Special delivery

Pro Bono doesn’t have to be simply about giving away something for nothing. We often use our pro bono work to try out new things and this year is no different. A formal diagnostic phase now forms the first part of any new engagement, and we been thinking for a while about presenting the findings as a hard back book - a project manual if you like. The Hospiscare Project was the first opportunity to try the new approach out. The completed books have just arrived back from the printers and they look great. A copy each has been sent off by special delivery to Hospiscare and Michelmores. Here’s a taste of what went out.

Sneak peek

We’re treating our pro bono projects exactly like we would work for paying clients, and that means starting with a full diagnostic review.

We ran an immersion and ideation workshop for Hospiscare at Michelmore’s offices in Exeter at the beginning of March. Those sessions generated a huge volume of material, which were beginning to make sense of now that we’re back in the studio. Here’s a sneak peak of the work in progress:

Prompt action

I’d barely written up the meeting note after yesterday’s kick-off meeting when the marketing materials I’d requested from from Hospiscare landed on my desk. The brand guidelines PDF came through by email just after, followed by another message from Michelmores who were right on top of the launch press release. Half the action points complete and I hadn’t even sent them out. Great start team.

New year. New blog.

Welcome to the brand new Isaac Parker Pro Bono Blog. After a successful pilot with Herbert Smith and Leaside Education Trust we decided to roll out a proper pro bono scheme in 2010. We asked subscribers to our Web Marketing for Law Firms Newsletter to submit entry telling us how they would spend a design and consultancy fund worth £15,000.

We’ve always done free, or discounted work for selected charities, but this is the first time we’ve put a formal programme in place. The main goal of our pro bono work is to enable access to high quality services that charities might not otherwise be able to afford.

Aside from the feel good factor though, there are other business benefits to doing this type of work. One that I most value is the way we can use pro bono projects to improve our working practices. The purpose of this blog is to document the development of this year’s project, to give you an insight into the way we tackle a brief, and to encourage other agencies to make pro bono a core part of their business strategy too.

We’re just putting the finishing touches to the announcement press release, and then we’ll be making the winners names public. Watch this space.