The County Commissioners’ Association of West Virginia serves local governments through “communication, education, and representation.” The association holds trainings and meetings for commissioners and county governments, serves as a hub of information for its members, and lobbies for county issues during the legislative session.
Company Story
The active association needed more than a website rebuild; it needed a complete rebranding. The CCAWV turned to Jamie of Bricks Without Straw, who had been in charge of its website for years. Vivian Parsons, Executive Director, shared, “Jamie had always been very receptive to our ideas. . .and he offered suggestions as we asked for them. We had been able to work with Jamie on other projects beyond the website. . .a number of things. . .so there was a good trust factor. We had created a good relationship, and when it was time to update, we wanted to stick with him.”
“One-Stop Shop”
Parsons explained how the rebranding expanded as the rebuild progressed. “We wanted a bit of a different look--change our tagline and our logo and some things like that. We talked back and forth with Jamie, and (he took our tagline) and helped us design how we wanted to implement it. He created a header for our legislative publication and made that look a little different. He printed some letterhead for us; we have an annual essay contest and he created a logo for that. We just continually tried to broaden what we were doing. . . one thing built on another.”
Megan Stroup, the CCAWV’s administrative assistant, stated, “It’s incredible what Jamie has been able to provide, everything from our shiny new website, to our banners, to our logos, to our newsletter. He’s really been a one-stop shop for our complete rebranding.”
Newsletter
One major improvement was the group’s newsletter, previously published in-house, using a Word Publisher file. Now, Stroup said, “We give him the content and he carefully builds and supplies us with our newsletter. It’s very sleek and is definitely steps above what we used to have. One thing I like: Jamie built our brand and supplied us with a visual so our brand, our website, and our newsletter all have the same look to them. . .”
Parsons said, “That was another project that we grew into with Jamie. It was kind of two-fold. We wanted a new look for our paper format; we also wanted an electronic version. So when we put that information together and send it to him, we are able to have both.”
She continued, “Our demographics have changed over my 20 years with the association. We have a lot of younger folks; we have a lot more females. And we have to evolve as the generations are evolving. We still have a number of members who probably don’t even read email, but we also have a good number of members that don’t pick up a piece of paper. I think it’s really helped us to reach out to everybody.”
Social Media
Evolving also meant improving the CCAWV’s social media presence. Stroup shared, “One of my priorities when I started (with the CCAWV) was to establish a social media presence for our association, because we didn’t really have anything before. Now anything that we post to Facebook is instantly posted to Twitter which is also posted to our website; it’s a very streamlined process that allows our members to get the most updated information in real time.”
“We had asked if there was a way we could do this, and Jamie found a way. He did that with everything. We asked. . .he found a way. . .he made it happen.”
Retractable Banners
The CCAWV had another need, retractable banners for conferences and meetings. Stroup said, “I had been looking online to find a way that I could do this somehow myself and it had become a daunting task. So we turned to Jamie. I thought since he’d done such a fantastic job of branding us that maybe he could continue that branding and create these banners. And he did. He created drafts and proofs, and we went back and forth, and he created a wonderful product that’s in keeping with our brand (that he envisioned and designed for us).”
Parsons said, “And that’s one of the reasons that we have worked so long with Jamie. He makes suggestions; if it’s something that we like or if it’s not, we tell him. . .and he’s very willing to rework and give us some other options.”
According to Stroup, Jamie’s price compared to ordering online “was incredible.” She said, “I could have put together a very primitive clip art banner for about the same cost, (but Jamie’s) is a very polished, professional-looking end product.”
“Satisfying Relationship”
Using Bricks Without Straw to rebrand the CCAWV has been a good experience for both Stroup and Parsons. Stroup found communicating with Jamie “extremely easy” and said, “He always got right back to us when we had questions; he was very responsive to our every whim . . .”
Parsons summed up the CCAWV’s experience with Jamie this way: “It’s just been a very satisfying relationship and it’s been a long-term relationship, we’ve been very pleased with it.”
