The Richmond Symphony:

Endowment Fund Brand,

Pocket Folder, Brochure, 

Logo, Writing + Slogan

The Challenge: 

The Richmond Symphony had been displaced from its permanent “home” for two years while the building underwent renovations. Moving back home was a cause for celebration that presented the perfect opportunity to send a direct mail mini brochure seeking contributions to an endowment fund that would ensure the symphony’s long-term success. The bad news: The solicitation piece went to symphony members in the midst of a very difficult economy.

The Solution: 

To stimulate donations, we needed to (1) remind symphony members why they loved the institution so much and (2) give them solid evidence of the symphony’s positive economic and cultural impact. The lyrical copy set the tone, working in combination with a design that used a “sweeping” visual reminiscent of music flowing from a conductor’s wand. Then, rather than using the back of the brochure for the standard “contact” information, we put that real estate to much better use, filling it with facts and figures about the symphony’s accomplishments across the state.

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But we didn’t stop there. We went on to create an innovative format for the piece that we’d never seen used. Rather than stuffing the required #10 business envelope with the expected vertical 4”x9” panel piece, we developed an elongated, horizontal three-panel piece that provided much more visual impact.