Marketing, websites and AI for businesses in London, Ontario
A city that makes things, cares for people and backs its own.
nuordinary is based in London, Ontario. We help established businesses, healthcare practices, manufacturers and nonprofits here and in the towns around it work out honestly what needs to change, then build what moves them: strategy, brand, websites, marketing, search, AI and systems.
They call it the Forest City. The people are the bigger story.
About 626,000 people live in London’s metro area. In the 2021 census it was Ontario’s fastest-growing. A quarter of Londoners were born outside Canada, and more than 170 languages are spoken here. Western University and Fanshawe College send more than 30,000 graduates into the region every year.
It’s a city where a factory floor and a research lab share one economy, and where people who arrived last year build alongside families who’ve been here for generations.
Who’s building here
A few of the people and places building London:
[01] The makers
Laid off in 1992. Canada’s number one by 2005.
In 1992, ABB closed its London plant and nearly 500 people lost their jobs. Ray Givens was one of them.
A year later he incorporated his own engineering company. In 1996 he hired his first employee, working out of the Small Business Centre. By 2005, the company says, Givens Engineering was Canada’s number one maker of manipulators.
It has since finished a new 30,000 square foot facility in Huron Industrial Park. In 2026 it was one of the London Chamber of Commerce’s Business Achievement Award winners.
Givens isn’t alone:
- Andriani, the Italian pasta maker, opened a $55 million, 60,000 square foot North American plant here.
- Great Lakes Copper is expanding on Clarke Road.
- More than 1,100 people registered for Manufacturing Matters 2025, the most in the event’s history.
These are businesses that make things worth buying. The work is to help more buyers see it.
[02] The people who care for people
Their job is care.
London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London sit at the centre of a health and research community that includes the Lawson and Robarts research institutes. Around them are the clinics, practices and allied health professionals people see every week.
The website, the booking and the paperwork should make that care easier, not harder.
[03] The main streets
Owned by the people who pour it.
In 2014, London Brewing started with monthly pop-ups at The Root Cellar on Dundas Street, in Old East Village.
It’s a co-op owned by the people who work there. Its hops come from Norfolk and Essex, its malt from around Guelph and its heritage wheat from Chatham-Kent. Its Local 117 amber is brewed from ingredients sourced within 117 kilometres.
It’s now on Burbrook Place, and it was a 2026 Business Achievement Award winner too.
Downtown, Covent Garden Market was established in 1845. Its Saturday farmers’ market sells produce, meat and baking from across Southwestern Ontario. Downtown offices are filling again: about 82,000 square feet was taken up in the second quarter of 2026.
Owners on these streets run the shop, the books, the staff and the social media. They shouldn’t have to figure all of it out alone.
[04] The organisations working for something bigger
Since 1868.
The Western Fair has been part of London since 1868. The agricultural society behind it was incorporated in 1867. In 2026, Western Fair District was another of the Chamber’s award winners.
Around it is a whole community of organisations working for others:
- The London Community Foundation’s Vital Signs report looks at what the city needs: housing, hunger, health, the environment and inequality.
- United Way Elgin Middlesex serves Elgin and Middlesex counties.
- Pillar Nonprofit Network helps nonprofits with board governance, funding and volunteers.
Small teams carry a lot. The systems behind them should carry some of it.
Good work, recognised.
People at RBC Place for the London Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 Business Achievement Awards.
The Chamber has handed out its Business Achievement Awards since 1984. In March 2026 more than 1,200 people came to see them. The Chamber calls it the largest business awards event of its kind in Canada.
Three of this year’s winners are above. The others:
Congratulations to every one of them.
We want to tell more of these stories in our Field Notes. If you’re building something here, tell us about it.
Building here isn’t always easy.
- 01
The average single-family home costs about $640,000, and an average two-bedroom rent is $2,102 a month (both September 2025).
- 02
In 2025, unemployment averaged 6.5% through September.
- 03
A quarter of downtown office space is still empty.
