York Region has partnered with Toronto design firm Shikatani Lacroix to create a strategic rebrand of its economic development program York Link, formerly Centres and Corridors.
Shikatani Lacroix was retained to develop a fully integrated marketing and communications strategy, which included a new logo, tagline and brand guidelines, designed to promote the region as the place “where talent and opportunity intersect.”
With these new resources and marketing plan, York Region will be able to better promote all of the benefits of the region,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President of Shikatani Lacroix.
York Region worked closely with Shikatani Lacroix to clearly define its point-of-difference in order to leverage the region’s numerous assets to create specific, targeted messaging. Focus groups, one-on-one interviews, competitive reviews, research, and online surveys with target audiences and stakeholders were conducted to identify key messages. Utilizing Shikatani Lacroix’s ThinkBlink process, the marketing campaign, logo and positioning statement were developed around these findings.
Shikatani Lacroix designed the York Link icon and message to focus on York Region’s economic and urban growth where the tagline, “Where Talent and Opportunity Intersect,” resonates with companies as an attractive area to establish their business.
The graphic elements of the logo feature a visual representation of the region’s corridors and centers, made up by Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Markham and Vaughan. The logo features bold intersecting lines to symbolize transit across and beyond the corridors, and colorful nodes which represent the centers of the region. The bright colors and bold graphic lines invite York Region’s various target groups to interpret the logo in multiple ways.
Shikatani Lacroix is a multidisciplinary branding and design firm that works across industries delivering an interconnected suite of expertise including retail, packaging and digital design. The launch of its new digital innovation lab demonstrates Shikatani Lacroix’s commitment to designing immersive branded experiences that emotionally connect with consumers.
