j.mcclay
program innovation & acceleration
catalyzing impact for a cross-brand social impact platform

A "Social Impact Platform for Brands", having recently digitized their program, were struggling to maintain participation and drive impact for their parent company's brands.

Over three phases of work we revitalized their strategy, then acted on it, tackling five prioritized opportunities.

Consumer foods company | project lead | 2021

I led a team of strategists and designers through three phases to define and activate a north star strategy. In my role I managed multiple workstreams, collaborated with client stakeholders, developed the strategy, and mentored junior team members.

PHASE 1
North Star
  • Program North Star:  Strategy for consumer and participant engagement with related value model
  • Experience Strategy:  Definition of experience concepts across consumer, coordinator, and ecosystem partners. Included experience vision prototype
  • Operating Model:  Guide for engagement internally, across brands, and with coordinators
  • Activation Guide: Concept blueprints and roadmap for implementation
PHASE 2
North Star Activation
  • Gamification Strategy:  Concepted, tested, and designed various mechanisms for in-app participant engagement
  • Brand Scorecard:  Designed metrics and conceptual dashboards for program impact for each brand
  • Brand Engagement Deck:  Created pitch deck to inform brands and motivate participation
PHASE 3
North Star Activation (Pt.2)
  • Brand Enablement Site:  Design, content, and development specs for a central site to engage and support all of the company's brands
  • Coordinator Strategy:  Defined evolution of engagement with volunteer program coordinators for schools. Included MVP journey, definition of Salesforce-enabled MVP features, content breakdown, change management plan

ARTIFACTS

Ecosystem impact framework

As a part of the North Star deliverable, I defined a framework to articulate the need to balance community and ecosystem experiences. The program thrives on the reinforcing feedback loop between the two groups. This framework was used for inspiration, internal alignment, KPI definition, and more.

conceptual designs and prototypes

My team designed screens to help inspire the program team, validate ideas with consumers, and make the experience tangible for brands. The design system was used across an app redesign (and prototype), coordinator experience design, and gamification concept exploration.

Brand engagement site

The company consists of over 100 brands, yet the social impact platform lacked a centralized site to inform and engage them. I helped a team of junior designers create a development-ready site from scratch in a couple of weeks, guiding them through wireframing, content development, design, and creation of detailed specifications.