Archive for the ‘Brand Strategy’ Category

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LFCS Faithful Promises Campaign

Posted by Katlyn Wentzel

Sharing Stories of Promise

COVID-19 has brought its fair share of challenges, and in the midst of this pandemic, Lutheran Family and Children’s Services (LFCS) wanted to uplift their community and share stories that offered hope. OrgStory partnered with LFCS to develop a campaign that would highlight stories of change and hope, showcasing their impact to clients and donors. The goal was to remind them of the incredible work that LFCS promises to do every day to help families and children across Missouri.

Project Highlights

CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT

BRAND DESIGN

SOCIAL MARKETING

Staying Hopeful

With so much news taking over our feeds, we needed a way to make LFCS’ stories distinct and special through a unifying thread. The “faithful promises” tone and visual identity aligns with LFCS’ Christian commitment and hopeful spirit. Stories focus on their unwavering support of individuals seeking an array of social services, from adoption and foster care to parenting and behavioral health.

Telling Stories Through Social and Digital

The campaign is featured on multiple communications, such as donor appeals, newsletters and emails as well as LFCS’ social media. Users are driven to a dedicated page on their site where deeper stories and an opportunity to give lives.

Federated Church

Posted by Katlyn Wentzel

A Forward Thinking Approach

Looking towards the future of their faith community, Federated Church saw the need to refresh their brand in a way that would better represent their pillars of love, acceptance and inclusivity. Our team spent focused time in discovery with the congregation and church leadership. The result was a brand position and messaging strategy that looks to the future while maintaining the legacy of Federated.

Project Highlights

Brand strategy

Identity design

Messaging strategy

Launch strategy

Collateral design

Live Your Faith

Their new brand identity focused on a mark with a stylized “f” icon. The mark consists of three parts representing the Father as the foundation of the icon; the Son as the cross that forms the arms of the “f,” and the Holy Spirit as the flame that forms the crook of the “f.” Federated utilized the brand to differentiate its four areas of focus, making them more accessible to the broader community alongside their new empowering tagline, “Live your faith.”

Every Child’s Hope

Posted by Tracey Burns

A capital campaign that connects

Every Child’s Hope (ECH) has been a leader in meeting, and anticipating, the needs of youth and families for over 160 years. As ECH looks to the future, it must continue to evolve to connect youth and families with the resources to help them move forward in life and fulfill their potential. One key aspect of the evolution includes the creation of the ECH Youth Development Center, a state-of-the-art hub for enhancing a model of care that gives youth and families greater opportunity for holistic health, healing and hope.

Sharing a story of hope

Today’s society presents youth and families with numerous challenges. Tragically, the youth who are in the care of ECH have faced many of them — many unthinkable. Many have been witnesses to or victims of violence that includes severe abuse and neglect.  ECH, in its work with youth and families, helps them cope with various mental issues including depression, self-harm, suicidal behavior, anger management issues, acting out and a general emotional imbalance. ECH leads by sharing a story of hope.

OrgStory shaped the story to change the narrative

Leveraging the long history of ECH and the impact of its programs, OrgStory captured what ECH had become and, equally important, what it was becoming. From an orphanage to a multi-service youth agency caring for the community’s most vulnerable youth and families. This new story, one of hope, healing and transformation, is putting youth and families on a new journey — a journey that moves from lives traumatized to dreams realized. The Story of Hope Capital Campaign is making the future a reality by helping ECH raise $6 million using a comprehensive communications approach including the campaign identity, overall messaging, case for support, collateral and website.

United Church of Christ Everywhere

Posted by Tracey Burns

Launching a technology program.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a Christian denomination with approximately 4,882 churches, many of which do not have websites to properly market themselves online. We were approached by UCC to help them develop and launch a new digital marketing program that would put powerful virtual tools in the hands of churches to help them be discovered and share their message with faith seekers online.

Project Highlights

Web Strategy

Technology Consulting

Social Marketing

Optimized sites for congregations

We were involved from the very beginning of the discovery phase alongside our partners at UCC, having conversations with churches and church leaders and looking at general data we could find around behaviors and how people perceive and engage with churches online. From there, we were instrumental in forming the product based on those insights, taking into consideration what some of the most important aspects of an optimized site would be to deliver the right content based on the needs of users. This meant wireframing the site alongside UCC so that they could design it to best meet the needs of churches and potential church members.

