Surprise & Delight (S&D) is a program that encourages our frontline associates to connect with Customers on a personal level, going above and beyond normal business.

I built the brand and communications system behind Surprise & Delight: the identity, brand guidelines, the campaigns that drove associate submissions, the enablement materials, and the annual book presented to the executive leadership team.

RESULTS

New marketing strategy

Microsite dedicated to learning resources

ROLE

BRAND STRATEGY, MARKETING STRATEGY, VISUAL IDENTITY

SURPRISE & DELIGHT GIVES ASSOCIATES THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEND PERSONALIZED CARDS, AND IN SOME CASES, GIFTS TO CUSTOMERS THEY MADE A GENUINE CONNECTION WITH ON A CALL. IT ALLOWS CAPITAL ONE TO WALK ALONGSIDE ITS CUSTOMERS THROUGH INSTANCES OF CELEBRATION AND DIFFICULTY, IN THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD.

Surprise & Delight — Story Series

Empathy Sessions

I scheduled time with the Surprise & Delight team to better understand them and develop closer relationships, focusing on what they were responsible for and how they felt about the current branding and the new initiative.

What I found all four had in common was that the current branding was missing the heart of the program. The key to what made the program tick was the “genuine connections” each associate was making while on the phone with our customers, and the amazing stories that came from those conversations.

Defining the Core Brand Values

After meeting with the Surprise & Delight team, I moved on to laying out what Surprise & Delight means and the principles that define the brand’s look, feel and emotion.

Core emotions: Compassion · Love · Sincerity · Empathy

Surprise & Delight — Story Series

Ideating

One note I took during a meeting really resonated with me and with what Surprise & Delight meant: the phrase “genuine connection.” Associates were being asked to make a connection with our customers. But not just any connection was a Surprise & Delight; only what was defined as a “genuine” connection made the cut. I took this not only as the end point of a Surprise & Delight, but also as the beginning of the conversation: the moment the associate answered the phone, they needed to spark the trust in order for our customers to open up and allow a genuine connection to be made.

Realizing this, I took to my sketchbook and started drafting a few designs based on the core emotions and this pivotal idea of a genuine connection. My first impulse was to center Surprise & Delight’s branding around sincere, warm typography. I looked through several typefaces to find the emotional impact I wanted. I really loved how OHNO’s Viktor Script conveyed a sincere feeling, but I wasn’t impressed with some of the letterforms and symbols, especially the ampersand.

LEARNING MATERIALS & CONNECTION FEEDBACK

ROLE

ILLUSTRATION, PUBLICATION DESIGN, STORYBOARDING

TEAM

MICHELLE REID, VP COMMUNICATIONS & EVENTS

MIKE MAYBERRY, DIRECTOR CREATIVE STRATEGY

JOSEPHINE FARRIS, SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

ILLUSTRATION

SURPRISE & DELIGHT

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK BOOK 2020

The Surprise & Delight Customer Feedback Book is an end-of-year publication showcasing some of the inspiring “Genuine Connections” made throughout the calendar year.

As a part of the rebranding, I re-envisioned the book to weave more of a story through drawing in a specific style, in this case drawing inspiration from Shel Silverstein.

I utilized this style to influence the upcoming year’s marketing campaign and onboarding material, and from this point forward we utilized this strategy for our future marketing efforts with Surprise & Delight.

ROLE

ILLUSTRATION, PUBLICATION DESIGN, STORYBOARDING

TEAM

MICHELLE REID, VP COMMUNICATIONS & EVENTS

MIKE MAYBERRY, DIRECTOR CREATIVE STRATEGY

JOSEPHINE FARRIS, SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

ILLUSTRATION

SURPRISE & DELIGHT

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK BOOK 2021

For the following year, I wanted to dive deeper into the feelings of Surprise & Delight from the connections that are made. My grandmother and my mother were both amazing seamstresses, and I used to eagerly watch at their sides, helping them pick thread and paying attention to how they manufactured each piece by hand. I was always amazed at the final touches that they both would make through embroidery.

I chose to embroider 10 words that best fit the emotion from each connection. I had 2 months to sketch, design, embroider and lay out a full book to send off to print. This was by far one of the most challenging projects I’ve had the pleasure to work on, especially from a timing perspective.