tbk Creative awarded Consumer Choice Award for fourth consecutive year

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: ANDREW SCHIESTEL
tbk Creative's Andrew Schiestel (President) and Melissa McInerney, (CEO and Creative Director, tbk Creative), won the Consumer Choice Award for fourth consecutive year.

Local company, tbk Creative, specializes in web design and digital marketing solution services. After being founded in 2010, the company picked up clients including Jiffy Lube Ontario, Yogen Früz and 3M Canada. This year, tbk Creative has won the Consumer Choice award for the fourth consecutive year.

The London-based company services the Greater Toronto Area, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, as well as some clients outside of Canada. The services that clients receive from tbk Creative range from web design, digital marketing, branding, print advertising, to other software projects. The company of 28 full-time team members is committed to providing quality service to their clients.

“We have never set a target of wanting to grow really big, really fast. A shortcoming of quality can occur if you’re trying to grow your company too fast,” Andrew Schiestel, the President of tbk Creative, said in a phone interview with Interrobang.

Along with working alongside clients looking for web design and digital marketing solutions, tbk Creative has also worked alongside local non-profit organizations, one example being the London Abused Women’s Shelter (LAWC) in May of 2018.

tbk Creative teamed up with LAWC to create advertisements targeted towards abused women in London, as well as men who are looking for prostitution services. Facebook ads promote the services of LAWC to women who are potentially in an abusive situation, and for men, ads appear to create awareness of the illegality of prostitution for those who may be looking for these services. The same ads will appear on Google when an individual searches for prostitution or sex trafficking services.

“This is really ground-breaking work coming from London, Ontario, where we are utilizing technology to reach directly to women and girls who need help, and to boys and men who believe that it’s okay to purchase sexual services,” LAWC executive director, Megan Walker, staid in a May 4, London Free Press article.

The ads have been viewed thousands of times and helped three women in need within the first week of being released.

tbk Creative is also responsible for the creation of AODA Online, a popular online software which scans sites to help developers build more accessible websites.

The software is modelled after and affiliated with the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) legislation in Ontario.

As of now, the online software has serviced over 1000 corporate users in Canada, including Tim Hortons, Goodlife Fitness, and Western University. AODA Online also offers consulting services, as well as in-person or online training sessions on web accessibility.

The work of tbk Creative does not go unnoticed. For the fourth year running, tbk Creative has won the Consumer Choice Award for the “Top Web Design Provider” in London.

Schiestel said that it is an honour to receive the award again because the lack of application process means that the company has been recognized within the community.

“What is interesting about the [Consumer Choice Award] and why it is met with a lot of gratitude when we are named is that there is no application process for it, which is unlike a lot of awards. […] When [a win] occurs, and it isn’t something we applied for, it really is met with a lot of gratitude,” Schiestel said.

The Consumer Choice Award is an annual award given to companies based on the satisfaction of their consumers, amongst other factors.

As stated on the Consumer Choice Award website: “Consumer Choice Award was established in 1987 with the sole purpose of recognizing business excellence in small and medium sized businesses. Today, we are the only organization in Canada to conduct statistically accurate independent market research surveys to determine brand reputation, customer satisfaction and business excellence.”

Schiestel contributes the quality service that tbk Creative provides to its repeating success.

“It’s quality that tbk Creative is committed to. We strive to produce among the best quality web design and digital marketing solutions in Canada,” Schiestel said.

To learn more about tbk Creative and AODA Online, visit their websites: tbkcreative.com and aodaonline.com.