Developing practical, actionable strategies
Mackey Strategies is dedicated to helping educational nonprofits reach and inspire their audiences.
We support this work with mission-oriented message development and writing, as well as a deep understanding of the many channels that institutions use to convey their story, including news media, social media, visual storytelling, publications, events, and more.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation:
Driven by the Promise of Great Ideas
Scope of Work: Brand Assessment, Messaging Strategy, Tagline Development, and New Visual Identity
““What was most impressive about Pete’s work with us was his commitment to the foundational work of understanding who we are and what we represent. As a result, the materials that emerged—a new tagline, logo, and other elements of our institutional identity—are a completely authentic reflection of our values and aspirations. Pete and his colleagues were true collaborators, always enthusiastic and at times indefatigable, working with equal parts care and tenacity to elicit from us a renewed vision for ourselves and then to help us share that vision with the world. We couldn’t have hoped for more.””
A New Partnership
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation—one of the nation’s foremost nonprofit institutions—has funded an outstanding array of scholars and programs across its 85-year history. In looking toward the future, the foundation sought a creative partner to build a vibrant new institutional identity and advance its stature. After a nationwide RFP process, the foundation selected Mackey Strategies and our design collaborator, Transit Authority Figures (TAF), to hone its messaging, enhance its visual identity, and bring new energy, clarity, and coherence to the foundation’s communications.
The New Tagline
Based on extensive analysis of the foundation’s work and related in-depth interviews, we developed a comprehensive new messaging approach and a new tagline that encapsulate the goals, values, and reach of a foundation renowned for its rigor and commitment to excellence. The new tagline, "Driven by the Promise of Great Ideas,” invokes the foundation’s high standards for vetting and selecting grantees and introduces an essential, yet previously overlooked, element of the foundation’s work: the qualities of discovery and positive change that define the staff’s mission and that of researchers it funds. The new visual identity that TAF developed expresses the ethos and energy of the foundation’s new messaging with clarity and creativity. We are now working with the foundation to incorporate the new messaging, tagline, and visual identity across the full array of its communications media.
Animated Video Bumper
The first in a suite of new materials to implement the new brand is an animated video bumper, scripted by Mackey Strategies and created by TAF in partnership with TodoTodo and Mark Farnum Music.
The “Now to Next” Campaign of Franklin & Marshall College
Scope of Work: Campaign Messaging and Case Statement
““F&M will be forever indebted to Mackey Strategies. Everything they did—from creating the incredible ‘Now to Next’ theme to delivering a beautifully written case statement—exceeded our expectations. Their patience, persistence, creativity, and caring helped contribute to an amazing campaign launch.”
— Susan Washburn, Chair of the F&M Board of Trustees”
An Urgent Call
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) had been through two other vendors when it came to Mackey Strategies with an urgent request: Could we help rescue its campaign messaging and deliver a full suite of campaign materials in time for an immovable launch weekend only 12 weeks away? The launch would coincide with Homecoming and the inauguration of its new president. We love a challenge, so we said, “Yes.” We brought in our design collaborator, TAF, and got to work.
Hitting the Mark
Only a few weeks later, we met with the campaign leadership and presented the campaign theme, “Now to Next,” and TAF presented the accompanying logo. They were a hit, and the real race began. Mackey Strategies started writing the case and interviewed students, faculty, and alumni to develop our concept for tandem profiles that would embody the “Now to Next” theme. TAF, meanwhile, captured the participants’ photographs and built out a comprehensive portfolio of design materials. By September’s end, the case was off to print, and our intensive work continued with F&M for what became a magnificent launch event.
The Case Statement
This case statement—every word, every interview, every photo—came together in just six weeks. The result was most exciting: a new president energized by the message, a board enthusiastic about the campaign’s direction, and an F&M community proudly embracing the “Now to Next” approach. The theme draws upon F&M’s proud past to point the way to the future that this campaign can achieve through donor generosity. And the profiles featured within the case statement show how connections between faculty, students, and alumni turn today’s potential into tomorrow’s realities—just as the campaign will do.
Click on the images below to read selections from the case statement.
Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates:
The Source for Leadership
Scope of Work: Brand Assessment, Communications Strategy, Messaging, and Implementation
“In 2020 the firm we had worked with became Storbeck Search. The work described below was completed prior to the change.”
A Complete Rebrand
This firm is one of the foremost executive recruitment firms in higher education, with special expertise serving liberal arts colleges, libraries, and other nonprofits. After 10 years of using its original brand amid intensifying competition, the firm invited Mackey Strategies to assess its brand’s position in the marketplace and develop a new communications strategy. It then asked us to oversee the implementation of that strategy, which called for a complete rebrand, and train the team in using it. We created a comprehensive new messaging approach and brought in our design collaborator, TAF, to transform the firm’s visual identity.
The New Message
To activate this strategy, we built a new messaging platform, mission statement, tagline, story guide, lead publication, website, and other resources. The new messaging builds around the firm’s highly personalized working relationship with its clients, its mastery of its sectors, and its deep analysis of prospective candidates to identify individuals best prepared to thrive as leaders. These ideas are expressed in the themes and storytelling behind all communications and are summed up in the new tagline, “The Source for Leadership.” The visual identity, likewise, evokes the firm’s standing as an industry leader, its extensive network, and its success matching candidates with openings. This rebrand defines the firm boldly and distinctly in its market, reflects its goals, and makes clear to clients how this firm’s particular approach provides enduring benefits to clients.
The Publication
To help announce the new brand to current and prospective clients, we created a lead publication that highlights the firm’s new tagline and mission statement, as well as the firm’s exceptional success identifying and securing leaders who thrive in the institutions they serve.
Click on the images below to read selections from the publication.
The Concord Academy
Centennial Campaign
Scope of Work: Campaign Messaging and Case Statement
A Campaign for the Future
As Concord Academy (CA)—a vibrant independent day school—entered the final phase of an ambitious capital campaign, it sought a creative partner to develop a centennial campaign message and visual identity that would inspire support in its donor community and help set in motion the school’s next 100 years. Our design collaborator, TAF, was charged with overseeing the design, and brought in Mackey Strategies to develop the overarching fundraising message.
The Case Statement
After an intensive discovery process, we created a narrative framework for the campaign that distinctly affirms CA’s special qualities and shows how the campaign will unite CA’s past and future, its campus, its curriculum, and its culture. Meanwhile, TAF developed a stunning suite of visual collaterals that are uniquely CA, including an original custom font inspired by a set of wood carvings that hold a singular place in the life and story of the school.
Click on the images below to read selections from the case statement.
