SBLC: Finding a New Voice to Express How ‘Learning Works’

The Challenge

The South Baltimore Learning Center (SBLC) is a community-based nonprofit organization providing functional literacy education, life-skills training, and career preparation services to adult residents in the Baltimore area. The team at SBLC is doing important work in the Baltimore community, but needed assistance communicating why the services and experiences they provide are unique to them.

These were the key challenges they were facing:

The Process

Mortimer Communications, in conjunction with Redstart Creative, engaged in the STORY Process with multiple stakeholders at the SBLC so that we could identify the gaps in communication and find opportunities to clearly articulate who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Our STORY process is designed to provide the information and tools an organization needs to find their voice, tell their unique story, and discover opportunities for success.
The STORY process for SBLC brought to light the following:
We focused on a few important distinguishing features of the SBLC, which would allow us to highlight why they matter to their audience in the communications we crafted for them. These features included their ability to customize content to fit the personal, unique needs or professional aspirations of adult learners, and the variety of their program offerings.

The Solution

Once the key differentiating facts about SBLC had been identified through the STORY Process, it was time to start crafting their unique story and message. Their story would be the jumping off point for all the communication and design moving forward. Every touchpoint with their audience would resonate with the same feeling and would feel like it was coming from one voice. This is the key to a good branding effort.
Among the elements created to bring the SBLC’s brand to life, we:

The Success Story

As a result, we were able to help SBLC create and articulate a compelling story about the organization that would engage and resonate with all stakeholders and, based on that story, would generate awareness, increase enrollment and support, and cause the organization to stand out from peer organizations in a positive way.

Most notably, through the discovery process, SBLC was able to recognize that it functions not only to educate adult learners, but also to empower them to succeed: by securing better jobs, enhancing their life skills and personal lives, and contributing to their community. And that led them to adopt its newfound core message: “Learning works.”

“We love our new look! The Redstart Creative team includes professionals who are experts in their fields and sensitive to the unique needs of a non-profit marketing strategy. Their genuine compassion for our mission helped SBLC achieve a brand that effectively conveys the story we’ve been longing to tell, but just couldn’t find the words or images to express so succinctly.”

Empower4Life: Finding a New Voice to Express the ‘Why’

The Challenge

The primary mission of Empower4Life (originally named Empower410) is to teach homeless children the skills they need to be happy and healthy. With backgrounds in education, the team at Empower4Life is doing important work in the Baltimore community. But they needed assistance communicating why the services and experiences they provide are unique to them.
These were the key challenges they were facing:

The Process

Mortimer Communications, in conjunction with Redstart Creative, engaged in the STORY Process with multiple stakeholders at Empower4Life so that we could identify the gaps in communication and find opportunities to clearly articulate who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Our STORY process is designed to provide the information and tools an organization needs to find their voice, tell their unique story, and discover opportunities for success.

We focused on a few important distinguishing features of the Empower team, which would allow us to highlight why they matter to their audience in the communications we crafted for them. These features included their ability to customize content to fit the personal, unique needs or professional aspirations of adult learners, and the variety of their program offerings.

The STORY process brought to light the following:

The Solution

Once the key differentiating facts about the organization had been identified through the STORY Process, it was time to start crafting their unique story and message. Their story would be the jumping off point for all the communication and design moving forward. Every touchpoint with their audience would resonate with the same feeling and would feel like it was coming from one voice. This is the key to a good branding effort.
We offered the following solutions:

The Success Story

As a result, we were able to help Empower4Life create and articulate a compelling story about the organization that would engage and resonate with all stakeholders and, based on that story, would generate awareness, increase enrollment and support, and cause the organization to stand out from peer organizations in a positive way.

Most notably, through the discovery process, the team was able to recognize that it functions not only to help children feel better about themselves physically and mentally, but also to empower them to succeed: by staying in school, learning to enhance their life skills and personal lives, and helping to contribute to their community. And that led them to adopt the newfound core message: “Empower4Life.”

“Redstart Creative and their team of professionals spent a tremendous amount of time learning our story and the ‘why’ behind our work. With this gained insight, they ingeniously reworked our mission, our vision, our logo, and our name. This rebranding has given the community a much clearer image of who we are, what we do and why we do it. All of this information is vital to our growth on behalf of homeless children in and around Baltimore!“

Let Mortimer Communications help you find your voice, tell your unique story, and discover your success