Hooking media with a complex yet compelling idea requires a deft hand, especially when the news involves three partners. Our client the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises at Wilfrid Laurier University, in conjunction with Hockeystick, a financial market data network, announced a federally funded platform to track growth metrics for Canadian companies.
The Hockeystick platform will standardize data collection across incubators, accelerators, scale-ups and startups. This will allow “apples to apples” comparisons between companies, and over time will paint a picture of what characterizes a successful Canadian tech company across all stages of growth. Canada will be the only country with a data set on tech growth this comprehensive. The Lazaridis Institute will use Hockeystick in its own program, which matches Canada’s most promising tech firms with business experts to support their growth.
A joint announcement was made in Waterloo by the three partners – the Lazaridis Institute, Hockeystick and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). StrategicAmpersand supported the program with strategy, media relations and press materials that effectively explained the partnership and its benefits.
Launch day coverage appeared in The Globe and Mail, CBC, Betakit, the Waterloo Region Record, IT Business and Techvibes. In part due to our efforts, the articles clearly explained the initiative, how each partner was involved, and how they believe it will make Canada more competitive.