THE CHALLENGE

CREATIVE BRIEF

(Disclaimer: This is one of our favorites – you’ll see why.)

Allow us to brag for a second – the Humane Society for Hamilton County (HSHC) rocks. In 2015, they received over 3,000 animals and placed 98% of them in homes (put that up against the national placement rate of just 36%). But most important of all, they are Indiana’s only open-admission, truly no-kill animal shelter. Not to mention, they played matchmaker for CQB’s founder and our mascot Penny the #QBeagle. Needless to say, we’re big fans.

HSHC was doing cool things and going big places. However, they faced a big roadblock: their brand, website, and overall marketing didn’t reflect their innovative approach and big-hearted culture.

We couldn’t adopt all 3,000 animals ourselves (although we thought about it). But we could equip HSHC with a top-notch creative suite – one that positions them as the awesome leaders they are, and one that gets every animal a little bit closer to a forever home.

THE SOLUTION

CREATIVE APPROACH

First, we formed a dynamite, animal-loving freelance team and dove into a complete brand refresh (e.g. logo, guidelines, templates, collateral) for the core HSHC brand, as well as for their half a dozen sub-brands. We did several photo shoots to capture head shots of the HSHC team, candids of the volunteers, and jersey-clad frolicking pups. Plus, we created a new overview video.

Throughout the project, we paid special attention to capturing and promoting the essence of their unique programs – take for instance Pets Healing Vets, which pairs Indiana veterans returning from active duty with shelter animals in need of homes, just the kind of win-win style we love.

Then we tackled a full website redesign and development effort, focusing on a more intuitive structure, more digestible content, more personal images and stories, and ultimately, a website that more clearly represents where HSHC is headed– and how supporters can help. And what’s more, we made sure the site’s backend content editor would allow HSHC to directly manage the site post-launch.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

CREATIVE GIVING

Here at CQB, we really love our four-legged friends. That’s why we came up with a creative approach to giving that would be a win for the community, non-profits, donors, and our freelance team. We dubbed our creative giving program Pass It Forward and asked HSHC to be our “non-profit guinea pig.”

Together, we raised more than $15,000 (in addition to ~$20,000 worth of donated CQB services) so HSHC could receive a comprehensive five-star marketing makeover without dipping into their virtually-non-existent marketing budget.