Marin Humane
“They were very creative, but their ideas and information were also based on statistics and research.”
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m Nancy McKenney, the CEO of Marin Humane, a nonprofit organization serving Marin County, which is located north of San Francisco. Our organization provides both typical humane society services as well as various animal services. This includes enforcement of animal ordinances, rescue, and return to owner efforts for lost and stray animals. We’re a private, nonprofit organization that’s been in existence since 1907.
What challenge were you trying to address with Good Stuff Partners?
Our organization has a good reputation in the community, but we felt we needed to solidify a more unified message about who we were, what we did, and what our impact was. Marin Humane is the only shelter for our community. We do a lot and we have information to share on many programs and services. It felt as if we didn’t have a consistent message about who we were and what we did, and we wanted some outside help to get down to the core essence of our organization and translate that vision into our brand.
The other reason that we wanted to rebrand was that we knew we were competing for a lot of the community’s attention through social media messaging in regards to fundraising for our nonprofit animal welfare services. We wanted to distinguish ourselves among all the competition in the nonprofit world so that people would understand who we were and why they should support us.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Good Stuff analyzed our preexisting strategy and needs. They met with different members of our staff to gain an understanding of our challenges and wishes. They also did some research on what existed in the “brand space”, as in what we were competing with as far as logos and taglines. They provided some market research and a new style guide/icons. They also ran a writing workshop with the staff that would be responsible for carrying out our new look and feel. The workshop was on how we could impart our new brand through our writing, including web pages, appeal letters, and business cards.
They also provided us with guidance and good information on how to rebrand ourselves and use that brand in the implementation phase: business cards, door signs, vehicles, doors, t-shirts, uniforms, etc.. Lastly, they trained our staff and board of directors on the ins and outs of the new brand.
What is the team composition?
We primarily worked with Aimee (Partner and Creative Director, Good Stuff Partners) and Adrian (Partner and Brand Strategist, Good Stuff Partners). They had some staff behind the scenes and a third-party vendor for market research.
How did you come to work with Good Stuff Partners?
Our director of marketing and communications found out about their company through some research or networking. We asked them to come in and give a bid. There were three companies in the bidding, but their unique approach to their previous clients and to working with us seemed like a good fit. On top of it, their own mission and the way they chose their clients were good matches for us.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The brand is still going strong for us in 2020, and we still receive great feedback and are very happy with it. We’ve been applying and utilizing the style guide they wrote for us, and we use it to train new staff today. Aimee and Adrian were wonderful partners and very patient, but also pushed us to think in new ways about how to present Marin Humane to our world.
We’ve continued to get positive feedback and compliments for our brand and the way we’re applying it to our items, even today. We were able to roll out the new website and also make it more mobile-friendly. That wasn’t directly related to the marketing process, but their web design and content writing assisted in this initiative.
Our website and Facebook presence remain strong. I can say that we're in a much better spot financially and regarding response to our look. We get requests from our colleagues to buy our t-shirts because they like the design.
Previously, we lacked brand consistency. We postponed the new branding for a while because we knew we needed to do it right. It was a big upfront expense for us, as a nonprofit. We were weighing the cost-benefit analysis of marketing versus supporting the animals, but it was worth the effort. It’s lasted for a long time and been spot on in identifying who we were and what we did. In a sense, we’ve amortized that upfront cost since the release.
How did Good Stuff Partners perform from a project management standpoint?
Aimee and Adrian are a great team. From Adrian’s ability to go into the details about implementation to Aimee’s creativity, they were a joy to work with. We had regular meetings to check in with our timeframe and commitment. They were responsive to the changes we made and worked really well with board members, volunteers, and staff that may not have completely understood why we were doing the rebranding and what it meant. Some people thought it was just a logo change, but it was much more than that. Good Stuff was very good at adapting to the various audiences that were involved in the meetings, workshops, and trainings.
We worked with them for a long time, but they always provided check-ins about the process and fees. We did negotiate and sometimes change what they were working on, or we added to it. They were really flexible in the services they could offer us. For example, there was some writing that we didn’t necessarily need from them, so they trained us and let us roll with it after early-2017.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Some of their elements were familiar, but the way Good Stuff did their research and their creativity were impressive. I’d add their ability to adapt and be flexible. They were very creative, but their ideas and information were also based on statistics and research. They weren’t just shooting from the hip. That packaging of everything was unique.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
It’s important for clients to do their homework and check references. Looking online at some of the products they’ve created, meeting them in person, and seeing them as true partners is also important. Clients should accept that they know what they’re talking about and might push them out of their comfort zone. In the end, they do great work.