Some of our favourite projects with some incredible people.

Have a peek at some of our past and present projects!

Hilton Hotels Canada

  • Hilton creates content for their Travel Guides that showcases various destinations in Canada and around the world. This helps their guests learn more about the cities they plan to visit and find interesting activities to do during their stay. SongBird was mandated to weave the Hilton brand into the Canadian travel experience by drafting engaging and uniquely Canadian content to highlight Hilton properties and surrounding areas across Canada.

  • The content needs to both attract new Hilton guests, but also entice previous guests to travel within Canada. We needed to catch travelers in the planning phase to draw them to Hilton properties and showcase the benefits of staying at each of the Canadian Hilton properties because of their proximity to local attractions.

  • We worked closely with the Hilton marketing team across North America on content Strategy & Development.

    SongBird experienced, researched, and interviewed locals to create the most engaging content possible while writing from both a personal and brand perspective.

  • A growing library of travel guide content featuring primarily Canadian content with a secondary focus on American content.

LEGO Star Wars

  • The 20th anniversary of the LEGO Star Wars partnership was marked with the release of 5 new LEGO sets. While the launch and marketing of the 20th anniversary celebration was done in the US market earlier in the year, LEGO needed to tell the story in the Canadian market while focusing on a lot of Canadian-first content. Efforts would be focused on the LEGO installations at Union Station and Fan Expo in Toronto and LEGO Star Wars designer Michael Lee Stockwell coming to Canada.

  • Fan Expo is traditionally focused mostly on celebrity storylines. While LEGO brought one of its higher profile designers, the challenge would be to raise his celebrity status and build a storyline that the media couldn’t say no to.

  • SongBird developed a targeted Media & Influencer Relations strategy focusing on Toronto and surrounding areas.

    We focused on Canadian-first content such as the large-scale LEGO brick models of the Millennium Falcon cockpit, the 3D Luke Skywalker poster, and the interactive LEGO Star Wars timeline as well as the record-breaking display of over 36,000 LEGO Stormtrooper Minifigures at Union Station in downtown Toronto.

    The goal was to get coverage for LEGO leveraging both the largescale installations as well as the expertise of LEGO designer Michael Lee Stockwell.

    Woven throughout were pockets of excitement working with the 501st Canadian Garrison.

  • SongBird secured media appearances and brand coverage on top tier media outlets such as CP24 Breakfast, Global Morning Show, CityNews, CTV News, CBC Kids, CBC Windsor, Snap’d, Windsor Star, Windsor Life, and others.

    We also secured coverage with top tier digital outlets and influencers such as BlogTO, Toronto.com, Narcity, Rebelscum.com, TheForce.net, GeekCentric, and others.

    The campaign garnered over 11 million impressions.

The Princess Ball

  • Approaching the third annual Princess Ball in April 2016, Wishes for Olivia was looking to grow brand awareness and increase sponsorship opportunities. SongBird works with Wishes for Olivia to do media relations, social media, build a stronger sponsorship outreach strategy, and find opportunities to raise the brand profile to generate buzz about the work that Wishes for Olivia is doing.

  • The Princess Ball faces a unique challenge. While they sell out (500 tickets) each year (sometimes within 30 minutes of going on sale), they had low brand recognition in the broader public and in the media. The challenge is to get the media and other influencers talking about the event to raise awareness of the overall message without needing to push a call-to-action to sell tickets.

  • SongBird works with The Princess Ball in 5 key areas: Strategy development, Media Relations, Influencer Marketing, Social Media, and Sponsorship.

    Strategy and sponsorship focused on helping to build a more robust overall approach through messaging, community partners, information packages, and outreach strategy.

    SongBird developed a targeted media outreach strategy aimed at connecting with Ontario media. We also developed an influencer program for the 2019 event that was put on hold for the 2020 event due to the pandemic.

    We managed Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and used it to build a more engaged community of supporters.

  • Note: Due to the pandemic, The Princess Ball was put on hold and the 2020 event was cancelled.

    SongBird brought Boom97.3 Morning host Stu Jeffries on as emcee for the event four years in a row.

    The media relations program generated, on average, over 5 million impressions (OTS) each year. We secured coverage on outlets such as CP24 Breakfast, CHCH Morning Live, Global News, CTV News, CityTV News, Toronto Star, Today’s Parent, Metroland, and Canadian Family.

    The 2019 influencer program generated around 500,000 impressions on Instagram Stories alone and 2500 clicks through to the Princess Ball Instagram profile.

