In short
In early 2024, Canadian Queer Chamber of Commerce (CQCC) was in a growing period— thanks to a federal funding boost, they were launching new programs to support 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs across Canada, and staffing up to support these nationally.
CQCC—then Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC), has always existed to remove the barriers for 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs—but now, they needed to cast a wider net. They needed to ensure their brand appealed to the smaller startups and solopreneurs, previously seeing mid-sized companies benefit the most from their corporate connections. They also had to reach across Canada, including French-speaking and rural audiences, and were seeking greater inclusion among underrepresented audiences like trans and BIPOC entrepreneurs.
Methodology
In March 2024, UpHouse won the bid to support the rename and brand identity project, as well as the PR, media and communications plan for its launch. We started with a comprehensive brand audit, building buy-in for the rebrand among key interest holders like their board, and leading intensive interest holder engagement among a representative sample of their audiences to determine where we should take the brand.
By the end of the discovery period, we had led 3 brand workshops with their board and internal teams, ran a survey, conducted 12 one-on-one interviews, and ran a peer-led workshop for their underrepresented audiences to support transparency and make space for authentic conversations. Through these connections, we were able to establish a benchmark for what was working well for their brand, and where there was room for improvement, including better representing the many 2SLGBTQI+ communities’ needs in their marketing.
Challenges & Execution
While we built plenty of buy-in to support the rename among their team, we hit a roadblock when it came to decision-making. The term “Queer” came up as the most consistent way our audiences surveyed self-identified, often checking off multiple boxes, representing the intersectionality of these identities.
However, there’s some remaining discomfort with this term, especially since it’s something that’s being reclaimed, as it was used to harm these communities in the past. CQCC hit pause and took the rename under their wing, leading the engagement with their teams and board to determine the final name. In the end, they went with a slight modification of one of our early pitches, CQC—adding the additional “C” for full alignment with other regional and international Chambers, and changing it to the “Canadian Queer Chamber of Commerce.”
Throughout the rebrand project, we began executing our communications plan, building relationships with the media and reaching over 100 million total media impressions, bolstering CQCC’s national position and warming media to our pitches.
We launched a Pride initiative and promoted member features that reached over 40 million readers each, a video which topped CQCC’s channels as a top-viewed reel, and Pride microsite. We took over CQCC’s socials, including boosting timely posts to our target audiences, and finally, launched a national marketing campaign introducing CQCC’s new visual identity and brand positioning, centred on the tagline: “Do Business, Differently.”
UpHouse hosted shoots in Toronto and New Brunswick to capture CQCC’s vast and diverse audiences for the campaign, spotlighting the ways 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs do business, differently, as well as how a CQCC membership helps corporations differentiate from their competitors. We even developed 6 animated videos featuring supplier or member testimonials to bring more voices to the table.
We built digital out-of-home, print, social media and programmatic ads, email and newsletter ads and copy, and launched a full-scale, national campaign in both official languages, boldly introducing CQCC’s renewed mission and visual identity to a wider audience.
Outcome
CQCC had ambitious goals—to invite 200 new diverse suppliers to their roster and 20 new corporate members in 2025. From January to December 1, 2025, there were 197 certified supplier form submissions, and 23 corporate member submissions, with this campaign directly contributing a substantial portion.
Off the success of the campaign, CQCC was able to connect their brand launch to an event launching a new member tier, the FAM, a low-barrier, high-impact entry point. With the new membership launched, they’ll be well underway to meet their target by year end.
The corporate partner and diverse supplier campaigns were a massive success, collectively reaching over 10.2 million impressions across Canada, with a geographically balanced reach—and surprise success in Québec with double the engagement of the English ads, thanks to French-led content.
Our personal stories performed the best—and led to nearly 2.7 million video views across both campaigns. With photography and video capture included in the campaign, we were able to equip CQCC with a suite of assets they can continue to use for authentically representing their audiences in the future.
The landing pages had a 96%+ engagement rate, and a 3-3.4% bounce rate, showing audiences engaged deeply with the content once they arrived.
At launch, there were only one or two mixed reviews on the rename that surfaced, mostly hearing overwhelmingly positive reactions to the inclusivity of the term “Queer”—and earning applause when they spoke to the new name to over 400 attendees at their annual gala.
Lessons Learned
While we were tied up with indecision surrounding the name, we were able to launch the national campaign introducing the new visual identity and brand messaging, building momentum for the brand reveal, and making it easy to update the assets with the new name post-launch. While it wasn’t our original plan, it helped build familiarity with the new look and made the transition easier on audiences as well as the CQCC team.
