Benefits for an American company working with a Canadian branding agency
With a shoutout to our American friends, we have received many questions regarding the advantages of working with a package branding agency such as ourselves from Canada.
Below, are the top benefits for a US company to work with a Canadian branding agency. Many of the advantages apply to most companies looking for a trusted and long term creative partner.
Benefits for a US company to work with a Canadian branding agency:
- A unique perspective with a multicultural understanding
- A fresh approach
- Terrific bang for your buck
- Dependability: You are very important to any company from Canada that’s aspiring to grow within America
- Regulatory understanding
A unique perspective with a multicultural understanding to help US companies
When speaking with companies needing package branding design within San Diego California for instance, we often get asked “what are the advantages of working with a Canadian branding agency?”. An advantage is we offer an outside perspective with a multicultural understanding of product appeal and purchase intent.
Lately, US companies have been struggling to stay relevant as their markets start to become somewhat fragmented. More cultural diversity brings more opportunity and challenges. It’s easy to get stuck in your own market bubble and potentially miss huge opportunities for getting your product or service in front of more people. Our American clients, for instance, often ask us how to unify the intrigue of a design across different cultures so it can appeal to communities originating from Asia, South America, Africa and Europe. Of course, all the while still making sense to second, third and fourth generation Americans.
Experienced, Toronto based design companies such as Brand Builder Studios are familiar with this challenge and have developed strategies and ideas for addressing this challenge.
A fresh approach for companies in the USA
Another advantage for a US based company to work with a Canadian design team for instance, is a fresh approach. Some companies we’ve spoken to realized that the local design company they were working with seemed to be stuck in a bit of a “creative rut”. The execution of the designs were starting to become repetitive and predictable and for companies focused on innovation and catching the attention of new audience’s, the old approach was not achieving the results needed.
A Canadian based company may offer a really fresh and proven approach because they’ve had to rapidly adapt to competitive market conditions and provide creative solutions for companies experiencing huge market shifts due to immigration. The fragmentation of markets in Toronto, for instance, has been happening for the last 40 years. Those are many years for understanding market shifts as they relate to creative content. Even more immigration is expected in the near future (at least 1 million people in the next couple of years.) That’s 1 million new consumers that new strategies and new creative will need to be developed for.
A terrific bang for your buck
An important consideration for an American company is how far a US budget can extend for getting the creative communications you need? Typically, the lower Canadian dollar as compared to the US dollar provides a terrific level of flexibility and greater service offerings. Your automatically improved buying power gives you access to more experienced and knowledgeable tallent, often with international experience that could be especially important for companies with lots of business outside of their own country borders.
Some procedural advantages could be opportunities for making more changes. Even massive directional pivots could probably be easily covered by your allocated budget. This alleviates pressure by also opening up scenarios for testing more ideas and even following through with a multitude of them for market research. The advantageous pricing situation also will likely become a cascading scenario providing you access to great talent among the established relationships your Canadian design company has on its roster. Likely external partners and suppliers ex. Printers, web developers, social media marketers, etc.
Dependability – You are valued and important to Canadian companies
You are valued and important to Canadian packaging and branding companies set on growth. Typically, US markets are very high on their list for expansion. In Canada, if a company has successfully partnered and collaborated with successful US companies, especially in California, New York and emerging tech sectors that can be found in Austin Texas. it’s a symbol of achievement and an indication of the Canadian design company’s commitment to producing significant creative communications for highly competitive and large market places. A common thought is “If a Canadian company succeeds in the US, it can succeed anywhere”. This drive to impress really pushes a Canadian package branding agency to significantly lean in and support its clientele with maximum dependability and responsiveness.
What to look for in a Canadian creative partner
Okay, now that the pragmatic advantages for a Californian company to work with a Canadian company are out of the way, what are some things to help decide on the right Canadian company for you?
If you’re looking at comparable companies with equally strong portfolios. The two main points to focus on would be summed up with the following two questions
- Does the Canadian design company have international experience?
- Does the Canadian design company have specific experience working with US companies for US markets?
If the answer is yes to both of these questions and everything else is compatible and to your liking, you’ve likely found a keeper. It should be mentioned though, that there are exceptional young companies looking to expand into providing great service outside of their own borders as well. A Canadian based company with passion and innovative thinking could potentially surprise you and over deliver on your expectations. You, as a US company could represent their introduction to the American market and they’ll treat you like gold ; )
Does this work both ways?
Absolutely! The Canadian market could represent a huge expansion opportunity for your US company. Who better to creativity collaborate with than a Canadian based creative packaging and branding agency?
An agency already implementing proven strategies for breaking through the noise and delivering a clear message to Canadian consumers.
Regulatory understanding in the US and Canada
Packaging specific projects require a multitude of regulatory elements and preferences that an experienced design agency could help you to navigate. Technicals such as minimum point sizes, Nutrition Facts Tables, Ingredient listings and special call outs are some of the required considerations that experienced Canadian creative packaging companies could help you with.
Canada (CFIA) is among the toughest regulators in the world for instance and an extra understanding can prove to be extremely helpful for saving you money and avoiding risk for bringing new products to market. In contrast, the US also has tough regulations, but are much less convoluted and an experienced Canadian design company would easily design the packaging to be compliant.
Hopefully the advantages below are compelling points to at least consider a Canadian creative partner for your next important project. There are many benefits for a California company to work with a Canadian branding agency
- A unique perspective with a multicultural understanding
- Fresh approach
- Bang for buck
- Dependability: You are valued and important to them
- Regulatory understanding
If you have any other questions that could be specific to your needs. Feel free to reach out to us to chat further. Also, check out our previous post about package branding and why it’s so important here: All you need to know about package branding
