Many business owners cite altruistic motives for their practices, but Lee Robinson and Ryan Barnhill are a rare business breed who put their money where their mouths are. Hailing from third-sector and private backgrounds respectively, the company’s founders have an unstoppable vision of how they can provide affordable housing for those who need it the most.
Collaborative Living is the result of the team’s drive to create more affordable and sustainable homes that positively impact people and the planet. But, while the team knew exactly what they wanted to achieve, they were struggling to communicate this with their audience: housing associations, construction companies, investors, landowners, and partners brought together by Collaborative Living to provide more sustainable living options.
Establishing Collaborate Living as a new purpose-led brand and putting the company in a strong position to share its message were the key outcomes for this project. To achieve this, we needed to:
All of which required a team of experts, in-depth research, meaningful collaboration, and high-level strategic thinking. Keep reading to learn what this looks like in practice.
The strategy project kicked off in August 2020 with a discovery session including Collaborative Living’s team and the MP&Co team. We deep-dived into the client’s “What, Why, and How” which revealed valuable insights into the brand’s values, personality, customers and position in the market.
We also conducted our own in-depth research to reinforce our understanding of what makes Collaborative Living special and how the brand fits into the housing industry.
With this high-level insight, we created a brand and marketing strategy that positioned Collaborative Living as the driving force behind sustainable housing. The strategy included:
In all of these outcomes, we communicated Collaborative Living’s wider purpose: driving more sustainable living options and challenging others in the industry to sit up and take action. We also focused on strengthening the client’s reach and audience engagement through creative thinking.
For our final workshop, we presented the strategy as a team, taking Collaborative Living through each step of this exciting brand transition. We explained our research, rationale, tactics, and calendar of activity to deliver context around our ideas and how the client can best execute them with expert support.
We helped Collaborate Living bring their brand to life on a consultancy basis.
For example, we developed a website plan aligned with their strategy goals, which featured a brief as well as design ideas and web copy. SOAP – our website development partner who are pros at harmonising problem-solving and technology to fuel groundbreaking ideas – executed the brief while we managed the project from start to finish.
Plus, we’ve introduced them to new technology to streamline their marketing campaigns and the processes involved with bringing new clients and partners on board.
Most recently, we’ve helped Collaborate Living with a launch campaign across multiple channels which will culminate in a series of events. This included creating and publishing case studies, a series of blogs to share their story, email campaigns, and high-quality visual assets.
We also got Collaborative Living more excited and invested in this new venture, focusing on the results of the project and how far our strategy would take them. Then, through additional expert support, we helped the client execute their brand launch strategy and ensure ongoing audience engagement.
MP&Co has been helping us transition our business into a new proposition. It kicked off in August 2020 with a strategy project to help us evolve Collaborate Living’s brand positioning and design the campaigns that will bring the business to life and help us grow.
Everyone involved in the project worked hard to deliver the brand, collateral, website and launch. It’s never easy undertaking these projects with business owners but the team was very patient and attentive.
Working with MP&Co has given us clarity as to the direction our marketing can take us, and the team has supported us throughout the process via a close and collaborative working relationship. We’d recommend them to any purpose-driven business leader looking to drive their organisations forward with the support of real marketing specialists who share your values.
Lee Robinson, CEO, Collaborate Living
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