Busy beans

Brimscombe Mill is the culmination of herculean efforts by The Grace Network, who act as an investor and incubator for social entrepreneurs in the Stroud area. Nestled in the heart of Stroud in old mill buildings, you will find a hive of activity that is fast becoming a business and cultural centre for the area.

The network is made of a total of seven businesses, all of which serve the community in different ways. Kids Stuff, as the name suggests, sell pre-loved toys, clothes and children’s accessories at low prices, while offering bundles for referred families facing hardship. In a similar fashion, Furniture Bank have an array of used furniture for sale and referral, which is donated, or provided by their sister company and network member, Gloucestershire House Clearances. There’s also The Bike Drop, for bike servicing and eco-deliveries, and healthy school dinners from The Great Plate to name a few.

All of the businesses have created fiercely loyal communities, who donate, shop and regularly spend time at Brimscombe Mill, adding to the unique and joyful atmosphere found on site.

Good Beans has had the pleasure of working alongside the team since 2022. A major aspect being a series of marketing masterclasses, focussing in detail on a different tactic, such as collaborations, storytelling or events. Each workshop has welcomed special guest speakers, and it’s been fantastic to see the ideas and inspiration that stem from each event.

“Partnering with Ella and Claire at Good Beans has been a pivotal asset for The Grace Network and is proving invaluable as we continue to grow, adding a thread of clarity and brilliance to our organisational tapestry and a calm and confident know-how that’s been just what we’ve needed”.

We are also working to develop the Brimscombe Mill brand as its own distinct entity, creating a new look and feel at the site, website, and written style that matches their values and personality.

We can’t wait to show you what we have been working on, and are excited to support this fantastic organisation as it continues to grow and make such positive changes to the community.

10 Windsor Walk is a psychotherapy support centre in the heart of Camberwell. Operated as a Community Interest Company, their mission is to break down barriers that prevent local people most in need accessing psychological support.

The team approached Good Beans as their branding and website wasn’t serving themselves or their users well.

We set about creating an entirely new visual identity for the organisation, something that was bright and inviting, avoiding any cliched therapy imagery.

The result was a clean palette of earthy shades and a logo evoking 10 Windsor Walk’s open front door. Designed to be a fresh take on psychiatry, the branding now appeals to a wider and younger demographic, without alienating existing audiences.

We then built a custom WordPress site that is fully editable by the team, and features user friendly indexing so people can find visitor information and booking easily. Content is clear, and showcases their passion and understanding of the subject.

It was a great project to be involved in, and we are excited to see this vital organisation continue to grow, making psychotherapy more accessible. 10windsorwalk.org.uk

The Hands Up Foundation is a small and innovative charity that funds health and education programmes in Syria. Every year they host Singing for Syrians, a festive campaign combining a star-studded carol evening, match funding week and host your own events up and down the country.

In 2022 they wanted to raise £120,000 for Syrians in desperate need and enlisted support from Good Beans to reach it. The team wanted a clearer strategy to the campaign, some new ideas and a plan of action using their in-house resources. After a discussion about tactics and timelines, Good Beans first took on the messaging for the campaign, creating a practical document that any content creator could use. Alongside this, we designed a style for the campaign with a simple motif that could be used across all comms. We then applied the new messaging and designs to their websites and created a press release, media toolkit, and organic social, as well as creating some PPC adverts using their Google Grant. 

By setting the tone and message, we were able to review the in-house content, and create a seamless and effective campaign. And it worked! At the time of writing they have raised a whopping £119,000 thanks to a sell-out event, oversubscribed match funding week and local fundraising events. 

“Good Beans worked with us on our key Christmas fundraising campaign ‘Singing for Syrians’ and were efficient, kind and professional. They treated one of our favourite campaigns with care while helping us add structure and strategy with measurable targets. The results were excellent. They are lovely to work with – thank you Good Beans!”
– Rose Essam, CEO, The Hands Up Foundation
 

City and Hackney Neighbourhoods brings local health practitioners, the voluntary sector, education, and care services together to better support people with complex needs.

The project has been running for a few years, however until now the team had been unable to promote their impressive work, or able to adequately describe what they do to service providers and residents.

To fix this, Good Beans were first asked to design a new brand for Neighbourhoods which was to be independent of the NHS. The finished product evokes the natural and urban scenes found in the eight Neighbourhoods, and is combined with a fresh colour palette and welcoming font.

After the branding was complete, Neighbourhoods needed a website. We worked closely with social enterprise film makers Yarrow, who were commissioned to create powerful films explaining the benefits of Neighbourhoods, as told by those part of it. It was a great collaboration, and we ensured the films took centre stage on the website.

Now live, the team are able to explain their work, while helping people find their Neighbourhood and how they can get involved. With the ability to request feedback online, the Neighbourhoods team can learn more about their community and continue to improve health outcomes for local people. See the website.

“Good Beans are passionate and organised about what they do. They have worked really hard to help us communicate a complex health programme in a professional and visually pleasing way. They really captured the ethos of the programme for us in branding that we are proud to use.” – Brittany Alexander, Neighbourhoods Project Officer, North East London NHS

Well Grounded is a specialty coffee training academy that supports unemployed people into meaningful work. Since launching five years ago, they have welcomed hundreds through their doors, and are a big part of their graduates’ bright futures.

