OUR PLACE. OUR NAME. OUR BRAND.

PROUD TO REPRESENT

The Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo brand is our key to presenting our home to the world with authenticity and unity. It’s a voice created for all of us to share.

Use the available community tools and brand information in these brand guidelines to do your part in sharing what makes Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo home.

Disclaimer

By downloading and using these materials you agree to using the brand with respect and not for profit.

Image Library

This image library is a collection of images that follow Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo brand guidelines and celebrate the beauty of our region.

Brand Platform

Our brand platform is the result of a hard, close look at what makes us who we are. It’s our story, our purpose and how we stand apart from the crowd. It’s the core of the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo place brand and the guiding light for how we represent this place. When in doubt, read this.

BRAND PURPOSE

Pursuing Opportunity Together

Pursuing: Each person has their own reason for being here. Some have always been here; others are drawn here. You don’t arrive here by accident – you come intentionally seeking.

Opportunity: As a place, we are built on people discovering, chasing and realizing opportunity. With the world’s 3rd largest oil reserve in our region, opportunity abounds here. We innovate and search for new ideas. We create new beginnings, new chapters in peoples’ stories. We are grounded by Indigenous culture and strengthened by Indigenous business. We are leaders in resiliency, navigating everything together. We look for what’s next and along the way we become stronger and more vibrant as a family of communities.

Together: This is a place of community. It always has been – we support each other in order to thrive. Because when you’re here, you’re part of the family. ​

OUR ASSETS AND OUR STRENGTHS DEFINE AND SUPPORT OUR PLACE BRAND.

These seven building blocks represent the strengths and assets of our region. The building blocks can be used to guide and inspire various expressions of the brand; like the positioning line, the imagery and specific key messaging, for example.

We are home to the world’s 3rd largest oil reserve. And with that gift, economic opportunity is bountiful. We are the economic engine of Canada that contributes meaningfully to the lives of all Canadians, whether they know it or not. We provide access to extraordinary career opportunities – accelerating career paths, increasing earning potential or starting an entrepreneurial venture.

We are built for families to thrive. Our communities are designed around family life, offering everything from abundant playgrounds, to endless nature trails, to one of North America’s largest rec centre. It’s why people choose to start or raise their families here – enjoying financial opportunities, strong education, and meaningful arts and culture. Our families are connected and nurtured by the friendships, community groups and shared experiences that bring us together. And here, through our unwavering commitment to supporting one another, friends become family.

People here find solutions to problems. We look for new ways and new ideas to move forward, better than before. Our culture of innovation encourages a spirit of playfulness in our youth to learn and push the limits of what is.

Innovation is at the core of our industry – driving forward the economic engine of Canada and introducing new technologies to the world. Here we pair Indigenous knowledge and stewardship with western science creating extraordinary environmental and reclamation advances. Come here with your challenges, your ideas, your energy – and we’ll make it happen, together.

The strong Cree, Dene and Métis communities here are rich in a collaborative spirit and historical, cultural and economic importance. Flourishing through economic participation shows a path forward for the rest of Canada and provides strength to our economy. We represent two paths – tradition and innovation, bridging history and the journey forward. We are a place of deep culture and tradition that goes back to before the fur trade yet tied to a place of extraordinary natural resource development. While honouring the land, we’ve become foundational to prosperity here, through leadership, pride, and a return to the Indigenous way of knowing.

Welcome to the place of majestic land and sky. Nature here is breathtaking. Endless boreal green, winding rivers, and bountiful wildlife await you – all on the doorstep of the Wood Buffalo national park, a UNESCO world heritage site. Nature’s most brilliant light show dances in our skies while our vast wilderness is endlessly unexpected – the lakes, the winter road, the boreal forest, sand dunes (yes, actual sand dunes!) – All this and more comes together captivating every adventurer’s spirit.

There is a feeling of community here like no other place. There is a desire to help one another, support one another and spread a little kindness in each others’ lives. We have discovered that compassion is at the heart of our community. Our region has a proud history of supporting each other through difficult circumstances and when disaster strikes. We volunteer countless hours, giving freely of our time, our talents and ourselves– as you’d expect from one of the most generous communities in Canada. Together, whatever your journey looks like– experience the deep sense of belonging here.

Here you find the diversity of culture, ethnicity, and language that you’d expect in a big city, but is embraced by a welcoming and inclusive community that exudes the warmth of a smaller town. Some of us are indigenous to this land, some of us came to Fort McMurray from Canada’s biggest cities and some of us are small-town people from around the world: rural Newfoundland, villages in the Philippines, Ghana, Ireland, Jamaica, and 60 other countries. It doesn’t matter where you are from – all of us are welcome, as we are.

POSITIONING

Our positioning is based on the building blocks, which are the assets and strengths of our region. This statement speaks to how we are unique.

We are naturally enriched because of:

• The oil that literally seeps out of the ground.
• The indigenous communities and partnerships that support our region.
• ​The vibrant community that embraces each other regardless of background.
• The wildlife and natural beauty that is our region.
• ​​​The friends that become family here.

Personality

Hard-working

WE. WORK. HARD. We put in the long hours, take extra shifts or the second job. We make the most of opportunities by rolling up our sleeves and making it happen through sheer determination and effort.

Giving

We give freely of our time, our talents and ourselves – supporting one another as family. When our neighbours need support, we’re there. When disaster strikes one of us, it strikes us all – because we care for each other as much as we care for this place we call home.

Tenacious

We don’t quit. There’s no sitting on the sidelines here. We believe in ourselves and our ideas. And we push until we get it right. Because of who we are, when we get knocked down, we come back stronger. ​

Innovative

We search for better ways and forge new paths. We embrace fresh ideas and how they can make things better for us and the world. Bring us your impossible, we will make it happen, together.

Bold

We take a strong, confident approach moving forward into new areas and new challenges. Leading with courage, sure of who we are and our role as Canada’s economic engine.