— a brand guide © VIA Rail Canada Edition n° 1.0 — September 2019 VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Content 2 Full Part 1 —— Our brand Part 3 —— Our brand application page 4 —— Our modernization plan page 45 —— Print page 4 —— Our purpose page 46 —— Out of home of love page 4 —— Our brand positioning page 48 —— Transit shelters page 5 —— Our personality page 49 —— Website banner page 5 —— Our tone page 52 —— Online banners page 6 —— Reasons to believe page 54 —— Posters page 6 —— Our belief page 56 —— Owned media opportunities In our brand guide, you’ll find page 7 —— What we sound like page 57 —— CRM our tone and manner and our page 8 —— Meet love the way page 58 —— Corporate tools visual identity standards. page 9 —— How we express ourselves page 59 —— Internal communications We’ve defined them so that we all present VIA Rail in the page 60 —— Videos same way. After all, we’re not Part 2 —— Our brand expression page 61 —— Social media just offering travellers individual page 11 —— Tools to write by experiences; we’re leading Canadians towards a more page 14 —— Our logo sustainable way. page 16 —— The VIA symbol page 19 —— Our signature By following these guidelines, page 21 —— Our colour palette you’ll be helping VIA Rail establish a consistent look and page 22 —— Typography feel—a brand that’s easily page 24 —— Typographic elements recognizable and entirely page 25 —— Graphic layout ours. You’ll be helping page 28 —— Applications Canadians get to know us while they rediscover the page 39 —— Photography pleasure in travelling. page 40 —— Locations page 41 —— Our passengers page 42 —— VIA symbol integration page 43 —— VIA Préférence page 43 —— The Ocean + the Canadian Part 1 —— Our brand VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 3 Part 1 Our brand page 4 —— Our modernization plan page 4 —— Our purpose page 4 —— Our brand positioning page 5 —— Our personality page 5 —— Our tone page 6 —— Reasons to believe page 6 —— Our belief page 7 —— What we sound like page 8 —— Meet love the way page 9 —— How we express ourselves page 4 —— Our modernization plan page 4 —— Our purpose page 4 —— Our brand positioning VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 4 — Our modernization plan — Our purpose Where we’re going next Reimagining the Canadian journey by creating smarter ways to travel We have a long-term aspiration to be We’ve defined our brand to ensure a forward-thinking, high-performing, everything we do will help us bring and innovative organization. Our our strategic plan to life. This brand modernization plan is our roadmap to guide addresses, clarifies, and — Our brand positioning securing VIA Rail’s future and presents two elements: positioning ourselves as a leader of 1. What VIA Rail Canada stands for sustainable mobility. 2. How our creative platform Unifying Canadian will elevate and establish our positioning. leader of sustainable, enjoyable and safe mobility page 5 —— Our personality page 5 —— Our tone VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 5 — Our personality — Our tone How How we act we talk Our personality defines who we Our tone of voice defines how our are as a brand, how our employees brand speaks and interacts with get things done, and how we our passengers. behave as a corporate citizen. Committed Resourceful Genuine Caring Inspiring Clever and witty Authentic Friendly and Our belief that we can We’ve got the We don’t pretend to be We let our passengers We are driven by Perceptive and quick- Real people, real inclusive reimagine the way experience, the know- something we’re not. know we’re there for what’s ahead. witted, we’re solution- places, real ideas. We’re warm, Canadians move sets us how, and the expertise We present ourselves in them by being our kind, We believe that driven. We rely on We understand welcoming, and kind- apart. We’re driven by to get things done. And a simple, authentic way generous, and helpful together, we can common sense and the needs of our hearted. Likeable and what’s ahead. we’ll always find a way so everyone knows selves. We thrive on make a difference. good judgement. passengers. We like friendly, but never We want to make a to do just that. We’re what to expect. making the way more We are full of energy to keep things simple. overly familiar. At our difference. What we always moving, listening traveller-friendly, and enthusiasm. We are heartfelt and best, people will smile want to achieve might and changing. convenient and Our desire to move genuine. It’s honestly and chuckle with our be difficult, but