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We’ve recently been working on resource directory sections of mental health, public health, and human services websites for state government. In organizing the content for these sites, we’re often presented with a situation that I’ll call “Bunch Of Stuff Syndrome,” or BOSSy.

Let’s unpack that a bit: directories of public interest resources can be very useful. They collect program names and contact information. The goal is to present the user with a list: “Here is everything that could be helpful to your situation.” But many of these resource sites are equivalent to dumping the contents of your laundry basket all over the bed. Yes it’s all there, but seeing a bunch of stuff isn’t helpful — it’s overwhelming.

A list that shows one hundred options might as well show zero - the user needs to be directed to the single most useful place to accomplish their goal.

When displaying available resources, show only the minimum amount useful. The goal is for the user to arrive at the site, intuitively find what they need, and make the connection to complete the visit. If they have to sift through several results offered with no visual hierarchy indicating importance, the user is likely to get overwhelmed or give up. The site’s only successful when it’s helped the user make that connection.

The real work is organizing the information. Through visual design, ordering, etc., the user can be shown the most helpful information that best connects them to their desired action.

Categories are helpful, especially framed in vocabulary the end user already uses. Imagine a bridge: on one side is what the user knows and the opposite side is the resource that’ll help them. The right way to present the content is the clearest pathway that connects the user to their destination.

For me, search places a lot of responsibility on the user to craft a perfect query. Ask five people what they call something, and you’re likely to get five different answers. Search results often return results where a feature page is displayed between news articles. The feature page is more valuable to the user, but being mixed in with more fleeting news stories isn’t ultimately helpful. It’s BOSSy — a bunch of stuff.

It is possible through design & development to present weighted search results - a prominent visual indicator of a ‘main’ page about content, with subordinate pages for smaller pieces of content. This directs the user towards the more valuable result, and is an approach we favor.

Users need the shortest pathway to solve their problem, and that usually is unrelated to a public agency’s internal bureaucracy. We advocate as much as possible not letting your org chart become your site map.

When public agencies can offer human navigators to connect users with services, it is a much higher quality of service. It makes our advertising job easier, because it gives us a simple point of contact to promote, and we trust trained operators to take it from there. Operators can also help connect users to services they don’t know to ask for. Through empathetic listening, additional opportunities to help may emerge.

The reason we call ourselves Creative Distillery lies within our knack for sifting through a bunch of stuff and focusing on clarity. We understand public agencies’ missions and approach creative work with a goal to help. In short: Creative Distillery heals resource lists from Bunch of Stuff Syndrome, and makes them less BOSSy.

If you’re someone that manages resources that could help people, get in touch with us and let’s talk about how design can help present those resources in a way that’s less overwhelming and more helpful.

Make Public Resource Websites Less ‘BOSSy’

This public interest campaign is one of our strongest successes, a project where we're able to do strong creative work towards something that advances the public good.

UProot is the public-facing brand for the State Health Improvement Assessment, a set of surveys and recommendations dedicated to improving the perception of public health in Mississippi. What makes this effort novel is an unprecedented coordination between public agencies, nonprofits, hospitals, and others to create a well-rounded project. 

We were tasked with coming up with a brand name that felt more public-accessible and not like a government project, while inspiring positive momentum towards change, not dwelling on bad statistics.

We worked through our naming process, creating several plausible options paired with visuals. This established a range of strategic approaches to allow for a healthy, meaningful discussion. 

Ultimately the committee went with the most disruptive option - Uproot - to really honor the breadth of change needed for Mississippi's health. 

Visually, the brand makes use of 'up' in the name, paired with colors that evoke fresh food and energetic movement - two necessary ingredients for a healthier Mississippi.

Uproot communications are designed to be friendly and accessible, inviting everyone into advancing public health in Mississippi.

Case Study: Uproot - Building a Healthier Mississippi from the Ground Up

“Main Character Syndrome” isn’t in Webster’s dictionary, but it’s something with which we’re increasingly becoming familiar: the idea that we as individuals believe we are the main character of life, and that the universe is creating its plot based on how we are affected.

It’s something we might observe in others — or, in self-reflective modes, within ourselves. When we step back, we know that’s not true.

But it is hard sometimes to know the difference.

Organizations can fall into this trap as it relates to their brands. The idea that their brand is the main character in the life of someone in their audience. So if you simply make an audience aware that you exist or what you want them to do, they'll run with it from there.

