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A year’s worth of favorites
2011 was a tremendously busy year at Sametz Blackstone — and 2012 is shaping up to be another year of compelling projects, fantastic clients, and much time spent exploring opportunities and tackling challenges as a team. We’re thrilled to be embarking on some new collaborations, and to have some fresh projects ramping up with old friends.
This is a tremendously exciting time to be doing what we do: never before has there been such a diverse range of communication tools and venues available to help organizations tell their stories, and build a “mosaic brand.”
Blog posts around New Year’s often focus on reflections on the year behind us, or predictions for the year ahead. We’re going to land somewhere in the middle, and share a few favorite posts from our blog over the last 12 months. Technically, that’s reflective, I suppose — but some of them had predictions, too!
We’ll be sharing more of our thinking in the months ahead, and celebrating some great achievements by our friends and partners.
Stay tuned.. and the very happiest of New Year’s to you and yours.
Our New Year’s video from last year — a labor of love
What happens when great design and great music come together
A favorite identity from the past year — and a project we’re proud to be a part of
Everyone gets a turn with the markers and whiteboard around here
“Adopsters”… the hipsters of social media
Sametz Blackstone 101: so is it an actual “cup of tea”, or?
Director of Design, Joerg, looks back in time… and finds that it flies
A can by any other color would not taste as sweet?
Thanks for coming by today — and join us for more in 2012!
Categories: Branding, Design, Digital Media, Nonprofits, Outside the Square, Strategy and Management
Living messages and Living Walls
One of the challenges we are called upon to tackle most often is helping large organizations with diverse activities (and equally diverse constituent groups) to coalesce around a unified and mutually reinforcing set of messages that can live within all of their communications.
Earlier this year, Roger and I traveled to Atlanta for an on-site messaging workshop with a diverse cross section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra staff. Working with representatives from the performing and presenting sides of the house, their community and education programs, and their institutional advancement team, we conducted a series of exercises designed to identify the unifying messages across the organization — messages that also have the power to speak to multiple constituent groups.
Our day-long workshop produced great conversations, and, more importantly, a host of great ideas we’re now helping the Orchestra bring to life throughout their organization.
Fortunately, I had a little time around the workshop schedule to do a little exploring around the art scene in one of my favorite cities. (Full disclosure: I went to Emory University for my undergraduate degree).
One of the ‘sites’ my friend and former roommate, Josh Phillipson of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund showed me was a series of street art installations.
Part of the multiple-city Living Walls Conference, these installations are scattered around the city, transforming and punctuating otherwise nondescript or abandoned walls.
Some of the installations we saw were still in progress; I’m looking forward to returning to Atlanta to discover more of these extraordinary works. And perhaps, one day, Living Walls might just come to Boston.
I can certainly hope!
Categories: Design, Nonprofits, Outside the Square
Small team… big ideas. Come be a part of it!
One of the most interesting things about working at a “small shop” is that everyone tends to have a range of responsibilities and interests that extend past their job description. If you’re good at something, you’ll likely get a chance to do it.
This also tends to come up in how we hire new team members: we look for people who have diverse experience and interests, who show initiative in making things happen (even if it’s a little outside the parameters of their role), and who value collaboration in all things.
Everyone has a voice, so we want to make sure we bring in people who have good ideas—and who listen (and get excited) when other people come up with them, too.
Right now, we’re in the midst of hiring two key positions to fill out our team: a Brand Strategist, and a Designer.
In the time since we’ve been on the hunt, we’ve learned a few things (well, we kind of already knew…):
- Most people are used to a certain kind of hierarchy when it comes to creating communications for clients: the client wants something, the strategist comes up with something that something should say and an idea of how it could look, and the designer takes the creative brief and makes it happen. Lather, rinse, repeat.
- The idea of “brand” is one that has taken a big hit as of lately, what with the notion of “personal brand” running rampant through social media, and the reality that many people think of a logo and a color scheme as “branding” (which leaves out the meaning side of things: a brand’s foundation, positioning, messages, etc. )
- We’re a bit different.
