Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

and hosted a drop‐in open house to share the town’s story and what we were doing to battle EAB.
Along with Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, we officially launched the Oakville Canopy Club on June 21 with
Eco Club students from River Oaks Public School. We gave away Canopy Club t‐shirts, EAB activity
books, EAB silly bands, and Canopy Club temporary tattoos. Did we mention that we have an EAB
mascot? Yes, he was there too. The kids were thrilled! That same day, we also launched the Oakville
Canopy Club social media campaign using Twitter and Facebook to create an online presence on sites
where Oakville didn’t exist. The Oakville Canopy Club was front page news in our local papers.
Our media relations efforts were robust and generated tons of positive local media coverage. Our
biggest claim to fame came when the Toronto Star published an article on August 8, 2011 with the
headline “Oakville refuses to cave to emerald menace.” We did it! We proved that Oakville was a leader
in EAB management and that we had an engaged community.
In early July, we distributed a postcard to all homes in Oakville, piggy‐backing with the Parks, Recreation
and Culture mailer (circulation 62,000) that reminds residents about upcoming registration dates. We
incorporated the Oakville Canopy Club brand on all garbage can receptacle stickers (1,500) throughout
the town of Oakville’s streets and trails. We also advertised within the Parks, Recreation and Culture
guide (32,000 printed) and in the Oakville Council Magazine Let’s Talk Oakville (circulation 62,000).
The Oakville Canopy Club was visible at all town facilities and community centres—on pop‐up banners,
posters, digital screens and marketing collateral. Public interest for Oakville Canopy Club t‐shirts was
incredible. So much so that we were able to tweet about Canopy Club t‐shirt sightings in Oakville. Our
tshirts were spotted on the top of a mountain in Colorado and featured at the University of Toronto's
National Tree Day celebration. In fact, we specifically created a Canopy Club thank you card to send out
with t‐shirts and EAB information requests.
Oakville led by example and in turn, asked residents to do the same. Our message was simple, “Join
Oakville’s Canopy Club campaign to save our tree canopy. Whether you have an ash tree or not you can
become a Canopy Club Champion. Help us spread the word; treat your ash trees; remove dead or dying
ash trees to minimize the spread; dispose of removed trees properly; replant a new species of tree—but
most importantly, tell anyone who will listen. How you help save Oakville’s tree canopy is limited only to
your imagination.”
Another success was the approval to allow residents to treat town‐owned ash trees that did not meet
our treatment criteria with a Memorandum of Understanding. More trees saved! At the end of the
treatment season, we encouraged residents to share their treatment stories and received about 20
responses. We hosted the first‐ever National Tree Day event and a Building Strategic Partnerships to
Create Adaptable Urban Forests with Clean Air Partnership workshop with more than 60 attendees. And
to end the season, we won the Joyce Burnell Award at the Oakvillgreen Urban Forest Celebration for our
EAB efforts.
Implementation and challenges
Council approval delayed the launch of the Oakville Canopy Club on two occasions and by two months.
This generated a condensed timeframe to engage Oakville residents and encourage treatment. With a
$25,000 budget for all communications, the majority was spent on promotional items including t‐shirts,
silly bands, pop‐up banners, temporary tattoos ($15,000), and advertising/direct marketing ($5,000).
With the help of an incredibly talented graphic designer who created the Oakville Canopy Club brand
(City of Montreal has asked to adopt our Canopy Club brand), all other communication materials were