Case Study
CAST
CAST - the Community Arts Stabilization Trust - is an innovative nonprofit, based in San Francisco, that was founded to address the real estate affordability crisis for artists and arts organizations in the Bay Area. Since their founding in 2013, CAST had pioneered new financial and real estate models that made it possible for arts organizations to purchase or rent space at below market rate. Their innovations were being copied in cities around the world.
After a decade of innovation, CAST was facing new challenges. They were committed to building in partnership with communities, but there was little brand awareness and trust. Their brand reflected their real estate operations expertise, but didn’t reflect the vibrancy and creativity of the communities and neighborhoods in which they worked.
COLLABORATORS
Brand Identity Design: Flight Design
Website Design and Development: Mangrove
CAST’s new brand identity and website bring their work to life in full color.
Dearborn Strategies worked with CAST to completely overhaul their brand. We worked closely with staff and partners to tell a new story that felt authentic, inviting, and energizing.
“Rachel delivered an extremely thoughtful and thorough approach to helping CAST navigate our brand strategy, align ourselves internally and externally with our messaging, and figure out our voice. She was pivotal in stewarding the process that enabled us to introduce a fresh new identity and website, capturing our decade-long work and honing in on the key elements that truly reflect us as an organization. She was the catalyst we needed to bring greater clarity to our commitment to community and the values behind our mission, and provided an essential sounding board to help think through complex issues in the midst of a leadership transition and a new chapter in CAST’s work.”
— Catherine Nguyen, Director of Marketing & Communications, CAST
OUR ROLE
Services
& Outcomes
Brand Research
We spoke with stakeholders representing city government, community organizations, artists, funders, and real estate developers. We dove deep to understand the core problem CAST solves and the opportunities and challenges of its work. We learned about misperceptions in the community and understood that trust isn’t built overnight.
Brand Strategy and Messaging
CAST’s new brand strategy was anchored in a simple, yet evocative north star: Space to Dream. As an idea, space to dream symbolizes the freedom and relief that comes when an artist doesn’t have to fear eviction or displacement. It also represents the physical outcome of CAST’s work - the buildings and spaces CAST stewards and activates across the Bay Area.
We also identified six brand pillars that represent the key differentiators, attributes, and reasons to believe, and built out a comprehensive brand messaging system in partnership with staff across the organization. We’ve conducted several elevator pitch workshops to help staff put the new messaging into action.
Brand Identity
The brand north star, Space to Dream, inspired a new brand identity and logo that creates a flexible container for creativity. The logo and design system is modular and flexible, just like CAST’s approach. We shifted CAST’s photography away from empty buildings and aerial city views and toward activated spaces and artists in process. The new visual identity evokes CAST’s community-centered approach and its driving belief that arts and culture are essential to communities.
Website
Working with our partners at Flight and Mangrove, we built a beautiful and comprehensive new website for CAST. We built out new infographics and illustrations to explain some of the more complex aspects of CAST’s work. And the robust content strategy enabled CAST to showcase its community work right alongside its real estate projects.
COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT
Since launching CAST’s new website in early 2023, we have continued to provide ad hoc communications support. We have helped the organization navigate a CEO transition and are now working with CAST to launch a new 10-year campaign. Stay tuned!
CAST’s new brand and website are attracting new partners and funding.
“Rachel’s gifts are many, but she has enormous capacity to get up to speed and embeds herself to really understand the dynamics of her clients’ teams and priorities in an authentic, methodical way. She is especially adept at translating nuanced ideas for greater accessibility and impact, and with every challenge, brings a collaborative spirit and deep commitment to the work.”
— Catherine Nguyen, Director of Marketing & Communications, CAST
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