Elevating our experience
Integrating geography, local culture and experiential learning to bring PwC Canada’s values and vision to life
The challenge
Delivering a unified brand experience across three days, multiple venues and countless touchpoints while meeting complex stakeholder expectations
Some projects are complex in scope. This one was complex in every dimension simultaneously: an umbrella brand containing four distinct event identities, each with its own aesthetic and atmosphere, all needing to feel like parts of the same experience. Add a set of competing creative directives, a technically ambitious installation program, and an audience of 1,000 senior partners with high expectations, and the creative leadership challenge becomes less about making things look good and more about holding a system together under real pressure. That’s the kind of project that reveals what a creative director is actually for.
The brief: Design a comprehensive brand system for a three-day national partners’ conference bringing together 1,000 partners, special guests and volunteer support staff from across Canada.
Timeline: March–October 2024 (brief to delivery)
Budget: $150,000 creative delivery within $2 million overall event budget
Key constraints: Limited budget and resourcing, multiple venues with different spatial requirements, outdoor elements subject to October weather, cultural sensitivity requiring authentic Indigenous partnership protocols, facilitating streamlined transitions between sessions, accommodating mobility needs.
Strategic approach
Triple-layer modular brand system
The strategic decision on this project was to design one system, not three events. A modular three-layer approach meant the brand stayed coherent whether delegates were in a plenary session, navigating an outdoor experiential circuit or attending a closing gala at a culturally significant venue—while each moment still felt distinct and purposefully designed. Consistency as the foundation; flexibility as the expression.
Layer one: Brand foundation
- Photography: Twelve images from local photographer David McColm anchored the visual identity in place and season.
- Iconography: Custom-created icons referenced Whistler’s natural environment, giving the system a distinctive visual language.
- Colour palette: Consistent and complementary colour groupings for each “sphere” created visual continuity across touchpoints.
Layer two: Thematic flexibility
- Après-ski reception: Mountain lodge aesthetic with wood textures and ski-sweater patterns.
- Taking our strategy outdoors: Gamified wayfinding to promote efficient circulation from one immersive experience to another.
- SLCC gala: Understated elegance with subdued grey patterns and first-language text as a core creative element.
Layer three: Cultural authenticity
Working with PwC’s Indigenous Inclusion Circle, I championed language integration as our primary approach to Indigenous inclusion. I built relationships with the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, first language keepers and Squamish ancestral chief Ian Campbell to translate our conference title and key phrases into both Ucwalmícwts (Lil’wat) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish). Core translations appeared throughout the conference; celebratory phrases were saved for the SLCC gala. Equal representation of both nations in every application.
David McColm — local Whistler landscape photography
Nature-referenced icons with complementary colour groupings per sphere
Conference themes translated into Ucwalmícwts (Lil’wat) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish)
Connect.
Elevate.
Inspire.
From well-meaning to meaningful: Redirecting the approach to Indigenous inclusion
The challenge: Early in the process, the team’s initial ideas for Indigenous content integration were well-meaning but problematic. Proposals included creating “Indigenous-like” patterns within our design team, using stock imagery in decorative ways and incorporating generic Indigenous elements that weren’t specific to the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations whose territories we were gathering on. These approaches bordered on appropriation rather than authentic partnership.
The turning point: I consulted with PwC’s Indigenous Inclusion Circle to find a better path forward. Through those conversations, I learned that first language preservation and education is a critical priority for both nations in their communities. This insight revealed the strategic solution: language integration offered a contemporary, non-clichéd way to honour the nations while bringing our conference values and themes to life in a way that was visually compelling, educationally centred and culturally appropriate.
The way forward: I championed language integration internally, building the case that authentic partnership requires listening and collaboration, not decoration. Leveraging personal introductions from PwC’s reconciliation program leader, I built collaborative relationships with the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, first language keepers and Squamish ancestral chief Ian Campbell to translate our conference title and key phrases into both Ucwalmícwts (Lil’wat) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish). This partnership approach was taken up by the rest of the event team as well — a welcome ceremony was delivered by both nations, Indigenous vendors were used wherever possible and a Lil’wat carver produced a piece live during the conference.
