Scaling to new heights with Altitude Accelerator
Rebranding the RIC Centre
Altitude Accelerator is a not-for-profit innovation hub and business incubator for Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon, and other communities in Southern Ontario. Altitude Accelerators’ focus is to be a dynamic catalyst for tech companies. They help their companies grow faster and stronger.
In September of 2020, Now Impact Studio (formerly Now Creative Group) started working with Altitude Accelerator on a variety of projects including social media management, copywriting, PR and communications. When the opportunity arose to rename and rebrand the organization, our agency submitted a successful bid and promptly began the in-depth process of consulting, developing and transitioning the organization from RIC Centre to what then became Altitude Accelerator.
A New Brand to Help Scale to New Heights
For an established organization with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs get to market faster.
A new name and visual identity
As part of this re-branding process, the organization’s main name changed from RIC Centre to Altitude Accelerator.
The previous logo is featured on the left, with the new logo and tagline on the right, using the new name.
Design Approach
Now Impact Studio had the opportunity to work with Altitude Accelerator on a rebrand that better embodied the essence of the organization and properly depicted the goals the organization had for the startups they support. The organization is a catalyst in the startup space known for helping founders grow and scale their startups to new heights.
Strategy and Methodology
The team at Now began by compiling and reviewing visual identities from other incubators and accelerators in the Brampton, Mississauga, Peel Region and beyond to do a thorough analysis of the existing landscape. We held community consultations and sessions with the Altitude Accelerator Board of Directors to brainstorm ideas and get a feel for what they would like to see with the rebrand.
We then conducted keyword searches of similar organizations to gauge a better understanding of where the newly designed brand would fit amongst competitors.
The rebrand started with research and quickly escalated to a long list of potential names. That long list was condensed to a shorter list before we finally landed on Altitude Accelerator.
Once the name was chosen, we then began to develop the logo concepts.
Our Solution
Ultimately, we created a brand that is modern, fresh and resonates with the tech community and ecosystem. Based on the problems and objectives presented by the client, and after research, we presented them with four logo options that did the following:
Better reflected the goals of the company – to help their startups scale to new heights
Helped them stand out from the competition in the incubator landscape
Fostered a level of excitement and drive with their clients
The full branding solution included a name change, new visual identity, brand positioning, launch strategy, website refresh and PR/media. We also helped them plan their launch event and provided photo/video footage to be used on social media and in email campaigns.
A video to introduce the new brand
Now Impact Studio produced this video to announce to the public that RIC Centre is now Altitude Accelerator, after 13 years of serving as RIC Centre. The video uses both new and archival footage to demonstrate that it was time for the organization to move into the next phase of their journey with a new name and identity that truly captures the essence of who they are and what they do, and to empower their community with this positive change.
A quick website refresh
The existing riccentre.ca website was given a visual refresh with the new brand colours, imagery and messaging, while maintaining the site’s structure and functionality — avoiding a complete re-build and extended timelines. The organization’s emails and website are now using the new altitudeaccelerator.ca domain.
Ongoing Social Media Management
From the beginning of our time working with Altitude Accelerator, we have managed their online social media presence. When we first started working with them, there was no clear direction on why and how they were using social media to achieve their company goals.
We kicked off by completing an audit of their entire digital presence and used that to develop a comprehensive social media strategy that formed the basis for the social media management moving forward.
An evolution of Altitude Accelerator’s Instagram account from what it looked like before we started working together to our work with RIC Centre before the rebrand, and then finally our revamped social media strategy and designs for the rebrand.
Altitude Accelerator’s social media strategy included creating content for events, program launches, client features and all around educational content for startups and founders. In addition to supporting with their social media presence, we also write blogs for them on various topics about funding, pitching, startups and growth.
Formal launch event and exciting additions
Finally in-person on October 7, 2021 in Brampton, the organization was able to host the formal launch event to showcase the new brand. Speakers included the Mayor of Brampton Patrick Brown, the Mayor of Mississauga (virtually) Bonnie Crombie, incoming Chair Andrew Opala of Preference Capital, and Executive Director Pam Banks. Three big announcements were shared, with the addition of the Investor Readiness program and new partnerships with Preference Capital and Algoma University School of Business and Economics.
The Future of Altitude Accelerator is Now
With this new visual identity, social media refresh and website update, Altitude Accelerator is more equipped now than ever before to help their client’s scale to new heights. Altitude Accelerator is positioned as a strong competitor in the Brampton, Mississauga, Peel region landscape and have already begun planning some new programming for their current and future clients.
Learn more about Altitude Accelerator at altitudeaccelerator.ca.