Custom publishing company Redwood Communications is rebranding as Totem Communications Group.
The new name has been in the works since 2008 when Redwood was acquired by Transcontinental Inc. and last year the company announced it was looking for a new name that would better reflect what the company is doing for its customers today and in the future.
The new name was chosen, according to a release, because a totem is “an object seen to have significance by a particular group. It has tremendous weight and power, commanding attention.”
“It articulates the essence of what we do,” said Redwood president and CEO Eric Schneider. “We create media brands for our clients that act as totems, bringing to life the qualities that consumers cherish most in our clients’ brands.”
The Toronto-based company produces branded content and custom media programs for a number of large national and international clients like Procter & Gamble, The Home Depot, Canadian Automobile Association, Frito-Lay, Sears, Sobeys, Mazda International, and Aeroplan.
Along with the name comes a new tag line and a new name for Totem staff.
The new Totem tag line will be “Brand Stories.” “This captures our strength in crafting the kind of messaging that engages customers on a narrative journey,” said Schneider. “Be it the subject line of an e-mail, a feature article or a multi-page photo essay, the imperative of great storytelling is the core of our customer-focused approach. We’ve even created a new term to describe the craft employed by the talented staff who create brand stories: Marketing Journalists.”
A temporary page on the Redwood website–the Totem site will launch in March–explains that the company attributes its success to “a creative team with a passion for storytelling that combines insightful narrative with striking imagery and visual style. Our Marketing Journalists marry the quest for ‘the scoop’ with the pursuit of fresh ideas. The result is content that your customers choose to enjoy.”
