Home Work De Zwerm

Innovative care idea launched with powerful story

The Wissel had a strong idea, but the message was still vague. Shaved Monkey helped them make their initiative clear and inspiring - with the right name, imagery and a story that touches people.

Client

De Wissel

Deliverables

Positionering

Branding

Storytelling

Naming

Baseline

Design

Copywriting

Care in crisis

The healthcare and social services sector is in crisis. Waiting times are long. The workload is high. Fortunately, there are pioneers like De Wissel. This counselling network supports vulnerable young people and families, and wanted to launch an innovative initiative in Tienen. The goal? Encouraging people to take more care of each other again. Not just to ease the pressure on professionals, but mainly because ‘caring for each other’ makes everyone happier.

“Our collaboration with Shaved Monkey has been a catalyst for us. A strong name, visuals, and stories bring people together. They create traction. A word like ‘zwermen’ also resonates with policymakers, allowing us to engage in better conversations. I am incredibly grateful for that.”

Sieg Pauwels

Coordinator Society & Innovation at De Wissel

Strong idea, hard to communicate

To put this idea into practice, a team from De Wissel toured Tienen to map out caring residents. But they soon got stuck on the communication around the project. "Everyone senses we are working on something great," De Wissel told Shaved Monkey. "But when we explain what we want to do and achieve, it still remains very vague for many."

Quest for the essence

That was exactly where the challenge lay: communicating a new initiative comprehensibly and inspiringly so that others become as enthusiastic about it as you are, is no easy task. Many changemakers struggle with it - but that's what Shaved Monkey exists for. Our first step? Getting to the core of the Tienen initiative together with De Wissel. So we organised a deep-dive workshop with Luc, Sieg, Jef, Susanne and Simon from De Wissel. We dug deep into the shared values, vision and mission of their project until the essence emerged.

From idea to compelling story

The next step of our collaboration was to turn that essence into an inspiring narrative - both in words and visuals. Because to get people excited about something completely new, you have to touch them emotionally. So we wrote a compelling manifesto, came up with a striking name and baseline, put together a pitch deck, and designed a fresh visual identity. Thus was born ‘De Zwerm’. Because just like a flock of birds, this initiative brings people together, but also gives them the freedom to come and go as they please.

De Zwerm grows and inspires

In June 2024, De Zwerm was officially launched and enthusiastically received by Tienen. Since then, hundreds of Tienen residents have joined in, been dozens of events have taken plance, and countless new connections have been made. Oikonde Leuven nominated De Zwerm as one of the five best initiatives for a more caring society. And as icing on the cake, De Zwerm got to visit Flemish minister Hilde Crevits. Her cabinet was eager to learn how De Zwerm brings people together through enthusiasm, engagement, and intrinsic motivation. De Zwerm swells and spreads – you can feel it!