The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) recently teamed up with High Road to refresh its online presence – and the result is more than just a new coat of paint.  With the launch of this new site, CHSRF will be talking to its audience about what matters most: the state of Canada’s healthcare system.

The CHSRF’s mandate is to strengthen healthcare in Canada by engaging and supporting citizens, accelerating evidence-informed change, and promoting policy dialogue.  With the new CHSRF.ca, the independent, not-for-profit group has become a great example of how organizations can take advantage of online tools to better engage stakeholders and foster a strong sense of community in its audience to truly drive change.

Developed with the goal of encouraging national dialogue and debate between health services partners, academia, media and researchers, the rebranded site is the product of extensive stakeholder consultations and a social media audit.

CHSRF.ca  invites visitors to join in on the healthcare conversation through both Facebook and Twitter, and visitors can also contribute to and stay up to date with CHSRF through the community page, which features recent news and health updates,  as well as a Twitter feed from CHSRF’s customized community list.

Visitors can also easily view CHSRF’s extensive content library through a robust tagging system (including tag clouds) which allow visitors to quickly access the exact information they need. This was made possible through the implementation of a more flexible, customizable content management system (CMS).

The new CHSRF site will now be a thriving online hub to connect healthcare thinkers with healthcare doers – a space that is sure to contribute to the ongoing development of the Canadian healthcare system.

Canadian Tire wanted to a way to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and community, through an interactive online report that profiled all of Canadian Tire’s environmentally and socially-conscious activity in their product choices, their stores and the communities they serve.

High Road Communications developed a virtual world that used a combination of video, photos and dynamic content to tell Canadian Tire’s sustainability story.

Visitors can zoom into different areas – the store, a soccer field, homes, trucks, gas stations – and tour the different sustainable activities and processes that Canadian Tire had implemented. These range from energy-efficient lighting in stores through to their community involvement in JumpStart and Lucky Clover programs for Canadian kids.

The online report is accompanied by a downloadable print version, which can be printed out by section or in its entirety.

Prior to its November 2008 launch, Sun Life’s corporate online presence was dated, did not tell a compelling story and did not reflect its market position as a strong, international financial services company. It also lacked the social media tools crucial to the way the next generation of customers do business.

High Road communications was mandated to dramatically improve the Sun Life web experience and strengthen its online presence. High Road developed a multi-part strategy for the site’s overhaul, including an extensive competitive review and audit to identify best practices in the financial services industry and broad stakeholder consultations with the Customer Solutions Department, External Communications, Human Resources and the company’s senior marketing executives in North America, Asia and Europe.

The resulting strategic plan was built around five objectives: 1) Establish Sun Life Financial as a strong international company, 2) Make it easy to do business with Sun Life online, 3) Market Sun Life Financial, 4) Build its brand and reputation and 5) Enable a seamless, one-company experience.

In November 2008, Sun Life launched a new www.sunlife.com global website, a pivotal first step in revolutionizing Sun Life’s online presence. Its modern design, innovative functionality and robust content has put Sun Life at the forefront as an industry leader in online communications.