INDUSTRY SETTING
Penn-Mar Human Services provides a range of educational, vocational and residential programs for more than 400 individuals with developmental disabilities across Northern Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. Penn-Mar is viewed by many as innovative, compassionate, committed and client-centered with a well-established reputation.

www.Penn-Mar.org

CHALLENGE
Penn-Mar was in need of a brand refresh to better reflect the organization’s tone and style that had evolved in recent years to become more bold and simple — working to avoid industry “lingo” and striving to share information in easy, straightforward ways.

In 2019, Penn-Mar merged with Change, Inc. (another regional disabilities program provider), and the need to blend the two organizations accelerated the desire to rebrand. The merger provided an opportunity to create a fresh look and a bolder voice that speaks more directly to their brand promise, their commitment to innovative leadership, and the courageous spirit that is in their DNA.

Additionally, 2021 marked Penn-Mar’s 40th anniversary. And as the organization reflected on the past four decades — from its inception as an organization that served 12 families to the innovative services they offer to thousands today — the opportunity was ripe to rebrand with a look and feel that better reflected their growth and innovation.

Penn-Mar partnered with Cut Once to develop a bold, fresh, simple, and cohesive brand identity to unite Penn-Mar’s employees, locations, and brand promise.

STRATEGY
When Penn-Mar merged with Change, it was crucial to understand the cultures, missions and values of both organizations to determine cross-organizational core value alignment.

The six-month process was intentional, rigorous, and informative and engaged all stakeholders in interviews, surveys, and questionnaires to gather insights on how each sector perceived their respective organization. Both were viewed as innovative, compassionate, courageous, and committed — providing the foundation for Cut Once to develop the merged organizations’ essence in a fresh way under a single umbrella: Live Courageously. This new tagline encapsulates their unwavering support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and empowers their team members, volunteers and families to be a part of something bigger than themselves and support a life well lived through a courageous spirit.

From Penn-Mar’s earliest days, the organization has been defined by passion, courage and strength — and that continued through the merger that, in their industry, is often uncharted territory and provides multiple challenges. But, Penn-Mar prevailed — and today, Penn-Mar’s communication efforts focus on emphasizing the people and the lives impacted, by highlighting the deep connections made within the communities.

RESULT
Cut Once translated this brand strategy into a bold new look for Penn-Mar Human Services, ushering in the next chapter of the organization's 40-year story of courage and commitment to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The updated visual and verbal brand identity program includes a new logo, updated color palette, targeted messaging, responsive CMS website, digital newsletter, social media, brand video, collateral, direct mail, apparel, graphic identifiers, and an empowering new tagline.

The new penn-mar.org website was designed with the courageous Penn-Mar community in mind, as well as the many people they hope to serve in the future. The site features robust resources that make connecting to Penn-Mar’s services and sharing in their mission simpler than ever. It’s also fully accessible, ensuring that everyone can navigate the site with ease. Most significantly, it’s a central hub celebrating the people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that Penn-Mar supports, their remarkable team members, and the many community members who make fulfilling the organization’s mission possible. Penn-Mar experienced 30,750 new visitors within the first 6 months of relaunch.

A brand-reveal video was created to visually tell the story of the “why” behind the new messaging, and to create excitement among their stakeholders about the future of the organization.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
”Our organization retained Cut Once as our partner in rebranding ourselves to better connect with Penn-Mar’s team members and families it supports. Throughout our extensive rebranding process, Cut Once consistently went above-and-beyond to elevate our vision and ensure we delivered impactful outcomes on time and on budget.

Our project was particularly challenging for several reasons. First, we needed a brand refresh that not only reflected our legacy of 40 years of providing innovative services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but also inspired audiences to get excited about the future we envision for our community. In addition, the updated brand needed to incorporate the bold and simpler tones and styles we’ve adopted in recent years. Complicating things further, in 2019, Penn-Mar merged with another human services organization, Change, Inc., and folded them into the Penn-Mar brand. The addition of Change sped up our timeline for creating a fresh new look and feel, as we wanted to develop a brand identity that would unite all of the new Penn-Mar.

Perhaps most significantly of all, we also needed to create a fully accessible website that served multiple audiences: potential team members, people Penn-Mar supports and their families, potential new Penn-Mar individuals, our current team members, donors, and the general public. Our “Services” section alone, which details the variety of programs Penn-Mar offers to people with disabilities, was complex and extensive. Cut Once worked closely with us to create a design that met all our audiences’ needs and provided practical, useful information without the website becoming overwhelming and unwieldy. They also designed the new site in a way that allows for frequently changing updates and easy future expansion if needed. It has a wonderfully visually appealing style that achieves the exact user experience we intended.

Simultaneous to the website work, Cut Once led the rebranding process, which ultimately resulted in a refreshed brand identity that was met with practically unanimous excitement. They not only developed a slew of newly designed marketing materials, but also created a new logo and tagline that are a perfect fit for the organization.

Throughout the entire process, Cut Once meticulously handled project management, with clear and frequent communications detailing the status of each component of the rebrand, what they needed from us, and expert advice on the best paths forward.

Simply put, we could not have achieved such a positive and impactful outcome without their extensive expertise, dynamic creativity, careful attention to detail, incredible customer service, and deep, intimate understanding of our mission and vision.”

— Katherine Rogers, Chief Advancement Officer at Penn-Mar Human Services

— Jennifer Hobbs, Director of Marketing & Communications at Penn-Mar Human Services

SERVICES PROVIDED
Analysis and Research
Brand Discovery
Brand Imagery
Brand Platform
Communication Guidelines
Digital Marketing
Direct Mail
Graphic Identifiers
Ideation
Illustration
Launch Ideas
Material Sourcing
Mechanical Production (Technical)
Merchandise & Apparel
Mobile Marketing
Motion Graphics
Positioning Strategy
Print Communication
Print Management
Strategic Planning
User Interface
Vendor Sourcing & Management
Visual Identity System
Web Assets
Web Design

NEW PROJECT TO DISCUSS?
We're ready to talk through a customized project scope to fit your budget and schedule. Not sure about the best way to engage? We offer short-term commitments in the form of individualized project audits which allow us to provide expert analysis and identify areas of opportunity to move your brand forward. Contact us at (717) 841-0400 or by our email form to start the conversation.