(And that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s why we’ve been around for 32 years.)
We’re “system thinkers”: we make sure everything we create—from top to bottom web projects for financial companies, to postcards targeting potential applicants of a summer high school program—strengthens our clients’ brands. If the visual elements don’t jive with their other communications… if the message doesn’t ring true to the organization and their goals… if you can’t point to where it “moves the needle”… well, we’re wasting an opportunity.
To us, a “brand” isn’t a logo or a tagline or an eye-catching color you choose. A brand lives in the hearts and minds of an organization’s constituents: it hinges on how people perceive them and what they do, both in the context of the communications they create, and what others are saying (in the press, via social media, through word of mouth… and beyond.)
And no matter how big or small an organization might be, they are only so much in control of their brand—which means that at the moments when they are in control, they need to do a great job of sharing who they are.
That’s where we come in…
Designer
We’re seeking a Designer who makes beautiful things—beautiful things that do what they’re meant to do, within functional, smart, compelling systems. You will work on a wide range of projects—across an equally wide range of clients, both for- and nonprofit—in print and electronic formats, from worldwide brand identity systems to multi-year capital campaigns. Versatility is a must (if you couldn’t tell already!)
If you:
- do exceptional work on projects large and small, and across media
- work and communicate well with clients, and can articulate the thinking behind what you create
- make “problem solving” a priority in meeting the needs of organizations
- have a passion for innovative, progressive design
- have experience in both print and digital media
- are typographically savvy
- can multitask like a pro—without missing details or dropping the ball on communicating
- enjoy a collaborative environment, both as part of a deeply creative design community, and as part of a focused client team…
… then we’d love to talk to you. Scroll down to learn how to get in touch!
Brand strategist
We’re seeking a Brand Strategist who sees both the forest and the trees: you understand how brands are created, maintained, and loved, and how every aspect of an organization’s communications can reflect and strengthen that brand. You’ve ideally worked with both for- and nonprofit organizations (because we do!), and see each one of your clients as a unique, complex entity with their own needs and goals. In fact, you’ve thrown out all your cookie cutters… because you haven’t used them in years.
This isn’t an “account exec” position or a “brand manager” position or a “project manager” position, though all of those things are wrapped in to what you’ll do with our team.
If you:
- see “brand” as a never-static, living, breathing thing
- believe that stories are important
- can capably research (both qualitative and quantitative—stats AND in-depth conversations), envision, and implement brand-focused strategies
- love to dig into a new industry to learn all you can in a short space of time
- can articulate, write, and present in a compelling way
- can lead multiple client teams simultaneously, with efficiency and respect
- are conversant with both traditional and new media
- collaborate with designers, writers, and developers with respect and open ears
- manage and grow healthy, productive client relationships, and
- want to help find and realize new opportunities
… we’d love to talk to you. Our ideal candidate has 5+ years experience in and around branding, business and communication strategy, marketing, and website development. Experience in nonprofit marketing and fundraising wouldn’t hurt, either.
Ready to join us? We’d love to meet you—and we think we’re pretty fun to work with, too.
Please send your resume (directed clearly to one of the positions above) and some words about who you are and why you’re interested in being a part of our team to Human Resources, Sametz Blackstone Associates, 40 West Newton Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02118. You can also email hrATsametzDOTcom (no phone calls, please!)
Categories: Branding, Design, Digital Media, Nonprofits, Strategy and Management
Are you speaking your language, or theirs?
One of my favorite movies ever, The Princess Bride, also contains one of my favorite quotes ever:
Vizzini: HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
If you’ve done much browsing of nonprofit websites, received materials in the mail from a cause you may or may not support, or signed up to receive updates from an organization in your Gmail inbox, you’ll notice a pattern emerging in how most mission-driven organizations express themselves:
They love jargon.
Not the same jargon for every organization, mind you — although organizations with similar causes tend to use similar language. Unlike Vezzini, they likely do know what those words mean… but odds are, not everyone does.
