Client: Autism Collective
Bringing a suite of strategy and creative to make a specialized resource a reality.
The project started with nothing. No visuals. No messaging. Not even a name. All it had was a goal: to provide services for individuals with autism in the Peoria area. When we were approached to help build and pitch this initiative to community leaders, our team jumped into an extensive research phase to help create a brand that truly spoke to this mission. In the end, our collaboration with local organizations Easterseals and OSF Children’s Hospital helped us create the Autism Collective.
  • Research
  • Strategy 
  • Concepting 
  • Consultation 
  • Branding 
  • Workshops 
  • Media 
  • PR & Social Media 
  • Training 
  • Test Adding Bullet

Challenge

What’s in a name?
A name. An identity. It’s the foundation of any project and informs the rest of our work. To develop the most strategic and creative name, research was done based on audience and industry. Ultimately, because the services provided would be a “collection” of different programs from different providers all in one place, we landed on the Autism Collective. It’s important to get the team on board with the name, so a pitch deck and accompanying video were created. This helped the team pitch the initiative while we acted as a consultant, bridging providers in the area. Through our thoughtful marketing and messaging, we were able to help articulate the mission and gain the funding needed to get the project off the ground.

Real families tell their story on the impact the Autism Collective has had on their child.

Solution

An idea becomes a reality and facilitation makes the difference

In designing and creating the logo, we sought to honor the Autism symbol — a multicolored puzzle piece — while providing a fresh angle. After a lot of work and deliberation, our team landed on a logo. It’s important to create consistency in a new brand so we also developed guidelines and templates for the design, messaging and media. One of the Simantel owners at the time, Susie Ketterer, was very involved in Easterseals. She went above and beyond to make sure the project was a success, attending board meetings, pitching to providers and more.

When bringing multiple organizations together, it’s important to make sure team structure and communication are consistent. We stepped up to help facilitate this alignment with all stakeholders and guided them on organization design. Though Easterseals and OSF Children’s Hospital were primary funders, other health organizations were also involved. Through a series of consultations, interactive workshops and trainings, we were able to help the Autism Collective become more efficient and effective.

The Autism Collective brand guide was created for identity cohesion and professional positioning.

A diagram pulled from meeting notes with stakeholders to align on vision, communication and organization flow.

Outcome

Empowering our city
For our team, helping lay the groundwork for the Autism Collective was an eye-opening experience. Learning about all the different services children with autism need showed just how important it is to give parents one point of contact. The Autism Collective has been so successful they’ve even converted an old grade school into a school centered around autism support. We take initiatives like this seriously because they provide a real service for our community. Not every city has service options like this, and that can have a negative impact on many families. Through this work, we were able to help keep Peoria families strong.

An old grade school that was converted into an autism-centered education center for children.

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