Brand

CASE STUDY

Scoperta!

Wooing young wine lovers with break-through creative and a full-funnel media campaign

Challenge

It turns out wine drinkers in America are thoroughly bored with the current online shopping options and wine clubs. Instead, young, wine-curious consumers want to broaden their horizons, but they’re frustrated that it’s so hard to explore America’s thousands of independent wineries.  

Enter Scoperta!, a start-up that provides a richer experience for shopping for wine, including a fun, manageable exploration process. To disrupt the e-commerce wine market, Scoperta! needed name recognition and a digital marketing strategy to drive demand. 

Scoperta! tasked Prophet with two objectives: create a buzz-worthy digital activation to accelerate name recognition, and develop a digital media campaign that included management, planning, buying and SEO strategy. 

Solutions

Our team leaned into the brand’s charm, wit and audacious name to develop and orchestrate a digitally-focused campaign to connect with a new wave of discerning wine buyers – through an opera, of course! 

First, we created a video opera, complete with beautiful arias. It tells the tragic tale of poor Brenda, a wine-loving woman disenchanted with the typical services of e-commerce wine brands. Her love affair with Scoperta! brought our “wine discovery made simple” campaign to life.  

To reach our audience of adventurous customers aged 25 to 55, we developed a full-funnel media plan that leveraged video, podcast, search and social to drive awareness. Meanwhile, display, search and social drove consideration and conversion. Our team strategically chose specific tactics across each funnel stage, with prospecting audiences at the top and high intent/retargeting audiences at the bottom. We then paired the campaign’s creative with each tactic accordingly and tested various formats to optimize the performance.  

Results

The campaign creative and media plan drove unprecedented engagement on YouTube. As we continually solidified learnings from smaller segments, we opened the campaign to a national buy, increasing brand awareness and driving sales during the company’s first months in the market.   

The opera video has received several industry awards and recognition:

  • Finalist for Most Effective Use of Video in the 2022 Drum Social Media Awards
  • Gold awards for two categories in the 2023 Muse Creative Awards: Music video Category and Food & Beverage Video Category
  • Bronze Honor in Medium-Length Video in the 15th annual Shorty Awards
  • Shortlisted for two categories in the 2022 New York Festivals’ Advertising Awards. 

Impact

1.8M

Video completions across YouTube and CTV

90%

Video completion rate 

CASE STUDY

Resilience Education

Harnessing brand experience to help formerly incarcerated people

Challenge

Resilience Education is a nonprofit organization that aims to stop incarceration cycles by improving employment outcomes and re-entry success through high-quality business education. Since 2011, the organization has graduated 500+ individuals from five correctional facilities across New York and Virginia, with early data revealing that 93% of program graduates stay out of prison for at least three years.  

The nonprofit aspired to expand its program nationwide and build a new digital platform to support formerly incarcerated people on their reentry journeys. To achieve these long-term aspirations, the organization enlisted Prophet to help it develop an overarching brand strategy that codified a new vision for the organization and rethink the brand positioning, expression and onboarding experience for its new digital platform.  

Solutions

Over the course of several pro-bono projects, Prophet developed a holistic understanding of Resilience Education’s current state and aspirational trajectory. Prophet first interviewed Resilience Education employees, program students and graduates. The insights from these interviews were used to identify opportunities to craft a brand positioning framework highlighting the nonprofit’s purpose and vision.  

After establishing the overarching brand structure and strategy, the team shifted its focus to optimizing the organization’s digital platform experience. Prophet’s team hosted a hackathon with the nonprofit to understand how it acquires and onboards mentors and mentees for its programming. The insights gathered helped the team define an optimized user journey for both audiences in their digital platform. Finally, in collaboration with verbal and design teams, Prophet crafted a refreshed brand positioning for the digital platform accompanied by refocused messaging, voice, and a reconceptualized visual identity. 

