Union and industry relationships are often stressed, but the braintrust behind the National Construction Council (NCC) envisioned a more business-friendly workforce union. One that works collaboratively with builders and procurement. Their union model is novel: industries assure the union their most desirable projects and favourable rates, and in return they’re guaranteed the most talented custom team available among the union’s membership.

The NCC name and strategic positioning were both created early in the organization’s development and, in preparing to bring the union to market, leadership didn’t feel its identity aptly conveyed its differentiation. To be a partner of choice for the best procurement providers, and to attract the best talent, they needed to position their new union with professionalism, quality, and credibility.

We were struck by the innovation of this model. NCC didn’t invent the ‘best projects/best people’ approach, but they were aiming to perfect it. And it occurred to us that the notion of doing things in new, more efficient and beneficial ways is something everyone wants to be associated with. Following consultation discussions with each member of leadership, we proposed developing a new name and identity for the union which together would project the image that this authoritative upstart organization wanted to convey.

This notion of partnership between parties is woven into the creative solution, which includes a new name for the organization – United Workforce Group; an interplay of red-and-black in the logo signature; and amplifying messaging with a purpose-focused tagline that captures the distinguishing feature of UWG’s model: Partnership Driven.