BeGOAT is an innovative energy drink company that figured out a way to use the trash from coffee fruit and turn it into treasure. We worked to bring their brand to life with a fully-optimized custom website that was interactive and filled with energy.
The Challenge
As a new company, BeGOAT needed a website that showcased its product and launched their brand. Our goal for this project was to enable BeGOAT’s core business goals: create demand, deliver distributor leads, and make it easy for current distributors to manage their account and order more product.
Working closely with RoadTrip, Structure expanded the new brand into a thoughtful digital experience that was appealing on the front end and easy-to-update on the back end.
DrinkBeGoat.com was fully built on WordPress using Elementor Pro, with custom coded animations that incorporated some advanced interactive elements.
The Solution
This simple tech stack enabled RoadTrip and BeGOAT to easily make updates to the website content themselves, without having to engage a professional for the small things. As a new company, this objective was really important.
As Structure, we were intrigued by the efficiency and sustainability of their product. Instead of using the coffee bean and discarding the coffee fruit, they harvested both and turned it into Cascara: a suite of caffeine, antioxidants, and micronutrients.
Strategy
UX Strategy Information Architecture Content Strategy
Design
UX / UI Design Creative Direction Visual Design Motion Design
People spend an estimated $1B in Central Oregon every year, with the majority of the money flowing through Bend.
America’s fastest-growing town boasts a booming local business scene that acts as the backbone to the prosperous economy. However, while there’s no problem getting what you want in Central Oregon, there is a problem with giving to those in need.
That’s exactly the problem that the founders of Supportist, Bend’s local coupon app, set out to solve.
They developed what they’d call a “win-win-win” model: Local supportists pay a small monthly fee to access discoverable deals by local businesses, meanwhile, local nonprofits get 20% off the top of each member’s fee. All this works to build a generous, giving local community.
The model relies heavily on local businesses to offer product and service discounts to members. And it’s the members who provide revenue by paying for a Supportist membership—even though 20% of the membership fee goes directly to a local nonprofit.
And while giving is great, nobody is complaining about awesome discounts to the local places they shop every day. Except, there was one problem: Bend already had well-established local leaders in the coupon-ing category.
Building a coupon app is one thing. Entering a crowded category with well-established market leaders is another.
Challenge
How could Supportist boldly enter a crowded category with established local market leaders—and take the lead?
The founders tried everything from coupon books to punchcards. They tried selling them door-to-door and through sports teams. But the idea wasn’t catching on.
The founders were determined to make a difference. There had to be a way.
Businesses were skeptical of investing in advertising in yet another local coupon book—and locals were already overwhelmed by the number of coupons they were already receiving in the mail. And without businesses or locals on-board, the model just didn’t work.
But the story doesn’t end there. Here’s how Structure helped Supportist find a big breakthrough.
Solution
When our founder first met Supportist over coffee at a local coffee shop, they’d already been through a couple of tough years of trial and error. To be frank, they were heading down a road of immanent startup death.
Supportist had a good idea . . . in fact, they had a great idea that solved a real problem for real people. But they felt stuck.
So, as we often do, we started seeking a deeper understanding of the challenge with branding research and in-person workshops. These revealed a few keen insights that helped Supportist think outside of the box.
Supportist Discount Framework
We then used the data points to develop a Brand Framework that helped them find a breakthrough in their thinking and launch into a new season of product development and business growth.
“Simon and his team are exceptional marketing guides—and are worth their weight in gold. They’re pleasant and easy to work with. They’re organized and available. They’re process-driven. And, best of all, results-oriented.”
Steve Swan, Founder of Supportist
Once we had built a strong framework for the business to build on, we set out building the product: an iPhone app.
Supportist Screens on Desktop, Mobile, and Tablet
Then we delivered a responsive website that was beautiful and stood out from the competition. We developed the site on Webflow so the client could easily update content and make copy changes without digging into code.
Left: Homepage Wireframe | Right: Homepage Final Website
We dug in deeply to be a true partner that synthesized nuanced brand and complex technical information to create an app that represents the best of Bend.
