The Split Second Foundation: 

Establishing Branding & Communications Plan

In 2016, Mark Raymond Jr. suffered a tragic accident, becoming a quadriplegic. Realizing there were few resources available to people living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders, Mark started The Split Second Foundation (SSF) to increase awareness of a growing population of individuals impacted by disabilities, advocate for their rights, fund cutting-edge research, and provide clear-cut steps to immediately improve their quality of life.

Today, SSF is a recognized leader in disability care, opening Louisiana’s first fitness facility for people living with spinal cord injuries or other neurological conditions. SSF is slated to open a much larger holistic wellness center in the near future.

Situation

DMS Communications started working with The Split Second Foundation during the nonprofit’s startup phase, developing brand assets and a strategic communications plan. The communications plan included the following elements: defining objectives, identifying target audiences, crafting key messaging, developing an earned media approach, creating owned media (website, email) and a social media strategy. DMS Communications then implemented the plan. 

Social Media and Earned Media Strategy

The story of Mark Raymond Jr. and the founding of SSF was a compelling one, but the challenge was to make it about transformative change and not tragedy. Beginning with the tagline, “Transforming Hope into Action,” DMS Communications initiated an awareness campaign about how there are millions of people in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana living with an ambulatory disability and yet there are few services. At the time, there wasn’t a single fitness facility in Louisiana dedicated to people living with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities. 

Elements of the awareness campaign included the following: 

• Social media: DMS began populating SSF’s Instagram and Facebook pages with images and reels of Mark, showing the problem, the solution and how to get there. 
  • Problem: growing population of people living with disabilities, but few if any resources leading to isolation, physical and mental health problems, and shorter life span
  • Solution: the disability community is not limited to only those living with a disability but is inclusive of their friends, family and neighbors. Using that community’s power, we can open the first Louisiana facility dedicated to people living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions
  • How: fundraising and partnerships

     

• Website and email: working with Mark and the SSF board, DMS created a website that immediately captured users’ attention: showing the problem, and more importantly how the SSF and its work provided a community solution. DMS used email to regularly follow up with the SSF’s growing number of community members

Earned media: DMS focused its efforts on garnering media attention through Mark’s story and the founding of the SSF, and also various SSF’s fundraising efforts including the Crescent City Classic, GiveNOLA, Show of Love (SSF annual gala) and end of year fundraising

Social Media Results

• Followers: By the Fall of 2021, the SSF Instagram account had gone from a few hundred followers to more than 22k
• Reach: each month, SSF’s reach continued to grow with one post going viral and reaching more than 100k accounts with more than 108k engagements
• Shares: SSF’s Instagram posts were regularly shared by hundreds of followers
• Positive user-generated content, increased awareness and engagement among a younger demographic, and sustained engagement post-launch. Bottom line: people seeing the SSF as an active organization working to create and sustain solutions
• Results Highlights: continued growth of accounts with consistent posting, increased awareness and engagement, and sustained engagement with shares and new followers. Bottom line: The SSF was able to raise enough funds to open Louisiana’s first fitness facility dedicated to people living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions