Welcome to the first edition of The Walrus Lab Insider. In a difficult pandemic time, our clients are producing inspiring work, and we’ve decided to share these success stories with you, along with some of the journey of the Lab.
The Walrus Lab is the client services division of The Walrus. We launched in 2019, and offer a range of services from podcast production to content creation to events management. Profits from our work fund the journalism of The Walrus.
Each year, our biggest project continues to be the Amazon First Novel Award, a book prize for emerging Canadian novelists and youth writers. In 2020, we were disappointed that we couldn't host a ceremony for the winners, but we were able to rectify that this year. We made the decision to put on our first-ever virtual ceremony, in front of a live audience on May 27. We had about 200 people in attendance to watch as we awarded the Amazon First Novel Award of $60,000 to Michelle Good for her debut novel, Five Little Indians, and the Youth Short Story prize to Rama Altaleb for her piece, “Lost Childhood.” We’re delighted to tell you that Five Little Indians is being adapted into a TV series.
This year, The Walrus Lab also embarked on an exciting new project—The Future of the Internet—with Facebook Canada to curate provocative conversations. This project includes a series of The Walrus Talks @Home events, along with a podcast and a special supplement in The Walrus magazine and online at thewalrus.ca in the fall/winter.
The Walrus Lab continues to produce a range of engaging podcasts with notable brands. In 2021, we’ve produced the following podcasts:
Global Institute for Water Security Hosted by Jay Famiglietti
A podcast about the future of our planet's water—and why you should care.
Courage Incorporated Deloitte
Office of The Chair, Canada and Chile Hosted by Duncan Sinclair
Conversations with the top business leaders across Canada, tasked with directing the future of their industries, and in turn, the courage of our nation.
Discussions on the energy transition and the climate crisis with industry experts and innovators to guide us through a cleaner, more renewable transition to Net Zero.
A podcast about the power of connectivity. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians are relying on digital networks more than ever and we explore how connectivity helps Canadians embrace the challenges and opportunities of the future.
We also produced a large bespoke event highlighting the link between ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and corporate purpose for VeriStell Institute. Daring to Leap was a full-day virtual conference, hosted by Gerald Butts of Eurasia Group, featuring five panel discussions and three keynote speeches from global thought leaders. We had more than 400 people from around the world register for the event.
The Walrus Labprovides best-in-class branded content for many brands in print and digital.
One of the big highlights for us in the past year was the opportunity to produce an eight-page print supplement (and digital companion) for Heritage Canada as part of its Commemorate Canada program. The supplement, “The Gender Equity Marathon,” marked fifty years since the release of the Status of Women report. We told key stories that reflect women’s rights in the workplace and recognize pioneers in that area.
On the advertising front, we continue to use the strength of The Walrus and the quality of our loyal audience to help our clients achieve their marketing goals.
We’re a
nonprofit publication that reaches influential people across Canada. Each issue of The Walrus is mailed to Members of Parliament and Senators. Our audience is highly educated and engaged in critical social and cultural discussions. Our long-form journalism draws captive readers both in the print and digital landscapes.
The Walrus is grateful to count organizations such as Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, and the Government of Canada among our print and digital advertisers. Some of our most successful website campaigns have delivered click-through rates that are double the global benchmark.
We hope
you enjoyed reading about some of the major branded-content projects from The Walrus Lab in recent months. If you or anyone you know might be interested in our services, please reach out! I’d love to chat further.
