Stiff

Name: Stiff
Address: 9 Gurdwara Road, Suite 101, Ottawa, ON, K2E7X6, CA
Telephone: +16136834100

We’re Stiff. A strategic communications and brand agency. Stiff is a full-service strategic communications and design agency. It’s a one-time payment. For life.

We are in the business of helping organizations communicate value—using words, visuals and motion—directly to their audiences. We create written, visual, digital and motion content for businesses, leaders, education institutions, government departments and not-for-profits. We design brand identities, print and digital collateral, advertising and social media tiles. Our work enables organizations t

o communicate value directly, effectively and consistently. Over the last thirty years, we’ve been developing and refining Backdraft, our writing training system. Only 36 errors account for 95% of mistakes in written English. Backdraft teaches you how to spot, name and fix these fumbles so you can write with clarity and impact. It is designed for anyone who wants to be in control of their thinking and writing. Who wants to build their writing confidence. Who needs to communicate meaning and forge connection, always. The latest edition of our course is now available online. The course is self-paced. And your registration gives you lifetime access to all resources. Backdraft gives you the tools to write better.

09/07/2025

Cheers to !
We’re putting the spotlight on two powerful reads that have shaped how we approach the work we do with our clients.

“Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger” by Soraya Chemaly

A book about how anger is gendered, and how the very emotions that brand men to seem strong and good leaders, brand women as controlling, negative or hysteric. The book, which was published in 2019, is about how women can use anger as a technique to take back power. We use the teachings in this book to help give voices to the women in the communities our clients serve.

“Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism” by Amanda Montell

A study of cultish language and behaviour that can be used to brand groups of people working counter to popular culture. The book, released in 2021, shows how powerful language can be, and as humans, how easily we are controlled by it. She wrote Wordslut, if you’ve read that.

These books inspire us to keep digging, to question everything, to challenge norms and to help organizations and their audiences (who are usually marginalized or silenced) to find voices and reclaim their identities.

Have you read any of these books or similar ones?

07/31/2025

Over the past few months, the Stiff team sat down with Nurse Practitioners (NPs) across Newfoundland and Labrador to listen to their frustrations, take in their pride, and work together to tell the story they need the public to hear: NPs are powerful, important and independent healthcare providers with a unique role in the healthcare system.

‘There’s an NP for that’ is the result of those conversations. The Registered Nurses' Union Newfoundland & Labrador and Stiff created the campaign to bring clarity and respect to what NPs do.
NPs are not gap fillers. They are not substitutes either. They are highly trained professionals that provide primary and specialized care.

The campaign includes a series of digital and out-of-home ads designed to educate and to elevate public understanding.

Visit npforthat.ca to learn more about the first phase of this initiative.

07/17/2025

Have you ever wondered what it is like to have the top leaders of nursing in Canada in one room? All of them planning for the future? Take it from us, it’s awesome.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions hosted its first ever Leadership Summit in June. Presidents of their member unions and their boards came together in Niagara Falls to find solutions to fix the current state of nursing. Our team led several strategic sessions. We affirmed what it will take for the unions to work together to create a positive future-state of nursing in Canada.

Nurses’ unions tirelessly fight for nurses’ rights. They push back against the government, administrators, health authorities, physicians…the list goes on. Though they fight, nothing seems to change. They try to be polite. They try to be professional. They try to be angry. They try to be loud. But no one listens. And that’s a problem. Because without nurses, our already broken system will crumble.

For a year leading up to the summit, we went around the country to meet with every union in their province. We wanted to better understand their take on the issues in nursing and unionism in general. Nursing leaders feel the pressure to fix health care in a country where nursing itself is broken. Not because of them, but in spite of them.

We learned that what nurses need is a move to grassroots power. Unions can clear the way for members to fight in their workplaces against the systemic oppression they face.

The culmination of our cross-Canada trip was the two-day summit that we branded ‘Movement Makers.’ We led 150 leaders through workshops where we named the bad actors in health care. We highlighted the tools of oppression they use against nurses. We then created strategies for how the 270,000 members across the unions could work together to take back power and change health care once and for all.

06/26/2025

Trade tariffs looming, labour shortages intensifying, immigration policies shifting, procurement evolving, the construction industry is facing unprecedented challenges. But with disruption comes opportunity—especially when you don’t have to face it alone.

