Deeper Relationships, Engagement, Rewards, And Fun Activities!

Overview

BrandChamp loves working with clients like Passion Planner, a thriving business that
provides an inspirational product and donates to nonprofits and community organizations
worldwide.

Founded in 2013 through a Kickstarter campaign, Passion Planner helps professionals
of all ages do more than just map out their workdays. From elegant, traditionally bound
paper planners to downloadable digital options, their products feature dedicated space for
detailed long-term plans, blank pages for creativity, and prompts for self-reflection, as well
as the opportunity to daydream and then fulfill those personal and professional ambitions
constructively.

A Talented Team Takes On the Challenge

As it evolved from a small startup to a thriving business, Passion Planner generated a devoted international fanbase. These customers needed structure, support, and opportunities for more fulfilling relationships with the brand. And Passion Planner needed a fully developed ambassador program. In 2020, Geminelle (Gem) Rollins and Marissa Huffman came on board to help develop Passion Planner’s Ambassador Program, which, up to that point, had been a minimally vetted and loosely structured group of reps managed by a brand loyalty app.

“We realized that there wasn’t much accountability in terms of how we were running our reps program, and we decided that we wanted to create a more thoughtful and interactive program that would help us engage with the PashFam and share our company values,” Marissa says.

“We realized that there wasn’t much accountability in terms of how we were running our reps program.”

Geminelle Rollins Malone, Community Relations Lead

A Solution That Optimizes Community & Engagement

Passion Planner is a product that helps users plan their lives beyond cookie-cutter to-do lists. So, finding an Ambassador program with equal depth was essential. Marissa and Gem’s selection process took about six months.

“When we found BrandChamp, we were looking at some other platforms, including Brandbassador, but those seemed influencer-based, and our main criteria here was that we wanted people to complete meaningful activities and engage with us. We didn’t just want them to post a photo and then be done. So yeah, BrandChamp had it all for us in terms of engaging and building a community,” Gem explains.

“I wanted to create a space for our ambassadors to tap into the small details of our planner and get the full benefit and use of it. And so that’s what drew us to BrandChamp — the customizable activities that would allow us to create space for our ambassadors to engage with our product in the way that we intended people to engage with it,” Marissa says.

That’s when they realized BrandChamp was the right fit for Passion Planner. “It was a matter of designing everything that would help us get people from the application into the program,” she adds.

“I wanted to create a space for our ambassadors to tap into the small details of our planner and get the full benefit and use of it. And so that’s what drew us to BrandChamp…”

Marissa Huffman, Partnerships Lead

“BrandChamp had it all for us in terms of engaging and really building a community”

Geminelle Rollins Malone, Community Relations Lead

Deeper Relationships, Engagement, Rewards, and Fun Activities!

Every month, Passion Planner launches a “new activity that aligns with a theme that we’re focusing on within the company” and engages with its community of 900+ ambassadors weekly through the Slack platform.

“This is where they’re able to ask us questions and provide us with product feedback. They let us know if we’re having any issues with our website or shipping. They will tell us, ‘My friend tried to purchase a Passion Planner using my referral code, but my code isn’t working.’ Or ‘I got this notification from your company, or I saw this fake Instagram profile,’” Gem explains.

“So, it gives us 900 extra pairs of eyes and ears on what’s going on with our company,” she says, adding that “gracious” ambassador feedback helps rectify issues before they become fodder for more contentious Facebook forum conversations.

“It gives us 900 extra pairs of eyes and ears on what’s going on with our company.”

Marissa Huffman, Partnerships Lead

Other BrandChamp Benefits Include:

Event Help. “It’s been nice to be able to engage with these ambassadors on a virtual face-to-face level, to be able to get to know them. And so, they’re consistent about showing up to our events, about sharing our events with their community, and that’s been beneficial in helping us connect more with with our community.”

Product Launches. Every time Passion Planner launches a new product, the company has a “sneak peek” launch party for their ambassadors “before the rest of our community has the opportunity to see it,” Gem says. “We get the most engagement from our community because they get super excited to see the new products.” These events also build ambassador loyalty and enthusiasm through ice breakers and other fun activities.

They Use It, But Would They Recommend It?

Passion Planner’s ambassador team leaders say they believe in BrandChamp enough to recommend us to friends and colleagues based on ease of use, beneficial features, and price.

“I did recommend BrandChamp to my friends Mike and Fred just a couple of days ago,” says Gem, laughing. “They’re starting a clothing line, and they were looking for ways to expand their reach, and I mentioned BrandChamp as a streamlined way of managing multiple ambassadors.”

She adds, “And so that was kind of my pitch to them, I said, ‘There’s this program called BrandChamp, and it’s awesome. It gives us a way to engage with our audience while also managing their accounts and seeing how certain activities are benefiting the sales process.’”

Marissa feels that our product is an intuitive way to manage multiple ambassadors. “We’re not reaching everyone via Slack, and we’re not reaching everyone via email, but, through the ambassador program, we’re able to reach out via both channels, guide them to BrandChamp and share activities and resources that align with our values and make the planning journey less stressful and more fun.” So it’s more than just sales. It’s never really been about that. We really wanted this to feel like a supportive community where people could meet like-minded #PashFam, share their love for Passion Planner and connect with folks in their own cities.”

“I’d recommend BrandChamp for its ease of use, affordability, and automation. It’s just an all-in-one platform that we use daily and appreciate.”

Marissa Huffman, Partnerships Lead

“It’s more than just creating extra sales, we wanted it to feel like a community, and we wanted people to be able to walk away from the brand ambassador program with a couple of friends and be able to connect with folks in their own cities.”

Marissa Huffman, Partnerships Lead

“I’d recommend BrandChamp for its ease of use, affordability, automation, and ability to
customize the platform. I love that we can add icons and personalize them to make it feel
like it’s coming from us. I also appreciate the support of the BrandChamp team, and the
documentation section of BrandChamp has been super helpful,” Marissa says, concluding:
“We were looking for something that could do it all, and BrandChamp really does that for
us.”