WOMEN’S ADVOCACY VOICE OF EDMONTON

“We don’t have gender equality. Let’s change that.”

In 2014, a damning report was released that ranked Edmonton as the worst place in Canada to be a woman. From unequal pay, to street harassment, to lack of representation in municipal politics, Edmonton women faced a lot of challenges.

The City of Edmonton recognized the issue and launched a Council-led initiative to address women’s issues in our city, and to advocate for change. We were brought in at the very beginning of this initiative as communications strategists, and though the initiative has evolved over time, we continue to serve as the chief communicators for this project, nearly a decade later.

We count our comprehensive foundational communications strategy for this initiative as some of our very best work, and it has become the bible for how we engage with Edmontonians, as well as how we position the initiative in what is a most challenging environment. We are proud to have received an IABC Award of Excellence for this work.

In order to provide evergreen content that served the needs of the client and the community, we wrote and produced several animated explainer videos to answer some of the most common questions that were being asked of the Initiative: “What do you mean by feminism?” “What is the Women’s Initiative?” and “What is GBA+ training?”

We also built the Women’s Initiative Edmonton Facebook and Twitter platforms which we ran on a daily basis, and have developed vibrant communities where we literally changed hearts and minds, and rallied together ambassadors for our cause. It is some of the most rewarding work we’ve ever done.

After a brief hiatus due to the pandemic, we reprised our role on this project. Now grounded entirely in the Women’s Advocacy Voice of Edmonton advisory committee, we updated their foundational communications strategy, and continue to provide all of their day-to-day social media and communications needs, specifically focusing on Instagram and Twitter.