Ward Names

Client: City of Edmonton
Category: Audio, Graphics, Motion

This widely lauded campaign helped Edmontonians through the complex transition of renaming twelve city wards with twelve Indigenous names. Working with Knowledge Keepers, we used their rich stories to deliver a high-stakes change to the city.

How does a city tactfully change the names of its neighborhoods?

The Challenge

The City of Edmonton municipal wards were redrawn and subsequently changed from numbers to Indigenous names. Tastawiyniwak, Sspomitapi, Anirniq – when confronted with these unfamiliar word formations, frustration and debate can arise.

The Insight

Names are powerful. Anyone with lived history in a place has emotional and perceptual ties to the names of things, whether they know it or not.

The Idea

The Indigenous Ward Naming Knowledge Committee was made up of 17 women from First Nations in Treaty No. 6,7,8, as well as Metis and Inuit representatives. Inspired by these women and the history they shared, we felt it was important to hear the stories of each ward and their respective names in the unique tone and cadence of their voice.

Watch

The Work

We crafted visual and audio accompaniments to bring this important history to life. Working alongside pipikwan pêhtâkwan, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community members, we set out to combat that frustration through a 12 part video series and supplementary social media graphics.

Anirniq

Nakota Isga

Sipiwiyiniwak

Metis

Dene

Papastew

The Result

The twelve-part educational series was rolled out over the Spring and Summer of 2021 and has since been celebrated and recognized with a long list of awards, including Award of Excellence from IABC Capital Awards, Best in Show, Social Media Advertising Series, Art Direction, and Illustration from the Advertising Club of Edmonton’s 2022 ACE Awards.

Each video has received tens of thousands of views across various social platforms, is in use in classrooms as an educational tool, and garnered traditional earned media coverage locally and nationally.

But most importantly, the series transformed into a tool against indignant citizens complaining about the name change and unfamiliar pronunciation. In many cases, once the complainant watched the video and learned the deeper meaning and important stories behind those new names, they felt more connected and proud of the wards where they lived.

ACE Award

Best in Show