Paraquad: Breaking Down Creative Campaign Development
09.03.24
Nestled in a quiet corner of St. Louis is a one-of-a-kind community of connection and strength. Paraquad uses advocacy, education and opportunity to inspire equity for people with disabilities. Yet, the nonprofit often fell under the radar in the St. Louis area. To increase brand exposure and awareness, Paraquad turned to Paradigm for creative campaign development and execution.
Read on to discover our thought process — and visit Paraquad’s workpage for a full breakdown of our marketing activations.
Uncovering a Common Thread
To craft a compelling campaign theme, our team needed to understand the target community and the impact each service has on them. We met with each program director within the organization, where they had an opportunity to share their backgrounds, goals and core sentiments.
While each conversation took a different direction, common themes consistently appeared.. People with disabilities have been historically framed as “inspirations” or “heroes” in popular media. Yet, the idea of celebrating people for performing everyday activities was at odds with Paraquad’s mission. Through creative campaign development, we discovered a need to frame disability as a natural part of life rather than a barrier.
The people who use Paraquad’s services have one goal: independence. For some, that meant rebuilding strength after a life-changing accident. For others, it meant connecting with those who understand their lived experiences. The journey is full of unique twists and turns, all leading to one destination — this inspired our campaign theme: All Paths Lead to Independence.
Crafting a Powerful Voice
Paraquad’s strength lies in its community atmosphere. Employees and participants alike welcome new members at every stage of their journey to independence. Our copywriters wanted to reflect the warmth of these wonderful people through creative campaign development.
Through social media posts, blogs and beyond, we increased brand exposure and fleshed out an authentic yet informative tone of voice. Messaging spotlighted the details of Paraquad’s services, from education to advocacy, while emphasizing how each would help participants reach their goals. Copywriters intentionally kept the language plain to ensure all content would be accessible for a wide range of participants.
Bringing Paths to Life
In line with the campaign theme, our designers relied heavily on photography of people with disabilities. Each image used shows people with disabilities living life to the fullest — whether that be going to the gym, going to work or just spending time with friends.
As a visual nod to campaign messaging, line elements overlaid imagery on social media graphics, billboards and other activations. The lines start at various points and take many turns but lead to a singular arrow at the end. The resulting design signals that participants may acquire a disability at different times or use various services at Paraquad, but they all still reach a sense of independence together.
Color palettes, contrasting elements and text sizes were all selected with our core audience in mind. Though we always follow best practices, we made sure to adhere to the highest design standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Maintaining Brand Exposure
Creative campaign development with Paraquad is ongoing, but we’re proud of all the work that’s been released thus far. Social media posts, out-of-home advertising, landing pages, blogs and more have been used to inspire awareness and increase participation.
Yet, as the brand exposure campaign continues, we recognize that opportunities for new activities are endless. For a full breakdown of our marketing activations, visit the Paraquad workpage.
With expertise in strategy, messaging, design and development, Paradigm has become essential for ambitious brands. Through our comprehensive services, we help you realize results — contact our team to start your campaign today.
