Canada's History
Bringing a century-old Canadian magazine into the digital age.
Founded in 1920 as The Beaver by the Hudson's Bay Company, the magazine was rebranding as Canada's History and looking for a way to reach an audience beyond its declining print subscriber base. The site had to do more than promote the magazine — it had to be a destination in its own right: bilingual, multimedia, educational, and capable of generating revenue independent of the print product.
- Role
- Project Lead
- Year
- 2012
- Industry
- Publishing & Membership
- Site
- Visit →
Highlights
- 01Bilingual French/English site at launch
- 02Site traffic grew to 300% of magazine subscriber base
- 03Governor General's History Awards moved online
- 04Educational lesson plans for Canadian classrooms
- 05Podcasts and 360° video as magazine companions
- 06Travel section with revenue-share partnerships
- 07Online gift store generating direct revenue
The Challenge
Rebrand a 90-year-old magazine for the audience it didn't yet have.
Print subscriptions were declining — a story familiar to most magazines from that era. The rebrand from The Beaver to Canada's History was the moment to do more than just rename the publication. The community of people interested in Canadian history existed; they just weren't subscribers yet. The site had to find them, engage them, and give them reasons to stay.
And it had to do all of that in both French and English — a non-negotiable for any Canadian national history platform.
The Approach
Build a destination, not a brochure.
We designed the site as a true companion to the magazine — extending feature articles into multimedia experiences, hosting community resources like book reviews and history news, and bringing existing Society programs (the Governor General's History Awards being the flagship) into a digital format that broadened their reach.
Bilingual content was foundational, not an afterthought — site, social channels, and editorial workflow were designed around it from day one. We built a travel section monetized through partner revenue shares, an online gift store for direct sales, and an educational hub aimed at Canadian teachers that surfaced lesson plans built from the magazine's archive.
The Outcome
300% of the subscriber base, and counting.
CanadasHistory.ca grew to draw an audience three times the size of the magazine's print subscriber base — exactly the community the rebrand was meant to reach. Multimedia features (podcasts, 360° video series) became reasons people came back. The Governor General's History Awards found a national audience online. The travel and gift store sections generated revenue beyond memberships. The magazine and the website now reinforce each other instead of competing.
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