Results

The new organization-wide brand structure defined how the nonprofit’s digital and post-release initiatives work in relation to the in-facility programming. In addition, the ideation of the optimized user experience and journey for both mentors and mentees not only influenced the organization’s digital platform but was also the basis for the organization’s mentorship program development.   

Follow-up interviews of formerly incarcerated users revealed how empowering their one-on-one mentorship relationships have been for their reentry journeys. Resilience Education is continuously refining the program to maximize participants’ benefits and will be launching its third pilot in early 2023.    

With a robust new positioning framework, design concept and verbal identity guiding the digital platform, Resilience Education has the brand structure and strategy to support its nationwide growth goals and better serve its formerly incarcerated users’ needs. 

Through Prophet’s pro-bono program, Propheteers lend their expertise to a select group of nonprofits, helping them achieve remarkable results. If you or a nonprofit you know is interested in working with us, reach out today.  

Client Testimonial

“We couldn’t do what we’re trying to accomplish – bringing the highest quality business education and professional support to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students – without Prophet’s dedication and insights!”

Tierney Fairchild
Executive Director and Cofounder

CASE STUDY

Grand Josun

Extending the Josun heritage to create a premium hotel brand for families

Challenge

Josun Hotels & Resorts was facing competition from new entrants that raised the bar on luxury hospitality in the South Korean market. During its separation from the Starwood Hotel brands, Josun Hotels & Resorts had ambitious plans for growth.

Prophet first partnered with the client’s teams to create a cohesive brand portfolio strategy that leveraged the Josun name, provided a level of cohesion and integrity and maintained its distinctiveness within its portfolio. Having created a rejuvenated brand identity for Josun Palace, the group’s highest-grade luxury offering, Prophet worked with the hospitality group to create a new premium family-oriented hotel.

Solutions

We started with understanding the real needs of Josun Hotels & Resorts’ varied audiences which included families with kids, young couples and business travelers. Insights into these pain points helped to inform what experiences its hotels needed to deliver to its audiences. Based on these insights, we created the new family-oriented hotel brand Grand Josun.

We clarified the brand’s unique distinction as a pioneer and leader in South Korea’s hospitality landscape, crafting its brand positioning as “Reimagining a heritage of excellence”. Combining both Josun’s legacy with fresh modernity, we took its signature customer service and infused the brand with new moments of delightful discovery throughout the customers’ stay, with a refined sensibility that is always balanced, intuitive and multi-sensorial.

The strategy came to life with a variety of new activation programs, amenities, F&B, design and service elements tailored to meet the distinct and high expectations of the audience. We created unique signature elements such as Josun Junior, a comprehensive offering that creates a memorable holiday experience for children to explore their creative energy, discover lifelong skills, and connect with the destination they are in. Another signature program that was rolled out was the Lending Library, a hassle-free supply for everything a guest may need at a hotel whether on business or for family.

Next, Prophet created a visual system that brought the bespoke and delightful experiences of Grand Josun to life, speaking to the heritage of “Josun” with a modern twist. The symbol is a carefully crafted monogram paired with a classic modern typeface and complemented by contemporary and balanced hues of emerald, natural and light secondary colors and copper accents. We also created a cohesive color and textural palette to communicate a warm, natural environment that allows families to feel both comforted and energized while reflecting the refined sensibilities of the brand. The “terrazzo” pattern was incorporated both in the overall hotel as well as modified for the kids to create a cohesive but also tailored experience.

Results

Grand Josun was successfully launched in Jeju and Busan in 2020. Many of the signature experience ideas we created, including the Josun Kids program and Lending Library, have been successfully implemented with outstanding reviews.

The addition of Grand Josun hotels not only expanded Josun Hotels & Resorts’ reach in the South Korean travel market but is also expected to be a new growth engine for the group, unlocking new possibilities in its journey to become a global hospitality brand.

And, our work with Grand Josun hotels received recognition from Transform Magazine’s Transform Awards Asia 2022, earning bronze in the Best Visual Identity from the Sports, Travel, Leisure and Tourism Sector.