The reality, though, is that it probably isn’t the main character. Given how rare it is to achieve main character status, is that even a worthy aspiration? I say no. People are busy, and their concerns (especially after the last few years) are much more immediate than your brand. And that’s ok!

Embracing that opens a new line of possibility of how your brand can benefit from your audience. Or, even better, 

It forces you to really think about your audience, and what the main characters are in their lives. It’s likely many of the same things in yours: how are the relationships in their lives? Is everyone healthy? How do they spend their time for fun? What’s causing them difficulty at the moment? What are their dreams? What does their community feel like?

It always comes back too empathy and authenticity.

Let’s say that you are a nonprofit and you know that your theory of change, if implemented, will absolutely change the world for the better. It’s not enough to just explain that 

 your audience. In some ways, if the change were easy or natural to make, they’d have made the change already. Many times, your audience just doesn’t have the knowledge base you have. Or they’re thinking about the situation from a completely different frame of reference.

It becomes your responsibility to listen and learn about the frames and experiences that audiences are bringing to your topic. You can listen and learn about what vocabulary audiences use, what questions they ask, what fears they have.

The more you modify your message and your offering to accommodate the audience, the more they recognize it.

If your offering isn’t the main character in your audience’s life, how can it support the main character? To use a reference from Avengers, your brand might not be Tony Stark, but your brand can be the Infinity Stones. Your brand can be the thing your audience (as their own main character) uses to accomplish something that they already recognize as meaningful.

Over time, you achieve a shift - from something on the periphery to something that is recognizable to your audience in the context of their lives. You become just the thing or idea they were looking for.

And once they’ve done that, they’ll share your story for you. Because it empowers them to be the main character - the one who shares a novel solution that creates value for them and the people they care about.

We work with subject matter expert brands to help them untangle the blind spots and speak more meaningfully to their audience. 

Contact us and tell us what you’ve got going on. 

Creative Distillery is a marketing firm that helps clients achieve brand alignment converted into marketing action.

About Us

About

Your Brand Has Main Character Syndrome

This full-time role will take ownership of achieving client outcomes by developing insights from audiences, analytics, and trends, and then implementing those insights alongside our creative team.

Help us implement a new public interest contract we’ve received.

Develop strategy for a variety of clients.

Derive insights from digital analytics and apply those towards creative strategies.

Define marketing key performance indicators and track progress towards those goals.

Someone in this role should be familiar with principles of marketing and communications. A background in media or writing would be useful; the ability to communicate well is a must. Modern social media networks, email & web best practices would all form a foundation. It’s important to us that our creative work functions in a meaningful way in the real world with real audiences - something that can be informed by a variety of life experiences.

Our client base draws extensively from public interest subject matter experts - government or nonprofit advocates in sectors like public health, equity, education, and other public interest fields.

Our team is supportive and diverse. We have a dynamic that is driven by emotional intelligence and an authentic desire to make a difference through our work. Many of our clients come from the world of socially progressive nonprofits, so a comfort level with that material would be beneficial.

Since COVID, we’ve transitioned to a hybrid workstyle. The right fit could technically be located anywhere, but our economics will work best for someone based in Mississippi or somewhere similar.

Send a resumé & cover letter or any questions to info@creativedistillery.com. 

Now Hiring: Creative Strategy Specialist

For years, we've had the essential role of Project Manager as part of our team, which helps us to manage internal and external communications & calendars and "air traffic control" the priorities of our creative team. The good news is that our client mix in recent years has created an abundance of additional strategic work, so we're breaking those responsibilities out into their own position. This opens a new spot for us to welcome a new Project Manager to our team!

We've built a strong culture during COVID times that allows for autonomy and flexibility with where people work. As long as people are available and working during regular workweek hours, they can be wherever best suits them. We do a Zoom each morning to catch up and coordinate.

The Creative Distillery Project Manager communicates directly with team members and clients. They manage retainer client needs, develop workflow on special projects, and organize the team workflow and calendar accordingly to help us reliably deliver value to clients.

Track and create our calendar: both long-term & recurring projects, and the day-to-day calendar for creative team

First line of communication with retainer and special project clients

Attend meetings, take notes, and make tasks for creative team

Understand creative vision and communicate discrepancies/needed changes to client or creative team

Excellent communications skills: in person, over Zoom, and over email.

