How we’re raising the bar for non-profit organizations and small businesses

One of our core values at Rock & Bloom is ‘make a difference’. One of the ways we’re making a difference is by offering pro bono branding services for non-profit organizations and small businesses that might not otherwise have the resources to work with us.

The Who

You might have heard of us, but for those who are new here, we’re a Canadian-based brand studio with a knack for creating beautiful, functional, and results-driven projects. We’ve been fortunate to make a career out of building relationships and creating killer brands for hundreds of clients across the globe. We do everything from new brand identities, to full-blown websites, to crafting game-changing campaigns.

The What

Meet Brand Aid.    

We created Brand Aid with the intention of helping a ‘Champion of Choice’ elevate their brand and tell their story through in-kind donated work. The brands that we choose align with our core values and respect the work that we do. 

Non-profit organizations and small businesses do a lot with a little. They do so much for our communities, and yet very often lack the budget to elevate their brand or even properly communicate their services and skills to potential donors, clients or customers. They might lack the resources needed to create a strong brand identity, build a fully-functional, and user-friendly website, or to tell their story in an effective and far-reaching way. And yet, these are the stories that need to be heard the most. 

Brand Aid’s mission is to give a megaphone to those storytellers; to create positive change within an organization, giving them new tools to grow and succeed. 

The Why 

“At the core of our business is to make an impact. We don’t just want to make things that are pretty – we want to affect change in a client’s business.”

 – Heather Adams, CEO of Rock & Bloom

Brand Aid supports organizations that share our values and vision. Together, we’re able to build a partnership built on empathy and creative collaboration, producing impactful results that would otherwise not be possible. 

Brand Aid is not only meaningful to the client, but also fills the cups of our team members who are passionate about the work they are doing.  

Our mission is to be the best brand studio to work with and work for. Upholding this mission involves continually communicating with our team, rating fulfillment after each project, and really listening to feedback to determine what projects we spend our time and resources on.

The Impact

Our first Champion of Choice was Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan (RMHC-SK). This incredible organization offers a safe, secure, and nourishing environment  for families caring for their sick child receiving medical treatment in Saskatchewan.

RMHC-SK keeps families together, during what is a stressful and challenging time. The work that they do and programs they provide,  positively impacts the health and wellbeing of the entire family.

“It’s so incredibly rewarding to be a part of a project that is vital to our community and will have a huge impact on families’ lives – even long after they’ve left the house.”

– Mellary Bitner, Designer. 

When it came to choosing RMHC-SK it was an easy decision. We’ve worked with them for years on smaller projects and have developed a collaborative partnership that always results in both teams feeling fulfilled. The work that they do is so impactful and we felt honoured to be able to partner with their team again to tell their story in a truly compelling way. 

For this project, we built RMHC-SK a new website that is true to their mission, while showing what they do in a way that speaks to their audience. The end result is both functional and beautiful, creating a positive user experience and leaving the user with a lasting impression.

“We have truly enjoyed the time spent in collaboration with Rock & Bloom over the many years we have engaged with their team as our Design Agency. The Rock & Bloom team is incredibly easy to work with and truly understands our brand and mission. The sharing of their expertise as true partners to our organization is valued and appreciated by our entire team.”

– Tammy Forrester, CEO Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan

How We Helped British Columbia’s Literacy Program Transform Their Legacy Fundraiser into a Nostalgic Brand

ONE TO ONE is a unique children’s literacy program that provides free one-to-one tutoring by trained volunteers to elementary school students in BC. Through these connections, the organization helps BC children develop literacy skills and reading confidence.  

This ONE TO ONE Literacy Program hosts a team spelling fundraiser, supporting kids across BC. Business professionals, entrepreneurs and educators come together to network and compete for prizes, while working to improve opportunities for kids to succeed.

We partnered with ONE TO ONE as part of our Brand Aid Initiative, which helps a ‘Champion of Choice’ elevate their brand and tell their story through in-kind donated work. Our challenge was to create a distinct yet complementary brand for the Spelling Bee, one that intrigued potential donors, energized participants, and amplified the core values of ONE TO ONE.

Challenge Accepted

The goals of the project included:

  • Build a new Spelling Bee brand that helps ONE TO ONE to engage potential donors
  • Create intrigue, excitement, and notoriety of Spelling Bee among tutors, parents, donors, and students themselves
  • Align with ONE TO ONE overall brand, while maintaining its own identity and messaging
  • Continue to amplify the ONE TO ONE program, creating engaging visuals, copy and strategy for the Spelling Bee
  • Develop a suite of engaging materials: event promotional assets, including social media graphics, email templates, and posters to ensure success.

Getting Down to Business  

Brand Strategy

Our process began with comprehensive strategy development, including persona creation and key messaging tailored to diverse audiences.

We crafted profiles for key audiences to ensure our messaging resonated across all touchpoints. We also crafted key messaging that highlighted the transformative power of literacy and the direct impact of the event.

Brand Identity

We designed a distinctive identity for the Spelling Bee Challenge that evoked warmth, nostalgia, and a sense of community.

We chose a bold typeface that is friendly, approachable, fun, and reminiscent of story book text. We paired this with a handwritten typeface, less polished, yet still approachable – a nod to children’s handwriting.

The letter imagery balances nicely with the logo. Playful and vibrant, the bubble letters represent diversity, childhood memories, and pair with our messaging: ‘How do you stack up against the competition?’

We used the original blue and green from the ONE TO ONE colour palette, but added more colours for flexibility and variety. The bright and fun colours pair nicely with the friendly fonts and subtle use of happy characters – peep the adorable smiley face.

Celebrating The Wins

The Spelling Bee Challenge stands out on its own, while reinforcing ONE TO ONE’s crucial mission. By blending nostalgia with purpose, our approach transformed the Spelling Bee into a strong brand identity that will last for years to come.

“Working with Rock & Bloom was a wonderful experience. We feel so fortunate to be part of their Brand Aid program. From the first time we connected, they were clear on expectations and scope, made it easy to contribute to the process, and provided lots of updates along the way.

Their creative team took on the tricky work of re-imagining and reviving the brand of our legacy fundraising event. We had an ambitious dual goal: creating something we could introduce to new audiences while holding on to what makes it special so previous attendees still felt welcome.

They more than hit the mark, creating a new brand that feels joyful, fresh, inviting and engaging!”

Carol, ONE TO ONE

Learn more about ONE TO ONE’s important mission on their website and read more about our transformative Brand Aid Initiative.