CASE STUDY

Josun Palace

Creating a luxurious hotel brand under a winning portfolio

Challenge

Established in 1914, Josun Hotel has become an exemplary brand in hospitality, transforming into the current Josun Hotels & Resorts yet maintaining the original “First & Best” mentality that it originated with.

In a market where new entrants have raised the bar on luxury hospitality, Josun Hotels & Resorts wanted to position its brands at the forefront of hospitality experiences in South Korea. It was in the process of separating from the Starwood Hotels brand and came to Prophet for help creating an independent portfolio of brands.

Solutions

Our teams first defined a winning portfolio by sizing the South Korean travel market and conducting customer segmentation. With a hybrid brand architecture, we went on to create relevant flagship brands, with Josun Palace being the luxury namesake label. We focused on its flagship offerings and aimed to redefine the luxury and lifestyle hotel experience in Korea. 

Our brand strategy was built to appeal to the sensibility and finesse of Josun Palace’s target audience – “The Cultured Connoisseur.” To speak to this audience, three experience principles were created from Josun’s unique DNA and heritage but also focused on remaining relevant to today’s and tomorrow’s target consumers. The “Josun Touch” principal marks Josun’s quality service standards that guests have always come to expect. The “European Sophistication” principle demonstrates how the brand has always been inspired by global design, culture and lifestyle while providing a comfortable introduction to the Korean travel market. The “Timeless Innovation” principle demonstrates that good experiences with high-end technology should be felt but not seen.

We then developed a draft of a future-state guest experience map to guide a focused collaborative exploration of potential signature touchpoints. This was followed by a hierarchy containing distinct levels of signature experiences.

With this in place, the three principles came to life in the creation of a bespoke and crafted crest symbol that brings the unique heritage and symbology of Josun in perfect balance with sophisticated European visual cues. The symbol reflects the premium stature for its luxury brand with a custom modernized serif logotype that highlights the iconic Josun name, referring to Korea’s royal dynasty.

This modernized classic logo is supported by a light and modern set of visual elements including a sans serif typeface, P22, in a variety of weights along with lighter pastel color palette and graphic elements that complement the strong logo and its chiseled font.

Results

The rejuvenated Josun Palace was launched in May 2021, welcoming guests around the world and elevating its customer experience across all touchpoints. The optimized portfolio and architecture strategy has maximized revenues across the group’s existing brands. Additionally, the portfolio strategy left room for future growth, enabling the group to effectively add new brands in support of local expansion.

The new brand identity of Josun Palace encapsulated the key essence of the hotel’s heritage while ensuring that it was distinctive in its own way among other flagship brands. Prophet was successful in launching a prestigious brand with five-star reviews and part of the Marriott Autograph collection.

And, our work with Josun Palace was recognized by Transform Magazine in the Transform Awards Asia 2022, winning bronze for the category of Best Visual Identity from the Sports, Travel, Leisure and Tourism Sector. It also was mentioned as highly commended for the Best Creative Strategy category.

CASE STUDY

SPI

Burnishing a value proposition for a medical technology brand

Challenge

SPI, an innovative start-up in medical technology, is transforming the surgical experience, helping teams choreograph workflows and analytics in the operating room. Now a part of Johnson & Johnson, the fast-growing, young company needed to clarify its value proposition. It also wanted a brand refresh to show a relevant, robust and consistent face to its complex network of partners and customers.

Solutions

To better understand this rapidly growing and evolving marketplace, Prophet interviewed the company’s surgical procedures teams, colleagues at J&J and external stakeholders, including surgeons and hospital purchasing experts. We complemented these interviews with creative and problem-solving sessions in addition to research into the surgical software and MedTech landscape, including an analysis of competitors. Next, we dug into many possible trajectories of the surgery and robotics industry.

