For over twenty years, Gardner Capital had successfully built housing for people in need. Quite an impressive accomplishment, but their story, of all the people they helped, was getting lost.

When they teamed up with Sandbox Creative, Gardner Capital was focusing all customer communication on how their company was divided into three different sects: development, solar, and investment. Their marketing materials outlined the technical details of each different sect of their company. Statistics and technical information dominated their marketing materials. And, while this information was valuable, their story lacked passion. What Gardner’s marketing materials needed was a human element. Even though their company was in the business of helping people, any stories or pictures of the people they helped were buried under statistics about the company. Factual information about architectural details, construction methods, and investment elements took center stage.

In order to help Gardner realize its full marketing potential, Sandbox needed Gardner to understand their brand was constantly evolving. Gardner wanted to simplify and automate their marketing process, which eliminated the human interaction. Not necessarily a wise strategy. Sandbox tried to get them to view marketing communications as an ongoing conversation with customers and clients. It wasn’t a list of boxes to be checked.

Sandbox convinced Gardner  their story was about the people they were building housing for, and not just technical details about the houses themselves. They needed to refocus Gardner’s leaders to appreciate the people they helped and the good they were doing in the world. In making heroes out of the people they were helping, the element of passion that Gardner had been missing would shine through.

So far, Sandbox’s human-focused approach has been well received. Excitement has been brewing at Gardner about the kinds of things Sandbox might cook up next. With a passionate story and a brand backing their business, Gardner will hopefully land even more projects across all three of their sects.

If your brand has a compelling story to tell, we would love to hear all about it. Please call us at (314) 968-2323.