It’s not about moving product.It’s about moving perception.
Institutional advertising brings a unique challenge: it asks not for a sale, but for a shift in thinking. And that’s what makes it deeply rewarding. These campaigns ask audiences to believe something new, to reconsider what they think they know. My job is to uncover the ideas strong enough to shift that thinking. Whether it’s reframing a utility as an environmental steward, a partner in everyday comfort, or a quiet enabler of progress, I treat these stories like any great campaign: rooted in insight, tailored to audience, and designed to connect in human terms. Because perception, like trust, is earned one story at a time.
Know Your Hydro
Challenge: The development of new Hydro infrastructure is necessary to ensure that reliable power will continue into the future. However, there was growing concern about negative public perception—particularly around environmental impact.
Solution: As a public affairs initiative, the campaign needed to shift perception and reinforce Manitoba Hydro’s role as an environmental steward. We let the message unfold through site-specific creative: a billboard pole doubled as a wind turbine, complete with spinning blades; a bus shelter transformed into an underwater fish passage; and a dual-board execution paired a power pole with a second structure supporting an eagle’s nest platform— something Hydro actually builds to protect wildlife.
Each execution highlighted Hydro’s investment in clean energy, habitat preservation, and job creation—grounded by a steady promise:
We’re there.
ClientManitoba Hydro ProjectKnow Your Hydro Campaign
Year2007
Small Changes Add Up
Challenge: Heat loss in homes is often caused by small, overlooked issues—like leaky doors and windows, poorly insulated walls and attics, and outdated showerheads. These inefficiencies can quietly drive up utility bills over time, creating an ongoing burden for homeowners.
Solution: To make energy efficiency feel simple and approachable, we created a campaign anchored by a lighthearted instructional tone. The hero of the campaign was a clay model homeowner and her matching dollhouse—a tactile, stylized way to demonstrate the power of small fixes. A real-life host guided viewers through each tip, from adding insulation to upgrading showerheads, with the dollhouse opening up to illustrate the problems and solutions inside.
The campaign ran across TV, outdoor, print, and a dedicated website with an interactive axonometric view of the house—inviting users to zoom in and explore small changes that could lead to big savings.
ClientManitoba Hydro ProjectSmall Changes Add Up Campaign Year2007 – 2009
Brought To You ByYour Manitoba Hydro
Challenge: Public perception of Manitoba Hydro was often limited to functional or transactional aspects—power bills, outages, infrastructure. The deeper, emotional role that energy plays in our daily lives was rarely considered. The challenge was to shift this perception and reframe Manitoba Hydro as a source of warmth, security, and connection.
Solution: We developed a campaign grounded in everyday human experiences—moments where warmth, light, comfort, or security quietly shape our lives. Each creative execution focused on a single word that captured both a practical benefit and an emotional truth. These words—Warmth, Comfort, Security, Enlightenment, and Housewarming—set up the central campaign line: Brought to you by your Manitoba Hydro.
TV spots and print executions captured relatable, intimate moments—a child wrapped in a warm towel, frost-covered eyelashes thawing in a cozy kitchen, a lineman restoring power, or a dinner gathering seen through a glowing window. Even in the more practical energy-efficiency messaging, like switching to LEDs or improving home insulation, the work remained human, optimistic, and warm.
The result was a unified platform that helped audiences see Manitoba Hydro not just as a utility, but as the power behind life’s most meaningful moments.
ClientManitoba Hydro ProjectBrought To You By Your Manitoba Hydro Campaign Year2015