Case Study: U.S. LawShield Rebrand

I led my team in beginning the rebrand process with a period of intense discovery and strategic planning to get to know their program offerings, business challenges, markets, consumers, and industry as a whole. To create messaging that would help the brand connect to its broader audience, my team and I immersed ourselves in the wealth of information available on firearms, legal weapons of all kinds, and self-defense laws and rights. We investigated the intricacies and features that would help us to develop a new, appealing narrative and found that the brand’s existing approach focused solely on guns and the 2nd Amendment. This was alienating the majority of the company’s potential audience, reducing the brand image to that of a fringe organization. The brand was struggling to reach beyond the 2nd Amendment groups, despite the fact that their services are designed for all who believe in safety and their right to self-defense. The brand believes that everyone can—and should—benefit from and be empowered by self-defense knowledge and awareness, yet there was a massive disconnect between the brand and its target audience segments.

Consumer Audience Segmentation Development

We utilized the findings from our research to uncover the emotional core and heart of the brand, and discovered the brand is about much more than 2nd Amendment rights—it’s about safety. Because the brand's business model was built around membership, we used this concept to create a community-driven foundational structure. In defining the consumer base, it was not enough to understand the audience and the demographic personas, genders, and generational groups. We needed to understand the lifestyle and circumstances that would create and evoke motivations for path-to-membership.

Through due diligence, research, and analysis I identified four main audience segments based upon very different motivations and lifestyles. Identifier naming became essential for these groups, according to lifestyle classifications: The Patriot, The Guardian, The Enthusiast, and The Empowered. I led my team in creating unique messaging tactics to appeal to each, using an encrypted communication and engagement strategy to connect to these segments with emotional triggers guided by individual values.

Creating a Movement

To facilitate a brand movement, we positioned the brand through a singular, overarching campaign with segmented member micro-campaigns. I developed "Join U.S.," a campaign that embodies who the company is and what it stands for. The double entendre reinforces the company’s brand name and signifies belonging to a group. “US” is the emotional messaging connection point that serves as an invitation to like-minded individuals to join the brand community through a purpose-driven initiative. The campaign features strategic member segmentation as well as messaging that supports the brand personality, engineered to embody freedom and country. By utilizing the patriotic red, white and blue color scheme, we attached the brand to an already deep-seeded culture and heritage, value structure, and love of country. The message invites the prospective member into an established, like-minded community of people; and reminds existing members that they are part of that collective with a sense of pride, purpose, and belonging.

Throughout the course of the project, I served as project manager and also led the organization in a series of discovery workshops with executive leadership and sales teams. I performed numerous mystery shopping sessions and led a focus group with the brand's target audiences to test and measure the buyer persona development and consumer segmentation creative that we developed.