Our team then developed a new brand promise: “Transforming surgery. Enabling teams to excel.” This promise enables SPI to differentiate itself in market and speak to the company’s pioneering technology and the benefits the organization provides its surgical teams. We partnered this with a supporting value proposition, product architecture and naming approach that better conveys features while remaining flexible for SPI’s fast-growing catalog of products.

This strategic work was the foundation from which we built a brand identity that reflects SPI’s vision of surgical excellence. Through multiple iterations and explorative workshops, we created a modern, bold and dynamic brand fit for the fast-moving world of surgical technology.

Lastly, using these new branding guidelines, we created a set of user interfaces for the next version of SPI´s technology, ushering its new identity into the operating room.

Results

SPI has rolled out the new branding internally and externally and is applying the new naming architecture and user interfaces to existing versions and new products. SPI is growing faster than ever, with products helping surgeons operate more efficiently. That results in hospital savings, higher satisfaction among surgical teams and better patient outcomes.

CASE STUDY

Hootsuite

Redefining an iconic social media brand

Challenge

Hootsuite is the leading social media management provider with millions of users around the globe. As the world’s first social media management platform, it has been on the pulse and at the forefront of how people use social media for over a decade. However, since the company was founded, the industry Hootsuite pioneered has expanded and evolved—becoming crowded, noisy and diluted. As social media matured and became an environment of instant feedback, hot takes and influencer culture, conversations around mental health challenges inherent in the space began to bubble up. ​

​Catalyzed by organic growth and key acquisitions of companies like Heyday and SparkCentral, Hootsuite needed to reassert its category leadership while expanding its frame of reference to include growing capabilities around social marketing, commerce and care. It also needed a way to show how it intends to mitigate the negativity and challenges of the channel—using its position as a leader to show a better way forward. As a result, Hootsuite partnered with Prophet to create a refreshed brand strategy and identity. 

Solutions

We started with a robust evaluation of the competitive set, conducting methodical audits in tandem with stakeholder and customer interviews to understand what made Hootsuite’s products and people unique.

Inspired by Hootsuite’s expanding capabilities and its values-driven, positive organizational culture, we identified an opportunity to elevate the entire category of social, dismantling the tradeoff between using social for-profit and social for positivity. ​We crystallized the strategy by articulating a new purpose: “We believe in the power of social to uplift people and ignite brands and business.”  

We designed a refreshed take that would break Hootsuite free from the sea of sameness, both in the way the brand looks and speaks. Hootsuite is a brand that seeks to uplift, amplify and delight, and its longtime icon, Owly, needed to play a critical role in the evolution of the brand. We worked with the team to appoint Owly as Hootsuite’s new chief connection officer, the anthropomorphism of the brand’s tone and tenor.

For the verbal identity, we knew we needed to express the next generation of social maturity in a unique way—by demonstrating Hootsuite’s expertise, not just claiming it. To help Hootsuite stand out in a sea of simple, conversational voices, we leaned into its warmth and personality, largely via Owly, helping its new voice shine with a playful, mischievous edge and a touch of Canadian colloquialism to signal its roots as a Vancouver-based company.

​Visually, we designed an Owly glow-up, expanding  Owly’s appearance—optimized for the logo mark—to a full body with poses. For the first time, Owly could emote, react and empathize, emulating the feelings of both Hootsuite and its customers. We paired Owly’s playful, flat illustration with a funky wordmark (based on “Adieu” by Good Type Foundry) and a daring, nature-inspired color palette. We specifically crafted these core elements to feel human, tactile and warm to buck the glossy, pastel artifice common across the industry. However, this is a modern, visionary brand, so we balanced this friendliness with a sharp, dynamic design system.  ​

Emphasizing rhythm, momentum and transformation, the new system reflects the energy of the social landscape and the positive impact Hootsuite has on organizations, consumers and society. ​

Finally, equipped with the new strategy, visual and verbal identity, we partnered with the Hootsuite team to create value propositions for their emerging capabilities around social commerce and care, bringing the brand’s DNA into cutting-edge new offerings to resonate with existing and new buyers alike.