- 04
In St. Thomas, the PowerCo battery plant the region has been planning around now starts production in 2029, two years later than first planned.
Those pressures land differently on everyone:
- 01
A business owner needs more revenue without more hours in the week.
- 02
A manufacturer could serve new markets but struggles to show buyers what it makes.
- 03
A practice wants to see more patients with a team that’s already stretched.
- 04
A nonprofit needs more supporters without more work for its staff.
Different problems. Different answers. Sometimes the first step is to stop adding activity and work out what will actually make a difference.
Where London owners get help
Givens Engineering hired its first employee from an office at the Small Business Centre. The centre is still here for the next founder, and it isn’t the only help in town:
Programmes and eligibility change, so check with each one directly.
Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is point you to the right resource, even when that resource isn’t us.
London is part of a bigger region.
London doesn’t stop at the city limits:
London is home
London is home.
nuordinary’s head office is here. This is the city we know best, and the one we most want to see do well.
You know your organisation better than anyone else does. Our job isn’t to arrive with a package. It’s to understand what you’ve built, where you want to go and what’s in between.
See where you are. Define what comes next. Build what gets you there. Measure the movement.
- Local businesses
- Easier for the right customers to find you and choose you, with systems that don’t depend on you for everything.
- Healthcare practices
- Easier for patients to find you and book, with less paperwork for your team.
- Manufacturers
- Complex capabilities explained clearly, to the buyers who need them.
- Nonprofits
- A mission that’s easier to find, support and sustain.
Capabilities that fit what’s happening in London: web design, local SEO, automation, PPC and Google Ads and graphic design.
Questions
What does nuordinary do?
nuordinary helps organisations work out honestly what needs to change, then builds what moves them: strategy, brand, websites, marketing, SEO and AI search visibility, AI implementation, automation and better systems. We start with the outcome you want, then choose the capabilities that get you there.
Is nuordinary based in London?
Yes. London, Ontario is our home and head office.
Do you work with small businesses?
Yes. Established local businesses are one of the four kinds of organisation we focus on, alongside healthcare practices, manufacturers and nonprofits. What matters more than size is what you’re trying to achieve.
Can you do the website and the marketing together?
Yes. How people find you, what they understand when they arrive and what helps them choose you are one journey, so we plan them together.
Can nuordinary help us use AI?
Yes. We look for the places where AI removes real work or makes something possible that wasn’t before, then plan it and build it around how your organisation actually runs. Not AI for its own sake.
Do you only work in London?
No. London is home, and we can work with organisations anywhere in Canada. The towns around London are close to home.
How do we start?
Start a conversation. You don’t need a brief or a list of services. Tell us what’s happening and what you’d like to change.
Sources (19)
- LEDC, London key statistics (opens in a new tab)
- LEDC, Charged for Growth (opens in a new tab)
- LEDC, employer directory (opens in a new tab)
- Trillium Network, Givens Engineering profile (2016) (opens in a new tab)
- eatdrink, London Brewing Co-operative (opens in a new tab)
- Western Fair District, our history (opens in a new tab)
- London Tourism, Covent Garden Market (opens in a new tab)
- CTV News London, 6 July 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- London Community Foundation, Vital Signs 2024 (opens in a new tab)
- United Way Elgin Middlesex (opens in a new tab)
- Pillar Nonprofit Network (opens in a new tab)
- London Chamber of Commerce, 2026 awards (opens in a new tab)
- London Small Business Centre (opens in a new tab)
- TechAlliance (opens in a new tab)
- electrive, 25 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (opens in a new tab)
- Ontario Arts Council, Stratford Festival (opens in a new tab)
- Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership (opens in a new tab)
- London, Ontario (opens in a new tab)
Where next for your London organisation?
Givens started with one employee. London Brewing started with pop-ups. Every organisation starts somewhere. Tell us where you’re starting from, and where you want to go.
Fig. 09. Downtown London at night. Credit