our enjoyable. After all, forward is contagious. as simple as that. insightful, witty, and desire to move forward without our passengers, clever take on life. is contagious. we’re just a train. We take what we do seriously. We’re responsible for our actions. page 6 —— Reasons to believe page 6 —— Our belief VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 6 — Reasons to believe — Our belief Where --> we’re going We believe that From the maintenance of our travelling should trains, to our employees, to the environment, to how we interact with our passengers—our reasons to believe guide everything we do be an easy, and everything we say. sustainable and Our employees enjoyable Without our employees, travelling with us would be a lot less lovely. experience that Environmentally friendly We lead by example to move Canadians towards a more sustainable way. Because how we choose to get there matters. meets the Personalized individual needs We take that little bit of extra time to get to know our passengers. and preferences of Quality of service When it comes to quality of service, we’re only as good as our last “how can I help you?” our passengers. page 7 —— What we sound like VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 7 — What we sound like Who we’re talking to matters When we talk, we want everything we say to sound like it comes from the same person. That doesn’t mean it has to be identical (you don’t talk to your dad the same way you talk to your sister, friend or boss), but it should all sound like us. Global copy goals Advertising copy goals One-to-one communications Corporate copy goals Internal copy goals copy goals 1. Inspiring yet realistic 1. Inspiring but down-to-earth 1. Professional but not stuffy 1. Authentic and inclusive and approachable 1. We have conversations with our 2. Clever but not elitist passengers, about our 2. Ambitious but not smug 2. Inspiring yet realistic 2. Witty but not sarcastic passengers 3. Friendly but not chummy 3. To the point but not witty 3. Professional but not stuffy 3. Friendly, inclusive, and 2. We have a proximity to our approachable but not overly passengers, but we’re not too 4. Corporate but approachable 4. To the point, but not witty familiar familiar 5. We speak about VIA Rail’s impact 4. In-the-know and 3. Friendly and approachable but on the Canadian journey understanding, not overly intimate but no inside jokes 6. We listen to Canadians in our 4. Inspiring yet realistic effort to be constantly improving 5. We have conversations with our passengers, about our 5. Clever but not elitist passengers page 8 —— Meet love the way VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 8 — Meet love the way It’s time to love the way you move again. To love every step. Every ride. Every. Single. Kilometre. To choose a better way— a way that’s accessible, enjoyable, and more sustainable. One that lets us all love the way. page 9 —— How we express ourselves VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand 9 — How we express ourselves Love the way is more than a promise to our passengers. It’s the way we talk, how we present ourselves, and the experiences we offer. From booking to arriving home—it’s the way we do things. And how we present ourselves depends on what we’re trying to say (or who we’re trying to say it to). Part 2 —— Our brand expression VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand expression 10 Part 2 Our brand expression page 11 —— Tools to write by page 14 —— Our logo page 16 —— The VIA symbol page 19 —— Our signature page 21 —— Our colour palette page 22 —— Typography page 24 —— Typographic elements page 25 —— Graphic layout page 28 —— Applications page 39 —— Photography page 40 —— Locations page 41 —— Our passengers page 42 —— VIA symbol integration page 43 —— VIA Préférence page 43 —— The Ocean + the Canadian page 11 —— Tools to write by VIA Rail Canada Brand book love the way Our brand expression 11 — Tools to write by Bring love --> VIA Rail focused Passenger focused the way to life It’s all about our passengers Our one- Keep both There are two ways we can talk. We can Love the way is choosing to reflect talk about VIA Rail or we can talk about ways don’t hands on who we are in everything we say. the passenger. Whenever we can, we It’s caring about every word, every should talk about the passenger in our take detours your novel headline, every sentence. headlines and body copy. (Instead of talking about ourselves.) We’ve created a few tools to help our tone and personality find their way into everything we write.