By Pepper Parr
June 29th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Creating the image and the message you want your market to have is an art more than it is a science.
In Burlington, many business operators will give a portion of their profits to a local charity. Car dealerships will loan a vehicle to an organization and have their name well displayed on the vehicle.
Alinea , the largest developable land owner in the Region, was formed when the Paletta brothers found that they didn’t see the world the way they used to when their father was alive and decided to distribute the significant assets between them and each go their own way.
Alinea now needs to grow their brand. Paletta as a developer was a little rough at the edges; Alinea wanted to move away from that image. How to tell the story ?.
They found a way to work with the Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation and has offered to match dollar for dollar in their You are more than just a business campaign. It isn’t clear whether the Hospital Foundation pitched the idea to Alinea or Alinea went to the hospital.
Anissa Hilborn, President & CEO of the Foundation has a very good reputation for coming up with innovative and interesting ideas.
Alinea, wants the public to know they are more than just a developer and wants local commercial interests to tell the public they are more than just a business. It’s an interesting approach and so far well executed.
The campaign reaches out to the business community and giving them an opportunity to show they are more than just a business. For every dollar a local business raises Alinea will match it up to $100,000
Alinea is positioning themselves as a different kind of developer. As part of their working relationship with the hospital foundation they are getting their message out.
The sign in the photograph is being installed on the outside of the hospital – we aren’t quite sure where the sign is – we will dig that out.
They produced a video (Link here) telling the story
The message to the business community is: You’re a team of hard-working people who want to help our community thrive. You don’t just do business in Burlington; you live here, you raise your families here, and you know how important local healthcare is. So show your customers, employees and friends that you’re doing more for your community.
The objective is to raise $100K IN 100 DAYS!
This retailer wants her customers to know that she is supporting the hospital and invites you to join them
It’s an innovative approach, well executed so far. Look for the signs participating businesses get to put in their window or lobby.
It is your hospital – you want it to be there when you need it,
On a slightly negative note – the people of Burlington wanted some reaction to a feature article that ran four pages in the Spectator on problems at the hospital. Not a word in the way of response from Eric Vandewall · President & CEO at Joseph Brant Hospital who, apparently, has yet to learn that the way to handle a negative news story is to get in front of it.
Joseph Brant Hospital is more than just a hospital – it is the place you go to when you are seriously ill and you need help. The public needs to trust you.
Related news stories:
Spectator does feature on problems at Joseph Brant Hospital
Alinea is a new name in the development field
There’s nothing new about developers giving money to hospitals and getting big signs with their name on it. They’re all over Ontario.
I’d like to stop seeing JB putting signs and walls with names all over them everywhere and focus on putting patient care first. By the way, why is the visitors lounge STILL closed to visitors and only open for staff? That is a room where visitors can take patients for visits or can go to get some needed peace.
And yes, the non-response by Vandewall and the hospital (and our mayor) to the huge criticisms in the Spectator was and remains a huge “we don’t care” message to all who spoke out and the rest who feel our loved ones got treated very badly and ended their lives without proper care. Their reputation isn’t good and they seem to not care a whit about that. They get their positive press by doing fundraising instead. Priorities really skewed in my opinion.