Content Strategy
I started my career as an editor, but well before the term was used widely, I was already acting as a content strategist, constantly experimenting with tactics and measuring the performance of the articles that I wrote and assigned.
Now, it would be fair to say that everything I do – whether it’s social, campaign work or brand messaging – could be filed under this label.
blogTO
People often marvel at the ubiquity of blogTO content in Toronto. It’s hard to avoid encountering the site or one of its social feeds if you’re at all curious about life in the city. That, of course, is entirely by design and perhaps the greatest testament to the strategy and tactics of the publication. Whether you want to know what to do on a Friday night, the newest restaurant to try out, or where to find the best sushi, there are so many pathways that lead to blogTO.
The objective was always to make the site an indispensable guide to the city. At first that was accomplished through hyperlocal news posts, search engine optimized restaurant and business listings, and a dizzying array of best of lists, but the rise of social media opened the doors to new content streams. With video and real-time storytelling, the publication embraced a fully integrated content strategy that remains in place to this day.
Scope of work: Editor-in-Chief
Made of Grit
Following the announcement that Ryerson would become Toronto Metropolitan University, it was crucial to bring the new moniker — and brand — to life with a statement campaign that showcased the crucial relationship the university shares with the city it calls home.
After a major push to support the renaming itself in spring 2022, we timed our first major brand campaign with the beginning of the annual recruitment cycle and showed the world what it means to be metropolitan.
An integrated approach was taken to the campaign with a central video, pre-roll cut-downs, a campaign landing page, vertical social ads, and a novel approach to user-generated content that challenged students to explain what grit means to them.
Rebuilding a brand with a 75 year history is not a one-and-done proposition, so the campaign was extended for 2023 with new creative and an evolved content strategy aimed at engaging both students and potential industry partners, government decision-makers and business leaders.
The goal for phase two was to take excellent creative and strengthen the value proposition of the key message of grit. It was crucial that we conveyed that such dedication and resilience is more than just an ingrained trait, but actually something that can be taught at a progressive university and used as a force of change to improve our community, city and the world at large.
I wore a number of hats throughout this campaign, but the major focus was to ensure that the messaging was true to our brand and that the content we were making was optimized for each audience we were speaking to.
This included everything from influencer marketing to editorial content amplified through LinkedIn.
For all the focus on video, one of the most successful elements of the campaign was, in fact, the feature articles published on the landing page that served as proof-points for the promises and declarations made in the time-restricted videos.
Scope of work: Content Strategy, Influencer Marketing, Editorial, Video Direction
A World of Innovation
For a campaign that aims to showcase an institution’s research chops, it’s crucial to create a user journey that takes the audience to the proof points.
The university’s research strengths were divided into six themes for which a dedicated 15 second pre-roll video was created. These videos led to an editorial experience that invited users to explore each subject area in greater depth.
Over 20 editorial features were commissioned to highlight the real-world impact of the innovative work happening at Ryerson. These articles were then promoted through social media in the second phase of the campaign, generating hundreds of thousands of page views.
Scope of work: Content Strategy
World Access to Higher Education
Ryerson has marked World Access to Higher Education Day since 2019, when the event was inaugurated. It’s an occasion to tell the stories of inspiring students who’ve shown remarkable resilience on their journey to university.
Scope of work: Content strategy, video direction
Ryerson / Toronto Met University Magazine
What became a slick double-page spread in the Summer 2020 issue of Ryerson / Toronto Met University Magazine (hats off to Studio Wyse on the design) actually started as a web piece published in the university’s weekly newsletter.
The timing matters.
At the time, the city was engrossed in the Raptors’ playoff run and many brands were looking for ways to insert themselves into what was a great story. Having commissioned Mark Blinch for photography work in the past, I quickly got in touch to interview him after noticing that he had taken the now-famous Kawhi Leonard Buzzer beater. It proved to be a great conversation and a natural way to capitalize on Raptors mania.
Scope of work: Writer
