Building a Unified Voice
How Ontario’s Nuclear Advantage aligned industry communication and engagement
- Article by Lee de Lang, Founding Partner at Big Red Oak
In complex industries, public understanding does not happen by accident. It is built through a purposeful communications platform that connects with what people actually care about. That is the work we’ve been honoured to support through Ontario’s Nuclear Advantage (ONA).
The role of nuclear power in Ontario’s energy future is one of today’s most important public conversations. Beyond ensuring grid reliability, nuclear elevates healthcare innovation, economic growth, emissions reduction, and long-term energy security. But for that value to resonate beyond the industry itself, it has to be communicated in ways that are relevant, human, and easy to understand.
That’s where strategy and storytelling matter.
From Initiation to Impact
The development of ONA began with advocacy efforts around Pickering, when an anti-nuclear petition threatened to reverse the government’s decision to maintain plant operations. Big Red Oak assisted a coalition of industry stakeholders by building a campaign strategy and bringing it to life through a coordinated public-facing effort. That work stimulated public momentum around the issue and contributed to the emergence of Ontario’s Nuclear Advantage as a strong and unified association for industry advocacy.
From there, the mandate grew. What was needed was not just promotion, but a strategic communications approach: one that could bring consistency to the message, link technical issues to public priorities, and give stakeholders a shared way to speak about nuclear’s value in Ontario.
For ONA, that meant focusing the conversation around themes people could immediately understand: healthcare, economy, clean air, and affordable, reliable power. Those pillars helped reposition nuclear from an abstract policy discussion into something more immediate and tangible, tying the sector directly to everyday life and Ontario’s future.
An Ecosystem for Advocacy
We activated ONA’s ambitions through an integrated advocacy ecosystem. The ONA website became a digital hub, featuring facts and figures, news, worker profiles, video content, and tools that made it easier for people to take action. Around that, we developed a campaign spanning television, digital, social, transit, and public-facing web content, all designed to build awareness, reinforce key messages, and create deeper engagement.
The scale of the response demonstrated the value of our approach. But more importantly, it showed that in a complex category like nuclear, effective communication is not about simplifying the truth. It is about translating it. It is about taking technical, economic, and policy realities and expressing them in ways that feel credible to the people you need to reach.
Shifting Perceptions Through Public Engagement
The same principle applied to ONA’s waste management communications. This challenge was especially sensitive. Long-standing stigma and misinformation had shaped public perception in ways that facts alone could not easily undo, and simple rebuttal would not be sufficient. The response required a thoughtful mix of education, storytelling, and accessible content that could shift the tone of the conversation.
Big Red Oak developed a strategically informed campaign with a toolkit of resources for ONA members to distribute through their networks: a landing page, downloadable playbook, digital banners, a video series spotlighting community voices, and short motion-graphics explainer videos. The goal was not just to defend the industry, but to communicate the message with greater confidence, consistency, and clarity.
Shared Values, Shared Commitment
For Big Red Oak, this work represents more than campaign execution. It reflects the value of clear communication in shaping public understanding around complex issues. Nuclear energy is deeply tied to Ontario’s economic resilience, energy security, healthcare system, and clean energy future. Providing stakeholders with the tools to convey that reality in a compelling and accessible way has been both a responsibility and a privilege.
Ontario’s Nuclear Advantage did not emerge from a single ad, website, or campaign asset. It was built through alignment, persistence, and commitment among industry stakeholders to speak out with a shared vision and a united voice. Our team is encouraged by the success ONA has achieved, and we look forward to continuing to contribute to Ontario’s journey toward a bright future empowered by nuclear’s advantage.