Last Updated: January 1, 2025
The Branding Firm Inc. (“The Branding Firm”, “Company”, “it”, “us” or “we”) is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal information either in our possession or through the process of collection, use, retention, or disclosure of personal information, responsibly and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Your Personal Information
The term “personal information” is any information that is defined under applicable privacy laws as to be personal information, for the purposes of this privacy policy. This refers to any information about an individual or any information that can be used to identify an individual, such as a person’s name, email address, physical address, contact number, social media information, IP addresses and in some cases, more sensitive information. Sensitive Information may include but is not limited to gender, demographic information, or family status.
Personal information does not include your business contact information or the contact of a representative of an organization, including the representative’s name, position or title, business address, business contact or business fax number. Publicly available information, such as that contained in a public directory, is not deemed personal information under this privacy policy.
Privacy and Our Website
When a user comes to the Website, The Branding Firm’s secure and well maintained web server may collect and log certain information in access logs which may be kept for a reasonable period of time and may include, but not be limited to, information such as the following:
- TCP/IP address you are connecting from
- Files accessed along with the date and time of access,
- Other information pertaining to your activities on the company’s website and/or webpages linked thereto.
This non-personal information may be used to optimize the company’s Website, products and/or services. Logs will be used for performance, site administration and security reviews and are not sold or shared in any way to third party organizations.
The Branding Firm may, from time to time, use “cookies” solely for security and authentication purposes. Cookies are small pieces of data which are stored on your computer or smart device to allow your Internet browser to remember something about a website and/or services. You have the option to turn off The Branding Firm’s “cookies” using the applicable features of your Internet browser; a reminder though that in doing so, it may prevent you from accessing all, or part of the company’s Websites, products and/or services. If you have chosen to turn off cookies and wish to enable them again, please refer to the applicable instruction documentation for your particular Internet browser.
The Branding Firm may, from time to time, engage third parties to assist with this Website, and such third parties may track your usage, your GPS, collect personal information, send messages to you on behalf of The Branding Firm, push notifications to you, and use “cookies”, as discussed herein.
By accessing and browsing The Branding Firm’s Website, you agree that The Branding Firm, or any third party it engages or that assists The Branding Firm, may collect, use and disclose any information collected about you through The Branding Firm’s Website, products and/or services or that you provide to The Branding Firm through The Branding Firm’s Website, products and/or services as described in this privacy policy.
The Branding Firm’s Website, products and/or service(s) may contain links to other sites and may provide forms on behalf of other organizations. This privacy policy only applies to personal information that we collect, use and disclose.
The Branding Firm is not responsible or liable for the privacy practices of third parties, including any organizations on the behalf of which The Branding Firm provides forms, and we strongly recommend that you review the third party’s privacy policy before disclosing any personal information to the third party.
Your Consent
Privacy legislation requires The Branding Firm to obtain the consent of an individual to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information in many circumstances. We take a consent-based approach to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information and may collect personal information directly from you and may also collect personal information about you from other sources, such as websites. We will only obtain personal information from other organizations (e.g., your bank or other third party service providers) when you provide us with the account numbers, passwords or other credentials required to retrieve the personal information, for the purpose of providing you with use of our Website or use of products and/or services we provide to you.
By providing your personal information to The Branding Firm, you agree that we may collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy and as otherwise permitted or required by law. You also agree that we may access, process and store your personal information in Canada or another jurisdiction.
When The Branding Firm receives personal information from you for the purposes of providing you with use of this Website, The Branding Firm’s products or services, or for other uses identified herein by The Branding Firm, you are providing us with consent as follows:
- Allow The Branding Firm to deal with that personal information in a reasonable manner;
- Allow The Branding Firm to provide your personal information to third parties it engages to provide or support The Branding Firm’s Website, or to provide any products or services to you;
- Allow The Branding Firm to collect your additional personal information from third party sources when you provide us with information required to retrieve your information from such third party sources;
- Allow The Branding Firm to use and store your personal information for the purpose of providing you with the products and services you purchase from The Branding Firm and to utilize this Website; and
- Allow The Branding Firm to transfer your personal information outside of Canada (whereby your personal information will be treated in accordance with applicable foreign laws) for the purpose of storage and use of your personal information by The Branding Firm.
