Quick Facts

• Produced the official 2024 ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Report.

• Assembled, reviewed and finalized input from four program teams: ENERGY STAR for Products, ENERGY STAR for New Homes, ENERGY STAR for Buildings, and ENERGY STAR for Industry.

• Designed and delivered two versions of a public-facing report that highlights program impacts and results.
• Developed the first-ever Simplified Word version of the annual report to streamline internal reviews and to address departmental Web publishing and accessibility requirements.

Project Description

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) tasked Bronson with the creation of the 2024 ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Report, a comprehensive overview of ENERGY STAR Canada’s activities and achievements during the 2024–25 fiscal year. Bronson developed the three previous versions of the ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Report, and this was the first deliverable under a new three-year contract for on-going service to NRCan. Through close collaboration with four program teams, one affiliated housing program and NRCan project authorities, Bronson delivered a visually engaging, public-facing report that showcases the results and highlights the overall value the ENERGY STAR Canada brand during 2024.

Business Challenge

The ENERGY STAR Canada program wished to communicate its annual results in a clear, accessible, and compelling way to both internal stakeholders and the Canadian public. The challenge was to gather and harmonize input from four separate program divisions while ensuring consistency of tone, accuracy of metrics, and a professional design standard that maintained a consistent “look and feel” with previous versions of the Annual Report, while at the same time portraying the ENERGY STAR 2024 “story” in fresh and compelling ways.

Our Solution and Outcome

Bronson reviewed previous ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Reports, the ENERGY STAR website, departmental plans and recent public opinion research as inputs to the overall approach to the project and to the design of structured program reporting templates. Bronson facilitated a kick-off meeting with program stakeholders to provide clarity around roles, timelines, and requested contributions to the Annual Report.

We developed the content through an iterative process of three drafts, as outlined in the original kick-off meeting with stakeholders. Throughout this process, we reviewed and fine-tuned program submissions, incorporated feedback from the ENERGY STAR programs and leadership to ensure accuracy and clarity, and drafted and developed accompanying charts and graphs, images and logos, “Did You Know” and “Fun Fact” textboxes to enhance the presentation and readability of the report.

Bronson delivered two versions of the 2024 ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Report. One was a “layout version” that presented all content, including the cover page, table of contents, descriptive program text, charts, images and textboxes in their final layout as if the Annual Report were to be uploaded as a PDF, thereby providing NRCan with Bronson’s completed “vision” of the 2024 ENERGY STAR Canada Annual Report. The second was a “simplified version” that included the cover page, table of contents, section headings and program text without formatting and with all visual elements removed and replaced by “placeholder” comments. The images, charts, graphs and textboxes were delivered in 25 separate Word files that included alternative text describing the contents of the files. This simplified version was required at project launch to streamline processes for NRCan’s internal website communications team to post the Annual Report to the ENERGY STAR website and to ensure that the report met departmental accessibility requirements.

Key Deliverables