Meggan Hood | Portfolio

Situation: Georgia is the South reinvented. As the (unofficial) capital of the Southeast, Georgia stands out for how it lives up to expectations—and how it defies them. With the biggest city in the South, the most diverse population, the most business, and a geographical range from the mountains to the beach…there’s a lot more to Georgia than the front porch.

This state constantly redefines what it means to be southern by sharing the places, perspectives, and people that make Georgia so unique. But, it’s branding didn’t live up to this promise. A new logo, new positioning, and a new visual identity work hard to showcase the dynamic, complicated, and beautiful state of Georgia.

Solution: Everything the brand does is based on the collective pride in what Georgia has to offer. We’re eager to share all the unique places that make up our state—especially those that are unexpected and help elevate our status as the destination in the South. Imagery and content focuses on celebrating those places and the moments that leave people thinking, “Wow, so this is Georgia.” The locations are the heroes of our campaign. When we invite our audience to Explore Georgia, we want them to experience these places first-hand; to feel that sense of connection and to share it.

This intention is engrained in every visitor touchpoint, from the web site and social channels through to the 700k printed visitor’s guides distributed in welcome centers throughout the state. Warm, welcoming, imperfect, and full of new adventures, Explore Georgia is a new brand with a fresh approach that is ready to meet the challenges of a fractured and complicated travel market.

Results: The advertising saw a significant year over year increase in recall, awareness, and likability compared to the previous campaign. It also generated measurable interest in traveling to the state. People who saw the ads were more 150% more likely to gather information about travel to Georgia than those who did not see the ads, and those people were also 75% more likely to actually make a visit to the state. Within owned channels, social media continued to gain followers and, more importantly, increased engagement. In just one year, our Instagram channel grew by more than 29% while maintaining engagement levels and increasing link clicks by more than 170%. Instagram is now a top traffic driver for the Explore Georgia web site.

Situation: After nearly a decade of intense revitalization, Jekyll Island was finally poised to invite visitors back to its shores. Unfortunately, the lengthy and complicated rebuilding process prevented the island from growing visitation, and experienced significant decreases in occupancy and revenue. Jekyll had not only lost its visitors, it had lost its brand. Without an understanding of the new Jekyll, there was very little brand consideration among the island's target audience.

Solution: Refresh and refocus the Jekyll Island brand. Identify key differentiators for the island. Amplify these differentiators through consistent and creative brand communications, with a focus on the future - building visitation among families with children. Redesign web site and launch integrated marketing campaign to introduce the island to moms through a variety of channels, from traditional magazine ads and influencers, to social video and an aggressive digital campaign. 

Results: All internal and external communications have been brought into brand compliance and annual integrated marketing campaign calendar established, the first in more than a decade. Island entrance gate is up 14%, a record-breaking 3.5 million guests in 2017, hotel occupancy rates continue to increase at a steady pace, and JIA amenity revenues exceeded budget projections by more than $1 million.

Situation: After five years of it’s successful “More Saving. More Doing.” campaign, The Home Depot was beginning to see declines in the campaign's effectiveness. The brand had not changed, and the positioning still fit, and thanks to new digital tools and efforts within the stores, the organization was better positioned than ever to help it’s customers. We needed to help THD shine in an overcrowded and complicated competitive market. 

Solution: Maintain the real and authentic tone of the creative, but give it a new life while infusing new tools and technology into the brand. Carry new creative through all customer touch points, from TV to mobile to in-store. 

Results: After only six months, research showed that customers found the new approach the most engaging and interesting in more than 10 years, and visit intent scores were the highest in nearly 15 years. Customers also engaged with the brand in-store and online, using “Let’s Do This” as a rallying point for their home improvement projects and making it their own. 

Situation: In 2008 The American Cancer Society, one of the world’s oldest and most trusted charities, found itself living in a world of celebrities, wrist bands, and ribbons. It was a 1.0 charity living in a 2.0 world. While everyone knew who ACS was, nobody really knew what it did. Guys in lab coats, right? Yes, but so much more. We needed to give ACS a modern language and instill a new level understanding and relevance. We needed to define the 3.0 charity.

Solution: Rebrand the decades-old charity as “The Official Sponsor of Birthdays.” An empowering rally cry for the entire organization. A celebration of life for its constituents. An extensive internal communications campaign, paired with a multi-channel earned and owned media plan, carried this new message to thousands of staff and volunteers, and millions of constituents. 

For phase two of the campaign we relied on the power of art and music to tell our story. Dozens of famous musicians joined the cause by singing “Happy Birthday." Visitors to morebirthdays.com could pick their favorite song, personalize it and send it to a friend. On the art side of things, we got illustrators, painters and designers to create original works inspired by an ACS accomplishment. Site visitors could purchase each design as a limited edition print, poster or wrapping paper. All proceeds benefited ACS.

Results: Double digit increases in understanding and relevance among the target audience, adults 18-65. Adaptation and embrace of the new brand throughout the organization, including its signature event Relay For Life.