SPEAK! GOOD AGENCY.

Building a brand voice & new campaign for Joybound People & Pets

Joybound People & Pets is much more than a pet adoption center. Located in the East Bay (on the West Coast), Joybound trains shelter dogs to become service dogs. Their grooming academy provides work to those with barriers to employment. And their pet food pantry helps pets and owners stay together. 

The list of benefits doesn’t end there, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll just say there’s a reason “People” takes up real estate in their title. Joybound is just as much about the benefits humans receive from pets as those that pets receive from humans. 

But this organization, formerly known as ARF, wanted to make sure their new direction was reaching their intended audience.

That’s when they knocked on our door (in an email. It’s a long way from San Fran.) with a proposition: Help them harness a voice and campaign to convey the values of the organization. And please, make it fun, would ya?

Our first step was a Brand Audit. We gathered receipts on existing assets and strategies, competitors in the space and Joybound’s place within the industry.

With the information from the Brand Audit, we crafted a Brand Voice to speak to their audience. We dialed in on something that was sassy, positive, passionate and inclusive. Some parts Leslie Knope, other parts Erin Brokovich and still other parts Elle Woods in possibly the world's most beautiful Franken-voice we call “The Unobnoxious Do-Gooder”. 

This Brand Voice came complete with guidelines and parameters of how to speak it. We encouraged internal parties to diffuse tension with humor, rely on wit to demonstrate knowledge and get a little crazy to barrel through bureaucracy. 

We then extended this Brand Voice into a Brand Narrative, ensuring everything aligns with current and future objectives. Almost like checking your work after solving for X. Or better yet, making sure your new rutter is pointing in the direction you intend to go (sure, rutters point in the opposite direction, but let’s move on). 

Finally, with this foundation laid out like a lizard in the sun, we set to work on Joybound’s new campaign. One that talked good. Sorry, one that talked Do-Gooder while setting Joybound apart as the pet place where people are the focus. Where we aren’t just rescuing pets, we’re rescuing humans. 

But again, it had to be zany. Or at the very least joy-filled. So we focused on the benefits a pet brings a human and added a little extra. We wanted to see pets as multi-purpose. As multi-tools. With added functionality. All this AND ALSO more. Wait, AND ALSO. Yeah, that sounds right. 

What better way to focus on the benefits a pet brings a person than the EXTRA benefits a pet brings a person? Dishwashing, cuddles and car trips became the focus along with that unconditional love we’ve come to expect. 

We placed assets all over the East Bay (on the West Coast), from buses to billboards, on social and in print. It all culminated in a cohesive wave of messaging to spread awareness and get people looking toward Joybound and the niche it has carved out.

It’s too early to report back on impressions and click throughs, but we can’t wait to see (or is it hear?) how this new voice resounds for Joybound People & Pets.