Each year, Rivers Agency partners with nonprofit organizations to create promotional campaigns that may involve a combination of public relations, marketing and design services. This is a great opportunity for us to give back to our neighbors, maximize our creativity and network with community members—all for a great cause.
When we work through a creative process with a nonprofit, we’ve found there are common themes that emerge when promoting nonprofit work:
Prioritize: When working for nonprofit, there are often many needs that the organization is seeking to address. Be clear about the objectives of a single campaign and address each issue one step at a time. Muddled messaging can reduce the effectiveness of a campaign.
Play to your audience: It’s a true pleasure to work with a client that is offering real solutions to social or environmental issues. The content of these campaigns makes it easy to communicate an organization’s goals with passion. Creating emotive and compelling creative is of paramount importance to drive interest and garner support.
Work efficiently and effectively: Nonprofits often work on limited budgets, which means efficiency is a high priority. This theme carries through in our for-profit work as well, but working in the non-profit world allows us to push ourselves to become more efficient while maintaining a high standard of quality in our product.
This year, Rivers has partnered with the Goathouse Refuge, a sanctuary in Pittsboro that houses nearly 200 abandoned or injured cats, and has seen skyrocketing demand in this economic turbulence. Through close collaboration with Siglinda Scarpa, world-renowned artist and proprietor of the Refuge, we have created a campaign to boost adoption numbers and raise funds for the organization.
Most recently, our public relations and design teams helped organize and promote a Spring Art Show at the refuge that raised over $10,000, no small feat for this volunteer-run organization!
Rivers Agency extends heartfelt congratulations to the Ackland Art Museum on its 50th anniversary!
Rivers Agency leads design and creative marketing efforts for the Ackland Art Museum. As part of its anniversary celebration, the Ackland recently unveiled “Circa 1958: Breaking Ground in American Art.” The show explores artistic trends that emerged during that influential year. Rivers Agency played a primary role in the branding and design of exhibition materials. The Rivers’ design team also created a 3D illustration of the exhibit for the program guide from a basic layout of the gallery space.
The design process for the Ackland’s 50th anniversary celebration and showcase began almost a year ago with the gathering of initial concepts. For nearly six months, the Rivers design team has developed the 50th anniversary celebration brand, designed a logo, produced multiple interior and exterior banners and developed and placed advertising. Rivers Agency worked closely with a specialty print shop to create a unique, folding invitation for the gala event, coordinating postage and last-minute reorders due to the higher-than-anticipated interest.
To celebrate its anniversary milestone, the Ackland hosted a black tie gala event Saturday, Sept. 20, 5-8 p.m. – 50 years to the day after the museum’s 1958 opening. Rivers Agency Founder and Creative Director Lauren Rivers attended along with Art Director Sarah Owens.
During the 50th anniversary gala, the Ackland’s director, Emily Kass, gave opening remarks and reflected on 50 years of artistic exploration. Kass aims to build upon the museum’s legacy during the next 50 years at the Ackland. Her speech was followed by a catered, 1950s-themed reception.
Rivers Agency has worked with the Ackland for four years to develop an innovative campaign that captures the vision of the museum. Ongoing projects include program brochures and invitations, interior and exterior graphics, exhibit guides, a quarterly newsletter, as well as personal and responsive marketing support. Recently, Rivers Agency designers created a stunning visual guide detailing the museum’s expansion plans.
Rivers Agency is proud to promote the museum’s success and innovation through creative marketing and design. We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with the Ackland Art Musuem and hope to build complementary relationships in the Triangle that promote our region’s artistic and cultural offerings.
Check back soon for updates about our newest creative projects.
It’s been a busy summer for Rivers Agency! Thanks to the huge success of our home furnishing markets in Atlanta and Vegas, our team continues to implement creative design, advertising and public relations campaigns for our home décor clients.
Some of our latest projects include the development of real estate marketing packages and the design of promotional materials for a local art institution. And as usual, we continue to manage the complete spectrum of promotional needs for a local financial institution – getting the word out about community service events, advisory board appointments and quarterly financial statements.
It’s been a while since we’ve devoted some attention to our blog, but with recent staff added to our web design and public relations departments, we are now able to spread around the workload a bit and take the opportunity to share what’s going on this fall with Rivers Agency.
And we just couldn’t contain our excitement about one of our most recent projects – the design of the fall catalog for Raleigh-based kids clothing guru, Patsy Aiken.
Funky and stylish, Patsy Aiken clothing is kids-wear that stands up to rough and tumble playtime. The fall 2008 catalog features boldly patterned coordinates available in soft, comfortable fabrics. Each outfit can be personalized with Patsy Aiken’s complimentary monogramming service, so each item is truly a one-of-a-kind! From the essentials to seasonal favorites, Patsy Aiken’s catalog features fun fashion for every kid in the bunch. And new this season, Patsy Aiken introduces “Littles” to celebrate the arrival of her first grandchild, Joel.
Patsy Aiken’s fall catalog offers sizing from newborns to size five. Several collections offer adult sizes so that parents can get in on the fun, too.
That’s the news for now, but you’ll hear more from us again soon - stay tuned!
Rivers Agency is an ad, design and public relations agency located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina that started out in 1992 with the intention of being different.
From just one client, we’ve grown into a full-service design agency, servicing more than 100 accounts. We apply our considerable strengths, personalities, and philosophies to the benefit of our clients. For local and national companies alike, we execute integrated design, public relations and marketing campaigns.
This morning, resident expert programmer, Kris, blocked more than 9,000 access attempts from the Shandong Province in China to our local server. we have renewed confidence in our crack programmer’s ability to keep virus-carrying spammers at bay. Thanks Kris!
The Rivers Agency blog recently got a face lift and attitude adjustment to better share perspectives from the creative processes of our team. This is the hub for sharing our insights, advice, unique boutique perspective, humor and whatever other post-worthy thoughts float by. Our posts are a collaborative effort with input from the entire team and managed by our PR staff. Feel free to join the conversation!
Rivers Agency News | Rivers May 28, 2009 | 
Comments (1) 
The design process for the Ackland’s 50th anniversary celebration and showcase began almost a year ago with the gathering of initial concepts. For nearly six months, the Rivers design team has developed the 50th anniversary celebration brand, designed a logo, produced multiple interior and exterior banners and developed and placed advertising. Rivers Agency worked closely with a specialty print shop to create a unique, folding invitation for the gala event, coordinating postage and last-minute reorders due to the higher-than-anticipated interest.