Written by Eric Johnson
Although marketing strategies differ from company to company, one constant remains: the need to build brand trust. From giants like Wal-Mart and Pepsi to the small mom-and-pop shop on the corner, that truth is universal. Without trust, the wheels of commerce grind to a halt.
Before committing to any marketing strategy, Bob Lennon built community trust through decades in the mining industry, organizing local events, and serving as a past president of the Chamber of Commerce. So, when Brunswick Mines shut down operations, the opportunity arose for Bob and his brother-in-law to start their own business—ThermalWood Canada. Naturally, one of their top priorities was answering a key question: “How will you develop a marketing strategy?”
Creating Your Own Media Brand
Bob, who was never one to embrace aggressive product advertising, sought an alternative route. With the help of marketing expert and best-selling author of BIG LITTLE LEGENDS – How Everyday Leaders Build Irresistible Brands, Gair Maxwell, they devised The Northern Heat Report. This weekly video series features different guests in each segment, highlighting positive influences in the community. It became the perfect avenue for Bob to market his brand—not by pitching his product, but by showcasing other people, telling their stories, and fostering broader discussions centered on community impact.
“After the mines shut down, people thought this place would become a ghost town,” says Bob Lennon. “People were really looking at things with a glass-half-empty mentality, and I wanted to showcase all the positivity happening in the region.”
One of Gair’s key lessons for building a distinctive brand is to become a media company first. He often cites examples like Red Bull, Casey Neistat, and minor-league baseball sensations the Savannah Bananas.
Following this advice, Bob picked up a microphone while his son, Jonathan, handled the camera, and the interviews began. It’s been six years of weekly segments, consistently posted every Friday across ThermalWood Canada’s social media platforms. Even during the pandemic, The Northern Heat Report adapted by incorporating virtual Zoom interviews.
Persistence, Patience, and Expansion
Initially focused on showcasing local leaders, the series has gradually expanded to include guests beyond the Chaleur Region. Notable guests have included Michael Landsberg from TSN, Al Connelly from Canadian rock group Glass Tiger, former Premier and Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Frank McKenna, and Tony Levin from King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, among many others.
If you’re looking for something easy and instantly gratifying, creating your own media company isn’t for you. Bob and the team at ThermalWood Canada have spent years refining this strategy to achieve their desired results. As Gair Maxwell explains in his Leaders & Legends series, “How Bob Is Bringing the Heat,” building your own media company requires understanding a few crucial points:
- Saying no to instant gratification
- Rolling up your storytelling sleeves
- Planning, scripting, and learning a new craft
- Making mistakes
- Making more mistakes
- Learning, growing, and polishing
The Northern Heat Report has certainly been a journey of learning, growing, and polishing. From their very first episode—filmed at a trade show in Boston, where Bob humorously compared the junk in the back of their truck to the Beverly Hillbillies—to the studio and high-end equipment they’re using now, it’s clear that Bob and Jonathan have put in the work.
The Customer Journey Is Like Playing Baseball
Now, the videos have reached nearly 2 million people worldwide. Rogers TV picked up the series, and it recently expanded into a written edition. People now approach Bob on the street to tell him they watch the show on TV, and it’s not uncommon for ThermalWood Canada to receive orders from customers who resonate with the company’s values.
This is the type of marketing Bob was born to do.
“It always goes back to the baseball diamond analogy,” says Bob. The analogy focuses on the customer journey and how, through that journey, relationships are built.
First base is getting someone to notice your business. By utilizing different social media platforms, consistently posting high-quality content, and properly optimizing your keywords, you’ll grab consumers’ attention.
Second base is catching their interest, prompting them to seek more information through email, social media messaging, or filling out the website contact form. From there, third base to home is all about building that relationship.
Glass-Half-Full Mentality
The media landscape today is far from what it used to be. In a market saturated with sensational news that garners the most clicks (e.g., celebrity gossip, deaths, war), it’s difficult to stand out with local success stories. Even small-town newspapers have lost their local flavor and seem less interested in covering the stories that give local communities their heartbeat. Yet, in Bob’s ever-present glass-half-full mentality, he saw an opportunity. The Northern Heat Report tells the stories of local leaders who might not otherwise get a chance to share their stories. The demand to be a guest on the show has become staggering.
This prompted the expansion of the program to its written form, which has proven beneficial in multiple ways. First, it provides an additional outlet, ensuring that everyone who wants to be on the show can get their chance without a long wait. Additionally, not everyone feels comfortable in a one-on-one video interview, and now those individuals have a chance to promote their business in a written format.
The Northern Heat Report has a proven track record that, with time and patience, you can create a trusted media brand where everyone wins. As Bob says at the conclusion of each segment, “This is where you come to listen to the stories that have not yet been discovered.”
There’s no telling what story sparks will ignite and spread. There’s no telling what will happen to your organization when you believe in possibilities and turn up the heat.