Working to continually refine the product

As UCC designed the site, we developed the process of what the production of these sites would look like, considering steps such as initial engagement with churches, payment, content development and launching live sites. To date, we have produced and launched 15 sites with an additional 13 sites in the works. We are using data and user feedback to further develop the product and launch updates to the program. Updates have included:

  • Managing accessibility and security protocols
  • Donation page launch with various donor management system integrations

We have also helped market the program to UCC churches across the United States by developing:

  • A full marketing site with demonstration videos about key product features
  • A sales program that allows the 36 UCC regional conferences

St. Andrew’s Charitable Foundation

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Replacing Traditional Fundraising

Seniors are some of the most vulnerable members of our community, and unfortunately, sometimes their needs for safety, security and comfort are forgotten. St. Andrew’s Charitable Foundation provides vital services to these individuals, who are even more at risk in the face of COVID-19. With its major fundraising events canceled, the organization had to adjust quickly to ensure funds were in place to continue supporting seniors when they needed it most. Instead of pursuing a virtual event platform, the organization opted to develop a multi-channel Campaign for Seniors, to remind the community that when they give, these seniors are remembered.

Project Highlights

Fundraising Campaign Strategy

Campaign Identity

Social Media

Campaign Management

Messaging Strategy + Copywriting

Video Production + Photography

Website Development

Meeting Donors Multichannel

Ensuring multiple touch points was key to the campaign’s strategy, providing a variety of avenues to share the stories that would inspire people to give. With the pandemic evolving almost daily, it was important that the tactics could too. Our team was able to safely capture individual senior stories via video, which were distributed via email/digital channels and connected to St. Andrew’s donor management system. Other traditional appeal efforts like direct mail were also employed, to optimize donor audience interaction with the materials.

Remembering Our Seniors, When It Matters Most

The campaign’s creative and messaging platform was inspired by the many roles older individuals have played throughout their lives: friend, caregiver, coworker, neighbor and more. The campaign line “When you give, I am remembered,” embodied this idea, and all the ways they’ve impacted our communities. By using a confident color palette and multi-layer pattern, we embraced this concept in both the visual elements and storytelling, celebrating everything that seniors are and continue to be.

Supporting Our Supporters

An important component of the fundraising campaign involved empowering St. Andrew’s board members and advocates to grow their network, and ultimately, fundraising opportunities. To support this effort, we developed a toolkit for each individual, which included a custom campaign website page that featured their photo and testimonial. We also created a communication playbook and templates to enable success through personal connection. Ultimately, these tactics were responsible for more than 80% of the campaign’s revenue.

“We had to act quickly to make sure we could support our seniors when they needed us most. OrgStory and the Magnetize creative team responded with a thoughtful and beautiful campaign that helped us exceed our goal. We’re very grateful to their whole team.”

Linda S.
Chief Development Officer, St. Andrew’s Charitable Foundation

Guardian Angel Capital Campaign

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Expanding the “Path to Possible”

Guardian Angel Settlement Association, which helps families living in poverty improve their quality of life and achieve independence, had outgrown its space. Classrooms were crowded, outdated and had little privacy for personal client meetings. Their flourishing resale shop also needed more space. To help raise funds for a new social services building, our team developed a “Path to Possible” messaging and creative strategy for this critical capital campaign, with a goal to raise three million dollars. The potential was great for this project, allowing Guardian Angel more bandwidth to better the lives of children and families in St. Louis.

Project Highlights

campaign Identity

Messaging + Digital Marketing Strategy

Copywriting

Design

Tech Support

Private Phase Support

Working alongside our fund development partners, OrgStory’s team created an identity and communications plan that supported both private and public phases of the campaign. This included a case for support that highlighted the community-strengthening power of Guardian Angel’s work, which we integrated into impactful collateral and a co-authored campaign playbook — to help board members, development consultants, staff and friends of the organization spread the word about this important project.

15 month

campaign

$3 million+

raised

1 new

social services center

Parties for a Cause

An unique and effective component of the Path to Possible fundraising effort was an evening of informational parties held at board members homes simultaneously — each with their own crowdfunding page. With a spirit of friendly competition, online and offline donations were recorded in real-time, giving an immersive experience.

Recreation Council Brand

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Recreation For All

For more than 30 years, the Recreation Council of Greater St. Louis has connected regional residents with physical and mental disabilities to activities and programs that enhance their quality of life. To better align their brand and communication platforms with their mission, our team developed an approachable brand identity that transcended audience type — appealing to a wide range of program participants and beautifully illustrating the value they provide to the St. Louis region.

Project Highlights

Brand Strategy

Messaging & Positioning

Identity Design

Website & UX Development

Leisure Without Limits

Inclusivity and access is at the heart of what the Recreation Council provides its clients. As we were developing the aesthetics of their brand, we also collaborated with the council to create a positioning line that felt both aspirational and immediate. The connection and joy that people get from recreational activities isn’t exclusive to able-bodied people, and “Leisure Without Limits” captures that spirit.

“The Magnetize & OrgStory team really understood how to blend smart creative with all the technical functionality we needed for our site — ensuring anyone who needed access to these programs would have it.”

Susan F., Executive Director

UX Built for Accessibility

A primary function of the council’s new website allows users to search for relevant activities and programs in their area. To ensure the highest levels of accessibility and an easily navigable site, our team made sure the design and user experience met the highest ADA standards. This included incorporating high levels of color contrast and adding keyboard accessible functions with clear hover states.