The impact: This approach set a new organizational standard for how PwC Canada engages with Indigenous communities by centring Indigenous voices in the planning and at every stage of delivery. It provided an educational experience for 1,000 partners about the First Nations cultures and traditional territories we gathered on. We received positive feedback from SLCC and Indigenous community collaborators and built relationships that extended beyond a single event. The approach is now referenced internally as the model for future Indigenous partnership initiatives.
Implementation and delivery
Bringing the system to life across venues and touchpoints
Delivering a brand system across four venues, three days and 25+ touchpoints—with a team of myself and one junior designer, an October weather variable and a CEO-level approvals process—required the kind of creative leadership that plans for everything and improvises on the rest. The system was designed to be executed efficiently across multiple vendors, co-collaborators and production houses.
Registration and lobby — Creating immediate impact: A 25-foot motion-activated LED column (built and animated by Encore AV from in-house designs) and a half-circle registration desk established creative direction on arrival. Window lettering introduced the conference theme and first language integration from the first moment. “The Peak Experience” interactive gondola cabin—360-degree motion screens inside a custom-built cabin wrapped in conference branding—created a dramatic transition from hotel lobby to conference spaces.
Plenary and main conference space — Bringing the outdoors in: Photo-wrapped columns in the transition space introduced the work of David McColm—supporting local artists while showcasing the location. The main stage became a mountain meadow backed by a 100-foot screen delivering immersive visuals; the seating area was wrapped in a 360-degree Coast Range panorama. Partnership with Encore AV on motion graphics integrated the creative system across all presentations.
Après-ski welcome reception — Starting warm before going formal: Elevator wraps to food signage delivered cheeky slopeside atmosphere. Rough wooden textures, ski-sweater patterns and playful copywriting transformed the terrace into a cozy retro lodge.
Outdoor experiential learning — Gamified, active and impactful: A distinct but connected look for outdoor modules, including mountain safety trivia on internal transformation, custom-branded cornhole on industry strategy and a Jeopardy-style client experience quiz. All items designed for reuse at future events, reducing environmental footprint while maximizing budget impact across the annual event cycle.
Closing gala at Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre — Strategic restraint: Subdued grey patterns extended the conference brand while allowing SLCC architecture and artifacts to shine. Indigenous language integration as visual centrepiece. Minimal PwC presence was intentional—honouring the cultural space while providing a genuine educational experience about the nations whose territories host Whistler.
Delivering high-touch, high-volume and high-quality creative with a compact team
The challenge: Develop and deliver a branding system and complete asset ecosystem to support a cohesive, immersive 1,000-person, three-day conference across four venues with a Creative team of two.
Smart resource and relationship management
Strategic collaboration: Clear communication frameworks and comprehensive brand guidelines let vendors execute efficiently without constant creative oversight. With the Gondola experience: Encore AV led technical construction and video development; I oversaw brand integration. All teams and vendors were briefed at the start with strong processes and regular touchpoints to deliver a seamless attendee experience.
Designed for reusability from the start: Inflatable arches with swappable signage, feather banners, wayfinding paddles and learning materials were brand-generic, making them deployable at future line-of-service events for sustainability, efficiency and budget-conscious production.
A small team delivered large-scale impact through strategic collaboration, not heroic effort.
Results
Recognition, impact and cultural leadership
New organizational standard for Indigenous partnership and cultural inclusion
The honour and highlight of my career, so far.
— Partners’ Conference Committee Chair
What made this work
- Strategic modularity: A three-layer system maintained brand coherence while giving each sub-event its own character—consistency as the foundation, flexibility as the expression.
- Cultural integration over cosmetic application: Authentic Indigenous partnership through language integration required more relationship-building and patience, but resulted in work that honoured both PwC’s brand and the communities whose territory we gathered on.
- Compact team, scalable system: Two people delivered comprehensive creative direction and production for a 1,000-person, multi-venue conference by designing for delegation—a system clear enough that vendors, AV partners and a junior designer could each own their piece independently.
- Earning trust at every level: CEO-level creative reviews, Indigenous community partnership protocols and vendor briefings—all running in parallel, all requiring a different kind of confidence-building simultaneously.