“I am genuinely impressed with the work from this year’s REBRAND 100 Global entrants,” said Callison Executive Vice President and 2010 juror, Paula Stafford. “It is apparent companies are working hard to provide a 360 degree, comprehensive brand language. They see the value and strength of consistency, clarity of identity and message in reaching their respective audiences. Some entries were spot on in connecting with their targeted customers, patients and clients.”

To select winners, a new, international panel of industry experts convenes yearly to review the best of the submissions. They consider “before” and “after” images of brand transformations with written summaries. Emphasis was on executed strategy that made an emotional connection, and met the stated objectives and needs of the identified target market. Jurors were unaware of the brand strategist’s name and size when reviewing the projects. Consequently, a small consulting firm had as much opportunity to be selected as did global organizations.

Over 36 industries and 29 countries are represented among the 2010 winners. They ranged from the City of Pula’s Office of Tourism in Croatia to Nike, and Walmart, the worlds largest retailer. Some of the competing brand consultants included Interbrand, Radley Yeldar, Lippincott, and Siegel+Gale, in addition to in-house teams, small agencies, and representatives of multinational corporations. The rebrand could have been an enterprise-wide effort, a change in a single brand component, or a brand extension.

The 2010 panel of 10 included Friederike Biegel, Director of Strategy, Peter Schmidt Group in Germany; Founder, Director & Principal Designer; Ashwini Deshpande of India-based Elephant Strategy + Design; Uche Nworah, Channel Brand Manger for Glo; Andrew Gorman, Creative Director, Radley Yeldar, and Kit Hinrichs, former Pentagram Partner and founder Studio-Hinrichs.

About The AGRI-TREND Group of Companies.
AGRI-TREND has 4 main operating divisions servicing agricultural clients across Canada, the US and as far away as Australia. AGRI-TREND has expertise in Agronomy, Carbon Credits, Grain Marketing, and Precision Farming. In addition, they have also developed an industry leading data management platform, tailored exclusively for their clients. To learn more about AGRI-TREND, visit them online at www.agritrend.com.

About REBRAND™ and the REBRAND 100® Global Awards:
REBRAND™ is the first, and only expert-led, global resource focused on brand transformations. Its REBRAND 100® Global Awards, is the highest, recognition for excellence in brand repositioning. Featured in such media as The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, BusinessWeek, and Yahoo! Finance, the annual awards has entry deadlines in late September. View case studies from numerous industries at www.rebrand.com

Also new to our team is Angela Waite, joining as a lead Agricultural Account Manager. With an Ag degree in hand, and a solid track record of marketing experience with a number of Ag organizations and agencies, Angela’s insight and expertise will become an invaluable resource to our growing roster of Agri-Business clients. Angela is also a master wordsmith, and will be providing top notch writing services to our entire client base.

You can learn more (and see the hot off the press avatars) by visiting our People page.

Welcome aboard Bryan & Angela!

What’s really exciting about this program for our customers is that we provide the service on a fixed fee monthly basis, so all of your costs (marketing, strategic, interactive, branding, writing and so on) are amortized throughout the year. Fixed costs can be critical in helping to smooth out budget wrinkles which can make effective market timing difficult, and gives you a steady partner to focus on your marketing initiatives (both on and offline) while you focus on the other parts of your business. Check out more info on the program by clicking here!

Recently, they have expanded into three separate divisions to meet the needs and demands of a growing market: Energy, Bio-Diesel and Ethanol, creating value for its shareholders through a blended business development strategy of exploration and production.

To accommodate this growth, blue-horizon.ca was recently revamped by RFX to showcase the mandate and vision behind each one of the divisions. In years past, RFX also developed the corporate identity and brand architecture for the Blue Horizon Group of Companies.
Click here to view the website!

Having completed the corporate brand identity development for Cheviot, RFX undertook the task of creating their online presence. This new website serves as one more touch point where the customer can stay up to date with their latest developments and projects.
Click here to view the website!

Thank you for coming and being part of our BBQ Burger Showdown during Stampede this year! We hope you had as much fun eating and judging our burgers as we had making them. The results are in and Dan Bergeron’s ‘Pineapple Express Burger’ was officially voted this year’s best BBQ burger. Congratulations Dan! And now, by popular demand, here are the secret recipes for you to enjoy!

The Pineapple Express
Grilled by: Dan Bergeron

2/3 lb. ground pork
1/3 lb. ground sirloin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs (or cornflake crumbs)
1 tbsp fresh ground ginger
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup finely diced green pepper
1 can sliced pineapple

What to do

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands (spoons are for suckers). Form meat into large thin 1/4 inch patties that are larger than the pineapple slice. Take one patty, and place pineapple slice and about a tbsp of the chopped green pepper on top. Take a second patty and place it over top, carefully pinching it closed around the entire patty.

