The Business Question:

Second Harvest Food Bank, a local nonprofit, was looking for direction for a brand update to help them rebrand and expand to other regions. They needed a deeper understanding of the way a variety of stakeholders, partners, and neighbors across South Louisiana viewed their organization to ensure messaging was inclusive and 
resonated with their community.

• Capture current perspective of Second Harvest Food Bank
• Gauge awareness of Second Harvest in the regions it serves
• Uncover awareness and understanding around Second Harvest programs and services 
• Identify Successes: What does Second Harvest do well?
• Identify Opportunities: What could Second Harvest do better?

The Answer:

Qualitative In-Depth Interviews & Focus Groups

Though a series of in-depth interviews and focus groups, we spoke with residents of South Louisiana from five respondent types. After garnering insights from these conversations, we held an intensive branding workshop with Second Harvest and their creative agency to apply the findings to creative direction and messaging.

Neighbors: Use the services of a local food bank or food pantry
Agency Partners: Operate a local food bank or food pantry
Public Officials: Local officials across South Louisiana
Donors: Financially support Second Harvest
Board Members: Serve on the Board at Second Harvest

What Did We Learn?

We distilled the themes of the interviews down into four major findings and defined Second Harvest’s DNA, the six foundational blocks that represent what they are known for throughout their network and what they do best.

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans 
  and Acadiana makes a critical impact on South 
  Louisiana.
• Second Harvest Food Bank operates largely in the 
  background.
• The community is hungry for new and deeper 
  partnerships.
• People trust “Second Harvest” by name alone.
  

What Did We Deliver?

Using our data, we created recommendations to help Second Harvest strengthen their position in the community.

Help Children

People want to see Second Harvest provide more educational material and support, especially to children, about healthy eating, healthy recipes, and the importance of nutrition.

Be Present in the Community

Invest and build a greater presence in the community. Make your presence known so people recognize you, set up facilities that provide jobs in struggling parishes.

Share More of What You Do
Spread awareness of the other programs offered via flyers in food pantries, social media, presence at local churches and community centers.

Branding Workshop

To complete the process, we held an immersive workshop to help Second Harvest and their agency build their creative branding brief and align on the mission and vision of the organization. 

Activities included:
• In-depth Review of Qualitative Findings
• Data-Backed Brand Pyramid Construction
• Brand Archetype Discovery
• Target Market Analysis

We worked as a team to answer questions like:

Brand Positioning Statement What is Second Harvest’s elevator pitch?
Key Messaging What’s the one big idea?
Creative Direction How can you turn this into advertising?

The Result

Using our findings and the discoveries from the branding workshop, MDRG and the creative agency helped Second Harvest rebrand and shift their messaging to be more inclusive.

Deliverables Included:

A better and more holistic understanding of the brand positioning
• Clarity on brand archetype and personality
• Ready-to-implement brand elements:
• Updated brand pyramid
• Name change
• Logo refresh
• Concise and impactful messaging to help attract neighbors, volunteers, and donors