Green Municipal Fund

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) supports Canadian municipalities through capacity-building and funding, to reduce pollution, improve energy efficiency, revitalize public infrastructure and more. Briteweb was approached to create a promotional campaign for both the yearly Sustainable Communities Conference, and a general awareness campaign for GMF’s capacity-building offering. 

GMF is a trusted and reputable brand, but information about their capacity development resources was difficult to access, meaning their hard work wasn’t making the impact it could. The challenge was devising a cohesive messaging and design system that could be used by both campaigns to build awareness and create connections with more municipalities across Canada. 

Briteweb created a detailed strategy and audience profiles by gathering information from comparing different sources and stakeholder research. It became clear that we needed to communicate the wide range of funding, resources and training that GMF offers through its newly updated Learning Centre page.

Briteweb and GMF ultimately landed on the phrase, Connecting for the Future as the chosen message for the conference, which could be adapted to [Anything] for the future in the more widespread GMF campaign. Anything, in brackets, conveys the breadth of their resources available and the word can be interchanged to focus on individual projects, for the desired effect.

This flexible concept was reflected in the visual identity with the idea of a ‘modern quilt’; a selection of custom icons representing different areas of sustainability, including GMF’s five focus areas: Energy, Affordable Housing, Transportation, Water, Waste and Land Use. The icons are displayed in a grid system that can be easily rearranged and customized by the GMF team.

The initial strategy document was the springboard for this successful campaign and was well received by the GMF team. Our in-depth research phase led to a deeper understanding of the Fund’s intricacies, and allowed us to develop a foundation of mutual trust as we moved forward on the project together. 

We created videos, templates, marketing collateral and even an app to support the Sustainable Communities Conference. The video acts as a bridge between the conference and GMF’s general awareness campaign, pointing the audience towards the resources that they offer. The flexible design system can be used by both campaigns, is adaptable for the future, and will allow GMF to connect with more municipalities and help them work toward a more sustainable future.