Casajulie Helps HAWS Launch New Brand

The Housing Authority of Winston-Salem (HAWS) is moving forward in a different direction and becoming SO MUCH MORE.  By offering MORE services and being MORE responsive to the community’s housing needs, the Authority has decided to move beyond status quo and position itself to be more prepared to meet the housing challenges in Winston-Salem. Casajulie was hired to help re-build and re-position the HAWS brand.  We started with an initial brand audit (an assessment of the current communication of the Authority’s mission vision and values). We also worked with focus groups of staff members to better understand communication gaps (gaps between the internal component of the previous brand and its external communication). After a series of ideas, we suggested that the three most important divisions (and hence the new direction) for the Authority are Property Management, Community Partnerships and Real Estate Development. We believe that these three divisions should be represented on all the communication going forward. We also settled on a new slogan ‘so much more’ which refers to the new professional direction for the agency, and created corporate communication collateral, apparel and van decal ideas with the new identity.

On April 16, 2009, HAWS launched its new brand internally.  Over 100 HAWS employees were present to witness the unveiling of the new brand and new direction. The event featured giveaways and was effective in motivating the staff to buy in to the new direction.

Afterwards, HAWS publicly launched its new brand to partners in the community of Winston-Salem on April 21, 2009. Casajulie hired The Main Event (Winston-Salem office) to provide event management expertise. The event featured a live jazz band, heavy hors d’oeuvres and presentations from key members of the Winston-Salem community. It was capped by an unveiling of the brand to the general public. The new brand will be managed by Black Business Media through a series of TV and Radio advertising spots. The campaign is themed “The Faces of HAWS.” Please enjoy some pictures from a successful launch.