PROGRAM LAUNCH CAMPAIGN | September-December 2024, ongoing

Climate Ready Infrastructure Service

CRIS is a Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) funded service that matches small governments and Indigenous communities that serve 30,000> people with free, fixed-term support from CUI’s Roster of Climate & Infrastructure Experts. This program was rapidly launched and scaled to meet funder requirements and organizational goals.

Meet the CRIS
Meet the CRIS

Campaign Goals

  • Secure enough expert applications to officially open the Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts in advance of service offerings opening in January.

  • Announce the CRIS as a national leadership initiative of CUI, advancing federal climate and infrastructure goals on behalf of the Climate Toolkit from Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities Canada as a part of the Government of Canada.

  • Generate interest in Roster services from small governments and Indigenous authorities and capture their information as leads for when the CRIS officially opens.

Key Messages

  • The Climate Ready Infrastructure Service (CRIS) provides free technical support to small communities for a limited time to help protect existing infrastructure projects.

  • Offered on a first-come, first-served basis, CRIS matches climate and infrastructure experts with project teams to provide consulting services at no cost to local governments.

  • Participating communities protect their infrastructure projects from climate-related hazards, extend asset lifespans, reduce long-term operating costs, and improve energy efficiency.

  • Experts on the Roster earn a paid opportunity to create community impact and contribute to federal climate goals.

Stakeholders & Audiences

Individuals and organizations who can: 

  • Exert influence over infrastructure projects in their communities that are planned or underway and integrate the CRIS service into their workplan. 

  • Join the Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts 

  • Support programming within the CRIS through their organizational mandate to further Canada’s climate goals, create strong infrastructure, or support small communities 

Examples:

  • CAOs, asset managers, infrastructure leads of municipalities, townships, or Indigenous authorities serving 30,000 people or less

  • Architects, engineers, energy consultants, environmental specialists,

  • Municipality federations, asset management groups, climate change organizations, issues-based groups (i.e. fire chiefs associations) 

Channels & Content Strategy

  • Goal: Create a new brand to sit under CUI that will resonate strongly with small governments.

    • Program (EN/FR)

    • Visual brand identity

    • Brand voice

  • Goal: Create a new digital hub for the CRIS program

    • Secure and connect a domain

    • Build a new website including: Home, About, Meet the Roster, Projects, Apply Now

    Tools: GoDaddy, CraftCMS

  • Goal: Leverage CUI’s social media channels with an established audience to quickly spread CRIS awareness while beginning to grow independent channels.

    • Lean on CUI’s LinkedIn which would have greatest access to professional networks of experts, with additional use of Instagram

    • Create new accounts for the CRIS

    Tools: Buffer, LinkedIn, Instagram

  • Goal: Leverage CUI’s established newsletter audience to spread news at CRIS program while collecting emails for a new, CRIS email list to announce the program launch to soft leads.

    • Create a new newsletter sign-up flow including automated welcome emails

    • Create an email campaign to CUI’s channels

    • Track and assess soft lead acquisition through email list.

    Tools: GetResponse

  • Goal: Use the national platform of CUI’s State of Canada’s Cities Summit to showcase the Roster after the campaign period, and announce the official “drop” of the CRIS for local governments.

    • Panel discussion with CRIS lead partners

    • Keynote feature from Mary W. Rowe

    • Visuals in rolling slides interspersed throughout the day

    • CRIS partner meeting on day 2 of the Summit

  • Goal: Access niche audiences that CUI doesn’t traditionally have access to through CRIS Climate Co-Leads and regional partners

    • Identify regional partner leads and use their networks

    • Create outreach materials for them to use including copy and graphics

  • Goal: Get the CRIS team in-person at important climate and infrastructure events and conferences across the country.

    • Identify desired events

    • Clarify staff resources and capacity to attend

    • Prioritize based on engagement opportunity: presentation, trade show, attendee, etc.

  • Goal: Host information sessions for potential participants.

    • Create needs-based webinars including for Indigenous and francophone communities

    • Host and promote webinars

    • Funnel leads into workflow for future communications

    Tools: Zoom, Zoho

New resources and MAJOR website updates coming soon!

Outcomes & KPIs

Outcomes 

  • Successfully launched CRIS platform under compressed timelines 

  • Built sufficient expert roster to open community intake 

  • Established CRIS as a credible national service despite launching before program operations were live

KPIs

  • 250 small governments joined by the end of Q1 2025, exceeding our HICC targets and already completing 35% approximately of the total 4-year program goals for participation.

  • About 60 experts joined the Roster of Climate and Infrastructure Experts which now hosts 108 experts and firms.

  • Today, over 300 subscribers follow the CRIS newsletter, demonstrating that many experts and participating governments are following along to discover project stories, new ways to engage, and additional opportunities with CUI.

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