Destination Florida
In a highly competitive capstone class, twelve students were selected to travel to Manchester, England to work with Destination Florida, a nonprofit organization that takes critically ill children and their medical staff on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and other major theme parks. Fortunately, I was one of the twelve students selected to rebrand Destination Florida Children’s Charity.
To earn my spot, I had to apply and pass an interview process, which landed me the creative director position. I was placed in one of three made-up agencies and was fortunate to work alongside three other intelligent women. Our first task, as an agency, was to come up with a name that would represent us. After becoming familiar with Destination Florida and having deliberate conversations, we agreed to name ourselves Metamorphosis because of the growth each child experiences during the trip. To represent our agency, I came up with a logo that would capture the meaning of metamorphosis. I chose to use a simple, elegant, and legible typeface and replaced the first “o” with a sunflower to symbolize what each child becomes – a strong enduring sunflower.
As a creative director, my duties include, but not limited to, coming up with branding designs, developing strategies and tactics to meet objectives, and overseeing all written communications. One of my greatest achievements is attached below, it is the charity logo I designed. It was later picked as the logo to represent the capstone class for the final pitch to Destination Florida’s board of trustees.
Other than coming up with logos, my colleagues and I created a brand book for Destination Florida to use as their first stages of rebranding their organization. Below I have attached some materials my team and I have done for the organization.
Destination Florida Brochure
Newsletter Template
Destination Florida_Newsletter_Template
Strategies and Tactics to Meet Destination Florida’s Objectives
Objective 1
Introduce new marketing materials to replace 95% of current marketing materials to raise brand awareness by December 2017.
Strategy One: Reduce the number of Disney material.
Destination Florida has been using Disney graphics on their templates, however Disney is only one part of the holiday and as Paul mentioned, Disney did not provide great accommodations during the holiday. Implementing Destination Florida’s own photographs will provide stakeholders an insight of the children’s joy during the holiday rather than characters from one amusement park.
Tactics:
- Create new templates
- Create new posters
By creating new templates and posters for Destination Florida, the transformative message that charity wants to get across will be portrayed effectively. Metamorphosis can create a template for news releases, monthly e-newsletters, and pitch letters so it is easy for Destination Florida to create new content for its stakeholders. In addition, new posters for the charity will allow people who may be unfamiliar with Destination Florida to gain more information about their mission and purpose. Lastly, our materials will distance itself from the Disney material by showcasing an individual child on these new marketing content.
Strategy Two: Increase the use of original graphics in new materials.
In order to display the impact of the holiday, implementing original photographs of an individual child during their time in America. Using original graphics will generate a better understanding of the effect the holiday provides for the children.
Tactics:
- Collect images from previous trips
- Implement new logo and strapline
- Ensure that images are child friendly
Destination Florida has many images of children having the time of their lives and Metamorphosis feels like that transformative journey needs to be showcased. Using these pictures in marketing materials will allow stakeholders to fully understand Destination Florida’s purpose. With a new logo and strapline, the charity’s mission will be portrayed. Metamorphosis wants the idea of magic and transformation to be conveyed throughout all materials. Our new logo includes a child making a wish on a dandelion. The current logo colors are a light blue and yellow orange to signify friendliness, confidence, and dependability. The new strapline is “More than Magic” enhancing the idea that the trip is more than just a holiday for the children. This trip is a transformational experience in which the children become more outgoing, confident, and have made friends that will last a lifetime.
Strategy Three: Focus on the individual child versus a group or theme park.
Tactics:
- Use children’s profiles – “(Child’s name) Sunshine”
- Use individual child on marketing materials and website
- Study St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital marketing materials
By focusing on the individual child, donors will be more receptive to donating and can learn about the children on a more personal level. Metamorphosis Agency created “(Child’s name) Sunshine” to showcase a child and tell their story. For instance, “Shuhaney’s Sunshine” would be a short profile on Shuhaney and tell her story in brochures and the website. With research, we found that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital uses pictures highlighting a specific child throughout all of their content.
Objective 2
Increase awareness of the transformative mission of Destination Florida by 15% by December 2017.
Strategy One: Improve internal brand building within Destination Florida to include all employees and volunteers.
A custom communication system for the employees and volunteers which will work towards a shared awareness of the transformative mission of Destination Florida. The communal mission will emit a professional persona. This will allow for precise information to be disturbed to the greater Manchester region as well as northern England.
Tactics:
- Introduce bi-annual meetings to include all employees and volunteers
- Monthly e-newsletters to be sent out to all employees and volunteers
By introducing bi-annual meetings to employees and volunteers, Destination Florida will be able to effectively communicate the new branding initiatives and growth of the brand. Introducing e-newsletters to send out to employees and volunteers will enable everyone to be on the same page about activities, events, updates concerning Destination Florida.
Strategy Two: To increase awareness within Manchester and Northern England.
As of now, Destination Florida’s mission is not well known or is misunderstood among its community. The community is not aware of the true mission which is to bring sunshine into children’s lives who have life threatening and limited conditions by providing a 10 day break from their daily routine. It is important to provide accurate perception of Destination Florida to the community of Manchester and northern England.
Tactics:
- Placing new brand logo and strapline on pre-made marketing materials
- Distribute new materials with the brand logo/strapline to universities
- Create fact sheet with new logo and strapline
By placing the new logo and strapline on all materials, the local community will become more aware of Destination Florida’s overall mission and purpose.
Strategy Three: Raise awareness of the core values among the stakeholders, such as donors, nurses, doctors, volunteers, and parents.