Results

Hootsuite’s new brand launched to much excitement. Adweek explored the rebrand with a full feature article, while other outlets around the globe from Mexico to Spain and the UK to Australia covered the transformation resulting in millions of brand impressions to date. Hootsuite’s employees are enthusiastically embracing the brand’s new identity, posting on social with a passion that burns bright as they disrupt the industry all over again.  ​

Within 60 days of the brand relaunch, 36 pieces of global earned media coverage have resulted in a total reach of over 10 million unique monthly views. In the same period, the brand’s launch campaign reached 19M unique users, generated awareness with over 1.7M prospects (brand lift), influenced 528 conversations and delivered over 94M impressions.

This award-winning work was recognized by Fast Company in its 2023 Innovation by Design Awards in the Best Branding and Enduring Impact categories and as a Silver winner in the 2022 North America Transform Awards for “Best use of copy style or tone of voice” and “Best brand evolution (business).”

Impact

10M+

unique monthly views within 60 days of brand relaunch

1.7M+

prospects (brand lift) within 60 days of brand relaunch

94M+

impressions within 60 days of brand relaunch

Testimonial

“When we started our rebrand process, we knew we needed a partner that fully understood our objective for this new brand identity–Prophet was able to deliver a strategy that was robust, creative and aligned with our business goals and guiding principles.”

Maggie Lower
Chief Marketing Officer

CASE STUDY

Enotek

Transforming a logistics technology brand for a smart future

Challenge

Eoslift is a Chinese intralogistics solution provider. Since its inception in 2008, the company has evolved from a forklift manufacturing company into a vertically integrated technology company with proprietary hardware, software and smart solutions. For the next way of growth, it aspires to become a leading logistics technology company that provides innovative solutions across a broad set of industries and geographies.

Eoslift came to Prophet to modernize its brand identity to reflect its evolved ambitions.

Solutions

Prophet worked closely with Eoslift to rejuvenate its brand positioning, name and visual identity.

Our team took a holistic approach to rethink Eoslift’s brand strategy through internal and external immersions. Based on conversations with the organization’s key stakeholders, we illustrated the positioning territories and landed on one final positioning direction. Through this thorough process, we created relevant, ownable and differentiated brand positioning that is rooted in the company’s ambition – to maximize business value through innovative technologies.

Next, Prophet helped Eoslift develop a new brand name “Enotek,” signaling a new chapter. Enotek inherits the company’s DNA and culture, core capabilities and commitment to customers. The new name’s starting letter, “E” represents the organization’s commitment to producing products of excellence and excelsior. The “En” represents its goal to envision and enable, while “Eno” and “Tek” represent Enotek’s use of innovation and technology. We also created the brand tagline, “Future Moves Now,” and a compelling brand story to illustrate Enotek’s transformation to its customers and partners.

Anchoring on the renewed brand strategy, Prophet’s Asia design hub then developed a flexible, vibrant and future-forward visual identity that brings the brand’s ambition to life. We retained Enotek’s heritage by keeping a square box and blue color from the original logo, using them as core elements in the new one. The arrow symbol is constructed by connecting a small square with three larger squares to form an “E” – signifying the spark that ignites growth. Lastly, we adjusted the original blue color into a more vibrant tone to inject the young energy of the brand.

Results

Enotek launched its new brand with refreshed strategy, tagline and visual identity in January 2022. The new brand identity empowers Enotek to stay relevant to its customers while setting itself apart from competitors. The company strives to attract new investors and inspire its employees with a redefined vision, unlocking the next stage of growth.

Lastly, our work with Enotek was recognized by Transform Magazine’s Transform Awards Asia 2022, winning gold for the category of Best Visual Identity from the Transport and Logistics Sector and bronze for the Best Brand Evolution (Business) category.