If you need to provide The Branding Firm with personal information about other individuals, including but not limited to any of your employees, agents, contractors or representatives, you represent and warrant to The Branding Firm that:
- where required by law and prior to your disclosure to The Branding Firm, you have obtained the consent of each individual to the collection, use and disclosure by The Branding Firm for the specific purpose(s) that the disclosure is made by you; and
- you only collect, use and disclose personal information of each individual in compliance with applicable privacy laws.
You always have the choice on whether or not to provide your personal information or the personal information of other individuals to us. When you use this Website, request products and/or services or utilize services from us, or register with this Website, The Branding Firm asks that you provide information that enables us to respond to your request and/or provide you with products or services. In doing so, you consent to The Branding Firm’s collection, use and disclosure to appropriate third parties of such personal information for these purposes.
There are legal exceptions where The Branding Firm will not need to obtain consent or explain the purposes for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information. Some examples of situations where consent is not required include an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual, or if The Branding Firm must comply with a court or governmental order.
If The Branding Firm sells its business or merges with another party, your consent will be implied to transfer your information to The Branding Firm’s successor for the same purposes as set out in this privacy policy.
Collection, Use, Disclosure, Retention and Destruction Of Personal Information
The Branding Firm will collect your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy, while trying to limit the collection of personal information to only the minimum amount required to fulfill the identified purposes, such as the use of this Website, and provision of any products or services to you. However, in some instances we may provide you with the option of sharing additional personal information that will enhance your use of our Website or any products or services we provide to you.
If you do not consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy, do not provide any of your personal information to The Branding Firm. It is important to note that some sections of this Website can only be used, along with some of The Branding Firm’s products and services can only be provided, if The Branding Firm receives the appropriate and required personal information. Consequently, should you choose not to provide The Branding Firm with the required personal information, The Branding Firm may be unable to offer access to this Website, or products and services, to you.
The Branding Firm does not knowingly or intentionally collect personal information from visitors who are under the age of thirteen (13). If you do not have the capacity to enter into a legal agreement in the province, state, territory or country in which you reside, do not access or use this Website or receive any products or services from us unless your parent or guardian enters into this Agreement on your behalf and consents for your access to and use of the Website and any products or services we provide to you.
By using this Website or receiving any products of services from us, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 and are lawfully able to accept this Agreement.
The Branding Firm and its staff will use your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy, our terms and conditions, and will not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than the purposes identified herein, or for purposes for which we have obtained your consent elsewhere.
We also ensure that only our employees, or third parties, responsible for the Website operations, or for providing you with any products or services, have physical or technical access to personal information and only where such access is required to Personal information will be retained in secure and segregated databases. If you choose to withdraw from the Services, we will destroy your personal information in our possession and control within a reasonable period of time, securely and safely, unless we are required to retain such personal information longer to fulfill our obligations to you, to third parties, or by law. However, we may retain non-personally identifiable information indefinitely.
If access to our Website or use of any of our products or services, are provided to you by one of our third party service providers, the third party service provider may have their own terms of use and privacy policies that will govern your relationship with those third parties. You are responsible for reviewing and agreeing to their terms of use and privacy policies. If you do not agree with their terms of use or privacy policies you should not use the products or services offered by such third party service providers.
When The Branding Firm data is viewed via a mobile device, some data is cached in the memory of the device. We take no responsibility for any unauthorized viewing of this data by third parties.
What We Do With the Information or Why We Collect it
The Branding Firm may collect, use or disclose personal information for the purposes identified at the time of collection, as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, or for any of the following purposes:
- To provide communications, deliver programs and event information;
- To establish, maintain and manage our relationships with users of the Website;
- To provide products and/or services to users and/or access to The Branding Firm’s Website;
- To comply with The Branding Firm’s legal obligations and regulatory requirements;
- To provide information to anyone working with or for The Branding Firm as needed for the provision of The Branding Firm’s products and/or services;
- To develop and manage The Branding Firm’s business and operations;
- For billing, accounting and debt collection services relating to The Branding Firm’s products and services;
- To distribute publications, invitations, advertising, and other communications that the company believes may be of interest to The Branding Firm’s clients, customers and other individuals;
- To respond to questions and concerns of users or clients;
- To contact users for survey or client satisfaction purposes, or for the purpose of marketing or other types of research;
- To detect and protect The Branding Firm and third parties from error, negligence, breach of contract, fraud, theft or other illegal activity, and which may include sharing personal information with The Branding Firm’s insurers;
- To otherwise communicate with The Branding Firm’s insurers;
- To generate analytics, improve system design, create benchmarks and conduct trending analyses;
- To comply with any laws, regulation, court orders, subpoenas or other legal process or investigation and to protect ourselves and other individuals from harm;
- To support hosting and backend infrastructures of The Branding Firm or of third parties that assist The Branding Firm;
- To generate location-based interactions;
- To manage contacts and to manage the sending of messages;
- To undertake registration and authentication of users;
- To monitor system usage, server and software performance;
- To assist you with technical support issues – it is important to note that most technical issues can be resolved without a The Branding Firm customer service representative viewing your personal information;
- To assist in due diligence relating to any corporate action such as a financing, merger, amalgamation, sale or divestiture, provided that reasonable safeguards are taken to protect the confidentiality of personal information in our possession;.