In other words, we helped Supportist build their app from scratch through every step of the product development process—from strategy to shipment.
But we didn’t just consult from a distance. We dove into the trenches and designed every button and wrote every word. And thanks to a great development partnership between our team and a local developer, we ended up with a tremendous product that’s simple, easy to use, and works like a charm.
Uniting a local team
The last major challenge was that Supportist wanted to assemble a team that could product take their product forward into startup success.
As a true partner, we jumped in and helped build a multi-disciplinary team with a range of expertise to be deeply involved and thoughtfully vocal in all project stages. We all collaborated at every step, through weekly work sessions, active copy discussions, and work-in-progress sharing and conversations.
The entire Supportist team was enthusiastic and willing to be open and introspective, which allowed us to push boundaries and add unexpected interactive magic—while keeping the experience simple and clear.
Business is personal
Just as New York City never sleeps, work still continues on Supportist. We’re in close contact with the founding team and are continually involved in Supportist’s ongoing development.
To be honest, even the act of typing Structure and Supportist in this case study feels strange as our collaboration feels more like a personal friendship than it does a business relationship.
But we’re not complaining. This is exactly the kind of approach we aim to achieve in every project. Care over cash. Wellness over work. People over profit.
Repositioning a 20-year leadership consultancy around the work it had grown into
For more than 20 years, James Warrick had advised CEOs and leadership teams at companies including Nike, Intel, Merrill Lynch, and Williams Sonoma.
His work had evolved considerably over that time.
His brand hadn’t.
People encountering James online often assumed he was a traditional life or executive coach. That description wasn’t technically wrong, but it no longer captured the caliber of the work, the clients he served, or the role he actually played in their lives and organizations.
James wanted to enter the market in a new way.
The problem was that after two decades inside the business, he was too close to it to clearly articulate what made his work different.
That’s where we started.
The Challenge
Warrick didn’t need a prettier website.
It needed clarity about what the company had become.
The existing brand—Take Flight Coaching—was rooted in an earlier chapter of James’ career. His reputation and client work had moved far beyond it, but his positioning, language, and digital presence still told the old story.
Before creating anything, we needed to understand:
How that strategy should shape the name, language, identity, and customer experience
Why accomplished CEOs actually hired James
What they experienced in the relationship that was difficult to describe
Which problems James was uniquely equipped to solve
What his company should stand for going forward
Discovery before answers
Rather than beginning with assumptions about what the new brand should look or sound like, I started with discovery.
I interviewed James and five longtime clients to understand the company from both sides of the relationship.
We explored why clients initially engaged him, what changed through the work, why they continued working with him, and what differentiated James from other coaches and advisors.
We also worked through his beliefs, mission, vision, values, character, and ambitions for the next chapter of the business.
Strategy Workshop: Brand Character & Personality Exploration
A deeper pattern began to emerge.
Clients weren’t simply hiring James to become better professional leaders.
They relied on him for the confidence, clarity, and perspective required to make difficult decisions and move forward.
James wasn’t merely coaching leaders.
He had become a leader to leaders.
“We now have a framework for how to communicate and a clear plan for leveraging our brand with new and existing clients. My brand is stronger than it’s ever been.”
James Warrick, Principal
Turning insight into strategy
The discovery work became a 27-page Brand Framework that gave James and his team a shared foundation for the business.
Warrick Brand Framework: Cover
It included:
Customer insight and motivations
Three differentiated value propositions
Mission, vision, and values
Brand character and personality
Voice and messaging direction
Brand pyramid
Strategic principles for future marketing and communication
The framework mattered because it created more than marketing language.
It gave the team a common understanding of who they were, who they served, why the work mattered, and how to make future decisions consistently.
Warrick Brand Framework: Value Propositions (left) & Brand Pyramid (right)
Becoming Warrick
The strategy also exposed a fundamental issue with the existing name.
“Take Flight Coaching” reinforced the exact perception we were trying to move beyond.
We developed 13 naming directions using a structured naming process and evaluated them against the company’s positioning and long-term ambitions.
