West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Tax Primer
Overview
The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy (WVCBP)—a nonpartisan, nonprofit, statewide policy research organization—solicited 84 Agency’s assistance to develop and produce a tax primer booklet that would help demystify West Virginia’s tax system for a variety of audiences: the general public, policymakers, and coalition partners.
“The team at 84 Agency is incredibly talented at distilling complex (and sometimes boring!) information into compelling and accessible communications and education materials. Their partnership has been critical in helping the WVCBP reach more West Virginians where they are and inform them about how policy impacts their lives. “
– Kelly Allen, Executive Director of WV Center on Budget and Policy
The goals of the project were threefold:
To explain the state’s tax system in a way that was both interesting as well as accessible;
To expand the target audiences’ awareness of the WVCBP’s work and strengthen its credibility; and
To lead to better-informed legislation and fairer tax policy.
To this end, 84 Agency also worked closely with the WVCBP to create a campaign to accompany and promote the tax primer rollout, which included production of two 3-minute videos focused on breaking down key concepts from the document.
Process
Following a discovery workshop facilitated by 84 Agency, the WVCBP prepared a first draft of copy for the tax primer booklet. Our team carefully reviewed the document and generated recommendations for a unifying campaign concept and visual aesthetic, along with shifts in organization of the content.
With the WVCBP’s approval, we proceeded to implement these recommendations. In addition to restructuring the document to enhance its readability and consistency, we thoroughly copyedited all 30+ pages for grammatical precision, crafted a compelling introduction, proposed a new title (“Who Pays? Rethinking West Virginia’s Tax System”), and ensured that a clear, educational voice was maintained throughout.
After our copy edits were complete, we designed the booklet in a visually-engaging manner while adhering to the parameters of the existing WVCBP brand. As part of this process, our team translated the provided content into numerous supplemental, user-friendly infographics.
Next we dove into the video phase of the campaign. Having earlier identified the main topics for each video in collaboration with the WVCBP, we fleshed out a creative concept to bring the content to life: West Virginia tax policy explained by a child “news anchor,” paired with WVCBP-branded animations and infographics.
We sketched out storyboards, drafted the scripts, and presented these to the client.
The WVCBP team was on board, so we moved ahead with casting our actors and designing the set. Then it was lights, camera, action!
A few rounds of edits and final cut later, and we were ready for campaign launch—we put together a targeted ad strategy to guarantee maximum reach (of both the tax primer booklet and videos) on the WVCBP’s website and social media.