Stories

Kim, Sue and the Acumen team worked closely with BCcampus managers and staff to bring a more focused and transparent approach to our stakeholder relations and communication strategies. Acumen helped us to refine and rebrand our web properties to more accurately reflect our lines of business and to provide key information quickly and effectively to our clients and stakeholders. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Acumen if you're looking for a team that is strategic in its thinking and knows how to get the job done.
David Porter
Executive Director
Connect. Collaborate. Innovate
Situation BCcampus is a collaborative online learning agency that helps BC’s public post-secondary institutions meet their learning needs. They do this by identifying, developing, implementing and promoting educational technology that benefits the entire public post-secondary system. One of their key problems was identifying who their primary audience was and communicating the correct message to that audience. Over the past year Acumen Communications has acted as BCcampus’ virtual...
Kim and her team were brought in to help us at a very critical time for the Department. Her experience, insight and ideas helped us reshape our entire communications program and build a new, powerful brand and message. The results have far exceeded our expectations and I have no hesitation in recommending Acumen to any organization that wants a professional, no nonsense communication plan that will get results.
Bill Naughton
Deputy Chief of Police
Strategic Communications and Reputation Management
Situation The Victoria Police Department needed help. Under pressure from an angry public and nervous city council to react to a growing problem with street crime, it faced the problem of a bruised public reputation and openly sceptical city councillors who weren’t convinced that giving the police more resources was going to solve anything. The new police chief wanted a way to convince his civic bosses and by extension, the rest of the community, that the force had a clear vision for the...
Acumen stepped in during the middle of the campaign and picked up the ball and ran with it, fitting in with the existing team exceptionally well. The only real surprise was how fast it all got done.
Doug Backhouse
Executive Director, ICF
Situation The Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) is a non-profit group that took over ownership of Vancouver Island’s historic 290-kilometre rail corridor in 2006, with the goal of keeping the railroad running. By early 2008 they faced a big challenge. The ageing rail line had been severely neglected over the years by the previous owners and it needed a $103.8 million upgrade. The ICF and the federal government were prepared to pay two-thirds of the cost – but the federal money was...
On the craziness of the last few days of our Internet Redesign project, I had no time to give you a proper "Thank You" for all your help and the excellent work you did. It was a pleasure working with you. It's good to have a counterpart that is as professional and capable as you are. This was a joint effort and, at the end, it was also a joint success.
Ivan Rincon
PMP
Small Business and Revenue Website redesign
Situation Like many organizations, the BC Government’s Small Business and Revenue department started posting much of its public information, including tax information, legislation and regulations on its website. But over the years, the volume of information grew, to approximately 1,500 html pages and over 1,500 PDFs, making it increasingly difficult to locate the right document. Some documents that worked in a paper-based format proved difficult to use effectively online, especially for...
I just wanted to thank you and the whole Acumen team for a fabulous job on our conference newsletters. We were very pleased with both the process and the outcome. Everyone was so professional and easy to work with. We are looking forward to working with your team again in the future.
Elizabeth Moreau
Director, Communications & Public Education
85th Annual National Conference
Situation The Canadian Paediatric Society holds its annual conference in a different city each year. In 2008, the CPS was in Victoria. The five-day event features speakers, seminars and delegates from across Canada and around the world. With several hundred delegates attending dozens of various events each day, the organizers wanted an easy, efficient way to highlight daily events and offer a synopsis of what had happened the day before. And they wanted this information to be...