This makes nonprofits like the vast majority of groups, of course: communities often derive a significant degree of comfort and connection from the terminology and messages they share, whether they’re fundraising or selling products — or even just talking fly fishing.
Unfortunately, this “in language” often leaves outsiders feeling excluded from the conversations these groups are having — which makes it tough to bring anyone new into the fold, or generate support for your cause.
And if that language doesn’t really speak to what your organization does, or who you really are, or what your staff / clients / volunteers / donors care about, then you’re doubly in trouble. If you ask every level of an organization how they share the organization’s story, you’ll often get a lot of different answers, expressed in vastly different language — with a particularly large divide between the public and private voices.
Which means that, both internally and externally, you’re using words that don’t necessarily mean what you think they mean… and don’t really say what you want to be saying.
Take a close look at a couple of the pieces you use to communicate internally (what you send or distribute to your staff, to your board, to loyal volunteers) and a couple pieces you use to communicate externally (via your fundraising collateral or website to potential donors and supporters), and ask yourself a couple of questions:
1. If I didn’t know anything about what I do, would the words I’m using to talk about it inform and enlighten me… or leave me in the dark?
Don’t assume people will dig deeper to figure out confusing terms or concepts. It’s not their job to figure out what you do — it’s your job to make it plain to them. This goes for your internal conversations, too, when you’re equipping volunteers to speak to potential supporters and donors. Nothing undermines an ask faster than an inability to leave the script behind.
2. Are the messages we’re equipping people to share designed to be relevant to people who are just learning about what we do — or only to those of us already on board? And do the messages match at different levels of our organization?
You know why you care about your cause, or you wouldn’t be involved. And that’s likely the case for your supporters, too. But why should it matter to anyone else? What aspects of your cause align with their values and interests? How does your work change the world around them? And if I asked five other people in your organization, would their answers mesh with yours to provide me with a solid picture of your mission?
Using jargon to describe your work and your passions is a normal temptation. We all do it, and often without thinking twice. But when your goal is to bring other people alongside and include them in what you do, that language you’ve adopted to belong in your community can end up creating a wall between you and your goals.
What could you do to be more clear in how you express your mission — and how you train others to share it?
Categories: Nonprofits
’Tis the season again—Celebrity Series brochure 2011–2012
Nine years ago, on January 25, 2002, I received an email from one of my colleagues entitled: “Celebrity Series—it’s a go.”
Our strategy team immediately embarked on several months of thoughtful research, followed by an exploration of initial design directions by our design team—including the development of a new identifier that accommodated different title sponsors over time (as well as no title sponsor in recent years). The resulting system has enabled Celebrity Series to build a brand that’s remained strong over the years.
Since the launch of the system in early 2003, the brand has evolved—each year the design team, in collaboration with our friends at Celebrity Series, endeavors to create a fresh look-and-feel for the upcoming season while staying true to the brand.
Fast-forward to March, 2011: We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve kicked off the design phase for the 2011–2012 season brochure. Venus Wan, the lead designer on this project for the past four years, is busy exploring the visual direction, while Director of Production Michael Eads is working on the production schedule and budget for the overall project.
Our team is excited to collaborate once again with Celebrity Series—and we look forward to delivering another great product in April!
Categories: Branding, Design, Nonprofits, Outside the Square
Like SoDoKu for Twitter
Thinking of plugging some form of 140-character messaging into your communications practice, such as LinkedIn or Twitter updates, but find yourself at a loss for newsy inspiration?
If you’re like me, you might feel that once you’ve crafted the best way to say something, the hard work is done.
But the statusphere is as much about frequency as it is content. And, depending on your community of readers, you may need greater or lesser degrees of novelty or variation in your messages. So if you don’t possess the background or natural impulses of the Managing Editor (still like me), you’ll need a little editorial calendar of sorts to help think through the work.
Here’s a handy matrix I’ve developed to consider all the things I might compose notes or tweets about, and the many ways I might spin them to take advantage of the sharing / re-Tweeting / back-and-forth qualities of social media.
