When one door closes, another one opens, as the cliché saying goes. But this time, it holds true for Jackpine Digital, a Centretown-based marketing and design firm that has expanded rapidly from a few founding employees to more than 20 in less than two years.
After losing his job in 2013, Liam Mooney, the CEO and creative director of the company, founded Jackpine Digital from his one-bedroom apartment. Though started with no financing and no loans, just 48 months later the company now boasts more than 100 clients.
“This idea that you can create something out of nothing . . . (is) why we’re called Jackpine,” says Mooney. The jack pine tree – made famous by Canadian artist Tom Thomson’s iconic painting of the bending conifer on a northern shore – depends on fire to regenerate, Mooney explains, because the cones require the heat of a fire to release their seeds. “So you can only have life through death.”
Jackpine’s immediate growth recently hit the front page of the Ottawa Business Journal in a story about its success in building a client list that includes the region’s No. 1 builder, Claridge Homes.
Jackpine also represents a variety of local businesses such as Union 613 restaurant, Suzy Q doughnuts, and the Chinatown BIA. Using the metaphor of the jack pine tree as a design strategy, Mooney says he strives to move companies forward by creating designs that are simple, clear, and more human-oriented.
“(Jackpine Digital) gave our stuff a fresher look,” says Rebecca Pereira, owner of Purple Urchin, a handmade bath and body product company located in Chinatown. Helping Pereira develop her marketing strategy, the Jackpine team redesigned her store.
“The layout and colours are a lot better . . . it’s a lot more inviting,” says Pereira. “We’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from customers . . . that this place looks a lot better than what it used to look like,” she laughs.
While Mooney could not pinpoint exactly what led to his rapid growth, he credits his success to the eclectic make-up of his team and their passion for design.
“We have a diverse team from different backgrounds and we genuinely care about what we do and why we do it, so we’re able to take on a wide range of projects instead of being focused on one particular kind of work,” he says.
Since outgrowing its original townhouse office in Little Italy, the company recently moved into a new studio space located in Chinatown. Praising the neighbourhood’s vibrancy, Mooney says his company feels right at home within the “frenetic, genuine and authentic” vibe of the community.
Jackpine, which says its mission is as much about community development as making money, have recently shown interest in partnering up with United Way’s Social Rec Connect program. The program, based at the Dalhousie Community Centre on Somerset Street, seeks to eliminate various socio-economic barriers within West Centretown, and connects vulnerable children and youth to a variety of recreational platforms.
“We’ve gotten to a point in society where everyone knows that companies and organizations should and ought to have more than a mandate of just to make money,” says Mooney.
“Part of our mission is to be a better, new kind of company, that puts people first and builds capacity in the community for better things,” he added. “We want to lift everyone up and share what we know in order to inspire people to pursue their goals.”
While details are still in the works, in the upcoming months, Mooney and his team are hoping to offer community design lessons and visual arts courses to youth who otherwise would not have access to these types of programs.
“The number one barrier for the majority of people that we serve is the financial aspect,” says Tara Howlett, program manager at Social Rec Connect. “The registration costs are way too much for most families (in this area) to afford, as well as any equipment that is required,” she added.
Recreational and skill development programs such as sports, art and camps are some of the many activities where cost can influence decisions to participate.
Considering west Centretown’s large immigrant population, other challenges in this community include language, access to resources, and poverty, Howlett explains. Since 2011, when the initiative was founded, it has been able to reach out to more than 400 children in the community.
“To get kids engaged in something that is worthwhile and help them explore their own creative potential . . . will be really good and will be really important,” says Mooney. “It is something that we care deeply about and we’re very excited to participate.”
While giving back to the community is only one of Jackpine’s many goals, Mooney says he hopes to eventually expand his business to Toronto.
“Ottawa is where we will be, but the place we need to go to is Toronto,” he says. “It is such a huge market and there are so many companies working on big projects that can use our expertise.”