BARE Essentials
Website and promo
bare-essentials.vercel.app →WorkProblem · Move · Result
Real brands. Real businesses. Real results.
The work first, then the engagements behind it, told the same way every time: what was stuck, what we did about it, and what the founder could do afterward. Where a client has not cleared their name, it stays held.
What you are looking at is the last step. We start with the brand and the strategy, then the content strategy, then the production. These are the pieces that came out the other end, and most of these brands are still running them.
Just Black Talking
Brand development, podcast and content strategy, website assets
justblacktalking.com →
I’m Still Standing
Brand development, communications, website
issccmd.org →
Mission Possible Mongu
Three week fundraising campaign, built as a brand
See the campaign on Instagram →
Black UX Labs
Marketing campaign for the Uber partnership
Elite SFN
Campaign graphics and social system
elitesfn.com →
Parker Psychiatric Services
Social content and campaign design
parkerpsychiatric.com →
Parker Therapeutic Services
Social content and campaign design
Eva Medilek
Content templates and social system
evamedilek.com →
Born Brown
Campaign design
Brand development + aligning social media with podcast strategy
Just Black Talking
- The problem
- Season one existed, but there was no clear way to say what the show was or who it was for. Dr. Justin Black brought us in for season two.
- The move
- Full brand development, then one strategy aligning the podcast and the content together instead of three separate efforts. We built all of the website assets.
- The result
- A real jump in audience and listenership, and a host who reads as the authority on Black brilliance rather than one more podcast. The show has since completed its run.
Brand development + communications
I’m Still Standing
- The problem
- A community development corporation running trades programs at no out of pocket cost to the student, and almost nobody knew the school was there.
- The move
- Full brand development, then captured every upcoming program and event and built the comms and social content around them, in the organization’s own brand language. Their website was updated as part of it.
- The result
- Each program gets promoted to the people it is actually for, instead of one general message being asked to do all the work, leading to more workforce development opportunities in Baltimore.
Campaign + brand development
Mission Possible Mongu
- The problem
- WeSkate Mongu, a Zambian nonprofit that reaches young people through skateboarding, was heading into the country’s national championship with two skateboards.
- The move
- Treated the campaign as a brand: a name, a look, and a run of announcements, breaking news and asks all pointed at one number.
- The result
- Two weeks to prepare, three weeks live, a few thousand dollars raised and a haul of skate parts on their way to the skatepark in Mongu.
Marketing campaign
Black UX Labs
- The problem
- A Black tech community and Uber wanted to meet properly during COVID, not with another logo swap and a press line.
- The move
- Ran the marketing campaign for the partnership: Pull Up To The Cookout, a virtual event built for the not so typical techie.
- The result
- About fifty guests, and a room where Uber introduced itself deeply enough to open a real path to career growth and opportunity.
Thought leadership + speaker brand
Marco
- The problem
- A story worth telling, a publishing imprint, a nonprofit, and no platform built to carry any of it.
- The move
- Separated the author, the imprint, and the nonprofit, then built one voice that runs across all three.
- The result
- A playbook, a speaker-ready brand, and a university edition.
What it looked like before, and after.
Three founders, three different starting points. Client identities are held until a release is signed.
Brand and go-to-market strategy
- Before
- A name, a tagline, and a request for a website and a logo. No brand underneath to build either one on.
- IEI’s move
- Ran the full Playbook before touching design. Positioned the venue around the moments people bring to it, not the square footage, and built the identity from that.
- After
- A brand foundation, a visual system, and a path to market the team can run without us in the room.
Entrepreneur development
- Before
- Two businesses living under one name, a training school and a mobile service, each confusing the other’s customers.
- IEI’s move
- Separated the two audiences, then laddered the offers so the training feeds the service and the service proves the training.
- After
- One brand, two clear front doors, and an offer ladder the founder can explain in a sentence.
Brand and go-to-market strategy
- Before
- Selling a service by the hour, and competing with every other chef on price.
- IEI’s move
- Repositioned the business around the experience of the meal rather than the labor of cooking it, and rebuilt the offers to match.
- After
- Offers that carry the value, a brand that sets the table before the chef arrives, and one clear lever to go to market with.