CASE STUDY

Kuraray Paper & Packaging

Creating a compelling, customer-centric brand campaign

Challenge

The Paper & Packaging segment of Kuraray Group, a Japanese manufacturer of chemicals, fibers and other materials, plays a central strategic and commercial role in the organization. But because it functioned in business-unit silos, it often missed opportunities to respond directly to customer needs, cross-sell and collaborate with other business units. Segment leaders hoped that with Prophet’s help and a clarified value proposition, the team could better communicate the potential impact of the integrated Paper & Packaging division. 

Solutions

First, our team researched the industry and competitors, interviewing Kuraray stakeholders and customers to understand perceived strengths and unmet customer needs. This analysis helped identify value proposition themes. We then refined each of these thematic building blocks, combining them to create a differentiated and unified value proposition. 

Next, we developed a holistic brand campaign to allow the company to talk about its many products and cross-sell effectively, and to also elevate the Kuraray brand as a single entity, one with deep expertise, a global network of experts and exceptional innovation skills.  

Our campaign introduced a much-sharper, game-changer Kuraray brand to inspire its customers, using attention-getting visuals that further set it apart from competitors  – and where the company hopes to go in the future. 

To support this new approach, we created strategic tools and assets, such as a sales presentation that all customer-facing employees can use in conversation with existing or potential customers. These tools ensure the new value proposition is implemented consistently and effectively, throughout all levels of the company.  

Lastly, we created a playbook to help employees activate the value proposition and execute the campaign, as well as internal efforts to increase awareness and understanding of Kuraray’s new cross-segment approach. 

Results

The strengthened Kuraray brand is being rolled out across Kuraray’s social and digital channels, as well as industry conferences where it is distinguishing itself from competitors, breaking through the noise and reaching its customers with a consistent message. The company is integrating the new tools into customer interactions, effectively supporting the new Kuraray Paper & Packaging positioning and leading to positive business outcomes. 

“The Prophet team completely immersed themselves in our field, becoming experts on our business and its needs. The work they delivered has been truly transformational and is the uncontested gold standard for marketing communication at Kuraray”

Bettina Plaumann
Head of Communications and Marketing, Kuraray Europe

CASE STUDY

GAINS

Inspiring the next generation of girls with a new messaging strategy

Challenge

Though more women than ever are graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, men make up most of the workforce. This is because many young girls do not pursue a career in STEM, they have more barriers to getting there, they’re traditionally offered less encouragement and they have fewer female role models.

Girls Advancing in STEM (GAINS) Initiative is a nonprofit on a mission to break down barriers by empowering high school girls to envision, prepare for and pursue academic and professional futures in STEM. GAINS’ clubs and conferences tackle this head-on by helping students discover STEM topics and professions, connect with other like-minded girls and learn from industry professionals. To further its mission and expand its impact, GAINS needed a compelling messaging strategy that would resonate with a wide audience to grow its membership and clubs around the country.

Solutions

Drawing insights from a series of qualitative interviews with students and volunteers, we collaborated with the GAINS leadership team to define a new brand strategy framework for the organization. Prophet’s consultants added substantive detail to the framework—developing the context statement, brand promise and overarching theme, which formed the foundation of the work. 

Once these elements were in place, our team of strategists and verbal branding experts built out robust messaging guidelines to reinforce the core components of this newly defined strategy. We created three supporting messaging themes to spotlight the community, learning opportunities and networking benefits of GAINS. Through a rigorous creative process, we codified messaging guidelines to help bring the new strategy to life. The guidelines included sample words and phrases for each theme, guidance on when to leverage each theme and how to flex them by audience (current and prospective students, teachers and volunteers) and tips on how to ensure a consistent tone of voice across all copy.  

Results

The GAINS team has used this messaging across its website, social media channels and marketing materials to target current and prospective students, teachers and volunteers – helping the organization consistently grow its following. In addition, Prophet’s work has helped the organization communicate its mission when applying for grants and seeking partnerships with schools and employers.  

