Beyond the brief: Constructive Pioneers

Constructive Pioneers

Shaping a new kind of initiative for the built environment

The challenge

The Kirby Laing Foundation wanted to create something genuinely different: an initiative designed to find and support people with potentially transformative ideas for the built environment and help turn those ideas into meaningful impact.

It wasn’t a conventional grant programme, innovation competition or industry campaign. It drew on elements of all three, with a distinctive philosophy behind it and multiple audiences to engage – from innovators and potential applicants to industry leaders, ambassadors, partners and funders. The Foundation was also keen to make the initiative greater than the sum of its parts. That meant creating a genuine community of people from across society and industry who could collaborate to deliver meaningful change together.

That created an unusual marketing challenge. There was no established category to fit neatly into, no existing brand to build from and no simple proposition to communicate. The initiative needed an identity and positioning that could make a complex idea understandable without stripping away what made it different.

Shaping the proposition

Green Truffle partnered closely with the Kirby Laing Foundation and their enabling partner, Total Flow, as the initiative itself took shape.

Rather than waiting for a finished proposition and a conventional marketing brief, we became part of the development process, combining the Foundation’s ambition and Total Flow’s programme expertise with our own experience and insight across the built environment, innovation, brand and communications.

That meant challenging and interpreting ideas as well as communicating them: working through what would resonate, what needed simplifying, how different audiences might respond and how the initiative could establish a credible but distinctive place in the market.

From that work, Constructive Pioneers was born.

Building the brand

Coming up with the name was one of the hardest parts to get right, but once we’d landed on Constructive Pioneers as a strong concept, we were able to build the complete positioning and visual identity around it, giving the initiative a personality that deliberately stood apart from more traditional programmes. In two words, it connected the built environment with innovation and positive change. We also avoided anything feeling too institutional, instead deliberately focusing the identity on the people who would bring the initiative to life and the community they could feel proud to belong to.

The final test was whether the brand could connect the past with the future. As well as appealing to a broad range of people today, it needed to reflect the heritage of the organisation. Once we realised that Sir Kirby Laing was the original Constructive Pioneer, it all fell into place.

From idea to market

With the proposition and brand established, the focus shifted from creating Constructive Pioneers to putting it in front of the right people. Total Flow had identified a number of partner organisations and ambassadors, and in the spirit of the initiative we developed a launch plan that put collaboration with these key stakeholders at its core. Having identified the audiences, channels, messages and activity needed to begin building awareness both within the emerging network and the wider market, we built and managed the marketing infrastructure and campaign assets needed to put the plan into action.

The website was being developed by the Foundation’s existing developer, and we partnered with them to define the structure, create the content and shape the evolving site from a user’s perspective. This collaborative approach ensured the finished experience reflected the positioning, explained a relatively complex proposition clearly and gave prospective applicants what they needed to take the next step. The look, feel and messaging were also consistent with the content we were developing for the new email and social media channels.

Building momentum beyond launch

Launching the brand and website was a big moment, but it was only the beginning. Constructive Pioneers depends on reaching people with ambitious ideas who may not already be connected to conventional innovation or funding networks. That means finding ways to create visibility beyond simply publishing content and hoping the right people see it.

We continue to work with the Foundation and Total Flow to develop ways for the growing ambassador network to extend the initiative’s reach, amplify its message and help connect with potential applicants. The result is more than a new identity or campaign. It’s a platform designed around a highly specific ambition, giving Constructive Pioneers the clarity, credibility and infrastructure it needs to find the people it was created to support.

We’re proud to have created the identity and personality that brings the Kirby Laing Foundation’s ambitious idea to life, and to continue working with them to put it in front of the people who can help turn that ambition into impact.

If you're interested in learning more about Constructive Pioneers, you can see more on the website.