Beards of Hope

TASK

Non-for-profit client Bears of Hope engaged Studio Oi to rebrand their male-focused arm, Beards of Hope, with the aim of gaining awareness, engagement, and participation.

WHAT IS BEARDS OF HOPE?

Bears of Hope is Australia’s largest privately funded infant and pregnancy loss support service. Beards of Hope is their dedicated men’s support organisation. When faced with pregnancy and infant loss, fathers are often torn between supporting their partners and recognising their own need to grieve. Beards of Hope strives to shift the paradigm of how we view and support men’s mental health. It raises awareness and funds through donations, events, and social activities, such its their popular Sport & Support Weekend and the Beards of Hope beard-growing fundraising campaign.

CHALLENGE

Developing pathways to garner trust and build connections with fathers (and their support circle) who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss is a complex task. Despite positive shifts and growing traction among male-centric support services, men are still less likely than women to seek help for grief, depression, or other mental health issues. 

Our challenge was to capture men’s trust and short attention span and provide permission in a relatable way for them to talk about grief. The old branding lacked emotion and wasn’t connecting with men as intended. It was more of a support service website than a movement for men to join.

SOLUTION

Language and visuals were key. Aware that we wouldn’t hold the target audience’s attention for long, it was essential to draw them in quickly in an authentic and non-confrontational way. We crafted copy that carried emotional weight without being too heavy or overly self-help.

For the visuals, we used a mix of dads from the Bears of Hope organisation as much as possible and complemented that with stock imagery mainly for campaign collateral. We conducted interviews with fathers and men about what would attract them to support services. Real stories from many different men brought heart, authenticity and diversity to the brand storytelling.This hard-to-reach audience needed to see themselves in the picture. 

Our design work was all-encompassing. It included a website redesign, campaign posters, marketing assets and collateral, a social media grid, and a corporate sponsor deck. We tweaked the logo to give it a more modern design, allowing breathing space. Any outputs were designed with clean space to reduce the risk of further anxiety from clutter. 

We provided brand and campaign strategy to ensure a compelling journey for all outputs, and recommended distribution methods, such as via sports clubs and locker rooms. All materials were available for free.

Our strategy to revise the Corporate Sponsor engagement deck and donation model had a significant impact. We lowered the minimum contribution, allowing more people and smaller businesses to support the cause. This increased participation resulted in more funds and social media activity, with a more extensive network proud to showcase their involvement, thus elevating the Beards of Hope brand. 

SERVICES

Brand and Campaign strategy
Promotional material
Distribution consultancy
Tagline and headline copy
Copywriting and content writing
Social media strategy and content
Sponsor deck – strategy, design and copy
Brand, campaign and website design and copy

SUCCESS SNAPSHOT

• 160% more funds were raised than the previous year. This increase was achieved during COVID’s most impactful year, when the future was uncertain for many companies. 
• Within two years of our rebrand work, Beards of Hope had a two-year waiting list for their Sport & Support weekend. 

CLIENT VALUE

Studio Oi has partnered with Bears of Hope, parent organisation, since 2018. We’ve helped reshape their brand to authentically connect with their audience through language and graphics and provided avenues for impactful storytelling, from short documentary work, to sponsor proposal strategy, marketing materials (print and digital), and social media. While both sides of the organisation focus on bereavement support following infant or pregnancy loss, the approach for the men’s support requires a different perspective. 

The client was thrilled with our ability to provide services and consultation for every touchpoint, our varied skillset to produce high-quality outputs, and increased awareness, engagement, and raised funds. 

Notably, the client valued our connection to the cause, with Studio Oi’s founder being a bereaved parent herself. As with our other not-for-profit clients, Studio Oi worked on this project for a reduced rate.