St. Andrew’s Charitable Foundation PPE Campaign

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Funding an immediate need

St. Andrew’s Foundation, part of St. Andrew’s Resources for Seniors, serves economically disadvantaged seniors who struggle to afford necessities such as prescriptions, rent, home repair and medical care. Their caregivers work with more than 1,500 residents in St. Andrew’s communities and private homes every day. The demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 crisis made these critical supplies hard to find and more costly than budgeted.

Project Highlights

Campaign & marketing strategy

messaging strategy

digital strategy

copywriting

design

An aggressive goal

The St. Andrew’s Development Director reached out to our team on March 26, with an urgent need to raise $10,000 as quickly as possible, in order to get their team critical protective medical gear. By April 2nd, our team had developed and implemented a multi-channel micro campaign that included persona research, audience segmentation, content creation and communications design.

The fundraising messaging was tailored to each persona and distributed through successive emails. We also integrated this appeal language into existing channels, which included a website splash page and social media campaign — not only for the Foundation but also St. Andrew’s Senior Living communities. We also worked closely with the client to quickly stand up a giving page that tracked incoming donations against their goal.

Exceeding expectations

The first appeal email was distributed on April 2, 2020. Less than two weeks later, the foundation had exceeded their goal by more than $1,000. Email open rates also exceeded expectations:
Audience 1 Open rate: 59.7% Click rate: 6.9%
Audience 2 Open rate: 71.4% Click rate: 25%
Audience 3 Open rate: 56.8% Click rate: 14.8%
Audience 4 Open rate: 23.8% Click rate: 2.1%

Open rates for follow up emails also had high engagement, with a 65% open rate and an impressive 15% CTR. With the success of this campaign, caregivers were able to remain protected, allowing seniors in their care to continue getting the attention they needed — all while flattening the curve.

“OrgStory and Magnetize were able to act quickly to help us meet this urgent fundraising need, and in just over a week, we exceeded our goal. They were great to work with and we can’t thank their team enough!”

Linda Sanders, Chief Development Officer

Covenant Place

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Comprehensive Senior Living

In 2019, Covenant Place, an established senior living community, embarked on an ambitious plan to expand their St. Louis County location. This included a beautiful new residence facility anchored by a modern community center that boasts a café, medical offices, theater and event spaces.

Project Highlights

Brand & Messaging Strategy

UX Design

Coding & Development

Copywriting

One Mission, Three Identities

Generous donations made all of this a reality, but also required a brand identity system that created both autonomy and unity for the three main entities: Covenant Place (the senior living facility), HJ’s Café (the restaurant) and Mirowitz Center (the community center). As HJ’s and Mirowitz are open to the entire community, special consideration was given to make the brand welcoming to all, while still aligning to the adjacent Covenant Place identity.

The Covenant Place logo was a refresh of the legacy brand, using an updated expression of the Chai, the Jewish symbol for “living.” Bright, bold colors were chosen to evoke energy and life. Each identity followed a pattern of clean, friendly typography highlighted by a singular green element to subtly unite the three.

Designed for Everyday Life

The brands were designed to reflect the vibrancy of the community but also for ease-of-use by our client’s internal team. To help with this, we provided a range of communications templates and built the three websites in WordPress to make updating them easy. Given the age of many end users, accessibility was a key factor in determining the brand aesthetic on print and digital communications.

Pathways to Independence

Posted by Kevin Kendle

Finding Potential

Pathways to Independence is an organization that helps people with developmental disabilities navigate life. More so, it’s a social network and support system for people who deserve to go out and thrive but simply lack the tools or confidence to do so. Once we understood how the vital role the organization plays in helping them connect with the world and realize their potential, our focus quickly shifted to the word “to” — the least assuming yet most mobile word in the organization’s name.

Project Highlights

Brand & Messaging Strategy

UX Design

Coding & Development

Copywriting

Speaking the Brand Language

As we soon discovered, the word “to” unlocked a verbal and visual brand narrative that is an expression of the journey Pathways to Independence members take. Superimposed on photographs that exhibit a wide range of program activities, these messages serve as constant reminders of what’s possible. As part of a comprehensive brand guide, we crafted an extensive list of goals and outcomes inspired by the organization’s mission for the client to mix and match into these brand statements.

Make It Ownable

Early on, we established two non-negotiable creative rules: The brand needed to be accessible, and it needed to look cool. Our team looked to fashion, music and a wide range of other pop genres for design inspiration. But more importantly, all designs were measured against accessibility best practices. The result is a visually stunning brand that’s inclusive, confident and reflective of potential.

This especially bears out in the highly functional and engaging website we developed for Pathways — which also met key operational objectives. These included accommodating a new program category for young adults, creating a nimble UX to support further program expansion, and developing an interactive activity calendar to promote events and attract new participants.

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