DART

Developing a Brand that Defends Against Scams

DART Collective creates unique, user-friendly digital tools like a mobile game and a gamified learning platform to help older adults learn to better identify and avoid online scams. A non-profit started out of a joint initiative from multiple universities, they were first reaching out to potential designers for a new logo and visual branding, but quickly realized that–since none of the many experts on their team were marketing experts–they’d be best served by a partner that could also help bring that brand to the world.

Of course, given how cool their approach and tools were, and the massive and growing toll online scams were taking overall and specifically on more lucrative and susceptible targets like our elders, we were excited to begin working together.

DART’s first priority was to complete and roll out their mobile game DeepCover, and then launch the overall DART brand and site, followed by their learning platform, DART Academy. So we got right to work.

Deliverables

Brand Identity
Brand Strategy
Content Planning
Copywriting
Graphic Design
Paid Media (Digital/Traditional)
SEO
Social Media Marketing Management
Sourcing & Procurement
Website Design & Development

In their own words, here’s how that’s gone

“Renoun Creative partnered with me and helped me navigate my company’s rebrand from start to finish. This was a huge undertaking and something that I knew we needed to do but was overwhelming nonetheless. For over a year, Renoun Creative worked closely with me to really understand my business, our 35+ year history, and our goals for the future. What I appreciate about their process is they didn’t rush to just brainstorm company names and logos to see what would look good on a website. They took the time to educate me on the importance of brand strategy and made sure that every marketing decision I made was aligned with my company’s overall brand strategy. I’m extremely happy with how our rebrand turned out from our new name and logo, to our brand promise and website. I could not have gone through this big of a transition without their dedication, expertise and support!”

– Lindsey Zajac | Owner and CEO of Ascendant

In their own words, here’s how that’s gone

“Working with the incredible team at Renoun Creative has been a real collaboration. As a small nonprofit just getting started, we didn’t have the resources or expertise to reach the right audience. Renoun took the time to get to know us, to understand what we were trying to accomplish. They not only helped us clarify who our audience was and craft messages that would resonate and connect with supporters, but also guided us in building out our brand identity as we grew. From our core organization to each of our individual programs, they helped us develop clear, consistent branding that truly reflects our values and impact. As our audience evolved, Renoun helped us redesign our website with a more mature look and feel—one that better resonates with the communities and partners we’re now engaging. We’ve seen real growth in awareness, engagement, and support.”

— Cynthia Stewart | Founder of DART Collective

Brand Strategy

Launching a Way to
Protect with Play

We started by developing different brand strategies for the DeepCover game and DART overall. This was a required approach, since the game was to be rolled out first and was not to be clearly connected to the rest of DART for a while. The game is a spy-themed puzzle game, with the educational aspects embedded within the gameplay itself; the plot has users solving puzzles to help defeat the evil “SCAMM” organization, and within the storyline and some of the puzzles themselves, users learn about real-life scam tactics and terminology. This allows for DART to reach and teach people who otherwise might be uninterested in or even averse to the educational aspect, as their research showed that some people within our targeted age range would–naturally enough–respond negatively to feeling vulnerable or even incompetent when approached directly with an overtly educational tact, while also of course making the learning more fun – and still measurable.

So we worked with the team on elements of the scripting in the game, some of the character/org names and attributes, and then created a strategy to launch and promote it purely as a “conventional” game, on the merits of the gameplay itself.

Then we set about creating the core messaging, content strategy, and rollout plan for the DART collective itself.