    There are a few social media statistics to note from the last event in 2019. We increased Instagram followers by 66% and engagement by 342%. Engagement on Facebook increased by 124%. And impressions on Twitter increased by 384%.

emla Canada

  • Develop a consumer marketing strategy to educate about needle pain and emla as a preventative measure. Using online channels, create content and dialogue designed to empower patients to advocate for themselves and for their children.

  • While emla is an industry leader for topical anaesthetic products, the brand is not generally known among consumers. The percentage of primary care providers that offer emla is low, so they wanted to find a way to connect directly with consumers. The pandemic also ended up cutting off traditional relationship building between sales reps and physicians.

    Additionally, initiatives like this that focus on digital channels are not widely used among many pharma companies.

  • SongBird has focused on social media and influencer marketing to connect with consumers directly. We developed consumer-friendly messaging and product materials and launched emla on Instagram. The goal was to share engaging content that encourages dialogue, sparks interest in emla for pain prevention, and connects with professionals in various industries that would use emla for their patients and clients.

    We also ran a number of influencer marketing campaigns (that were put on hold due to the pandemic) that targeted micro influencers within Canada. The goal was to get product in their hands so they could talk about their experiences on social media.

  • emla continues to grow and reach their growth targets despite being in the midst of a pandemic. With an average engagement rate on Instagram of 4.3%, we have also had several conversations with consumers and experts on the platform regarding the brand, its uses, and where it is available.

    The influencer program, although it was cut short due to the pandemic, received over 70,000 impressions to date with plans to expand further.

Support Black Charities

  • As a relative newcomer to the not-for-profit space, Support Black Charities (SBC) needed a marketing program that would help to build brand recognition and a trustworthy reputation with organizations and supporters. They also needed help establishing a footing to be seen as a leader in the Black philanthropic community.

  • There are a lot of voices in the Black Philanthropic space, so the challenge would be to find ways to differentiate SBC and help the brand and its initiatives stand out among competitors. Another challenge is budget and stretching it out as far as it could go to get as much impact as possible with a small budget, which means constantly prioritizing tactics and execution roll out.

  • SongBird has worked with SBC on brand and strategy development throughout our time working with them as the organization evolves.

    With a primary focus on social media - SBC has a presence on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook - SongBird also manages the monthly eNewsletter.

  • All stats continue to trend upwards and there has been a steady increase in organizations inquiring about inclusion on the directory as well as inquiries from supporters.

    In 2021, SBC’s average engagement rate on Instagram was 3.15% and they saw a community growth rate of 93%. Twitter’s average engagement rate was 2% with a 98% community growth rate.

    The newsletter has an average open rate of 40%.

    Overall, we have been able to present the SBC brand consistently on multiple channels and it is resonating with organizations and supporters.

The Baby Show

  • The Baby Show approached SongBird in 2015 with a need for more media coverage – specifically broadcast - for their semi-annual consumer exhibition. They also wanted to provide added value to their exhibitors on-site at the show as both incentive to purchase a booth as well as retain exhibitors for future events.

  • There were two competing consumer baby shows in Toronto at around the same time in the spring and fall. The Baby Show’s competitor had already built up strong relationships with media in previous years, so SongBird needed to find ways to differentiate The Baby Show. We decided to focus efforts equally on traditional media as well as influencers.

  • SongBird developed a targeted media relations strategy initially and added influencer marketing after a couple of years. We focused primarily on broadcast media as well as parenting influencers.

    We booked interviews and product demonstrations on-site at the shows as well as leading up to the shows.

    Each year, the influencer marketing campaigns included ticket giveaways leading up to the show, on-site social media coverage, and a VIP gifting program. We also set up an Instagram takeover in the 2019 fall show.

  • Secured media appearances for each show on top tier broadcast outlets such as Breakfast Television, CP24 Breakfast, Global Morning Show, CBC News, 680 News, and CityTV.

    Secured influencer coverage and partnerships with a range of influencers and influential parenting publications.

“Our mission is very important to everyone at Wishes for Olivia, and as such, we knew how vital it was to work with an effective, experienced, and connected marketing communications agency such as SongBird. Working with SongBird has helped us tell our story to a much broader audience. They are personally invested in helping us grow, and they have taken the time to really understand what our organization is about, and get us the attention it deserves.”

— Jennifer W, Wishes for Olivia & The Princess Ball

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