Beedie – Western Canada’s largest private industrial landowner, developer and property manager – has revealed major changes to its corporate branding. As of September 3, 2018, the company, which is now also the fastest-growing residential group in B.C., will be known simply as Beedie and will have a new logo and brand ethos.
According to company president Ryan Beedie, the decision to rebrand was made for several reasons: while on the surface the change is aimed at providing more consistency across different areas in the growing company, on a deeper level, the change is about creating a corporate image that better reflects the company’s essence.
“We wanted to simplify our name and stylize our look to better reflect who we are as a company and as a family,” says Beedie. “This is our name and brand and this is the promise that we make to our clients.”
An evolving legacy
This is not the first major change that the company has seen since Beedie’s father, Keith Beedie, founded it in Vancouver in 1954. Since then, the company has grown from a small one-man construction company to a multi-faceted business that focuses primarily on the development, construction and management of industrial, commercial and residential real estate in B.C. and Alberta.
“The company has evolved significantly over time, and in the past 10 years we’ve changed and grown a lot, and we recognized we needed a new brand image that reflected this change,” says Beedie.
Along with the name change, the company has also adopted a new, modern logo designed to reflect the new brand name more effectively.
“Whenever people see our name and our logo, I want them to know who we are – that we’re a quality builder, that we’re honest and that we’ll take care of them.”
Built for Good
Perhaps the biggest change that comes with the rebranding is the adoption of a new company ethos: Built for Good.
According to Beedie, the phrase perfectly reflects the company’s essence.
“On one level, the phrase alludes to the fact that when we build something it’s built for good – meaning that we do it right the first time and it stands forever. But the phrase also focuses on the fact that the things we build are done for the good of the customer, the good of the community and the good of society at large.”
This commitment to community, which is captured in the new evolved philosophy, is one of the things that the company really hopes to highlight as it moves forward.
“We want all of our clients to know that when they work with us, they’re actually helping the community at large through the various organizations that we support.”
This commitment is tangible. In the last decade the company has donated over $39 million to dozens of non-political charities and causes, most notably a $22 million donation to Simon Fraser University’s business school in 2011 – since renamed the Beedie School of Business – and large donations to the Ronald McDonald House, the CKNW Kids’ Fund and the YWCA.
“As we strive to better support our communities, we continue to create developments that balance the well-being of people, community and commerce.”
Moreover, a large portion of Beedie’s residential developments include a commitment to non-market housing, which not only is something that sets the company apart from other developers but also is something it is quite proud of.
In addition to this, the company has been recognized as an employer of choice and has been rated among the 50 best medium-sized employers in Canada by the Great Place to Work Institute for two years in a row as well as one of B.C.’s top employers for 2018.
These recognitions – perhaps even more than the economic growth that the company has seen in the past decade – are the measures by which Beedie recognizes his company’s success.
“We’ve had employees work with us for 30, 40, 50 years, and that’s what we mean by Built for Good,” says Beedie. “When we have such a long-term relationship with employees or clients, they’ll tell their family and friends that they are proud of working with Beedie, and that will lead to even more success for us in the future.”
Looking forward
As the recently rebranded company looks to the future, it hopes to continue finding new opportunities to build on the legacy it has established over the past 64 years.
“Our residential division will continue to become a more important part of our business, and our goal is to maintain our position as the dominant player in the industrial market in Metro Vancouver.”
As the company’s new evolved philosophy reveals, this success will not only ensure the sustainability of the company, but also help it continue to contribute to the community it calls home.
“The more we do, the more success we have; and the more success we have, the more we can impact the community,” says Beedie. “We hope that our new brand shows that we are leaders in that respect, and that will hopefully encourage others to contribute too.”