The Challenge:
Launching and sustaining a high-visibility, multi-stakeholder economic initiative requires more than communications support - it demands strategic clarity, tight message discipline, and the ability to manage competing interests across governments, industries, communities, and the media.
The AEP presented several interconnected communications challenges:
- Establishing credibility and independence for a new, private-sector-led panel with no prior public profile, while carefully managing its relationship to a federal government funder (ACOA)
- Building public awareness and stakeholder confidence across four provinces simultaneously, in both official languages
- Coordinating a multi-month engagement process-encompassing in-person roadshows, stakeholder submissions, chamber and sector questionnaires, and a formal public opinion research program-without prematurely signalling policy directions
- Preparing and supporting seven panel members for high-visibility public appearances, media engagements, and sector-specific questions
- Maintaining consistent narrative control during an extended pre-report period, ensuring no recommendation was disclosed publicly before the final report's release
- Positioning the Panel for maximum impact at the moment of report release, with a credible, emotionally resonant public narrative already established
Our Direction:
Portfolio applied its proprietary ReThink methodology - anchored in evidence-based strategy, meaningful engagement, and disciplined execution - across every phase of the Panel's communications lifecycle.
The panel was established by the federal Minister responsible for ACOA to engage business leaders, stakeholders, and the public in a region-wide conversation about the economic future of Atlantic Canada. As a newly formed, independent, private-sector-led initiative, the Panel needed far more than a logo and a website. It needed a full-scope strategic communications partner who could build credibility, shape its public narrative, manage its relationships with media and stakeholders, and mobilize public opinion-all while navigating the sensitivities of a high-profile, government-adjacent initiative.
Portfolio developed and managed a comprehensive, multi-phase communications strategy spanning launch, consultation, pre-report conditioning, report release, and post-launch amplification. This included an integrated channel strategy across digital, social, traditional media, and direct stakeholder channels; milestone-based workplanning aligned to the Panel's engagement and deliberation calendar; and a bilingual communications framework ensuring consistent voice and positioning across English and French audiences.
"This engagement is a demonstration of what Portfolio does best: we don't just produce communications products - we build the strategic architecture that makes those products land. From the independence guardrail to the One Atlantic Canada narrative to the optimism-confidence gap, the ideas that will drive the AEP's report launch were built in Portfolio's shop."
Portfolio applied its proprietary ReThink methodology - anchored in evidence-based strategy, meaningful engagement, and disciplined execution - across every phase of the Panel's communications lifecycle.
The panel was established by the federal Minister responsible for ACOA to engage business leaders, stakeholders, and the public in a region-wide conversation about the economic future of Atlantic Canada. As a newly formed, independent, private-sector-led initiative, the Panel needed far more than a logo and a website. It needed a full-scope strategic communications partner who could build credibility, shape its public narrative, manage its relationships with media and stakeholders, and mobilize public opinion-all while navigating the sensitivities of a high-profile, government-adjacent initiative.
Portfolio manages all media relations for the Atlantic Economic Panel, including proactive outreach to regional and national media; development of media materials (news releases, media advisories, holding statements); media monitoring and intelligence; and strategic counsel on responding to editorial coverage, including the management of critical coverage through targeted op-ed placement and relationship engagement with key journalists and editors across the region.
Result & Impact to Date:
This engagement demonstrates what being a Strategic Action Company means in practice: the ability to hold strategic direction, message discipline, creative execution, and stakeholder management simultaneously - across a complex, multi-party initiative with a significant public profile.
The panel was established by the federal Minister responsible for ACOA to engage business leaders, stakeholders, and the public in a region-wide conversation about the economic future of Atlantic Canada. As a newly formed, independent, private-sector-led initiative, the Panel needed far more than a logo and a website. It needed a full-scope strategic communications partner who could build credibility, shape its public narrative, manage its relationships with media and stakeholders, and mobilize public opinion-all while navigating the sensitivities of a high-profile, government-adjacent initiative.
1,000+
Atlantic Canadians surveyed through the statistically valid public opinion research program, generating the 18-point optimism-confidence gap that anchors the Panel's public narrative
418
Chambers of commerce and economic development organizations engaged through the business questionnaire program
4
City roadshow sessions conducted (Fredericton, Halifax, Charlottetown, St. John's), with Portfolio providing full consultation materials and analytical support
7
Panel members supported with tailored spokesperson preparation materials for high-profile speaking engagements across the region
2
Official languages - all public-facing materials delivered in English and French throughout the engagement