Heasley & Partners began working with Mangata founder Mary Tiffin on a book project. Mary had a rough book manuscript and Kathy Heasley saw the potential to make the book something much more than simply an autobiography. At Dream's End is a touching true story about Mary and her late husband David. After his passing, Mary's love of running led to a business idea: RunLites, gloves, mittens and hand slings with rechargeable LED lights built in to light the path while running. Heasley & Partners was asked to bring all of this together, and create the brand for the holding company Mangata, LLC.
The Problem
Align an autobiographical book, an athletic product and an athletic apparel brand. Bring the messages together so that Mary could share her story, and the heart for the RunLites brand. Additionally create a related, yet separate brand for Mangata as more and more products fall within it.
The Solution
The heart was right there in the book At Dream's End. The challenge was how to go from Heart to Message to Image (design the book) to Actions to Systems (the five stages of Heart & Mind Branding) and advise Mary to use it. The last thing we wanted was for this loving
story to come across as a marketing tool. It was not written for that reason, but rather to allow others to read it and find inspiration. This required a great deal of sensitivity, something Heasley & Partners is uniquely known for.
After designing the cover that depicted Mary and the shadow of David on the cover along with the heart-based essence on the back, we advised Mary on several outreach projects for the book and how to bring up RunLites in an authentic, non-promotional way.
RunLites' brand magic and Mary's genuineness. We rewrote the book and in that process infused the RunLite story more vividly within it. In essence we created the "story behind the story" for RunLites. The story for RunLites is to make sure people a
re safe while running, but that's not really the full why--that's the mind-based why. There's a bigger reason behind all this--David-- and that's the element that makes all of Mary's brands genuine, meaningful and different.
We also incorporated the light imagery into the book cover and book design. And in the logo we created for the publishing company, Firefly Scribbles. We presented a lot of good options for that (see below)! That essence is also in the Mangata logo, which has an athletic apparel feel. Unifying all these elements was tricky, but with the heart as our foundational guide, we found the light.
Heasley & Partners created:
New book manuscript written by Kathy Heasley
Book cover and interior page design
Book marketing plan
Art direction for book cover shoot
Art direction for RunLite product shoot
Brand design and brand standards for Mangata
Logo for Firefly Scribbles publishing company