Then we discovered something hiding in plain sight:
Warrick means “strong leader.”
The name connected naturally to James’ own identity, the work he had spent decades doing, and the people he served.
The decision became obvious.
Take Flight Coaching became Warrick.
From there, the team developed a bold typographic identity designed to preserve the simplicity and authority of the name.
Original logo sketches (left) & Final Warrick logomark
Turning the strategy into an experience
The next question was how the brand should actually feel.
One phrase from James’ work became especially important.
At the end of a meeting, he would often ask:
“What’s our movement?”
It captured something central to the brand: clarity should result in forward motion.
That idea became a creative principle for the website experience.
Rather than simply publishing a new brochure site, we used movement and interaction throughout the experience to guide visitors deeper into the Warrick story and reinforce the feeling of progress.
The final experience brought together:
Brand strategy
Positioning and messaging
Naming
Creative direction
Copywriting
Information architecture
UX strategy
Visual and motion design
Front-end and back-end development
The website wasn’t the strategy.
It was the expression of the strategy.
The result
Warrick emerged with a brand that finally reflected the work clients had already been experiencing for years.
The project gave James:
A clearer articulation of his value
A deeper understanding of his customers
A differentiated market position
A new company name and identity
A shared language for his team
A strategic framework for future decisions
A digital experience capable of expressing the caliber of the work
Most importantly, James had greater clarity and confidence about the direction of the company.
“Simon and his team were crucial for the direction that I am now taking my company. The relationship I have with Simon is irreplaceable.”
James Warrick, Principal
My role
I led the strategy and discovery process, including founder and client interviews, workshop facilitation, customer insight synthesis, value proposition development, brand positioning, naming, messaging, and content strategy.
I then translated that strategic foundation into creative direction and worked with Structure’s design and development team to bring the new identity and digital experience to life.
It turns out that the crazy idea that you have a book in you isn’t so crazy after all. A 2002 New York Times article stated that 81 percent of Americans feel they have a book in them. So we helped BookWorthy seize the opportunity to teach people how both write and how to self publish a book.
Context
Aaron & Jennifer Smith are self-publishing pros. Together, they have written and self-published 11 books, selling over 600,000 copies. They’d cracked the self-publishing code and wanted to create a way to teach others how to do it as well.
Becoming a published author was once Jennifer’s childhood dream. And now that dream had turned into a self-publishing empire. Along with it came a social media platform in the millions. Most people follow them for their marriage advice. But over the years, they’ve received hundreds of emails from aspiring authors who want to know how to do what they did.
Aaron & Jennifer came to us with an idea: teach other people how to do what they’ve done. So together we dreamed. We developed. And we launched BookWorthy, an online self-publishing course for aspiring authors.
BookWorthy.com Website
Challenge
Having their own publishing company and personal brand to manage, Aaron & Jennifer didn’t have the time to make their own dream a reality.
Furthermore, they were so close to the business idea itself that they had a hard time seeing the full picture from an outside perspective. They didn’t know what to name it, what the best product offering would be, how to talk about it, or how to bring it to market. But they wanted to see it happen.
Solution
We came in on day numero uno. In fact, Aaron invited himself over to dinner at my (Simon) house to hire me. And he did. So away we went, developing the idea and building something meaningful.
And we did. For real. I mean, just read the self-publishing stories on BookWorthy.com.
“If it weren’t for BookWorthy, I wouldn’t be a published author. But because of their helpful guidance, I was able to do in 30 days what I had been trying to do for 20 years.” —Tiffany
“I was stuck and unmotivated for years by the fear of the unknown. But when I found BookWorthy, I finally had a roadmap. Becoming a published author became a reality.” —Laura
“Writing and publishing a book seemed like a bizarre dream that would never come true. Looking back, what I wish I would have known that all I needed to do was start. Thanks to BookWorthy, I am now a published author.” —Megan
And those are only three of the success stories we heard after getting the project off the ground. There are many, many more.
Here’s what Aaron had to say about the work we did:
“Without Structure, we would’ve never launched our online course. He helped us build the company from the ground up—from branding and product development to finding our first few customers. My experience with Simon is something I couldn’t get anywhere else.”
