Coastal Mortgage Solutions
Strong business.
Stronger brand.
A strong business needs a strong brand. Lucky for our clients, we’re heavy lifters in the brand development department.
Services
Coastal Mortgage Solutions (CMS) came to us as a successful business of three distinctive personalities with a whole lot of goals, ideas, and vision. In order to assist CMS in reaching its objectives, we needed to define a core brand message that was shared by all three and support it with a strong brand image. We wanted all three major CMS players’ unique voices amplified in the message we push out.
Our strategy came in phases in order to optimize our efforts and results. Phase I consisted of marketing a brand that is recognizable in the community. We took this unique opportunity of having the three key players’ persona tied to the brand itself. Coastal Mortgage Solutions was to be identified by not only the name and logo, but by the professionals, you meet when you work with them.
“Sure, there are challenges bringing three distinct personalities together in one brand voice, but the CMS team welcomes and encourages a creative approach. It makes conceptualizing ideas easier and frankly, it makes photoshoots much more interesting. So when’s the next one, pro?”
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North Georgia Technical College
Campaigning the heroes
When the pandemic hit in 2020, there wasn’t a single market that wasn’t affected in one way or another. Schools were closed which left higher education to rely on and push online classes harder than ever. When every other school is in the same predicament, the question for North Georgia Technical College (NGTC) was “How do we increase enrollment with a unique campaign that stands out from the competition?”
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As the positive hype group we were born to be, h2o creative group agreed with NGTC that their angle needed to not be just another generic solution to a widespread problem, but an uplifting and encouraging pathway for their student’s future. NGTC offers a wide variety of programs that supply the frontline workforce. The need for these careers rose exponentially and it was clear our approach was to reach out to those who had a calling as an essential worker.
“We Train Heroes” emerged as the campaign focus. It immediately focuses on NGTC’s proven vocational programs and how important frontline careers are for communities. NGTC not only provides programs towards a future but a purposeful and fulfilling pathway for students to shine. Along with the bold tagline, we focused on the true “hero” photography styles of students in their uniform. The campaign provided a sense of confidence, hope, and necessity.
The We Train Heroes campaign became more than just boosting enrollment. It created a sense of pride for the students who were pursuing those pathways and for NGTC to provide a meaningful future for that generation. There was a sudden need, and the North Georgia community addressed it.
“Working with H2o creative group helped us focus our energy and messaging to make sure our communication strategy was right on target. They are a fabulous team with so much creative talent! Their team of brilliant minds made our We Train Heroes come alive with a personal spark during a really dark time for our community during Covid. Our community loved seeing our students and programs in the spotlight for their true heroism. I am very thankful we had h2o creative group to help us develop and launch this needed campaign in a crisis crunch time for our community.”
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White Star Supply
Legacy in identity
Purchasing an existing business can have its challenges- a challenge we welcome with open arms, minds, and sketchbooks. Introducing a new brand and maintaining company relationships need heavy hands in marketing which includes a lot of strategies, innovation, and a fervent squeeze of h2o creativity.
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The Shanks family of White Star Supply reached out to h2o creative group to create their new brand identity as they began their journey as the new owners of the former Coley Electric of Brunswick and Waycross. Branding, website, signage, social media, digital advertising, and strategy became the Phase I goals with everything stemming from the creation of their now locally recognized logo.
“The biggest challenge for this project early on was creating a new brand with the intention of preserving the legacies of both a well-established local company, Coley Electric, and the former family company of Mrs. Shanks’ father, White Star Inc.–all the while balancing the new brand’s appeal to their existing commercial accounts and new homeowners.
After our initial discovery meeting with Brad and Kimsey Shanks, we researched trends within their industry and from other companies that utilize a white star as a motif, to make sure their new brand fit within their industry while also standing out from the competition. We generated four logo concepts, each with a unique voice. The Shanks chose a concept that we refined to a logo that best fit their intention.”
– Andrew Shacklett, h2o Designer
“Strategy is everything. We’ve been that perfect strategic partner for the new White Star Supply Company. Thinking and planning ahead of the next corner, we’ve created anywhere from content calendars to full annual marketing calendars. We are their ‘idea team’ when it comes to all marketing needs and efforts.”
