Speak to the innovator in all of us

MaRS Brand Strategy and Architecture

MaRS has always struggled with the gap between the value it helps create and the perception of that value. As a globally significant centre for innovation, the incredible wealth of resources and networks available through the MaRS ecosystem has helped launch countless commercial and social profit enterprises and it continues to deepen and grow as our Canada's innovation culture matures.

I'd been enjoying my role as a volunteer MaRS client advisor and participant in their strategic planning process. Because I knew the place from the inside, the leadership at the time asked me to work through a grassroots process to engage the organization in a brand strategy exercise - to finally develop a story worth telling.

The most important insight driving the work was that innovation is a social activity and successful entrepreneurs are actually very social creatures. There is an innovator in all of us, and the MaRS mission is to nurture that instinct and support it with the aim of making a deep economic and social impact.

For the innovator in all of us became the democratizing call to open the doors of MaRS and let the world see that it is good ideas, well supported, by great people that make the difference. Any anyone can play.