Building a movement brand that’s reinventing the scouting experience

The Challenge

Schools today are equipped to teach kids what to think, not how to think. But for kids to be prepared for the world, they need a source for all the soft life skills that don’t come from math and science. To fill the gap, parents have leaned on extracurriculars like sports, music, and scouting programs. But they need more than a game for their kids, they need a partner.

Ever Scouts, an edtech platform founded on the ambition to reimagine scouting, is aiming to be that partner for parents. After a successful beta program, they were gearing up for a national launch and Series A. But to take their message to new audiences, they needed to clarify their unique offer with a new value proposition that was compelling to investors and clear to parents; a verbal system and toolkit to help them communicate their story. And an identity that’s exciting for kids and has the power to activate the movement they’re just beginning.

The Solution

As an early stage startup disrupting and rejuvenating the traditional scouting model, Ever Scouts needed to understand how they would bring their ambition to life. And get a clear picture of the early adopter parent who would help them spark the movement and carry it forward. Our strategy, experience, and design teams worked cross-functionally to bring the business and the brand to life.

The Process

We helped them innovate with a new way to think about their business model. By moving towards a digital-only platform, they’re now able to scale to more kids in more places. And spread their story further on a startup budget with more efficient marketing efforts spurred by word of mouth.
Our brand strategy also sharpened their big ambitions to give focus to their offer. So the movement has a north star to activate kids’ confidence by giving them the skills to explore their purpose and shape their communities.
A future forward digital platform that teaches kids lifelong skills needs a name that’s evocative and timeless. So we came up with a name that juxtaposes traditions with a modern angle. Combining Ever with Scouts led to a brand concept all about teaching kids forever skills. And expressed the new category of inner fitness with a flag symbol that represents achievement, identity, and a bold new outlook on the world.
But teaching kids skills, especially responsibility, needed a big dose of fun to ensure the experience was one kids actually want to dive into. So we built out a system with a bright supporting color palette. And dynamic branded behaviors that come to life through motion design that are both functional for product and delightful everywhere they show up.
Ever Scouts’ movement-making identity needed to be backed with innovative and tangible tools to help them make it real. A new website that was designed and built in under two weeks was the first tool to get them started. But throughout our partnership with Ever Scouts, we also brought them new ways of thinking about how they recruit and train guides inspired by the Teach for America model and adapted for their digital reality.
And in an effort to deliver on their ambition to create a modern scouting program, we workshopped ways to think through how Web3 can help them become more inclusive and community-driven.

The Outputs

Utilizing perspectives from our functional teams, we developed these tools to help Ever Scouts go to market and set them up to scale to the height of their ambitions.

Positioning and Category Definition

Brand strategy and verbal design teams worked to define Ever Scout’s new north start and the category they’re shaping.
New Name

Brand design teams, led by verbal, executed a naming process that was creatively expansive and legally rigorous.
Brand Identity

Brand design produced a series of identity elements that could be implemented to express the new take on their brand.

Website

Brand design and experience design led a complete redesign of Ever Scouts’ online presence.
Messaging

Verbal design led the crafting of voice direction to guide the way Ever Scouts speaks to various audiences moving forward.
Foundational Business Model

Commercial strategy developed the business model for how Ever Scouts structures the relationship between the nonprofit and for-profit sides of the organization.

Web3 Workshop

We crafted an immersive workshop on Web3 applications for Ever Scouts, equipping them with distinct and actionable ideas that can be executed in 2022.
Investor Materials

Brand strategy and experience design led the creation of a pitch site Ever Scouts could use to present their business to investors.

“Working with the Proto team was a joy and a journey. They partnered with us through every twist and turn of our sprint to taking Ever Scouts beyond Beta. And they were true strategic and creative partners every step of the way. We wouldn’t be where we are without them.”

— Sonny Caberwal, Ever Scouts Founder/CEO, March 1, 2022

Each program moves through a series of themed worlds that tie the lessons they’re learning from their guides together. Gamifying the learning experience and blending imagination with responsibility to create a world they want to return to again and again.