- For internal, external and regulatory audit purposes; and
- For any other purpose for which The Branding Firm has your consent.
Disclosure of Personal Information
The Branding Firm will only disclose your personal information for the purposes set out in this privacy policy.
We will never sell your contact details to a third party and we do not sell client lists or personal information to others. In providing The Branding Firm’s products and/or services or access to The Branding Firm’s Website, we may need to disclose the personal information we collect to other service providers or agents who perform various functions for The Branding Firm, provided such suppliers agree to keep all personal information confidential and secure and to use the personal information only to carry out work on The Branding Firm’s behalf. In certain circumstances, The Branding Firm may be required to provide personal information to third parties for legal or regulatory purposes. For example, under certain exceptional circumstance The Branding Firm may have a legal duty or right to disclose personal information without the individual’s knowledge or consent. Various government agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency, Human Rights Commission, Ontario Ministry of Finance; Ontario Ministry of Labour, etc. and law enforcement, have the authority to review our files and interview our staff when deemed necessary. These agencies have their own strict privacy obligations.
Retention and Destruction of Your Personal Information
The amount of time The Branding Firm will retain personal information varies, depending on the use of this Website, the products or services The Branding Firm has provided, and the nature of the personal information that The Branding Firm holds. The Branding Firm retains personal information for such period of time as is necessary so The Branding Firm may respond to any issues that arise at a later date or as is required by law.
When personal information is no longer required by The Branding Firm or by law, The Branding Firm will either convert it into an aggregated non-identifying form or will appropriately destroy and/or erase the personal information in a manner that is in accordance with The Branding Firm’s current policies and procedures.
Security Measures
The Branding Firm implements reasonable industry practices appropriate to the sensitivity of your personal information to protect The Branding Firm’s systems and personal information under The Branding Firm’s control against unauthorized access and use. We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information against loss, theft, and unauthorized access, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal, or destruction in accordance with applicable legal requirements and industry best practices.
One way we do this is by implementing encryption and security controls to protect against unauthorized access to personal information during electronic transmission, and we train our employees to follow privacy and security practices specific to the Services.
The Branding Firm may engage third party external servers as well as other external services, including cloud services and cloud compatible servers. The Branding Firm does not have any control over such external servers or services.
Electronic Communications
We frequently communicate via electronic communication and, unless you object, The Branding Firm may use unencrypted plain text or html-based emails or messages when communicating with you. These emails or messages, and other electronic means by which The Branding Firm might communicate with you, may contain information that is confidential, unless we are instructed by you to not send such information electronically. The Branding Firm may communicate with you through other electronic means, based the contact information you provided us.
While The Branding Firm makes every effort to secure all electronic communications within our control, there are inherent risks involved with exchanging information electronically as the information may be accidentally or deliberately intercepted by third parties. The Branding Firm is unable to accept any responsibility or liability for any damages you may suffer as a result of the interception, alteration or misuse of any information during any electronic exchange.
The Branding Firm will endeavour to be compliant with Canada’s Anti-Spam laws (“CASL”) in the company’s commercial electronic communication with you. Should you fail to provide The Branding Firm with the requisite consent to send you commercial electronic messages, or withdraw such consent, The Branding Firm may be unable to provide, or continue to provide, this Website or some of The Branding Firm’s products and/or services that can only be provided if the company receives appropriate and required personal information. We will also provide an unsubscribe link in our emails.
CASL consent can be provided or withdrawn via email to info@thebrandingfirminc.com
Keeping Information Accurate, Access and Correction
The Branding Firm relies on you to ensure that the personal information you provide to us while using the Website or during the course of receiving any products or services that we provide, relating to yourself or any other individual, is as accurate, complete and up-to-date as necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.