To celebrate their 5th birthday, founder Eve asked Good Beans to design a campaign highlighting their impressive achievements so far, while reaching out to new audiences.

For campaigns such as this we design a strategy with a central landing page and clear CTA. To bring the page to life we commissioned social enterprise filmmakers Mediorite to create a short film. The emotional piece describes the stories of some of their graduates and emphasises how vital Well Grounded’s academies are.

As well as the film, our illustrator created additional visual assets for use across the campaign.

To expand the reach of the campaign an organic social strategy was implemented, and influencers and relevant media contacts were approached. Coffee partners generously offered prizes, and an Instagram giveaway enabled us to encourage new followers on social media.

“Good Beans succinctly captured the essence of our organisation in the campaign they built from concept through to execution. They are agile, organised and quick to respond which is key for a small organisation like ours. We are thrilled with the delivery of the campaign.”
Darshika, Head of Partnerships, Well Grounded

If you’re looking for support for your next campaign, contact us.

Often, purpose-based organisations are involved in many projects which can be ongoing or concluded. Describing what you do or did, and its impact can be a challenge, especially if the work is complex. 

Food Matters is an incredible organisation working to make the food system fairer and more sustainable. They run a variety of programmes, each speaking to different stakeholders, and were finding it hard to describe what they do clearly. As they were already mid website redesign, they got in touch with Good Beans to help with the content.

After talking through their mission and audiences, we created a Tone of Voice document. In it were their new tone guidelines, and adaptations for different elements of their work. Filled with examples and tips, it’s a great resource for their team to return to when copywriting isn’t flowing.

When you do something as important as Food Matters, communicating your work and ethos is vital. Now the team is able to speak more coherently about what they do, and appeal to a broader audience. Check out their new website and see for yourself.

If your copy is in need of a refresh, get in touch.

Our client, Investec Beyond Business, is an award winning programme offering mentoring, support and up to £20,000 funding to help entrepreneurs in east London set up a social enterprise.

Every year they welcome applications from people based in Newham, Tower Hamlets or Hackney, that have recently started or have a great idea for a business with a wider social purpose.

Beyond Business was keen to attract more diverse applications this year, however the pandemic was impacting the number and range of businesses applying. We worked with the team to design a campaign that looked at the events of 2020 in a positive way. The deadline was extended to October and Good Beans created messaging that flipped the narrative, instead suggesting that adversity could be the mother of inventive business ideas.

The campaign combined press, influencer, organic and paid tactics. We were able to secure coverage in local newspapers, and got over 200 people to express interest from social media alone.

It was a great success and Beyond Business confirmed they received more than twice the number of applications this year, and from a much more diverse range of applicants. They are currently sifting through the applications and will soon name the 2020 cohort – we can’t wait to hear!

Boost your next campaign – get in touch.

The government has placed restrictions on how we live and work in order to stall the spread of the novel coronavirus Covid-19. For our client, the Bromley by Bow Centre, the changes are disastrous as so many of the local community depend on their in-person services and support.

ActEarly is a collaborative research project at the Centre looking into how communities can support children to be healthy. As a response to the lock down, we’ve been working with the ActEarly team to create an online resource. Designed to be both educational and fun, Family Playrooms is full of activities, tips and resources to keep children entertained while out of school.

With limited time and budget, our solution integrated an online hub and Facebook group for the community to share their achievements. We created content and branded artwork for the project that was clear and approachable, followed by a social campaign to promote it.

Live in less than a week, Family Playrooms has already gathered over a hundred followers who are participating in the daily challenges set by the team, and we are now discussing how other services can continue to support the community during these unprecedented times.

Are you looking to take your product or service online? Get in touch.

We’re proud to unveil our latest web design project for revolutionary east London charity, Wen.

The Women’s Environmental Network aims to achieve equality, justice and joy at the point where gender and environmental issues meet.

Founded in the 80’s, they have grown to be a leading voice in the environmental movement, with big name supporters such as Anita Roddick, Caroline Lucas and Peggy Seeger.

Wen’s website hasn’t changed in years and was not showcasing the vital work they do. As one of the most established and radical environmental movements in the UK, the new site needed to be forward-looking and impactful.

Our design has created a much simpler user journey, making it easy for the audience to get involved with their different campaigns. And a bold new text and image style reflects their rebellious roots, while remaining clean and informative.

“We’ve had really great feedback on our new website… Wen’s previous brand was very serious and didn’t reflect the vibrant, joyful reality of our work so we love how the new website uses colours, images and slogans to effectively reflect who we are”. – Beth Summers, Co-Director.

As well as designing and building their new website, Good Beans created an array of communications collateral for the charity including a new newsletter design, leaflets and worksheets.

“Wen is a small organisation so we needed low-fi, high-impact solutions for our future comms work. Good Beans developed an amazing suite of slick, simple templates for a whole range of collateral and gave us toolkits and training on how to use them.”

Are your comms in need of some attention? As a small team specialising in purpose-driven business, we can help get your message heard. Get in touch for a (jargon-free) chat.

