February workshop with Community Leaders

Strategic Initiative #9 Develop a comprehensive marketing plan for L’Arche in the U.S.

Goals for the session:

1)Engage in a creative process that results in defining the top 10 best words that describe L’Arche and 3-5 sample taglines.

2)Answer the question: Are all L’Arche communities in the U.S. ready to adopt one tagline? (The answer to this needs to be yes or no, not “we’ll see if we like it and then decide.” If we are not ready, let’s be honest. If we are ready to say yes, that may mean compromise.)

3)All participants understand the scope of the project, including the timeline and their participation, and the importance of this work.

4)Identify questions/concerns to be addressed by the strategic planning team, including naming what we should start, stop, and keep doing.

Creative Session: 30 minutes

  • Participants enter the room with lively music playing and are asked to stay standing.
  • Explain that the next 30 minutes will be a time to think about what they love about L’Arche and they will be engaging their bodies and minds.
  • Ask participants to close their eyes (or look through photos on their phone) and think of as many happy memories of L’Arche as they can.
  • Have them open their eyes and wander the room to visit the photo stations. Each station has a collection of photos and they are to select one photo that best illustrates their happy memories and one photo that least illustrates their memories.
  • Next, give them the option to go to one side of the room to find a partner to share with or to go to the other side of the room where there is paper and they can draw or write. (Options for internal/external processing.)
  • Once they are done sharing/writing/drawing, ask them to come up with 3-5 words that summarize L’Arche to be shared with the whole group. (Facilitator writes these on poster.)
  • Break them into groups of 2-3 and ask them to pick the top 5 words from the list and report back. (Facilitator writes these on the poster again, hides the first poster.)
  • Go back into small groups and brainstorm a short word or phrase using at least one of the words on the poster. Report back again.
  • Facilitate a vote – each person has 3 votes for the phrases they think best illustrate L’Arche. Tally up the votes and order the phrases.

Processing and Discussion: 15 Minutes

Ask the questions/have them written out and give a few minutes for people to jot down ideas and think before beginning the dialogue.

-Did others’ experience in L’Arche seem similar or different to yours?

-What surprised you the most about the exercise?

-Were there any words or phrases that made you uncomfortable? What were they and why were you uncomfortable?

-Do you think that at this time L’Arche communities in the U.S. are ready to adopt one phrase or tagline that accurately represents the essence of our mission? Please pick yes or no. (If your answer is “it depends on what the tagline is” that is probably a no.)

Break: 5 Minutes

Overview of the Project: 20 minutes

Strategic Project:
Define and unify messaging and branding throughout the U.S.

Strategic Goals:
1) Assist communities in adopting the official L'Arche logo by the end of 2016
2) Define branding and messaging for L'Arche in the U.S.
3) Design a plan to unify and strengthen our image across the country

Strategic Planning Team:
Mic Altena – Community Leader, L’Arche Chicago
Vanessa Henry – Community Coordinator, L’Arche Boston North
Jeni Baird – Community Leader, L’Arche Wavecrest
Mark Lepper – Assistant, L’Arche Heartland
Ashley Collins – Development Director, L’Arche Chicago
Brian Berg – Board Member, L’Arche USA
Laura Hatcher – Owner, Hatcher Design Office and Adjunct Faculty at Towson University (Maryland)
Jessica Trief - Director of Brand Strategy, Customer Insights and Communications,OurHarvest (formerly of Lippincott)
Bethany Keener – Communications Manager, L’Arche USA

Consultation/Approval: Nancy Jacob and Louis Pilot, L’Arche International

Project: Visual Identity and Message Guide (“brand guide”)
Document that provides usage guidance for the L’Arche logo, colors, fonts, graphic elements/icons, tagline, talking points, glossary of words and terms.

Why now?

  • Coincides with the adoption of a business plan.
  • Completes the work begun by Lippincott in 2014.
  • Serves as the foundation for L’Arche USA’s new multi-site web platform intended to support all local communities.

Timeline: Visual Identity and Message Guide

February 2016

  • Strategic planning team meets; makes suggestions for tagline.
  • Community leaders give feedback/suggestions on tagline; discuss whether they are ready to adopt one tagline for use by all communities in the U.S.; name areas we should start, stop, and keep doing.

March 2016

  • Vanessa Henry, Mark Lepper, Jeni Baird, Ashley Collins collect input from their communities on words/phrases that resonate and name elements in our current visuals and messaging that we should start, stop, and keep doing. (Other communities are also welcome to do this if they choose.)
  • Strategic planning team reviews feedback from community leaders and Boston, Heartland, Wavecrest, and Chicago; incorporates into plan, addresses questions; updates brand guidelines and distributes back to community leaders.

April 2016

  • Regional Councils review brand guideline draft, including tagline/messaging, and give further input and feedback.
  • Strategic planning team reviews feedback and makes final recommendations for the General Assembly.

May 2016

  • General Assembly gives final approval (or agrees on final edits) and adopts brand guide and tagline.

Summer/Fall 2016

  • Final guide is distributed, along with any relevant graphic tools, to communities and implementation period begins.

June 2016 – June 2017

  • L’Arche USA provides monthly tip/tool for implementing new guide.

December 2017

  • Implementation complete with the changeover to new web platform.

Discussion: 20 Minutes

Questions, Concerns, What should we stop, start, and keep doing?