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The Forum

A Canadian charity providing services and community to women entreprenueurs through programs and services nationally since 2002.

branding & design


strategy


web UX design 


social media

visit the websites:

Kathryn is the complete package - bringing high level strategy together with creative finesse. The AFIA brand look and feel were exactly what we were looking for to reach banks and investors while at the same time bringing out the diversity of BIPOC women entrepreneurs. - Gretchen Ferguson, Program Lead, The Forum

about this project

The Forum – The AFIA DEI Index is a nation-wide initiative to address the systemic barriers experienced by women entrepreneurs in accessing capital. The Index encourages Canadian funders to take action on access to business funding that inspires accelerated growth for women entrepreneurs especially diverse women. As a new “first-of-a-kind” initiative, The Forum was in need of a new brand. The brand was soft launched nationally in Nov 2022 with a full launch in Fall 2023.

 

Our consultation with the The Forum determined the following challenges:


  1. The brand needed to appeal to both funders (eg. banks, trust, angel investors, VC) as well as be appealing to women entrepreneurs and the agencies who support them.
  2. Be distinct from The Forum brand yet complimentary to ensure brand compatibility across all business units
  3. Digital focused first with online workflow systems which the brand would need to work within


our solution

  1. We collaborated with the team to create the brand and marketing strategy to align with the brand purpose and values.
  2. From there, we underwent a naming exercise to create the AFIA name while we expanded the existing Forum brand colours to add a new colour; Imperial Mauve to define the AFIA brand and built out a new logo and brand architecture.
  3. The brand was then rolled out onto a bilingual website we built along with a brand video and marketing materials to bolster the brand messaging. 


the results

A new brand focused on helping BIPOC women entrepreneurs and gender diverse folks get better access to funding, the internal team is creating brand awareness for this initiative through the brand materials. The materials created are now part of a larger stakeholder and training program adoption initiatives. 

Creating a complementary brand using existing brand elements was the key to extending The Forum brand family.

at-a-glance Certification fact sheet - one in a series of five

A First of Its Kind Certification - the first Certification for Canadian funders that recognizes their commitments and actions to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in business financing.


A series of explainer videos were created to help funder and other stakeholders.


Concept and artwork by Kathryn Ashby

Collaboration on script with Gretchen Ferguson

Animation by Republic Digital

social media launch campaign: #choosewomen AFIA soft launch combined with  a national pr campaign,  Women's Entrepreneurship Day 2022