Community Relations
The sensibility of today's consumer – particularly emerging younger generations – demands that companies are good corporate citizens. It is both good business and the right thing to do. Leading companies often have a clearly defined program that engages their employees, leverages their product or service in some way and provides guardrails to manage waves of requests. The best programs also include a certain news worthiness that extends the reach and impact of the good deeds. One Simple Plan has developed a feel in creating efforts that check all these boxes.
Brief Case Study:
Conn's HomePlus
Conn's HomePlus is a Houston-based specialty retailer with more than 100 stores across the southern tier of the U.S. While they always had a community-minded focus, there was never a formal program. Realizing this gap, OSP recommended the company boost their philanthropic profile to elevate their connections to consumers and the communities it serves.
The result was Conn's Cares, based on a simple but important goal of improving children's lives. OSP worked with leading children's non-profit, First Book, to donate thousands of books to kids. Interactive book reading parties add to the magic, where Conn's employees visit schools to spread the love of reading to the students.
Brief Case Study:
Northern Tool + Equipment
Northern Tool + Equipment (NTE), a growing hardware retailer, has a no-nonsense ethos and quality products that appeal to tradesmen and DIY types. NTE asked OSP in 2016 to develop a repeatable PR activation to activate this message in new markets. OSP responded with "NTE: Nurturing Trade Excellence," which supported trade career training in high schools. This was inspired by insight that high school students are being pushed only to four-year colleges.
In 2021, the program was relaunched with OSP’s help as “Northern’s Tools for the Trades” program. That academic year, OSP planned and executed 10 events at local and national high schools, donating a total of $50,000 in tools to trades students, and we shot and produced videos to support these efforts and to shine the light brighter.