Mondelez Confectionery

Seasonal strategy

Reposition Swedish Fish, refresh Sour Patch Kids and plan seasonal strategies for both.

Challenge

Insight

Result

In order to unlock increased growth, Mondelez needed a deliberate approach to seasons. The client asked the team to develop a seasonal strategy for Halloween and build an architecture that had the ability to systematize into the other three big seasons; Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Festive.

During primary research it was discovered that achieving standout with seasonal confectionery consumers meant striking the right balance between adapting to seasonal category convention while maintaining core brand assets. Instead of letting the season drive the brand – the brands needed to have their own take on the season.

• Consumer-centric seasonal portfolio architecture

• Design hierarchy to inform elevated seasonal pack design.

• Fully realized seasonal pack designs for 7-10 product SKUs

Services: Brand foundations: purpose, positioning, seasonal portfolio architecture, design strategy, design hierarchy, creative design packaging brief.

Client: Mondelez
Agency: Dragon Rouge
Role: Associate Strategy Director

Bank of Hawaii, SimpliFi

Positioning and new brand creation

Making a 100-year-old brand modern and relevant with a digital banking sub-brand.

Challenge

Insight

Result

The Bank of Hawaii had a bigger vision for their online mortgage application platform; SimpliFi. They saw an opportunity to grow the platform into a digital banking capability. My team & I worked with the Bank of Hawaii to develop an understanding of the brand’s target audience, competitive advantage, position, and purpose. During this project it was key to keep internal stakeholders aligned around the role heritage could play in shaping a new digital experience.

It was uncovered during
primary research that customers lacked the confidence they needed to move forward with their money and make bigger financial decisions. We saw an opportunity for SimpliFi to stand for simple confidence and act as a guide, to help people move ahead. This purpose complemented the larger Bank of Hawaii brand as well as the digital customer experience.

The final deliverable for this work was a brand guide that included: A defined target audience, positioning statement, purpose, brand narrative, brand architecture, and guidelines for implementation. Our team earned the client’s trust and won repeat business with the bank. Bank of Hawaii came back for three additional projects following this work: SimpliFi Go-to-market plan, a repositioning effort for the master brand, and a deep dive into the role and function of the Private Bank or wealth-building services.

Services: Brand Architecture, Brand Compass, Brand Expression, Brand Guidelines.

Client: Bank of Hawaii
Agency: Northbound
Role: Senior Strategist

Microsoft Learn

Brand architecture & naming

Challenge

Findings/actions

Result

The Microsoft Learn portfolio had experienced a lot of growth during covid as the team was building out its capacity to be a resource for upskilling and training for developers but also people seeking to make career change and level up in their jobs. As the portfolio grew the team needed help with two things: portfolio architecture and/or categorization and naming guidance or criteria to drive clarity around naming and relationships within the portfolio.

Drove initial thinking around portfolio architecture and naming guidance, later bringing the naming recommendation to life with the MSFT design team in the form of web mockups to illustrate implications of name changes.

Architecture:

• Many product owners recognized that the portfolio served organization needs over consumer needs. Based on what I learned from stakeholders and recorded customer interviews, grouped portfolio offerings into three categories that were designed to be more customer centric: Learn the Skills, Validate the Skills, Connect to Community.

Naming guidance:

• I identified three paths that our naming guidance took take: Microsoft branded, Microsoft Learn Branded, unbranded product name. Based on that naming guidance I then built out what the impact would be to portfolio offerings with rationale and messaging examples.

• I also worked to create naming principles as well as recommendations around naming terminologies that aligned with their proprietary nomenclature tool-kit. e.g. Program, Service. Course, Feature/Capability..
  Provided education around naming vs it’s usage (environment). Eg. MSFT Open Hack externally, Open Hack Internally. The learning here was in a Microsoft environment, the product does not always need to reference the whole product family in its name.

Stakeholder alignment:

• Additionally, constructed GM pre-read decks to support the socialization of the work at key alignment points to bring leadership along in the process ahead of project decisions.

Clear coherent organization of the product portfolio and actionable naming guidance with rationale to steer future offerings.

Services: Brand architecture, naming.

Client: Microsoft
Agency: Northbound
Role: Senior Strategist

Designing a customer-centric product portfolio for Microsoft Learn around evolving needs of learners.

PsychHub

Developing the brand's vision and mission to facilitate continued growth.

Challenge

Actions taken

Result

PsychHub was standing an inflection point, a real moment of growth. The company were gaining a lot of momentum during the pandemic, as mental health awareness gained ground. The brand was presented with so much opportunity leadership needed a way to best determine which opportunities to take that would make sense for the brand. Additionally, PsychHub's growing team needed unification and clarity around the brand's purpose to drive engagement.

In this work my primary value was driving focus and alignment across two separate workshops with the client team to explore the brand's vision and mission. The virtual workshops were 4 hours each.

In our vision session we explored:
Core values, future world building, and group vetting on core capabilities and values the brand could authentically deliver on.

In our mission session we explored:
The brand’s capabilities both existent and emerging as well as points of competitive difference. Looking across both Points of Parity: We are similar because..." and Points of Differentiation: "We are different because...”.

In partnership with my team, I crafted actionable vision and mission statements, as well as a core set of values the client could implement right away. The work was directly applied on the company website and referenced in external messaging.

The resulting final statements:

Vision: A society where everyone has common mental health literacy and access to quality mental health care.

Mission: To educate and connect consumers seeking mental health care with practitioners who are trained to treat their symptoms, take their insurance, and are a good cultural fit.

Services: Workshop/exploration, brand strategy: mission & vision setting, purpose statement and narrative.

Client: PsychHub
Agency: Northbound
Role: Senior Strategist

Setting a brand mission & vision