Discovery + brand audit
The "get to know you" phase. Stakeholder interviews, competitor and category review, and an honest read on where the brand is stuck.
01
//Services
Brand strategy · Identity · Guidelines · Activation
Branding agency,
Toronto.
A brand isn't a logo. It's the single promise everything else has to keep. Magnetic builds brand systems for ambitious companies in Toronto, Edmonton and beyond — strategy first, then an identity that's distinctive, ownable and actionable.
Why brands come to us
Marketing has become homogenous. Every ad, website and sales pitch sounds the same — and most agencies seem more interested in collecting fees than delivering real value. Magnetic is different. We've developed a planning protocol that distills the many thoughts, opinions and goals around your brand into a single brand promise, then a strategy that lets you create your own category instead of competing in someone else's.
It's your brand. It should look and act true to you, not us. Our job is to uncover what that is — not to win awards, not to trumpet how great we are, not to take equity. That focus is why a cannabis company with three divisions, an oilfield technology firm selling into Europe, and an NHL Hall of Famer's wellness platform all trusted us with the same job: make the brand mean one clear thing, everywhere it shows up.
A
//What a branding engagement includes
Toronto + EdmontonBrand strategy + promise
Positioning, audience, the single distinctive promise — and the story that carries it, targeted, emotional and consistent at every point of contact.
Naming + verbal identity
Names, taglines, tone of voice and messaging hierarchy. People don't respond to information; they respond to emotion. We write for that.
Visual identity
Logo and marks, colour, type, imagery direction, iconography — built as a system that flexes across divisions, products and channels.
Guidelines + brand kit
A practical guide your team and partners will actually use, plus production-ready files, templates and stationery.
Activation
Launch campaigns, packaging, environments and trade-show presence — the brand made physical, from vehicle fleets to booths at Lift.
B
//How a brand project runs
Four phasesDiscovery
Phase 01
Interviews, audit, goals. We distill opinions into direction before anything is designed.
Strategy
Phase 02
Positioning, promise, story and naming — reviewed with you in person or on a call, signed off in writing.
Identity
Phase 03
Visual and verbal system, first drafts and revisions. Email keeps the feedback trail clean and the bills low.
Delivery + activation
Phase 04
Guidelines, files, templates — then packaging, collateral, web and campaigns to launch it.
D
//FAQ
Good to knowWe prefer to quote branding as a project: every requirement is identified up front — discovery, strategy, identity, guidelines, activation — so milestones, deliverables and cost are agreed before we start. Smaller pieces (a naming exercise, a refresh, additional collateral) can be billed hourly in 30-minute increments, tracked on shared timesheets and invoiced monthly.
Yes. Toronto is our primary market and Edmonton is our second studio, but we've built brands for clients headquartered in New York, Calgary and across Canada and Europe. Discovery and reviews happen in person where possible, and over video everywhere else.
A full strategy-plus-identity engagement typically runs eight to twelve weeks from discovery to delivered guidelines; a focused refresh can be four to six. Timelines depend mostly on review turnaround — our email-based feedback process is designed to keep that fast.
If your proposal includes copy, we write it — focused on tone, legibility and goal — and submit it for your review. If it doesn't, you provide the content and we make sure it lands with the intended messaging. Either way, you're the final check on every detail.
Yes — StimStixx and Hi-Signs were both brand redevelopments. We keep the equity that's working, fix what isn't, and build the system so it can be rolled out consistently across print, digital, vehicles and trade shows.
Directly with the co-founders — Ryan McCann and Randall Thomas — plus the strategists, designers and producers each project needs. No hand-off to a junior team after the pitch.