Louisville Leopards

We love working with non-profits (like Kentucky Refugee Ministries, KentuckianaWorks, and Fund for the Arts to name a few) so when our new friends the Louisville Leopard Percussionists (LLP) came knocking, we leapt at the opportunity.

In July 2018, we launched a refreshed louisvilleleopardpercussionists.com.

The Challenge

Like many small businesses, non-profits have to do a lot with a little, and that was the case with LLP. But with our tried-and-true process of being goal-driven, being clear about our priorities, while being agile, we produced a site that makes their job easier and tells their story better.

Goal #1: Be More PRO, but don’t lose the vibe

The Leopards are a unique blend: yes, they are a bunch of elementary and middle-school kids, but they are also a tight-knit, professional group of artists lead by a dynamic team of educators. We needed to communicate the serious fun they represent.

Guided by face-to-face interviews and in-depth research, we drafted a website strategy that focused on the group’s goals. We then audited their existing brand – perhaps most popularly know by their ubiquitous oval “Leopard Percussionist stickers which can be found on van bumpers and rear windshields all over town. We expanded that into a formalized set of colors, type and patterns.

Goal #2: Make it Easier to Raise Funds

Fundraising is always tough – and it takes a lot of time. Luckily, we have a few “standards” in our songbook to help with that. Utilizing our favorite form-management tool Gravity Forms (integrated with Paypal) we help set up tuition and donation forms that function flawlessly and provide accurate reporting. No more paper ledgers and lost checks!

Can’t Believe Your Eyes (or Ears)

While the website has it’s purpose, we also know that a huge portion of LLP’s audience only knows of them from YouTube, Facebook or their various TV appearances – and you can see why! Just try to NOT finish one of their amazing performances on YouTube!

To that end, we integrated one of their best videos into the homepage, as it perfectly captures the size, excitement and PROfessionalism that is the Louisville Leopard Percussionists. We also made a point to push for people to go directly to YouTube to view their videos and subscribe.

The Beat Goes On

Long-term, our goal was to produce a site that was flexible and easy to maintain for the band of educators and volunteers that run LLP. To do this, we used our favorite content management system – WordPress. Over the years, we’ve amassed quite a knowledge of WordPress – and we put this to good use for LLP. We created a suite of easy-to-use “shortcodes” that will allow (with minimal learning curve) anyone to create and style page content while maintaining the consistency of brand we originally designed. Want to have an image left and text right? No problem. Want a testimonial from Ozzy right below? Awesome!

Coda

Finally, congrats to the Louisville Leopard Percussionists on their appearance on Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour – where they performed Crazy Train for Ozzy himself.

Further Listening

Below are some of our team’s favorite LLP performances:

Ben – Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads

Nick – Earth, Wind, & Fire Medley

Joel – Zeppelin!