In the category column, you fill in whatever topic you want to promote. The top row suggests a range of ways you can frame any given topic. There are probably other ways to structure this row, and you might not need them all — but if you have a different approach, please comment and share!
Here’s an example for a hypothetical biomedical research institute:
Here’s a little key:
- Question: A classic trick to get the click—be sure it’s provocative. (And be sure the answer is surprising or useful, or you’re going to be ignored next time.)
- About you: This is the placeholder for real, personal exchanges with a person or a group.
- Update: Status notes on an ongoing theme you’ve established. Think countdowns, or progress reports, something with a time element.
- Hype: Just that: the most hyperbolic way you can say or announce something and still be taken seriously. Must sound unique and important.
- News: The most natural of themes for many of us: the ad hoc notices. Your press releases are an obvious source of content for these, but also think about when your people speak or are quoted in the media, or updates to products, or service growth in a new market, etc.
- Benefit: Messages designed to persuade, appeals of some sort or other, but “tarted up a bit”—not just “sign up now!” but sign up now because…
You could (should) fill out each cell with many, many messages—that’s where the frequency, and possibly the novelty, come in. Another way this can save time is to write a bunch of messages in advance, and, using a program like CoTweet or Hoot Suite, schedule them for automatic publishing.
The beauty is the rationalization of the problem, transforming mystery and anxiety into a clear plan. Plan the work, and work the plan.
Some tips for increasing the impact of those microbursts:
- Use hashtags to publish across channels, like tweeting with #in to cross-post on LinkedIn, or #fb to cross-post on Facebook (but do this sparingly if your audiences are similar across platforms.)
- Use the hashtags of relevant trends and topics in your community. This will help people following a topic (e.g., #charity or #autism), or ride the wave of breaking events (e.g. #snowmageddon or #oilspill).
- Schedule your messages to follow established traffic patterns, and to address different time zones. For example, if you send the same message at 10a, 4p, 10p, and 10a Eastern Time, you can reach early in their day or around lunch time—two moments of high social media volume) across most global time zones. Here’s a handy tool for figuring out time zones.
- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday tend to have the highest social media volume. On one hand, there’s more noise to compete with, but you’re more likely to catch eyeballs too.
- Cultivate (or institute, if you have enough people) a ring of people who might propagate your messages (such as through re-Tweets).
This is by no means a comprehensive “Twitter strategy”!
And there’s a ton of material on that elsewhere (including other posts on this blog). And should you have the fate or fortune (depending on your point of view) to have lots of actual interaction, you’ll need a separate policy—and discipline—for maintaining dialogue. I offer this matrix as a way to rationally plan your outbound messages: those that you generate and share with the world.
What echoes back is your next challenge…
Categories: Digital Media, Nonprofits
Casting a broader net
A little while ago we introduced a set of workshops designed to help organizations get up to speed on some key strategic communication practices, such as brand strategy, social media, and visual brand expression. The idea was to help those who aren’t ready for a full-on engagement to get some useful tools and ideas to tackle particular challenges right away on their own.
Some time later, old friends of ours at MIT’s Publishing Services Bureau approached us with some questions about how we could help them evolve to better serve the needs of their campus community. PSB, as it’s known on campus, is a valuable resource to everyone at MIT who manages, commissions, or prepares communications—from the professional communicator who needs expert references to the novice support staff tasked with all sorts of projects. But like the rest of us, they saw the opportunity to evolve with the rapidly changing communications landscape…they just weren’t sure how. How can they make the most of the expertise they’ve built? What are the emerging communication strategies, particularly around digital media, that will help advance the missions of MIT and its many departments, labs, and centers? What should the MIT community expect from PSB?
Our impulse was to plan a consulting engagement in which we (at Sametz Blackstone) would carry out a familiar investigation and recommend an array of changes. But in conversation with PSB leaders, it became apparent that they would be better served—and be better positioned to serve the MIT community—if they could lead their own strategic transformation. That’s where our workshops came in.
