If you want to have true fans, you need to have true critics.
From our founding, our entrepreneurial community has been enthusiastic about OrangeWIP’s™ focus on founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners at the hyper-local level. People are remembering the name and connecting with the purpose of OrangeWIP™.
Our Hello Chaos™ podcast and hyper-local Innovates Zines in three cities garner positive feedback, including:
“Finally, a local Fast Company!”
“The visuals are stunning, and content is amazing.”
“The storytelling is first rate!”
“It’s refreshing to hear stories and content that is very relatable.”
“This is something we’ve needed in our city.”
But something felt off. You know that feeling when something just isn’t clicking? I felt it from the beginning, but could not put my finger on what “it” was.
It finally hit. We’ve realized audiences were connecting with OrangeWIP™, but not with the publication names: GVL Innovates, CHAS Innovates and COLA Innovates. That’s what was off.
We were making our brand story more complicated than it needed to be. So before we invested in an expensive publicity campaign, we needed to take a step back, make a slight pivot, and simplify our brand. And that’s what we did.
How do you like the new look and unified feel?
As an owner of a marketing agency, one would think my instincts would have caught this earlier. But it’s tough to be the brand strategist of your own startup and see through an objective lens. So here in our fifth month of publishing, We’ve tightened the screws on our brand.
Everywhere we go, we are OrangeWIP™. We’re bringing real-world, nitty-gritty stories and unvarnished viewpoints that support and nurture local entrepreneurial ecosystems. We’re where aha meets oh sh!t. And we’re just getting started.