It is important to The Branding Firm that your personal information held by The Branding Firm is accurate and complete. You are responsible for ensuring that that the information you have provided is truthful, accurate, reliable and complete. Having accurate information about you enables us to give you better service and helps to ensure the accuracy of the information in our reports, displays, articles and support queries. You can assist us in keeping your information up-to-date by informing us of any changes, which may include address change, contact number change or any other circumstances which would impact us providing services or products to you.
Upon request, we will inform you if we hold any of your personal information and provide you with access to said information, within a reasonable period of time, and as permitted in accordance with applicable laws. In the event we have personal information about you, we will also disclose what purposes it is was used or disclosed, also within a reasonable period of time, and as permitted in accordance with applicable laws.
In some situations, The Branding Firm may not be able to provide access to certain personal information as the right to access personal information is not absolute. If The Branding Firm does not provide you with the requested information, The Branding Firm will notify you in writing and explain the company’s reason(s) for not fulfilling your request.
Despite The Branding Firm’s efforts, errors sometimes do occur. If you identify any personal information that is out-of-date, incorrect or incomplete, notify The Branding Firm and we will promptly correct it and use every reasonable effort to communicate these changes to other parties who may have inadvertently received incorrect or out-of-date personal information from us. The Branding Firm will note errors, incomplete information or unresolved differences in information collected in any file it has relating to you.
With some exceptions, The Branding Firm has the right to access, verify and amend the information we have about you, after the company has received your written request and authenticated your identity.
Should you wish to see the full contents of your personal information file, you must make a formal written request and mail it to our privacy officer with the following indication on the envelope and the letter – Attention: Privacy Officer.
We will respond to you within a reasonable period of time, or let you know why there might be a delay.
You agree to indemnify and hold The Branding Firm, its affiliates, subsidiaries, partners, service providers, suppliers and contractors and each of their respective officers, directors, agents, and employees, harmless for any loss, cost, complaint, damage, claim or liability whatsoever arising from the collection, use and disclosure of personal information relating to you or any individual that you provide to us, and any personal information relating to you that we obtain from third party sources in accordance with this privacy policy.
Withdrawing Your Consent
You may, at any time, ask The Branding Firm to not send any further marketing materials about the company’s products or services to you or if you do not wish to receive further invitations, you may unsubscribe or ask The Branding Firm to not contact you for these purposes.
You can also request that we close your account at any time, subject to reasonable notice and any legal and/or contractual restrictions, by emailing us at: info@thebrandingfirminc.com
Once your account is closed, all personal information relating to your account will be deleted from our databases. However, anonymous transactional data (which does not personally identify you or any of your employees, agents, contractors and representatives) will be retained in our database.
Should you choose to withdraw your consent, The Branding Firm may be unable to provide, or continue to provide, this Website or some of The Branding Firm’s products and/or services that can only be provided if The Branding Firm receives appropriate and required personal information. Consequently, should you choose not to provide The Branding Firm with the required personal information, The Branding Firm may be unable to offer this Website and such products and/or services to you.
Withdrawing your consent will not prohibit The Branding Firm from undertaking actions that we have already taken based on your prior consent.
Transparency
The Branding Firm makes clear and transparent notice of its privacy practices, and this privacy policy is publicly available on our Website. This privacy policy describes the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of personal information and provides the contact information of our privacy officer.
The Branding Firm will advise you at the first reasonable opportunity upon discovering or being advised of an incident, whereby your personal information is lost, stolen, accessed, used, disclosed, copied, modified or disposed of by unauthorized persons or in an unauthorized manner.
Privacy Concerns
Please contact our Designated Privacy Officer to obtain further information about The Branding Firm’s policies and procedures, to seek access to personal information the company may have about you, or if you have any unresolved inquiries or concerns. The Branding Firm will respond to you and try to resolve your concerns during which we may need to ask you for personal information to verify your identity.
You can contact our Privacy Officer via email at: info@thebrandingfirminc.com 519-914-2810
Changes to this Privacy Policy
This privacy policy is effective as of January 1, 2025. The Branding Firm reserves the right to change this privacy policy, and any of The Branding Firm’s policies and procedures concerning The Branding Firm’s practices for handling personal information, at any time and without any prior notice. If The Branding Firm has modified or amended our privacy policy, The Branding Firm will post the most current version on The Branding Firm’s Website. Any changes that are made to this privacy policy will apply to both any personal information that The Branding Firm holds prior to the effective date of the amended privacy policy and any personal information that The Branding Firm collects on or after such effective date.
