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 needed to reach an audience beyond its declining print subscriber base. As Manager, New Media, I led the rebrand and the relaunch of its website as a destination in its own right: bilingual, multimedia, educational, and able to generate revenue independent of the print product. We delivered it in six months against a two-year grant plan.
- Role
- Manager, New Media
- Year
- 2010
- Industry
- Publishing & Membership
- Site
- Visit →
Highlights
- 01Bilingual site relaunched in six months against a two-year plan
- 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, as they were for most magazines of that era. The rebrand from The Beaver to Canada's History was an opportunity to reach the much larger community of people interested in Canadian history who were not yet subscribers. The site had to find them, engage them, and give them reasons to return.
And it had to do all of that in both French and English, a non-negotiable for any Canadian national history platform.
The Approach
Building a destination for Canadian history.
I led the design of the site as a 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 built in from the start, with the site, social channels, and editorial workflow designed around it. 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. I also served as art director and corporate photographer, and produced the 360° video series.
The Outcome
An online audience three times the print subscriber base.
CanadasHistory.ca grew to draw an audience three times the size of the magazine's print subscriber base, the community the rebrand was meant to reach. Podcasts and the 360° video series gave visitors reasons to return, the Governor General's History Awards reached a national audience online, and the travel and gift store sections generated revenue beyond memberships. The magazine and the website reinforced each other rather than competing.
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