Grill until cooked (they cook fairly quickly because there is only 1/4” of meat to cook on either side.  Dress bun (toasted or non toasted) with Hot Pepper Jelly (very important), Mayo and lettuce (or whatever else you like) and serve! I recommend using the thin President Choice whole grain buns from Superstore, as the patties can be quite thick.

The Dude’s Wicked Olive Burger
Grilled by: Paul Jeffery

1 lb lean ground beef
1/4 lb. ground pork
1 finely diced red onion
1 cup finely chopped kalamata olives
1/ cup chopped feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Fresh ground black pepper

A liberal dosing of each of the following:
Steak Sauce, Steak Spice, Worcestershire Sauce

What to do

Chop it all up. Mix it all up in a BIG bowl. Make big flat round patties.

The Ginger Burger
Grilled by: Brent Garner

1kg Lean ground beef
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup carrots – shoestring cut
1/2 cup Korean BBQ sauce
1/8 cup shredded ginger root
2 tablespoons dried crushed chilies
1/8 cup brown sugar
fresh basil
1 cup Miracle Whip
1 large pineapple

What to do

Mix ground beef, ginger, BBQ sauce, carrots, chilies, and brown sugar together. Sprinkle in flour gradually. Cook on grill to taste, brushing on Korean BBQ sauce. Chop basil and mix with Miracle Whip. Serve with grilled pineapple ring on toasted bun. Garnish with carrots.

Cilantro-Fusion Pork Cakes
Grilled by: Adriana Bernal

8 oz. pork, chopped in cubes
2 tablespoons of grated ginger
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of chopped red onion
1 cup of chopped cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons of olive oil

What to do

Place ingredients into a food processor and pulse a few times just until ingredients come together. Do not over mix. Form mixture into 2 large patties. Heat a large skilled over medium high heat. Add oil and when it’s hot, fry pork cakes. When golden on the one side, flip and brown the other side. Serve alone or on a bun with desired condiments.

Note that you can substitute the pork in this recipe with salmon or beef – the only variant will be cooking time.

Join us for free fixin’s and a rootin’ tootin’ good time!

We invite ya’ll to saddle up and join us on July 2nd for our first annual Stampede RFXtravaganza. Chow down as sharp shootin’ RFX compadres square off in a battle of BBQ sauce and mouth watering burgers. We ain’t callin’ it a showdown for nuthin’ – your vote will decide who will be the last one standing after the smoke clears (hickory smoke that is).

Open House

While in RFX County, check out our new digs. We’ve been in this neck of the woods for a while now, but just recently made some renovations you might have heard tell of.

Thursday, July 2, 2009
12:00pm – 4:00pm
107 – 6227 2nd Street SE

RSVP to bbqshowdown@rfx.ca

RFX’s rebrand of the 35 year-old Calgary accounting firm encompassed a full transformation of the brand, starting with its identity and carrying through to a full communication platform, including web site, recruitment materials and print collateral.

View Hudson’s case study at http://www.rebrand.com/2009-notable-hudson-llp

“Given the international profile of the ReBrand 100® Global Awards, and the fierce competition among entrants, our team is honoured to be singled out,” remarks Dan Bergeron, President of RFX Brand + Communications. “Our hats off to the folks at Hudson, whose confidence, tireless work and collaboration were integral to this achievement.”

Over 40 industries and 21 countries are represented among the 2009 winners. Some of the world’s best-known branding consultants such as Interbrand, The Brand Union, and more competed, as did in-house teams, small agencies, and multinational corporations. The jury panel of prominent industry experts selected work that transcended strictly cosmetic changes. Consideration was given to strategy that made an emotional connection, and met stated objectives and needs of the identified target market.

“With the value of branding no longer a secret, the world becoming borderless, and the rate of information travel unbounded, assessing brand distinction and leadership is no easy task. The range of excellence in this year’s global pool was inspiring, and demonstrated the value of effective rebrands and the global commitment evident in solutions,” said Thebe Ikalafeng, CEO of South Africa-based Brand Leadership Group and 2009 ReBrand 100 juror.

Unique among other awards, “before” and “after” scenarios of each brand transformation are reviewed with details of the accompanying write-up on the approach. The rebrand could have been an enterprise-wide effort, a change in a single brand component, or a brand extension. Winning rebrands are showcased for inspiration and learning at www.rebrand.com. To view our case study for Hudson LLP, please click here.