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Arise Branding

Industry:

Location:

Plano, TX
Nonprofit Ministry
A collage of inspiring photos of women on adventures.
 A movement of imperfect women, adventuring across the seas to share about a perfect God with those who have never heard of Him? That's a mood.    

The Challenge: 

 

East-West Ministries had been sending missionaries to hard-to-reach villages for 40 years, but they saw a discrepancy between the number of male and female participants. They launched sub-ministry, Arise to empower women to get involved. However, without clear branding and communication, Arise got lost in ambiguity. There was too broad of a target audience, too many miscellaneous events, and too little digital communication. (Not to mention that on Instagram alone, there are thousands of other ministries with the same name.)

 

Arise needed to arise from its highly saturated field—fast.

Skills Used: 

  • Adobe Illustrator

  • Adobe Indesign

  • ​Adobe Photoshop

  • Brand Development

  • Brand Strategy

  • Color Theory

  • Design Guidelines

  • Market Analysis

  • Typography

  • Visual Identity

The Solution: 

Branding Strategy: Brand Archetype

 

As the Arise Marketing Specialist, I was in charge of every step of this project. I started by giving Arise a clear personality, positioning her as the adventurous and wise best friend who can take a woman step-by-step from sleeping in the pews to living out her most dauntless purpose in a time of urgency, among those who have never heard of Jesus.

Revised vision piece for which I wrote copy and designed in Adobe InDesign, used in fundraising and at events. 

The Solution: 

Branding Strategy: Visual Communication

 

I chose bold and energetic hues, reminiscent of a sunset, alongside fresh and easy-going typography to further communicate the adventure and the ease of joining Arise.

Branding Guide Mockup
 Arise has multiple chapters of women across the U.S., each with its own city leader, so it was important that branding remained consistent across the nation. I created this booklet in Adobe InDesign. 
Arise Leadership Retreat Mockup.png
Behold Email Mockup.png

The Solution: 

Branding Strategy: Unique Proposition
​

When I came to Arise, the language was flowery and inspiring but it left me asking, “What is this actually saying?” Many women's ministries can get a bad rep for being embellished but shallow. Drawing from that, I realized that the messaging of Arise needed to have grit and communicate a refreshing sincerity.

 

Rather than being all things for all women, I positioned Arise as a community of women who were imperfectly seeking to reach the nations. I wanted women to see that this wasn't a group of “hero Christians who have it all together,” but more-so fellow struggling dreamers, desiring to take a step on their journeys of following God in a new way.

Three examples of emails, showcasing the writing tone
Using phrases like, “Wait—who said Christians have it all together?” and “Does it feel like God is hibernating” + poking fun on the fact that an event was rescheduled communicated a relatable imperfection. 
I created these newsletters and event emails using Figma's Emailify plug-in and sent them out through HubSpot

The Solution: 

Branding Strategy: Redefined Target Audience (B2B-ish)

 

Rather than compete with churches' women's ministries for attention, we chose to come alongside existing groups, nixing the name “ministry” and adopting the word “movement.” 

 

This sparked a new strategy of going to existing groups of women rather than inviting them to come to us. We took on the identity of a movement of flawed, Jesus-loving adventurers who just happened to be connected to a highly professional and successful hub of ministry opportunities and resources called East-West. We used the fact that Arise is under the umbrella of East-West to be seen as established and legitimate in the eyes of other organizations.

Branding One Pager Mockup.png
This is a brand one-pager that quickly and clearly introduces Arise • Designed in InDesign

The Solution: 

Branding Strategy: Redefined Target Audience (B2C-ish)

 

The reason Arise was established was to get more women on mission trips. As Arise began putting on events, they found that hundreds of women were coming to the organization's frequent luncheons but only a few were going overseas. Arise already had the mission statement “Calling, connecting, and commissioning women,” when I was hired but that needed to be built upon.

 

To address this, I broke the three words, calling, connecting, and commissioning down into three different steps of the customer journey, allowing for a clearer categorization of events. Suddenly there was a clear customer journey to help the team be more strategic.

Using a marketing funnel, events were strategized differently alongside the customer journey from called in a luncheon to commissioned overseas on a trip.
Revival retreat mockup (2) (1).png

The Impact: 

 

Through branding, Arise was able to shed its confusing facade and show its unique value to churches, organizations, and women around the world. Arise expanded from just Dallas, Waco, and Midland, Texas to 10 other cities around the United States. Around 10,000 women participated in Arise devotional studies and events while I was on the team, and the best news is—Arise is just getting started.

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