Aaron Smith
By creating the brand proposition around the idea of “Your Story Is Worth Publishing,” we developed a story, product roadmap, and launch-plan built around the 81% of people who have a book inside of them.
Naming
Aaron’s original idea was to create an uber-technical course on the nuts and bolts of self-publishing. We started by calling it AdvancedSelf-publishing.com.
But it became clear that most everyday writers are creative—not technical.
So, we went with a different name that focused on inspiring belief in an everyday person to write a book. We wanted a name that didn’t show someone how to do it but make them believe that their book was worth publishing. So we called it BookWorthy.
Product Development
We had been throwing around the idea of developing an online course from the beginning.
A close friend of Aaron’s had moderate success with an online course. We did some research and saw that it was a great way to teach and communicate lots of information. So we used the online course framework as a place to start.
After six months of content development, script writing, set building, and filming production, we had a course. It was a comprehensive learning experience: 16 video lessons on an online dashboard where students could watch lessons, track progress, and communicate with other students. We also designed a physical workbook to ship to each member’s doorstep a few days after they joined the course.
Marketing Strategy
People can’t believe in something that doesn’t exist. So, for BookWorthy, we invested in a responsive website that wasn’t just informational but also transformational. It was something customers could believe in.
Since the product helps people write and publish a story, we focused on telling stories. At the top of the homepage, we start with a sales video that tells Aaron & Jennifer’s story. About halfway down we feature half-a-dozen testimonials from BookWorthy authors. We also created a Stories page to feature long-form stories from self-published students.
Why startups need brand strategy
Needless to say, this project didn’t take off like The Wicked Witch of the West. During the launch period, we acquired about 100 students within 72 hours. No bad if you ask me. But our super-duper storytelling powers only went so far.
It was difficult to get everyday writers to buy into a premium publishing course. The BookWorthy brand is beautiful. The product is effective. And thousands of everyday writers now believe that they can become published authors. But a startup is like a diesel truck. The engine will only work with enough fuel. And if it runs dry, it’s dead. In the same way, strong execution can only go so far without strategy.
We did some preliminary brand strategy work to understand BookWorthy’s competition. It helped us and better position them in the marketplace. We developed rough customer profiles. And we created character and personality traits so we could communicate consistently. We covered the basics of what Eric Ries calls a Minimum Viable Brand (MVB), but didn’t do enough market research to confirm whether our assumptions were fact or our hopes and dreams from Peter Pan’s Neverland.
Brand strategy is business strategy
A common mistake when building and a new company is ignoring strategy. The launch timeline was so aggressive that we settled for working harder to “get it out there” instead of working smarter and getting it right. But we learned a timeless lesson. When developing a product or service, there’s a difference between getting the right idea and getting the idea right.
When developing a product or service, there’s a difference between getting the right idea and getting the idea right.
That’s why copywriter Steve Bautista wrote: “When people talk to themselves, it’s called ‘insanity.’ When companies talk to themselves, it’s called marketing.” The trick is to make sure your company isn’t just talking to itself. Close the feedback loop on your company or product before you go to market.
Whether it’s pricing or packaging, the best way to spend your limited amount of time or money is on brand strategy. To better understand yourself and the people you’re selling to. Sure, it costs some money upfront but it’ll save you tons of money down the road.
We tell the truth
You may be wondering, “Why does he tell us what they did wrong?” “Isn’t he worried no one will hire him?”
I’m not worried. We tell the truth. Authenticity builds trust and develops deeper, more sustainable relationships. And, if you’re a potential client, we want you to know what to expect when you work with us.
We’re human and we screw up. We make mistakes. And we’re humble enough to tell you when we do. We’re trying to be different. The other consulting firms and branding agencies whose websites you’ll look at and whose stories you’ll read that only tell you what you want to hear. I share the things you don’t expect to because I want to create trust.
If you’re looking to launch a new product, validate growth opportunities, better understand your customers, or refine your business strategy, we can help. Contact us to start a conversation.
