given to our local media: The Comox Valley Echo, the Comox Valley Record, 98.9 Goat FM, 97.3 The Eagle and Shaw TV Powell River & North Island. Their coverage of the unveiling was great, and their help creating and putting out advertisements for the name change has been great for raising community awareness.
We would like to thank all of the local and regional businesses, as well as the fantastic community members, who helped make our transition from St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation to Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation as easy and welcoming as possible.
It has been a long road, but a smooth one, and for that we thank you.
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