Charlotte is Creative is the content partner you didn’t know you needed
Elena Kacan, OrthoCarolinaCreative Content Development
The Story
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Matt & Tim for 4+ years on many projects and they truly approach partnerships as if they are an extension of your brand. They are experts at turning your service/product and company goals into fun, relatable and digestible pieces that reach their unique and engaged audience.
They also bring unmatched positive energy to every meeting and aren’t afraid to think outside of the box.. my favorite type of brainstorming session! They are champions for the Charlotte community and flawlessly bridge the gap between our local creatives and corporations which is so needed.
If you’re looking to support the creative community AND develop
meaningful content for your brand, you want Charlotte is Creative on your team!
We tell your story in creative ways and drive connections with your audiences.
In a world where content is king, there are a lot of kingdoms.
Everyone is talking.
Everyone is creating noise.
But, are they really saying anything?
And, is anyone listening?
WE SAW A CHALLENGE.
SO, WE CREATED A CONTENT SOLUTION.
While companies, organizations, media outlets, and individuals were producing incredible amounts of content, very little of it was about Charlotte’s creative community.
If we were going to realize our mission of changing the accepted narrative about the role of art and culture in Charlotte and put more creatives to work, we had a choice:
- Fight for the little bandwidth available in existing media, or
- Disrupt the media and influencer landscape by creating our own media channel to tell the stories of creativity we believe deserve to be told
In the end, we chose to put our founders’ collective experience as marketing professionals and copywriters to work. This, The Biscuit, was first baked – a Website, newsletter, and social feeds that employed podcasts, videos, and a wide array of creative content to grab the public’s attention and make them fall in love. We’re often the first publication ever to devote time, space, and bandwidth to creative organizations and artists.
Hearing, “This is my first article!” is music to our ears. We love it even more when, a year later, they’re so busy with new work, they have trouble squeezing us in.
That means we did our job.
OUR PASSION FOR COLLABORATION
We also put our passion for collaboration to work, routinely sharing stories with or developing content for WBTV, WFAE, and The Charlotte Ledger.
With media and social media feeds across the Charlotte region devoting more and more space, time, and posts to creatives, we believe we’re well on our way to making sure that Charlotte believes in and recognizes its creative prowess … so do communities across the country.
A NEW BRAND OF SPONSORED CONTENT
That collaboration has also led us to work with companies and organizations who want to support our nonprofit’s mission, plug into the talent of the creative community, and benefit from the relationship by finding innovative and surprising ways to share their message through our brand of sponsored content.
When we work on sponsored content, we start first by determining what you need to say, who you need to say it to and how you want them to feel about it.
We work with you to develop messaging and stories that meet your objectives and ours, integrating local writers and creators to share what you need in surprising ways.
Then, we call in the creatives … and that’s when it gets fun … and effective.
The folks at Charlotte Is creatives are experts at turning your service/product and company goals into fun, relatable and digestible pieces that reach their unique and engaged audience. They also bring unmatched positive energy to every meeting and aren’t afraid to think outside of the box.. my favorite type of brainstorming session!
WE’RE READY TO TALK.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
REACH OUT!
WE DON’T CREATE. WE CO-CREATE.
Our process for developing creative content for our sponsors and clients is the same as for program development or employee and community engagement – we start with a blank sheet.
Too often, communications teams jump to the end and start there. We want to know the process and the realities that led up to your stated goal?
- What are you trying to communicate?
- What led to that?
- Who needs to hear your messages? Are they hearing it?
- What might keep them from hearing it?
- How can we surprise them?
- Who is creating noise in your space?
- What do you need them to do once they hear it?
With Charlotte is Creative, you are tapping into 50 years of communications experience. Our mission is to raise the profile of independent creatives and their skills in Charlotte. We develop a team of creatives to make your message come alive while supporting them in their work. It’s a win-win that will accomplish your mission and ours.
What if a street poet was telling your story?
What if we engage an illustrator to share your process by sharing theirs?
What if a dancer could attract and educate your audience more
effectively as a spokesperson?
There are tried and true ways of developing content. But everyone’s using them.
In a world where content is everywhere, we use creatives and their
talents to elevate your message, story, and impact.
Examples of how we work.
Equal Time for OrthoCarolina
To market OrthoCarolina’s new online appointment schedule, we employed a wide array of creatives, from mandala artists to jazz musicians. It only takes five minutes to use the new appointment tool.
So, we challenged artists to create videos of what they could create in five minutes. The results were amazing.
We wrote stories about each artist and what they did, contrasting it to the ease of working with Ortho’s new system. And we broke the content out for use on Youtube, the Web, and social media. AND Ortho was left with art they could give away on their channel!
Backstage Interviews for Blumenthal Performing Arts
When Blumenthal Performing Arts brings a national show to Charlotte, the touring company uses a set press release to send to the media. Thus, every story written sounds the same across various media platforms.
But, they leaned hard into our mission of highlighting the individual creatives who make the shows special. So, when they call us to promote an incoming show, we conduct one-on-one interviews with costume designers, set managers, actors, and more to show “how the sausage is made” and give the readers inside knowledge they can take with them to the show.
Path of Portraits for Charlotte Museum of History
To better tell the stories of historic Charlotteans of color, the Charlotte Museum of History asked us to bring artists to the table for a special celebration in 2021.
We identified four artists who live-painted a portrait of a significant man or a woman of color from Charlotte’s past. This gave the museum an exciting, new way to invite guests into the conversation, four new portraits to hang just inside their front door, a new series they could build on each year, and innovative content (complete with striking visuals) they could use to tell the story of their commitment to illuminating Black history throughout the year.
We assisted them in developing and managing the event and consulting with their communications team while creating content they could use.
NOT SURE HOW WE CAN HELP?
Well, we are sure we can!
If you’re looking to support the creative community AND develop meaningful content for your brand, you want Charlotte is Creative on your team!