Sending 108 Letters to Spark Joy

Every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our team would gather at a local organization to give back to our Minneapolis community. Now that we’re working remotely, we wanted to send warm thoughts to senior citizens who are missing their family and friends during the pandemic. Collectively, our team wrote 108 letters to a senior community in St. Paul in hopes of sparking some joy. As we continue to move through this pandemic, we’re feeling grateful to still be able to give back to our wonderful community.

DOING GOOD, SAVING WELL WITH SPAVE.

Most of us have good intentions with our finances. But figuring out how to donate to causes we care about and save toward our goals can sometimes feel overwhelming. Spave makes it part of everyday life with an app that lets users automatically set saving and giving amounts for every purchase they make.

We connected with Spave as they were getting ready to launch their big idea, and we delivered consumer and partner insights, strategic guidance, and brand development. It all began with two waves of research. And during those 48 video interviews, we learned a lot about what nonprofit partners and consumers want – and just how Spave stands out as the first all-in-one financial app.

Fueled by these insights, our creative team was excited to put words and visuals to work, exploring a variety of style options for the new brand. Now, with a marketing toolkit, email templates, event material swag and more completed, we’re excited to help Spave’s big idea come to life.

Want to see how you can start spaving? Visit Spave now! And be sure to download the full case study here.

Ignite Your Imagination.

Now that we’re close to year-end, you might be thinking through fresh ways to reach customers or dreaming up novel product offerings. Our team loves to brainstorm new ideas, so we’ve created Spark Cards to share some methods we use. This new tool will help you unlock creativity and boost imagination as you think through your next work (or life!) challenge.

Here are a few tips for leveling up your next Spark session:

• Create the guest list. Feel free to invite your immediate team, but also consider inviting outsiders who are less weighed down by project details and can bring valuable new perspectives.
• Get everyone up to speed. Provide some background information that could be used as a primer for the task ahead – for example, a creative brief or a couple of project summary slides.
• Set the tone – and make it fun! We recommend opening with playful icebreakers, playing music during independent reflection time and, if possible, providing snacks.
• Buddy up with a co-lead. Keeping the conversation flowing is a tough job. Have someone else take notes and manage technology and logistics so you can focus on facilitating.
• Give time for individual ideation. Shouting out ideas works great for some, but not for everyone. Building in time for participants to think and write individually creates an inclusive environment.
• Take the long way around. Spend time ideating with minimal parameters. Setting the expectation that nothing is off limits could be exactly what it takes to make magic happen.

Download our Spark Cards and use them with your team or individually.

Our hearts are full 💙

As we say goodbye to 2021, we’re feeling extra grateful for this year. The last 18 months, we’ve settled into our work-from-home routines, grown our organization and celebrated our employees. Below are a few things we are especially grateful for.

• We’ve grown! We’ve hired eight employees across our disciplines and have expanded our footprint across the U.S. You can find some of our staff in Massachusetts, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois and beyond!
• We love giving back and have done so the past two years by providing our services pro bono to Joyya and Spave to help them successfully launch their rebrands.
• We’ve celebrated our staff’s many achievements. One of our fabulous designers, Katherine Bosworth, won AdFed’s 32 Under 32 award, and our incredible creative leaders, Jessica Helvey and Emily Sauer, both celebrated 15 years at Fusion Hill.
• You might have seen us around Minneapolis! We sponsored NAWBO’s Hall of Fame event and Twin Cities Startup Week. Both events are helping our Minneapolis entrepreneurial community grow.
• In lieu of our traditional Valentine’s Day gift, we donated to three organizations: Northside Achievement Zone, National Urban League and Joyya.

We hope you have a restful year-end with family and friends. See you soon, 2022!

Twin Cities Startup Week.

In September, Fusion Hill had the privilege not only of participating in Twin Cities Startup Week as a sponsor but also of featuring our VP of Research and Strategy, Amy Behrens, and our VP of Business Strategy, Nina Gazel, as speakers at the event. Because we ourselves are part of a small business, we are always looking for ways to give back to the community, which is why we jumped at the opportunity to share our expertise at this event, the second-largest startup week in the U.S.! Our team presented to a mixed virtual and in-person audience on the power of research, with a presentation titled “Stop Guessing, Start Asking: Using Research to Drive Growth.”

For many startups, conducting research feels out of reach and overwhelming, if they are familiar with it at all. For that reason, our presentation focused on a few actionable topics, including crafting objectives, conducting research on a budget, and finding insights among the data. The audience had so many great questions and engaging conversations that left us energized and grateful for the opportunity to share our knowledge. We can’t wait to see them go forth and use the power of research as they continue their startup journeys!

View our Stop Guessing, Start Asking: Using Research to Drive Growth presentation here.