If you work in construction or a related industry, chances are you've seen the call to . It’s more than a call-to-action. It’s the message at the centre of our latest collaboration with the Canadian Construction Association - Association canadienne de la construction (CCA).

The campaign emphasizes that membership in the network isn’t just about benefits. It’s a strategic investment in future-proofing business. We highlighted the fact that no matter the size of your business, trade or location, local construction associations (LCAs) can take the fear out of uncertainty. And that CCA, LCAs and their 18,000+ member firms have each other’s backs in the best and worst times.

Check it out at jointhenetwork.ca.

06/19/2025

About 12 months ago, our friends at Ontario Nurses' Association called on us to reimagine their member magazine, Front Lines. They knew it had to be digital and they knew it had to be different.

We saw this as an opportunity to create a bold platform for sharing the truth and calling bu****it on the system. A channel that embraced their brand and the overall sentiment of their 68,000 members across Ontario. We knew that for nurses: stories are power. Stories to fuel them. Workplace experiences fuse them together. This is what gets members ready to fight.

We wanted ONA members to realize that what they’re experiencing as a nurse is not happening in isolation, but is affecting each and every one of them on a daily basis. And so to stay true to the brand we created for the union, we created a platform that got them ready to take back power from the system.

Understanding what the digital magazine had to be was one thing. Figuring out what to call it and how to present information was another. So we went back to our chalkboard. Where for the last four years, despite all the notes, brainstorm sessions, strategies and drawings, four words always remained: “ONA has to fight.”

Fight. Fuel. Feel. Fuse. Fortitude. Feminist. Forge. Fear. Fierce. All these words that describe the union and its members. It was right in front of us. F Word.

F Word exists to tell the truth, to energize members and to show how ONA puts members first. In every story. In every photo. In every idea. We launched F Word in April with ONA’s President, Erin Ariss.

It is our constant honour to work for ONA: a badass union with badass members.

Check out F Word: onamag.org

01/22/2025

Gone are the days when etiquette was about knowing the difference between a salad fork and a dinner fork. Modern etiquette is about creating meaningful relationships through thoughtful communication.

Stiff’s digital marketing specialist, Michelle Nguyen, finds this parallel between good etiquette and communication interesting in modern etiquette and public relations expert Astrid-Maria Ciarollo’s column.

As marketers, we can learn a thing or two from Ciarollo’s tips for hosts. We can create genuine connections with audiences by communicating in ways that leave them feeling heard, appreciated and respected.

Read the article: https://www.glory.media/ask-astrid-dinner-party-etiquette/

12/30/2024

Communicators looking for reliable news sources often curate a variety of alternative and opposing voices to find balance.
Stiff’s Head of Writing, Stewart Dudley, includes the global-affairs magazine New Line for its coverage of the Middle East. In “The Backstory Behind the Fall of Aleppo,” the magazine examines one of the major offensives that led to the recent collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. It’s a richly detailed account you won’t find in mainstream North American media.

12/16/2024

The simplest tales often reveal the most profound meanings. That’s the message from our senior writer John Phillips after he read Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.”

The play is a seemingly straightforward look at the lives of members of two families in a typical small town. Its stage is bare, language spare, characters archetypal.

Yet look again. The strength of “Our Town” is deceptive. Its unassuming presentation has a subversive power to stir us emotionally, to compel us to think deeply, to reveal a truth we’ve always known without being fully aware of it. And isn’t that the very purpose of art?

11/29/2024

This is your reminder that commas matter!

11/20/2024

Change is scary for everyone. Organizations are no different—especially when 66 percent of their attempts to change fail. Organizational change can often be time consuming, expensive and divisive.

Caroline Kealey, a communications strategist and change leadership expert, has eight strategies to manage organizational change. Kealey’s focus on changing behaviours instead of mindsets resonates with our director of strategy, Awa Thioye. She’s especially drawn to tip #4.

Read the full article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/changing-behaviours-without-minds-caroline-kealey-ldaae/

Address

9 Gurdwara Road, Suite 101
Ottawa, ON
K2E7X6

Telephone

+16136834100

Website

http://www.stiff.ca/, https://backdraft.thinkific.com/pages/home

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Stiff posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Stiff:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Business in Ottawa?