Project Heart’s ambitious plan to cure CHD in our lifetime needed to capture the hearts and minds of previous and prospective donors.
Key Benefits
Brand consistency and incisive omni-channel marketing content increased engagement and digital traffic to identify new avenues for fundraising.
- Combined traditional with out-of-home marketing techniques to reach new consumers and change donor behaviors
- Distinguished Project Heart’s mission using guerilla campaigns to boost awareness around congenital heart disease and current CHD research
- A storybranding matrix complete with characters, concerns, remedies and resolutions for scenarios to inform the content marketing program
Situation
Congenital heart disease occurs when structural defects form in a baby’s heart before birth. One in 10 children born with CHD will die before they reach adulthood, and Project Heart’s mission is to raise funds for the research and technology needed to repair their hearts and allow them to live full, healthy lives. Although CHD is the leading cause of birth defect-related death in infants, awareness of the condition outside the CHD community is limited—so iostudio’s challenge was to help Project Heart educate the public not just about their organization, but about their cause, too.
Solution
Initial research found that the lack of awareness of CHD also indicated a lack of understanding around the disease’s impact—and of Project Heart’s important role in the fight to end it within 20 years. Connecting with potential donors would require messaging that went beyond the traditional fundraising storylines to capture the potential of ending a disease entirely.
Impact
Insight into what motivated those involved in the quest for a cure for CHD allowed iostudio to form the foundation for a comprehensive branding platform, more impactful messaging strategies, a rejuvenated logo and visual identity, and video assets.
When Project Heart needed to capture the attention of previous and prospective donors, they knew to call iostudio for help. Now you do, too.
We created a brand mark
and logo that was instantly
recognizable—and literally
tugs on the heart.
iostudio’s Video team created a poignant one-minute commercial spot that clarifies just what’s at stake for CHD patients and their families.
“Hearts Race” identifies all the dynamic, heart-pounding moments that make up a life well-lived—and then reminds viewers that children with CHD will never experience them. The piece features voice-over audio recorded by a young CHD patient who explains that without advances in medical science and technology, she won’t be able to enjoy the heart-racing events and memorable milestones the rest of us take for granted. “Hearts Race” played on the redesigned Project Heart website and won a Silver Addy at the Nashville American Advertising Awards.
Initial research found that
the lack of awareness of
CHD also indicated a lack of
understanding around the
disease’s impact—and of
Project Heart’s important
role in the fight to end it
within 20 years.
We created a brand mark that is instantly recognizable—and literally tugs on the heart.
The new Project Heart brand assets were simple, clean and bright, and the zipper seen in the brand mark represents the zipper-like scar that CHD patients wear as a result of open-heart surgeries. It’s a logo that makes an impact on anyone who sees it; those who already understand the reference will appreciate it, and those who don’t will be intrigued and motivated to learn more.
“Hearts Race” identifies all
the dynamic, heart-pounding
moments that make up a life
well-lived—and then reminds
viewers that children with CHD
will never experience them.
We took out-of-home advertising a step further.
Project Heart’s new brand assets appeared in the typical out-of-home settings, including interstate billboards, but we also took the message to the streets. On Valentine’s Day, a team of brand ambassadors (including several iostudio team members) hit the sidewalks of Nashville to spray paint red hearts across cracks in the concrete. The stencils also included Project Heart’s tagline, “Some hearts don’t last,” and the URL for a fundraising landing page, cureCHD.org.