Connecting Community with Indigenous-Led Early Childhood Education
Nshwaasnangong is a new, Indigenous-led child care and family centre that is one of the first of its kind. It aims to rekindle Indigenous languages and cultures, honour ancestral teachings, and help families live in balance with Mother Earth as it helps children learn and grow. It was created with the Journey Together Committee in London Ontario and is led by the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC). SOAHAC and its municipal partners reached out to sagecomm to support the promotion of the Centre’s vision, purpose and future programs to the community, prior to opening.
Using a multi-channel campaign, rich with unique content, creative and implementation, we worked in partnership with the Nshwaasnangoing team to reach families and community stakeholders to build understanding and support for this incredibly special place, and, practically, to promote child care registration and future program uptake.
The Brand
With a name given to the centre in sacred ceremony, and positioning already informed by Indigenous community members, sagecomm worked to bring the brand identity to life, in collaboration with Indigenous artist Moses Lunham. Moses created the original artwork that is the heart of the Nshwaasnangong logotype, and sagecomm worked to build out additional elements to support the visual brand across different platforms. The crested logo style matches the SOAHAC visual brand to show the connection between the two organizations. An extended colour palette was created to compliment the primary artistic palette, and specific type fonts were carefully selected to support and accompany the original artwork. This work was done in partnership with the SOAHAC team and with approval by the artist.
The Web
The website needed to showcase the beautiful new centre, highlight programming and support child care waitlist signs ups. It also needed to tell the story of Nshwaasnangong, including how it incorporates Indigenous cultures and teachings into its programming. The site has a simple navigation structure with large hero images to support visual storytelling throughout.
The Materials
To support the opening and ongoing service needs of the centre, a number of materials were developed, including construction signage, pop-up banners, postcards, social media ads and templates, email banners, and posters. An animated video was also developed to tell the story of the centre and its welcoming community, featuring a voiceover from a member of the Nshwaasnangong team.
Services Delivered
- Brand Development
- Copywriting & Content Development
- Website Development
- Material Design
- Digital Marketing
- Public Relations
Sector
Featured work samples
One of the things that stands out most about sagecomm is their willingness to continually learn and adapt their approaches to ensure respectful and culturally relevant content that speaks to both the Indigenous community and the community at large.
The Campaign Strategy
A robust digital marketing campaign was developed to reach parents and caregivers who would be interested in child care or family programming at the centre. With the creation and lead generation for an email newsletter, and social and digital ads across multiple platforms, the campaign helped create a full waitlist for child care, and awareness of the highly unique community programs that would be available at the centre.
Public & Media Relations
A public relations strategy and media package was also developed to support the centre’s soft opening. The event, which featured SOAHAC leadership, as well as elected officials from both the municipal and provincial governments, gained coverage from 7 different outlets in Southwestern Ontario.
The partnership between sagecomm and Nshwaasnangong Child Care & Family Centre management has been an incredibly pleasant one and what I would consider a true partnership in that it has included clear communication; commitment to the work; a strong sense [of] mutual respect; trust in both parties’ knowledge and skill sets; and a set of common goals.
With those pieces at its very core it was easy to collaborate, innovate, and build the strong working relationships needed in order to shape the beautiful brand you see today. Chi miigwetch to each and every one of the members of the sagecomm team for the part they’ve played in building Nshwaasnangong Child Care & Family Centre.
