Story
Before enlisting CHANGEffect’s story-crafting expertise, WaterStone was called the Christian Community Foundation. The organization’s leadership recognized that their name and the way the talked about themselves—and stewardship—was doing nothing to distinguish them among their competitors. By interviewing the CCF staff and key stakeholders, we worked with them to develop a story that talked about the act of stewardship in an entirely new way. In the process of using this new language, their genuine brand was defined: WaterStone is in the business of turning assets into living water. What sprung forth was the name change to WaterStone. The Foundation for Living. Defined.
Download Story as PDF
Culture
One of the most important things an organization can do after undergoing a rebranding is train its staff on how to effectively live and project the new brand. Brian Kagan, our Brand Catalyst, led monthly brand trainings with WaterStone staff to explain the new brand and implement new practices and rituals—everything from how to answer the phones to what their “elevator speech” should be.
Another key way WaterStone is truly living their brand is by hosting fellowship events. Since one of the themes from their new brand story was about fellowship redefined, WaterStone wanted to find a unique and meaningful way where donors or Advisors could share their giving stories. These fellowship events have become a place for WaterStone’s constituents to share in the joy that springs forth from using their assets for living water.
Expression
When expressing the WaterStone story, we used a lot of rock and water imagery, as well as a cool, refreshing color palette to further build upon the new brand story. The new brand rollout included a pocketed, overview brochure that outlines the services WaterStone provides (with an emphasis on ROM—“Return on Mission” stories), a brand rationale piece that explains the name and branding change, corresponding letterhead and a website.