Aspire Scholarships Rebrand

Team:

Kyle Asperger: Project Management, Creative Direction

Nathan Byrd (Founder, Vision Social): Paid Social Media Strategy, Execution

Wilson Malek: Organic Social Media 

Overview (TL;DR)

The case study outlines the year-long project undertaken by Kyle Asperger, Nathan Byrd, and Wilson Malek to revitalize Aspire Scholarships. Initially named Hide In Plain Sight, the organization faced stagnation due to unclear services, a shrinking donor community, and founder-centric operations. The team's comprehensive approach included rebranding (renaming and reshaping the narrative), developing a new visual identity and website, and employing targeted paid social media strategies on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This involved sharing student stories through social media-optimized videos and maintaining organic social media presence and monthly newsletters. The rebranding from Hide In Plain Sight to Aspire Scholarships was a strategic move to eliminate any connotations of shame and better reflect the organization's support for driven, academically inclined students in need. The team's efforts aimed to increase donations, clarify the organization's mission, and expand its reach and effectiveness in supporting underprivileged students.

About Aspire Scholarships

Aspire Scholarships is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting Colorado students who are experiencing homelessness and poverty to pursue their educational goals. It was inspired by the story of a student named Zoe, who overcame personal tragedy and instability to achieve academic success, and the organization has since awarded over $800,000 in scholarships to nearly 300 students in the Denver Metro area.

Their mission is to award college scholarships to young individuals facing adversity, with the vision of empowering them to achieve their goals and make a positive contribution to society. The organization values education, respect, perseverance, and integrity. It aims to increase its impact, celebrate contributions, manage resources effectively, and practice excellence in nonprofit management and governance.

Process:

Maintain organic social media as well as ongoing monthly newsletters > Analyze their market > Research the organization (1:1 conversations with beneficiaries, survey the board members) > Establish organization wide goals (aka North Stars) > Present Findings > Refine the Mission, Vision, Values > Research a new name > Present to the board > Build new brand identity across all platforms (web, print, social media, Google, misc other platforms) > Launch paid social media campaign in time for end of year giving season > Refine as needed

Problems:

1. Lack of clarity around key services

2. Shrinking community of donors

3. Fierce desire to award more scholarships

Early on, Hide In Plain Sight featured the success it did because almost the entire network was built by and connected directly to its Founder, Joe. When he stepped out of the organization, so did his entire network. The business was not built to be scalable and thus, onboarding donors, partners and beneficiaries outside of the Founders' core network was exceedingly difficult. 

As an 8 year old nonprofit, they featured 5 years of stagnation; no growth in the amount of incoming donations and roughly the same number of scholarships awarded each year. 

Through their donors, their community members, beneficiaries and partners, there was a critical disconnect - people simply weren't fully aware of what Hide In Plain Sight was and what they offered their students. 

Solution 1: Redesign The Brand Narrative 

We rebranded them and started by changing the name from Hide In Plain Sight to Aspire Scholarships. Refining the narrative from the very first words that people see would add instant clarity to the conversations that the Executive Director needed to have. 

Director's note: Don't rename an existing business unless there's severe utility in doing so. The existing reputation and customer/donor/community is associated with the old name. A new name often means a NEW organization. When rebranding to this extent, maintaining clear and consistent messaging around the fact that the X is now Y is necessary in order to keep the existing base.

Why did we choose to rename the organization? Hide In Plain Sight is nondescript and can be perceived by the scholarship recipients in a way that elicits shame. The brand voice is supportive in nature. There shouldn't be anything that suggests any level of shame should be had by the scholars they are supporting. Plus their acronym was HIPS. Need I go on?

Why Aspire Scholarships? Well, talk to any of the beneficiaries and you'll understand why. These students are not only scholars in their own right but they're driven to get themselves (and in multiple cases, their families) up and out of their current, impoverished state. Put simply, they got brains n' they got grit. And they very, genuinely, need the assistance. 

Along with a new visual identity came a new website (designed by Studio 301, developed by Kena Peterson), refined brand verbiage, and a clear mission, vision and values.

Solution 2: Paid Social Media

The reason we landed on paid social media for year one is because of the opportunity for targeted growth that it offers. Donors with deeper pockets, educators and faculty, even the students themselves - everyone is buzzing around social media these days. Our target: Facebook and Instagram. Plus, they had no existing data - this is our way of building the data bank for Aspire. Social media allows us to track and report on key KPI's such as how much money a given post is responsible for, and any NEW donors they may receive along the way.

Through 1st hand stories and testimonials from the student recipients, we chose to educate our market by showing them the real effects these scholarships have had on these driven individuals. No video crew necessary either. We captured a candid conversation via cell phone and edited the videos so they're optimized for social media (by editing out awkward pauses and capturing the essence of the narrative in the shortest possible time, ensuring that the new brand is evident on all assets). Tell a story. Educate. Build brand awareness. Win donations and new super fans.