Where We’ve Been.
Since opening the Barn doors in 1994, we have delivered creative services for a wide range of organizations and businesses across various industries. For nearly 30 years, we have offered branding, design, and marketing expertise to B2B and B2C ventures with both local and national reach; municipal governments and their allied public-private partnerships; non-profits from a national wildlife refuge to a regional camp and conference center, to a local affordable housing and community development agency.
We have partnered with clients in higher education, healthcare (hospitals, clinics, and medical staffing), and financial services (credit unions, credit unions, credit unions – Yes!). In between, we worked with engineering firms, veterinarian clinics, and insurance companies.
Virtually all of our work came from word of mouth. There was no need for cold calls or digital ads – just referrals and repeat business. As curious creatives, it’s been interesting to uncover the audience pain points or desires for each client and then design identities, conversion-focused websites, marketing collateral, and campaigns to promote them effectively.
So Why Rebrand?
The cascading events of the past few years (2020 anyone?) have revealed and amplified many challenges facing our nation. As we reflected on these concerns, two motivations drove our desire to rebrand. Both were centered on working with only “real” and “good” brands that actually benefit everyone interacting with their venture.
That focus helped narrow who we work with and expand what we can do to help them succeed.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Motivation #1: Long-term brand success needs more than a marketing strategy and great creative.
Over three decades of creative engagements have revealed that effective design and messaging represent just a small part of the big picture essential for enduring brand success.
If your organization were a ship navigating through an iceberg cluster, everyone could see the visible tip of design and messaging above the surface. Submerged below the icy water line are numerous hidden friction points that can negatively impact (or sink) the results from even the most creative marketing campaign.
Titanic Observations
To keep the metaphor going (which has its limits), these friction points or challenges dwell under the surface in four distinct “depth zones.”
The deeper the zone, the more vital it is to your organization’s long-term health and longevity. The two deepest zones are the most important.
Combined with the top two visible layers, a colleague labeled all six levels our “Titanic Observations,” and it stuck ever since.
When an organization has a clear and compelling mission (and vision of where it’s heading), it’s much easier to develop a collaborative and trusting company culture to carry out that mission. Inspired teams will proactively seek ways to create a great customer experience through every interaction. A clear and compelling mission will also clarify the middle zones – defining your value proposition and positioning in the marketplace. Only then can visual branding and marketing be effective in the long run.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Motivation #2: Complaining about unconstrained capitalism doesn’t change it.
For years, we’ve been disturbed by exploitative and extractive capitalism but felt powerless to do anything about it. The short-term, profit-at-any-cost business model to maximize SHAREholder value (vs. STAKEholder value – which rightly prioritizes the customer, employee, supplier, neighborhood, environment, and shareholder) always leaves a bad taste in our mouths. The ugliness reveals itself in so many ways.
Product development and service support gone bad.
One way might be a product development strategy built on “planned obsolescence.” It’s the stuff we buy that has been intentionally manufactured with low durability and a short lifespan, which coincidentally breaks just after the warranty expiration date. It’s also “designed” with the inability to be fixed or recycled. Inevitably, this stuff ends up in the landfill (followed by a new model in our shopping cart).
Another way may be a service support strategy built on a labyrinth-like “automated call tree.” The phone prompts are deliberately designed with too many menu options, repetitive information requests, and difficulty reaching a live agent. The irony is that we get to hear a digital voice say, “Your call is important to us,” when the underlying objective is to get us to hang up in frustration so the subscription we never use doesn’t get canceled.
There are endless reasons, but complaining does not change anything.
Our solution is to join the growing many who understand that we need to be the change we want to see in the world. Within our national economic jungle, many authentic brands offer REAL and GOOD products, services, and experiences that benefit humanity. Our world needs more of these brands to thrive.
Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.
Where we are going.
Visual & Relational Communication
In the simplest of terms, if you are all about the real and the good, we can do more for you than the visual tip of the iceberg. We can help identify and address friction points below the surface that may keep you from becoming an authentic, customer-centric organization.
And when we say “customer-centric,” we mean much more than a well-crafted mission statement or lip service during the next strategic marketing meeting.
It’s much bigger than the marketing department. It’s an approach that genuinely places a great customer experience at the center of all organizational decisions, operations, tactics, and, yes, marketing.
To do so means understanding every phase of the customer life cycle and ensuring every employee, vendor, process, or platform interacting with the customer delivers a value-added experience. And it needs to happen consistently month over month, year over year, to build a relationship on trust.
Holistic Marketing
Every touch matters
Our holistic marketing approach helps create authentic and consistent brands by expanding beyond the marketing department silo to develop an organization-wide strategy.
Relational Intelligence
Everything is connected
Our deep understanding of relational dynamics helps create a unified “customer experience” by identifying hidden friction points between People, Processes, and Platforms.
In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or back into safety.
Knowing where to begin can be a challenge.
That’s why we start small with a big approach. We invest the necessary upfront time to understand your organization, mission, and objectives. We embrace a no-ego collaborative effort with you, looking for the low-hanging fruit (rather than a monster, resource-intensive initiative) and getting the small wins. Then, we build on that success over time. We believe it’s a more effective use of everyone’s time and money.
If you’re not sure where to start, let’s talk to see if we can help.
Contact us below.
Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.