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Coastal Pines
level up
your campaigns
Ideate. Design. Develop. That was the goal in 2013 when Okefenokee Tech and Altamaha Tech merged to become Coastal Pines Technical College (CPTC).
Services
Working hand-in-hand with the board members, we developed the now current CPTC brand and subsequent marketing pieces. As their creative team, we design, develop and assist with many levels of their long-term brand marketing, including unique and attention-grabbing campaigns for semester enrollments.
With a broad spectrum of programs offered by CPTC, we had the challenge of conceptualizing an enrollment campaign that would not only stay true to the brand but allow potential students to envision their future selves after graduation.
Coastal Pines has reached record enrollment levels, established itself as the Model Technical College by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), and has won many awards along the way. The secret to their success? Dedication to supplying the workforce of Southeast Georgia, an amazing leadership team, and the encouragement they have given their marketing group (hey, that’s us) to keep pushing the boundaries.
“Since the demographic was very broad, we wanted to create something unique in a way that it captures a wide audience. Something bold came from our research in looking at other technical colleges around the area. The goal is to always stand out in the crowd of others.”
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Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce
keeping it local
In the fall 2019, the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce and Golden Isles Development Authority completed a rebranding project to create a cohesive appearance for the two organizations that work very closely with one another in promoting a shared vision. The two organizations chose h2o Creative Group marketing firm for their rebranding efforts including a comprehensive redesign of the organizations’ brands, logos, websites and communications collateral.
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The Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce’s primary responsibility is to its members and is committed to promoting a positive economic climate, through the support and initiation of projects and programs benefiting the community’s welfare. It was important for us to choose a local firm to complete this project and h2o Creative Group provided us a unique experience with understanding our mission, vision, and goals of the project.
WANT – We believe our business community has so many wonderful stories to tell and celebrate. When working with h2o, it is important to make sure we are reflecting the vision and mission of our organization while also telling our community stories of success and growth.
EXPECTATIONS – The Chamber encourages a strong local economy and quality of life by promoting sound government through engaged membership. The creative team at h2o gets that and continues to help guide us in all our projects and through website development to make sure every video recorded, a story published, and event held we promote our key strengths through a creative vision and storytelling.
TRAITS CAPTURED – Integrity, Results-Oriented, Collaborative, and Passionate are key traits h2o has helped capture through our Shop Local Campaigns, Grits and Issues, and numerous other community projects.
CONTINUED – We hope to continue our long-standing relationship with h2o Creative Group through many more collaborative-based projects.
CAMPAIGNS – The groove of h2o and the Chamber is in one phrase “a solid collaboration.” Consistent positive and timely communication is the key to a successful relationship between two companies. We have it with h2o. We can speak openly about our visions and goals as it relates to different campaigns, so the end products are exactly what we envisioned.
GOALS – The primary goal of every project we work on is to have it directly benefit our community. We strive to constantly access the needs of the business community and strive for innovative solutions to advance and promote a positive business climate. We believe that h2o does this well by adapting our website to meet the needs of our marketing and event efforts while also capturing the hard work we do through our events and community-based projects.
Conceptualizes – The creative team at h2o always provides creative suggestions on projects as we are building our marketing plan or creative makeup of an event. They say, “I think I get what you are trying to accomplish, here is how we can help” and we appreciate that approach. They want the Chamber to succeed and as a partner knowing we have a strong relationship with them helps us in moving forward with big and small projects with confidence.
The rebranding project was a huge step in forming the strong relationship the Chamber has with h2o. I would be willing to say it laid the groundwork for the entire relationship. They communicate very well with us and always follow up with questions or answers to meet our needs. We understand we are not their only partner, but when we work with them, we feel as though we are. It is a great partnership.