Experience with Google Calendar and project management software

Able to write emails with clarity and warmth, and maintaining our relationship with clients

Comfortable with leading and articulating needs and expectations with both team members and clients

Able to see multiple, sometimes conflicting, priorities and make decisions that best serve all parties

Able to articulate creative decisions to creative director and to clients

Please email a cover letter (this helps us see your communication style) and resumé to darren@creativedistillery.com.

We are a growing marketing firm that completes branding, advertising, web, social, and content projects. We value doing good work that puts creative and positive material out into the world. We're a small team that looks out for each other and prioritizes work/life balance.

Now Hiring: Project Manager

Something I personally enjoy is hearing about what it takes behind the scenes to produce Saturday Night Live. Coordinating costume changes, camera moves, props, jokes, all live without a safety net is fascinating. I was listening to an interview with Bill Hader, and he talked about a week he was in a ridiculous costume about to walk out live on air, and Lorne Michaels, creator and showrunner for SNL, asked him "But why are we doing this now?" In Hader's case, it left him with a seed of doubt before going on air. But Lorne's perspective stuck with me. What is the context in the real world that's going to inform how the audience will receive this sketch?

Let's apply this principle to any kind of behavioral change social project. Why now? What is a new project or organization going to achieve, and why is it relevant to the audience you need to hear about it? Working this out internally and integrating it into your communication forces you to align your activities with what's urgent for your audience, making success much more likely.

The coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic is a timely example. It's impossible for anyone in the world to conduct business as usual, and for a long time we'll sort things into before and after periods hinging on this crisis. And yet, the world continues to turn. It's valid and important to continue operating and working on things, even if they don't seem related to the virus. However, you also need to be aware that it's a, let's say, huge elephant in the room. Consider how you are framing your work to meet the ripple effects of this urgent need. Consider how your audiences are having their day-to-day lives affected by this crisis.

Social change issues — especially those targeting large numbers of people—are shaped by complex systems, and untying those knots gives you a more accurate picture of the full scope of your challenge. You likely have a multitude of audiences, each bringing a different vantage point to your work. Philanthropic funders, for example, are looking at things from a different perspective than the population audience you serve. We'll cover more with funders below.

For end user audiences, consider collecting community input whenever possible, and listening authentically. Personal experience in your audience will likely turn up easily solvable problems that make a huge impact. Maybe exercise levels have been low because the city's walking path has become overgrown, or a certain health solution's adoption levels are low because local doctors don't know to ask. Spending some time with the "now" of your audience can help you figure out where to put your efforts next.

Why is now the right time for a new solution?

"Why now" is a common, valid question from funders. They are considering large-scale solutions across an often wide spectrum of issues, and have to decide how to allocate that cycle's resources for maximum impact. As a nonprofit founder recently told me, funders follow trends just like consumers do - certain approaches to social change work that are on their minds now. Savvy organizations would do well to frame their programs and proposals through lenses that are consistent with funders' priorities right now.

If you're launching a new organization, consider tying the birth of your organization to something that's vital for right now. "Our approach is using the latest research" or "We've developed audience insights that previous approaches have ignored" or "Due to increased time with screen-based learning, we have something new in the space."

This is a feeling thing, but is also real. If you've been around for a long time, you likely have built a deep well of expertise and relationships. But your organization doesn't have to look its age! For potential staff, partners, or funders who aren't familiar with you, a stale brand and graphic design look is a signal that your ideas are out of date. The number one piece of feedback we hear from organizations for whom we design projects is that they find themselves getting meetings and being taken seriously in the ways they want to - because the designed materials help to open doors for them.

Thinking in big picture, longterm scales helps us set vision and goals. Thinking about the present moment helps us to decide what to do now. Now is important to us. In our research, we came across a stat that in the medical world, it can take an average of 

 years between the development of new knowledge and when that knowledge is put into common practice. I like 

 much more than I do seventeen years. Ready to have a conversation about now? Contact us at info@creativedistillery.com and let's get started.

Harnessing the 'Now' for Social Change

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We create projects that are engaging, effective, and communicate your information with clarity and cleverness.

Creative

We help you align your priorities and values, identify your target audience, and develop objectives that’ll return investment.

Strategy

We help your ideas reach their audiences - through digital advertising, distribution, and other tactics that get the job done.