Creating a home for mindfulness study in South Africa.

Client: IMISA

Country: South Africa

Project: IMISA Business Model Design & Roll-out

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Business Model Design Workshop Session

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Mindfulness Student Browsing IMISA Website

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - IMISA Home Page Website Design

Project Scope

Business Model Design
Brand Development
Website Design
Website Development
Content Writing
Illustration
Brand Guidelines

Business Model Design / Brand Development / Website Design / Website Development / Content Writing / Illustration / Brand Guidelines

Challenge

Help IMISA create a business strategy, align their team, and position their brand in the market.

Solution

A series of workshops to build IMISA’s business model and the roll-out of IMISA’s brand and marketing.

Result

With their new-found structure and brand positioning, IMISA becomes a benchmark for mindfulness organisations in South Africa and the world over.

Photo of Janine Kirby of The Institute for Mindfulness South Africa

Pigeon Pie skillfully guided our leadership team through business strategy workshops and armed us with a renewed sense of clarity and direction. We were empowered to think more strategically and it helped shape the growth of our brand. Thank you so much!

Janine Kirby, IMISA

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa Team Photo

Making mindfulness more relevant in South Africa.

The lives we lead get busier and more complex every day. Being “present” to ourselves and to those around us has become an ongoing challenge.

The Institute for Mindfulness South Africa (IMISA) was established by a group of health-care practitioners and researchers who have come together to improve the well-being of South African people through the practice of mindfulness and self-care.

Through professional training, public events, and local research, IMISA’s goal is to make mindfulness more accessible and more relevant to all South Africans.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa at The Mindfulness Conference in Joburg South Africa

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa Brainstorming Before a Presentation

The need for structure.

IMISA’s mission attracted a diverse range of professionals as they quickly became one of the leading groups of mindfulness study in South Africa.

But as IMISA’s team grew, so did their need to operate in a more formal and structured way.

Failing to align their team behind a single focus, lacking a strategy for growth, and being unclear on their value offering were all standing in the way of achieving their vision as an organisation.

IMISA was attracting opportunities on the global stage and it was important that they showed up with clarity and conviction.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa Team in a Design and Strategy Workshop Session with Pigeon Pie Marketing and Strategy

Defining the path forward.

IMISA worked with us to bring their brand to market.

We worked together to:

Create IMISA's business model and give structure to the team and organisation.

Establish IMISA’s brand and visual language.

Build an online platform to help IMISA host information and resources for the South African mindfulness community.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Post-it Notes with Strategy Notes and Team Questions

Managing a growing team.

With a diverse and growing team, IMISA found it difficult to get them into alignment behind a single clear strategy.

Team members each brought diverging perspectives and ideas, pulling them in many directions. Opportunities were unclear and the business strategy was being made up as they went along.

The business needed structure in order to grow.

Unlocking the team’s genius and creativity.

We used The Business Model Canvas by Strategyzer to help IMISA shape their strategy and empower the team to collaborate on the business in a structured way.

Through a series of workshops, IMISA worked with us through the nine building blocks of their business.

Breaking the business down piece-by-piece helped unlock the genius of the team and helped them identify new solutions for the growth of the business.

IMISA’s knowledge of their community became invaluable in shaping the strategy and it gave direction and clarity to their ideas.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa Team in an Editorial Interview

Without any prior brand experience, the team was now collaborating on value propositions, routes to market, new services, and even new revenue streams.

Through the Business Model Canvas, the team developed a shared language and a shared understanding of how their business can grow - but most importantly, they were now collaborating with clarity and direction. They were getting into complete alignment on the future and potential of their organisation.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Business Model Design Workshop Session Outcome

Creating IMISA’s brand identity.

IMISA prides themselves on how approachable they make the study of mindfulness. They see mindfulness as a lifelong practice of learning and self-discovery - for beginners and experts alike.

It was important for us to capture IMISA’s approachable nature but still represented their academic prestige throughout their brand.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Mindfulness Student Browsing IMISA Mobile Website

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Recommended Reading, Mobile Website Design

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Mobile Website Design

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Mindfulness Students Browsing IMISA Team Page on Website

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa Illustration Artwork

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Simon Whitesman Presenting at The Mindfulness Conference in Joburg South Africa

Building an online home for the mindfulness community.

IMISA’s business model came to life through their website; offering resources, events, research papers, podcasts, and even a professional directory for the industry. It became a home for the South African mindfulness community.

Designing for new-comers as well as for key audiences meant information needed to be easily segmented and accessible, while still offering deeper levels of content for more experienced visitors.

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - About Page, Website Design

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Mindfulness Programmes Page, Website Design

Institute for Mindfulness South Africa - Recommended Reading, Website Design

A new benchmark for mindfulness organisations in South Africa.

What began as a small group of committed practitioners and academics, grew to become a leading organisation in mindfulness education, relevance, and thought leadership on the nuances of mindfulness practice in South Africa.

Without IMISA’s leadership, the local mindfulness community may not be as large and connected as they are today. They continue to innovate new ways of supporting South Africa’s well-being and growing awareness on mindfulness and our mental health.

With their new-found structure, brand positioning, and solid business model, IMISA has become a benchmark for what mindfulness organisations can be in South Africa.