Previous Work

Hopeless Marketing is new – but our team’s done this sort of work for decades. The examples below are projects done in collaboration with other agencies and creatives, in which we took the strategic lead.

Want to see yourself here? Ask about case study opportunities.

RH Adhesives

The brand was classic – but the marketing was just old.

RH Adhesives is a family-owned business with a 75-year history; its specialized glues and cements are found on shelves and in specialized repair and manufacturing all over the world.

An ownership change in 2019 drove the company to take a fresh look at its brand assets. Its website was old; its growth strategy was minimal. Marketing had been non-existent.

Organic growth was happening, but there was potential for much more.

We interviewed leaders within RH to identify what makes the company special to its buyers, focused messaging around that, and restructured and rewrote the website. Then we led an effort to grow search traffic and improve distributor loyalty by building an online library of educational video.

Since then profits have been climbing and the company has been growing. Its website and Youtube channel are now viewed as best-in-class sources of leadership that transcends product spotlights. AS digital buying became primary after the pandemic, RH Adhesives was there to capture sales and rack up wins, one engaged user at a time.

Design & development: Compete Now

Video: Ideal Video Strategies

Network Data Systems

A top-tier managed services provider – with marketing in need of an update.

Site After

NDS runs a remarkably proactive network operations center and helps companies around the country and across the world transform their networks through updated WiFi, LAN and communications tech. They’re great at what they do.

It didn’t really show.

With one eye on their own future and another on a shifting market, NDS decided it was time to hone their message. Channel partnerships had been the company’s focus in the past, which meant end clients didn’t necessarily engage with current marketing. What the company needed were core assets that communicated value to end users - plus a more curated set of tools that spoke directly to those channel partners.

We interviewed team members to identify the company’s strengths and capture them more boldly and effectively. Then we rethought the NDS website, including a general brand video on the home page and a more partner-specific series of educational video on a password-protected page. The latter was developed in collaboration with NDS salespeople, then built into an email nurturing series.

The result: A brand that anyone could understand, accompanied by specific tools to help salespeople nurture channel partnerships over the long haul. Each audience gets what it needs – and NDS gets to look as valuable to prospects as its ongoing clients already know it is.

Site Before

Design, development & video: Bureau Gravity

The Neighbor Project

Hard-to-explain nonprofit. World-changing potential.

Watch The Neighbor Project video.

The Neighbor Project makes homeownership possible for working families who can’t save enough to make a downpayment. That doesn’t just change lives – it can transform entire communities.

When two not-for-profit groups decided to merge around this idea and form a new entity, they had their work cut out for them. Each organization had its own network and local reputation; one was new and innovative, while the other enjoyed decades-old tenure and long-term grants.

Who were they when they came together?

We began by interviewing leadership and clients, then went beyond to try potential brand ideas out in community surveys. We led an internal discussion around the results that helped new leaderhip land on the same page, solidify a brand message and choose a name. Website, core video and promotion followed.