I remember a time many moons ago being told that brand and design (and indeed my career choice) was, and I quote, “money for old rope”.
It stung.
A lot.
This was a person working in social spheres, working on the ground in communities, helping people when they needed it most. I understood why they thought it. And it stayed with me – HAS stayed with me ever since.
How can we bring value to this work for those doing the Good Work (as we call it here) – those making an impact, those supporting those in need or tacking issues that can change lives? How can we shift the needle on the perceived value it can bring to this sector?
Unbeknown to me at the time, it set me on a path to where I am now – and full steam ahead into working with social impact leaders.
I understood the misconception.
I understood the perception that it’s, and I quote again, “fluff and nonsense”.
I understood that it’s not seen to be able to change world issues.
So I made it my driving force, my passion to seek out where the skills I had accumulated over many years could be of service in impact work.
And what did I find?
Brand, design and voice DOES have a role in social impact work, it is of value and it can dramatically shift the dial for organisations working on the ground.
Take Brenda Palms.
Not only is she one of the most incredible human beings on the planet, she’s founder of North Lawndale Employment Network, Sweet Beginnings training programme and beelove – honey based products in food and beauty. They all serve social justice impacted individuals to support them integrate back into their community in Chicagoland through training and job opportunities. And they work with bees. And it works, with far below the national average (of 40%) recidivism rates – they stand below 8%.
When I came across Brenda and her team’s incredible work, I knew the branding wasn’t doing them justice. Her passion, commitment and impact was not represented in her product lines branding, design or messaging – it was selling her short and not resonating as loudly and proudly with her audience as it should have been.
We got to work.
We brought her vision to life, through months of interviewing her leadership, board and team, we got to the heart of what this brand was really all about, who it served and where the opportunities were to create something bold, passionate, that made a statement and stood for something – said something, grabbed peoples eyeballs and hearts (and for their wallets).
The result was a complete overhaul of the brand that had been “trudging along” but not growing as it should have been, shifting it from “sustainable to profitable”, and capturing the spirit of what beelove was truly about to attract new opportunities for distribution partners, outlets and customers.
During it’s first open evening in their store, they quadrupled their sales.
During the next 3 months, they attracted partners like Hyatt in Chicago to have their products on their premises.
There are going from strength to strength, growing the team, growing their offerings into permaculture areas for apiaries and education, a cafe, collaborations and all creating more impact.
There aren’t many moments you can well up thinking of the work you do – to stand back, be proud to be part of something making a huge change to people’s lives, to bring what you can do that’s not seen to be truly ‘valuable’ and deliver it to those doing great work like this.
This is one of those projects that did that, it was a honour to be part of it.
We love you beelove!