Near the end of my time at YWCA Vancouver, the organization was undergoing rebranding. A very expensive and time intensive endeavour. YW had most of the services donated, but it was still not cheap. And it was a bit of a pain (and I wasn’t even in the thick of it), but the results seemed pretty nice in the end.
One of the things I learned from the process is that it is VERY important for your creative company to “get” you. While they have experience and knowledge with marketing/branding, etc., your organization has experience with and knowledge of your organization, its clients and supporters. Don’t forget that.
So, if you organization could help further its mission through some donated creative services, read more below. I touched base with the previous two Vancouver recipients and they each seemed incredibly pleased with the process, though each year the recipients obviously go through some media training by Karo and stick to key messages (yawn).
Deadline: November 30, 2009 5pm
Forwarded message:
Karo Group, a branding agency with offices in Vancouver and Calgary, is giving away $100,000 in creative services to two non-profit organizations – one based in Vancouver and another in Calgary ($50,000 each). This is the third consecutive year that the company has donated the services as part of its initiative, Karo Kaus.
Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) won Vancouver’s 2009 Karo Kaus grant. The rebranding transformed the company’s logo, website and communications materials while creating a unified brand that previously had not existed. Without the $50,000 grant, TUTS could not have afforded to do such a makeover. The 2008 Vancouver Karo Kaus recipient was Potluck Café and Catering.
For full details, visit http://www.karo.com/about/kaus.
James Cronk, TUTS ED was so excited about the experience he used all capitals.
WE RECEIVED MANY COMMENTS FROM OUR GUESTS AND SUPPORTERS THAT THEY HAD NEVER SEEN SO MUCH TUTS MARKETING – BUT THE FACT IS THAT WE DID THE SAME AS PREVIOUS YEARS – IT WAS JUST NOTICED MORE!
Granting timeline
- Deadline: November 30, 2009, 5pm
- Shortlist made by Karo employee committee: Early December, 2009
- Shortlisted candidates present to the Karo committee: January 12, 2010
- Winning recipients notified: January 21, 2010
- Creative work complete: End of 2010
2 replies on “$50,000 in creative services on offer for Vancouver/Calgary nonprofits”
Beware of agencies that don’t get you…and beware of agencies pitching pro-bono work so they can do the edgy creative work their corporate, middle-of-the-road clients won’t pay for (and that doesn’t really sell…).
Not saying this is what Karo is doing here, and I’m not denying the many great non-profit/agency partnerships. BUT often an agency tends to sweep in looking to fulfil their charitable mandate and use your warm fuzzy messaging to create work that benefits them more than you.
It’s hard enough talking an agency down from the ledge when you’re paying them. When you’re not, you really just have to go along for the ride and hope you end up somewhere good…
So true April. A great recent related example of this was the horrible WWF ad by DDB Brasil.
In this case WWF turned it down in the initial stages, but it was created anyway and entered into a contest (and subsequently won).