But the workshops we’ve already prepared weren’t sufficient. Their tightly focused nature, ideal for organizations eager to take small, fast steps, didn’t add up to the transformational capabilities they want. So in collaboration with PSB, we developed a seven-part series designed enrich and extend their consulting capabilities. Our goal, in short, is to help their staff do what we do. As communications programs become more complex—crossing many media and channels, involving at once more specialists (like mobile app developers) and more novices (who can attract followings of thousands online without formal training)—the need for strategic thinking only grows. That’s the role we fulfill for our clients, and that’s what PSB is well positioned to do for their constituents. It’s exciting to be part of their transformation, and rewarding to think the practices and philosophy we’ve honed here over thirty years can help the through it.
At this writing, we’re a little more than halfway through our course. So far we’ve learned a lot too—about how to not just explain what we do, but to actually enable PSB to do it too. But far from thinking this will put us out of business, we see this as contributing to the rising tide. By “teaching them to fish” we ourselves are casting a wider net, too. We believe in helping every organization reach their goals with better communications; this innovative training program will have effects that ripple in many directions.
Categories: Branding, Design, Digital Media, Nonprofits, Strategy and Management
Jumo: offering big opportunities for small nonprofits?
The Chronicle of Philanthropy featured a video interview with Facebook co-founder and Obama ’08 online campaign architect Chris Hughes yesterday, talking about the upcoming launch of a social network aimed specifically at nonprofit users.
Jumo — with the tagline, “We connect people who want to change the world” — will be going live in the next few weeks with the goal of connecting people with worthy causes, and giving causes the opportunity to reach out to their communities online.
Eight months after a soft launch for the site was announced, Jumo has over 6,000 followers on Twitter, and a Facebook community of more than 15,000 people eager to try out the platform when it opens up November 30th.
In his Philanthropy interview, Hughes describes Jumo as a “home base” for a wide range of other platforms already in use by charities and causes, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The goal is not to replace these services, but to offer a central location where interested users can connect with every aspect of a nonprofit’s social presence.
If you’re looking to donate online, however, Jumo won’t be the place for you to go just yet — Hughes wants to put the focus on spreading information and encouraging involvement in this phase of the launch, rather than having users simply click a “Donate” button to support the causes they case about. I think this is a great way to get started, actually (as much as many causes would likely appreciate immediate donation functionality), and a good way to prevent the site from turning into a fundraising competition.
The site itself will survive on user donations — which will likely end up being a fair gauge of how much value people place in this new platform.
Here are the questions I’m hoping to answer when Jumo goes live in a couple weeks:
1. How will Jumo vet nonprofits / causes signing up to use the site? Hughes says the community will be able to flag any groups that don’t seem legit, but this could result in significant confusion. Will there be a way to verify if the person signing up a nonprofit for Jumo actually works for the nonprofit? Will they require proof of nonprofit status? And if groups are flagged falsely by users who don’t believe in their causes, which side will Jumo take?
2. How socially savvy do causes have to be to make use of the site? Yes, the idea of a central place for groups to gather is appealing, but some groups may suffer if they fail to engage as effectively as other organizations. It would be a shame to see a great cause get the cold shoulder because they’re not quite sure what to do once they’re there. My hope is that Jumo provides a wealth of support and information for groups that are just starting to create a bridge to the web from traditional development tactics.
3. While a central spot for all your social platforms might seem like an appealing notion, isn’t this what nonprofit websites and blogs should be doing right now? Will being listed alongside thousands of other groups help or hinder their ability to create a thriving online community?
4. Will everyone play nice? Will there be a strong emphasis on community standards and cooperation? I’d like to think so — but I also know how passionately people debate the value of different causes, and how quickly that debate can go awry.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the Jumo launch goes, and how nonprofits put this new opportunity to use — and I’ll definitely be writing a sequel to this post after November 30th with my thoughts and observations.
Categories: Nonprofits
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