Guest blog entry by: Ralph Staffins, Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
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King and Prince Seafood
campaigning through
a pandemic
2020? Never heard of it. Except we have. We lived it. We quarantined it. We evolved from it. We grew in it. And by “we”, we’re talking about the collective relationships between h2o and our client partners. A perfect example of a company taking an unprecedented situation and pushing forward is one of our oldest clients, King & Prince Seafood (K&P).
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As a B2B company, K&P saw many of its foodservice customers struggle during the pandemic. Struggling to keep enough staff, keep enough supply, and just to stay open. K&P challenged us to position the Sensations product as valuable, versatile, and easy-prep so that their clients could easily serve unique, quality seafood menu items while keeping labor costs low and boosting profits. Together we needed to find a way to acknowledge the pain points faced by operators and position K&P Sensations as a tool to help them bounce back after the shutdowns.
After some concept brainstorming, we ultimately landed on “Survive & Thrive” as a theme. It was immediately both relevant and optimistic for the target audience of foodservice operators. Based on research to find the right look and feel, we designed the campaign booklet to have a format of a “survival handbook” that is easily portable and designed to deliver only essential, helpful recipes & details. This style was carried across all campaign pieces.
King & Prince Seafood is a large seafood processing company serving foodservice operators with three facilities nationwide. They have almost 100 years experience in the seafood industry, with a wide range of seafood products, and they pride themselves on exceeding customer expectations. We have worked closely with their marketing team for many years, helping to create four large campaigns a year to build awareness for operators on different King & Prince products.
“King & Prince values their relationships with their customers, as much as we do here at h2o. We were happy to help K&P design this campaign that they could use to assist their foodservice customers through some of the hardest parts of the pandemic.”
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gicca
Love your
brand again
It happens.
Time keeps moving. Trends keep changing. Goals are bigger. Needs are different. But the brand look stays the same. Trust us, it happens. But that’s where we come in! *Enter a super swaggy team of creatives, with a West Side Story song playing in the background, snapping in unison.
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As our Creative Director, Anne Goodstein, has embedded into our little h2o hearts “Your brand is a living, breathing organism. Nurture it.”
Golden Isles College and Career Academy (GICCA) came to us with an identity that no longer reflected the core values, the energy of the faculty, and the true potential they offer to students. In an effort to catch the attention of their audience and recruit students, rebranding was their unique opportunity for two essential goals: Internally reaffirm GICCA’s mission and externally boost awareness about their vision.
“Not only was h2o able to create a vibrant new logo and identity, but we assisted in putting in motion a shift in the way that technical and career readiness is seen and embraced in the community. “The new brand will help present GICCA as an institution that is growing with the community in the efforts to help create a workforce that will contribute in both technical and professional sectors.”
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Webster’s Christmas Tree Farm
Website design built
on tradition
What do you get when you mix a local family business, creative freedom, and the magic of Christmas? The most festive website in h2o holiday history.
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illustration, branding, identity, social media
Harold and Jackie Webster came to us for seasonal social media management, updated photography, and a new website that embodies their family business of over 40 years.
The website needed to not only show off the spirit of Webster’s Christmas Tree Farm but have the capabilities for customers to pre-order trees and wreaths. They wanted the redesign to be cleaner, easier to navigate, and up-to-date with the changing seasons. Our Web Project Manager & UI/UX Designer, Morgan Rooks, was the obvious choice for the job.
The Websters challenged us to provide an ideal user experience for their customers, as well as a fully operational store. Above all, the website needed to include family, memories, and the overall vibe of the Websters. Yes, that included a guest appearance by Beau (IYKYK).
With research, planning, design, and a lot of artistic direction, Morgan found an ideal solution for their website and online store. Always thinking ahead, she designed the website to grow with the family and the business. As holiday seasons approach, changes and additions will be an easy task for us while the Websters focus on the farm.
Visiting the Webster’s Christmas Tree website has become more than just getting directions to the farm. It’s an experience on its own. The website is a gateway to the holiday hype customers will find at the farm. It’s a collection of memories that lead others to make their own. Traditions start at Webster’s.
“By combining the client’s needs as well as wants for a more family and memory-based design, we created a story/memory book feel that puts the user in the middle of their own future memory by choosing Webster’s.”