Testimonial

“The whole Prophet team listened really well to everything, caught a lot of the nuance and was able to reflect it back as they structured our messaging materials. Having this all laid out has truly helped me refine the message and maintain consistency in our communications.”

Antoinette Decker
Director, Creator

CASE STUDY

AB InBev

Shaping the vision for a holistic and forward-looking ESG strategy

Challenge

After defining new sustainability commitments, kickstarting various ESG initiatives and building a strong team to further progress, AB InBev needed to develop a vision for its holistic and forward-looking agenda. Without a unifying ambition, ESG would remain a “nice to do” rather than a critical component in the corporate strategy. AB InBev called upon Prophet to help shape a narrative that captured and amplified its bold mission to “Dream Big for a Future with More Cheers.” 

Solutions

Prophet’s multidisciplinary teams started with a 4-week sprint, conducting a workshop to define the scope and depth of the work. In their conversations with the AB InBev team, leaders shared commercial goals and key themes for prioritization, and their linkages to brand purpose. 

Our team then performed an internal audit of AB InBev’s current sustainability programs, in collaboration with subject matter experts, to develop a deep understanding of results to date. Next, we looked outwards, auditing other category-leading peers and reflected on the UN Sustainable Development Goals to extract key themes, define issues and opportunities in the market and establish eight strategic tentpoles for the narrative. We reviewed our findings with the AB InBev team and refined them with our “where to play” and “how to win” framework.  

With these considerations in mind, Prophet delivered a cohesive and impactful narrative for the client centered around a unified, ESG-focused purpose. The narrative was translated into creative copy, visual design assets, narrative video and a brand voice toolkit to effectively bring its story to market. And to ensure that ESG touched every part of the corporate strategy, we developed a robust governance and oversight model for future work. 

Results

The work developed by Prophet captured a bold sustainability vision and ambition that is currently being used to guide internal company behaviors and external go-to-market priorities for AB InBev’s ESG focus themes: “Local, Natural, and Inclusive.” In bringing these issues to the core of its work, AB InBev continues to strive for a more sustainable, equitable and profitable world. 

And, in 2022, our work was awarded Silver for Best Brand Development Project to Reflect a Change in Mission, Values or Positioning in the North America Transform Awards.

CASE STUDY

ReachOut

Creating a new messaging strategy and design aesthetic to help a nonprofit achieve its mission

Challenge

ReachOut is a charity that connects young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with volunteer mentors. Through one-on-one support sessions, these young individuals are provided the opportunity to improve academic skills and expand their aspirations. It also benefits mentors by raising awareness of social inequities. ReachOut struggled with low brand awareness, which hindered funding efforts and mentor recruiting. Messaging and communication strategies weren’t sharp enough and the charity lacked a comprehensive roadmap for reaching mentors, donors and corporate partners.   

Solutions

Prophet worked with ReachOut to dig deeper into all three audience groups, identifying core issues and developing specific goals. On weekly coaching calls, we tracked progress and worked closely with ReachOut’s devoted team to co-create messaging that better articulates what the charity stands for. We also ensured that the values were clearly communicated in messages tailored to each audience.  

Overall, we completed 59 projects and helped ReachOut create inspirational design assets that brought key brand values to life in a tangible, more human way. These assets focus on multiple engagement touchpoints including Instagram, donor and mentor recruitment communications and in-person recruitment events. 

Results

ReachOut’s new design tools and applications are already increasing the charity’s impact on social media channels. As the number of mentors continues to grow, the group has already provided close to 17,000 hours of valuable one-to-one interventions and 35 workplace visits to boost corporate involvement. And with an additional 71 career talks, the organization is finding new ways to reach the people it can benefit most.  

ReachOut’s inspirational messages are contagious, and Prophet is thrilled to say that we’re continuing our work with this motivating organization. We are using our new relationship as a corporate partner to further Prophet’s broader goals of greater diversity and inclusion. In partnering with ReachOut, we hope to hire more individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds in our own internship program, connecting with those who wouldn’t otherwise have access or awareness of the professional services industry. We are also hosting work experience visits, inviting ReachOut participants to learn about a day in the life of a consultant. 

