includem
Helping a children’s charity capture and communicate the true value of their work.
Working with Felicity was an absolute joy.
She gave us an opportunity to talk through our way of thinking and our complex messaging and listened to the issues we had.
When Felicity came back to us with her finished work, it was exactly what we had been looking for and already its implementation is making a big difference to the way we work.
We would thoroughly recommend any organisation who is looking to develop a verbal brand identity to reach out and work with Felicity.
The question
includem do really good, worthy work helping young people facing difficult life challenges in Scotland. They’re flexible and solutions-based — rolling up their sleeves and doing whatever needs to be done to help. While this means the impact of their work is significant and wide-ranging, it made succinctly describing exactly what they do a challenge.
Added to this, includem have undergone numerous evolutions over the last 20+ years. Their messaging hadn’t caught up with these changes, and their brand voice didn’t reflect the current reality of their organisation.
I was brought on board by includem’s communications team to help them gain clarity on their services and how to explain them, capture their brand’s tone of voice and develop a messaging framework to streamline their comms and keep everything consistent.
The answer
Alongside explorative chats with the communications team and an audit of their existing materials, I held a workshop with practitioners from across the charity to learn about their work and what it means to be part of includem.
From this research and discovery work, I defined a brand voice that balanced includem’s grit and tenacity — they never shy away from a challenge — with their optimism and kindness. This included sample copy and writing guidelines to help everyone put the new tone of voice into action.
I developed a messaging framework focused on the impact and results of includem’s work — rather than what they do to get there. And streamlined their long list of target audiences (from funding bodies to potential service users) into three broad interest categories with messaging to match.
The result
A brand voice blueprint everyone at includem can unite behind. They can confidently shout about what they do and the impact it has, and present the true value of their work to a broad range of stakeholders in a clear and consistent voice.
