Employee Ownership Trust

The rule they were rewriting

Succession planning for business owners has often meant selling to the highest bidder, trading purpose and people for a payday, and leaving legacies in limbo.

Collage of LinkedIn and Facebook posts promoting Employee Ownership Trusts, including a video with business cards labeled ‘Employee Owner’ and an announcement of the new employee-ownership.ca website.

The rule we rewrote together

We redefined succession as a chance to protect what matters most. By positioning Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) as a path to shared prosperity, we demonstrated that business owners can achieve both profit and purpose.

Told stories that matter

We created a hero video that celebrated the human impact of EOTs, featuring emotional moments of business owners transitioning their companies to employees and securing their legacy.

Animated GIF showing employee name cards labeled with roles like ‘Customer Service Representative’ and the highlighted title ‘Employee Owner.’

Symbolized democratized ownership

Featured “employee owner” business cards as a visual metaphor for empowerment and equity.

Eligibility flowchart from employee-ownership.ca guiding business owners through questions on ownership, employee residency, and activity to determine if they qualify for the EOT Capital Gains Tax Incentive.

Balanced head and heart

A cohesive strategy united compelling website content with LinkedIn campaigns, balancing the emotional weight of legacy with clear, actionable insights into the financial and operational benefits of EOTs.

The impact

5&Vine empowered CEOC to inspire meaningful change in Canadian business succession, achieving:

Expanded awareness

550K+ LinkedIn impressions across two highly targeted audiences, exceeding LinkedIn Ads benchmarks for CPC, CTR, and engagement rate.

‍

Enhanced digital experience

New website doubled SEO visibility for critical keywords and delivered exceptional user experience scores. Interactive tools like the business card slider guided users from emotional resonance to practical understanding.

New standard for succession

Positioned EOTs as a values-aligned alternative to traditional exits.

Jon Shell

Chair

What was most rare about 5&V is how quickly they understood the issues we were trying to solve. From our first conversation we started moving toward creative and bang-on appropriate solutions, and that kept going right through the end of the project. They were also super-responsive to any issues we had, which is the most important trait in a partner.

If the rules aren’t serving you,

rewrite

with us.

Get in touch

Business succession means selling out.