In 2018, the Ontario Building Officials Association was facing these challenges as well as an additional, existential threat: with 50% of Ontario’s Building Officials set to retire over the following 3 years, the rebranding process would be the starting point for a major website overhaul, targeted marketing and outreach initiatives.

Working closely with the OBOA Board, we recommended a robust online survey of carefully selected individuals, and were delighted by the high interest level we discovered for this under-the-radar profession. Folding this insight into our standard robust Discovery process, the creative phase could begin.

In the new OBOA logo, a single-family house as well as a larger building rise from an open book, representing both the Association’s educational mandate and the Ontario Building Code. “OBOA” (commonly used)  as well as “the Ontario Building Officials Association” (directed at a wider audience) are both present in the new branding. The tagline “Building Knowledge and Community” resonates on several levels with both the internal audience and as a starting point for external outreach.

An important aspect of the OBOA rebrand was to align, with sensitivity, 22 provincial Chapters, each with their own history, culture, and visual identity under the new organizational brand. Through extensive consultation and by demonstrating respect for individual Chapter characteristics, we were able to achieve buy-in to the rebrand process.