ReachOut isn’t just changing the lives of young people. It’s also benefitting the mentors including us, Prophet employees as we strive to make a lasting difference in these individuals’ lives.

Through Prophet’s pro-bono program, Propheteers lend their expertise to a select group of nonprofits, helping them achieve remarkable results. If you or a nonprofit you know is interested in working with us, reach out today.

CASE STUDY

BOE

Building a new technology brand to empower the global IoT industry

Challenge

To fuel a new wave of strategic growth, leading IoT technology company BOE realized the imminent need to upgrade its master brand strategy. BOE came to Prophet with two key objectives: First, to extend its brand perception from a “business-oriented” company to a “consumer-oriented” one by creating a clear and consistent image as an IoT technology leader; second, it wanted to define a new brand architecture that fuels the growth of its diversified business portfolio. 

Solutions

Prophet partnered with BOE to help upgrade its master brand and refine its brand architecture. Based on our strategic recommendations, BOE decided to launch a new technology ingredient brand – a first in China’s semiconductor display sector – as a significant strategic move to establish itself as a B2B2C company. The new brand aims to strengthen a strong connection between BOE’s core technologies and its master brand while energizing the global smart technology industry.

Through a series of co-creative workshops with BOE’s business and technical teams, we first clarified the brand’s main objectives, core audience, key technologies and activation strategies. Based on these strategic principles, we defined the naming strategy for the new brand.  

We leaned on our previous relationship with BOE and our deep understanding of its business to create product names for its core display technologies as well as the tagline “See the Unseen.” In addition, we worked closely with BOE to clarify the functional and emotional benefits of the new brand and developed a unified positioning framework for the technology brand and its core display technology products to follow. This allowed communication with BOE’s diverse audience in a simple and straightforward way. We also developed the activation strategies for both BOE’s business and consumer audiences

Next, our design team created an impactful visual system, bringing the brand positioning to life through a distinctive identity and a living system. Using the creative concept of “unleash possibilities”, we developed a visual system of dynamic shapes and a high-saturation palette to symbolize the brand’s commitment to deepening the integration of life and technology, unlocking endless possibilities. The design utilizes simple graphic elements of dots and squares. The dots are derived from BOE’s master brand’s logo, representing the company’s ambitious vision, while the squares are meant to mimic screen pixels, symbolizing the innovative technologies that BOE provides to the world. 

Lastly, to ensure the new brand’s successful and consistent implementation, we developed a clear and curated brand guideline, which details the final visual identity, the comprehensive visual system and applications.

Results

In December 2021, BOE officially launched the first technology ingredient brand in China’s semiconductor display field. The new brand introduces a portfolio of BOE’s premium, proprietary display technologies, including ADS Pro, f-OLED, and a-MLED. 

BOE has announced strategic partnerships with both domestic and international technology brands including AOC, Skyworth, Hisense, Lenovo, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi, to jumpstart the new technology platform. As one of the key components of IoT innovations, the advancements in display technologies will enrich diverse application scenarios. BOE is committed to continuing to lead the industry forward with new innovations that unleash endless possibilities. 

And, our work with BOE earned recognition by Transform Magazine’s Transform Awards Asia 2022, winning gold in the category for Best Visual Identity from the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Section, and silver for Best Development of a New Brand Within an Existing Brand Portfolio and Best Strategic or Creative Development of a New Brand categories.

“With strong diligence and dedication, Prophet demonstrated deep insights into the technology industry and a true understanding of our business. It helped us successfully overcome the roadblocks of rebranding amid a business transformation, elevating our existing brand strategy in a clear and concise manner. All these endeavors were highly effective in repositioning BOE as an IoT company with a refreshed identity system.”

Da Si
Vice President and Chief Brand Officer

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