A standard informational pamphlet for stakeholders will bring a clear comprehension of the core values Destination Florida upholds. This brochure is to guarantee the same communication message is sent to all stakeholders.
Tactics:
- Create an informational pamphlet with new logo and strapline
- Implement 90 day rebranding campaign
An informational pamphlet including general material about the charity, how to donate, and a letter from the chairman will be beneficial for stakeholders to understand Destination Florida in whole. Also, to boost the outreach conducted by Destination Florida, a 90-day rebranding campaign will be implemented. This campaign will include university and hospital outreach, corporate outreach, a social media PR campaign, material distribution days, open houses, and internal employee and volunteer meetings. The corporate portion will include a Summer Movie Day with Vue Cinemas and also efforts to improve the relationship with Thomas Cook Airlines and to start a relationship with Booths Supermarket.
Objective 3
Increase outreach and further communication of Destination Florida to local, domestic and international audiences by December 2017.
Strategy One: Communicate with local, Northern England, audiences about Destination Florida’s upcoming activities and the charity’s overall mission.
In order for the community of Manchester and northern England to become involved with Destination Florida, reaching out to local universities, local shops, and residents will generate an increase attendance and awareness about the children’s charity.
Tactics:
- Advocate/ambassador on university campuses sharing transformative mission
- Advocate/ambassador at hospitals sharing transformative mission
- Hold bi-monthly open houses within the office to explain progress report
By having an ambassador to speak with university campuses and hospitals, Destination Florida will be able to recruit new volunteers to assist on the trip and potential new children to be nominated. Holding an open house event to speak with the Board of Trustees, loyal volunteers, and employees about the charity’s new mission will be extremely beneficial. Everyone can be on board with the new changes that Destination Florida is about to make.
Strategy Two: Communicate with national audiences about Destination Florida’s mission and purpose.
In the interest of Destination Florida, to achieve further outreach among the nation employing a strategic plan that will provide informative material about the children’s charity to citizens in the United Kingdom. Providing informational facts about the organization will generate attentiveness and responsiveness.
Tactics:
- Create a social media plan to inform national community about Destination Florida’s mission, special events, and relevant information.
- Outreach into past participants’ schools
A social media plan will allow Destination Florida to effectively post content to its stakeholders. This plan will lay out events, activities, and testimonials of participants and volunteers. By being more present on social media, the charity may reach more donors, potential volunteers, and awareness for families outside of the Manchester area.
Strategy Three: Communicate with international audiences to generate awareness of Destination Florida and their mission.
The intention of creating foreign connections with organizations and universities within the Florida state is to generate familiarity about Destination Florida. By doing so, this will create awareness within the country the donations are being spent, which may encourage American donors to act. Also, the familiarity will likely make the trip go smoother through pre-trip connections, increased communication and preparations.
Tactics:
- Initiate and improve relationships with Floridian children’s hospitals and universities
Forming and maintaining relationships with Floridian children’s hospitals and universities can valuable to Destination Florida. First, partnering with a children’s hospital can potentially help lend equipment and have doctors and nurses assist on the trip. By coordinating with a university, the charity can also get students that can volunteer while on the trip.
Objective 4
Increase fundraising by 5% by the end of the 90-day rebranding launch.
Strategy One: Publicize established corporate relationships.
As of now, Destination Florida is heavily relying on large events to fundraise. Metamorphosis wants to implement year-round fundraising projects to increase donations. The constant increase of donations will allow Destination Florida to continue to bring sunshine to children’s lives.
Tactics:
- Publicize the new partnership with Vue Cinema with a summer movie event
- Incorporate corporate award system
The new partnership with Vue Cinemas is a unique way to get stakeholders and their families involved in an interactive event with Destination Florida. Our idea with Vue Cinema is to hold a movie day for families within Manchester area to promote the partnership as well as gaining donations through ticket sales and 10% of concession sales. Setting-up a corporate award system to be able have corporations compete against each other to win an award for donating the most to Destination Florida. The award would be publicized in the local newspapers, local news stations, and within the Destination Florida newsletter.
Strategy Two: Increase the number of locations collection boxes are placed at.
Location of the collection boxes are only distributed in store that employees and volunteers have connections with the local businesses. Increasing the connections with local businesses to allow collection boxes will give Destination Florida a continuous fund. Specifically, Destination Florida will target Booths, a high end supermarket that is primarily located in northern England.
Tactics:
- Add collection boxes next to cash registers or by the exit
- Reaching out to more businesses to set up collect boxes, specifically targeting Booths
Collection boxes are a great way to collect donations in local businesses around the Manchester area. By reaching out to more businesses, it can bring in more money in an efficient manner. Paul had mentioned that Booths Supermarket is a great place to collect donations at the exits.
Strategy Three: Create an interactive public relations campaign: #MySunshine.
Destination Florida does not have an active public relations campaign that donors, children and community members can interact with. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge swept the world with people pledging to donate money to a cause, dumping an ice bucket on their heads and then challenging three people to do the same. By creating the same type of social media interaction, Destination Florida will receive awareness and an increase in donations.
Tactics:
- Create campaign for people to donate funds by sponsoring a particular child
- Create a post on the website to show testimonials of children people can sponsor and include a form to fill out
- Encourage people to post on their social media their sponsorship and to challenge three people to do the same
- Advertise hashtag #MySunshine
This campaign can be mainly through Facebook and Twitter, allowing donors to show the child they sponsor and how they are helping them. The interactive campaign will allow donors to know to whom their money is going towards, challenge their peers to do the same and create a chain reaction. The emotional appeal will trigger people to continue the sponsorships when they are nominated.
Camila Vengoechea 