We are excited to launch our latest animation project for an innovative educational platform.

Good Beans have been working with Kinteract for some time to create and maintain their written brand. Now that they are ready to expand into new markets, they needed a short video to explain their app and its amazing technology.

Working closely with South African based animators Piehole, we developed a script and narrative to showcase the app’s impressive features. The film needed to be on brand and informative without the jargon – and we’re really happy how it turned out.

The animation is now helping the sales team explain the product and will soon be available for Arabic and British audiences.

Animation is a really effective way to communicate complex information. Want one of your own? Get in touch.

Welldoing.org is an online directory of UK therapists and wellbeing resource. The growth of interest in mental health and changing attitudes towards the importance of self-care is creating a huge demand for services, as well as an increase in the number of people training as therapists.

Welldoing recognised that despite this fact, people face a number of barriers when trying to seek help. Trust is an important factor when investing in something so personal. It can also feel like a time-consuming job search for a therapist, that is affordable, local and available.

Knowing this, Welldoing launched a Personalised Matching Service that connects the customer with the right therapist. After an initial free consultation, if the client doesn’t like their match, they can match again.

We worked with Welldoing to run a campaign for the launch of the new service.  The campaign used a mix of organic and paid tactics and complimented their wealth of facinating web content.

Like many of our clients, Welldoing is a small team with many responsibilities and stretched budgets. The aim of this project was not just to deliver the campaign, but to put processes in place that would enable them to produce more effective communications in the future.

The Macmillan Social Prescribing Service is an innovative support service for people living with and beyond cancer in East London, delivered by The Bromley by Bow Centre. They needed a promotional film that worked for their three diverse audiences: people affected by cancer, cancer specialists, and funders.

Good Beans managed the production, narrative and marketing of the film, working to a tight budget, and with multiple suppliers and stakeholders.

The 2 minute film brought together moving stories from patients and service providers. It got its first airing at the stakeholder’s steering meeting, where it was received very positively by clients, commissioners and healthcare professionals. It has since been used in hospitals across the country.

St Paul’s Way Medical Centre is a not-for-profit surgery that works with patients and community organisations to improve the health outcomes for local people. It was clear they needed a new website that allowed patients find the right information quickly, which in turn would save the practice time and money.

Good Beans ran a workshop with stakeholders to find out the key requirements. The audience was highly diverse, so we were keen to included unique accessibility features. To have original assets, we booked a photographer to shoot the practice and staff before writing the copy. Finally, we managed the site build and go-live alongside our expert developer.

You can see the new-look site here. It’s design is user focussed, helpfully guiding patients to the right information while also remaining close to the Centre’s community values.

We love creating bespoke websites that work, let’s discuss your requirements and make the site of your dreams.

Well Grounded is a social enterprise tackling unemployment by providing people with the skills they need to access roles as professional baristas in London. Their mission is to harness the potential of local people who have grown-up in a community where the coffee industry is booming, to create a talent pipeline for ambitious, fast-growth specialty coffee companies.

Good Beans were tasked with creating a campaign that communicated their vital work while showcasing the stories of their alumni.

On-point messaging was developed along with a campaign plan. We then worked with our designer to make an impactful infographic for use across their channels. Alongside these assets, an important part of the campaign was a short film. Working closely with the client and a social enterprise film producer we created a narrative that was positive and empowering.

Video is one of the most versatile and profitable marketing tactics. We can manage the whole process from commissioning, filming through to editing and promotion. Get in touch with us.

The Bromley by Bow Centre is a pioneering charity that combines an extensive neighbourhood hub with a medical practice and a community research project. They deliver over 40 different services that support over 2000 people. When they rebranded in 2018 they needed to overhaul their website, which included creating relevant content that speaks to their service users.

Good Beans got stuck into all departments of the Bromley by Bow Centre and produced original content for all of their services, as well as the rest of the 80+ page website. To ensure the site was picked up by the right people, we also devised an long-term SEO strategy to promote their unique healthcare model organically.

“With limited resources Good Beans have become a fundamental pillar of the BBBC. I was impressed by their level of understanding of very complex comms challenges and resolving them with very down to earth and simple action driven solutions”. – Sergio del Prado, Communications Manager

Your website is the heart of your organisation and often the first point of contact with your audience. Contact us for a website review and see what a difference it can make.

With 150 members of staff, many of who work with the community, the Bromley by Bow Centre was all too aware how a demanding work life can impact mental wellbeing.

They approached Good Beans to create a printed ‘pack’ for their staff, to help them to look after their mental health. Instead, we proposed a micro site for staff to access whenever or wherever they liked. The result, ‘Our Space’, is an online platform bursting with information and resources about all aspects of health, including events, news,  and external services.

We wanted Our Space to be highly accessible for all staff, not just those already taking steps to look after their own mental health. Working in collaboration with a therapist, Our Space is easy to update, user friendly and designed in line with the wider Centre branding.

Micro sites are a useful method for organisations to create secure areas for staff, or a separate section for new products or campaigns, without the high price tags that come with continually keeping printed materials up to date. Speak to us about getting one for your organisation.