Elim Village
Role: Senior Brand Leadership · Brand Strategy · Brand Stewardship
Scope: Brand Positioning · Brand System & Visual Identity · Logo · Website Strategy & Design · Print · Signage
Repositioning from a legacy retirement model to a contemporary aging-in-place community
Led the strategic repositioning of Elim Village from a traditional retirement model to a contemporary aging-in-place community—clarifying the organization’s role, aligning perception with lived experience, and establishing a cohesive brand system designed to support long-term consistency across multiple locations.
The Shift
Before
Positioned as a traditional, faith-based retirement home
Perceived primarily as passive, end-of-life housing
Fragmented brand expression across departments and locations
Inconsistent messaging, visuals, and standards
Resources dispersed across individual location marketing without a unified strategy
After
Positioned as a contemporary aging-in-place experience for today’s seniors
Perceived as a vibrant, connected community
Unified organization across multiple locations
Consistent messaging and visual standards through a shared system
Streamlined communications with clearer stewardship of resources
The Context
Elim Village offers a full aging-in-place model, supporting residents from independent living through higher levels of care within a single ecosystem. While the organization delivered award-winning services, the brand no longer reflected the lived reality of the experience.
Internally, teams understood the strength and vitality of the offering. Externally, the brand signaled something far more limited—creating a widening gap between perception and truth.
The Challenge
The core challenge was clarity and alignment, not aesthetics.
Elim needed to:
Align brand perception with a younger, more independent audience
Unify messaging across locations and departments
Support the sale of independent housing within a broader care ecosystem
Establish a brand system capable of scaling across multiple projects, teams, and timelines
This required senior brand leadership focused on decision-making, stewardship, and long-term brand integrity.
The Approach
I led a strategic reframing of Elim’s role, anchored in a guiding belief: aging should be supported with dignity, vitality, and choice.
This belief guided a shift in perspective—from “place of care” to “place of life”—and informed decisions across positioning, identity, and brand systems. The goal was not reinvention, but clarity: creating a disciplined framework that balanced consistency with flexibility and allowed the brand to evolve without losing trust.
System Leadership in Practice
Website Strategy
Before
Content-heavy structure that was difficult to navigate
Multiple websites that confused users and were difficult to maintain
Unclear primary audience
Tone aligned more with healthcare than residential living
After
Re-structured around user needs and decision pathways
Single, unified website supporting all locations
Clear positioning for independent, active seniors
Experience aligned with residential decision-making rather than institutional care
The website now functions as a strategic brand tool—supporting clarity from first awareness through housing selection.
Visual Identity System
Before
Fragmented visuals applied inconsistently
Rigid rules that limited adaptability
Imagery misaligned with the lived experience of residents
Limited visual vocabulary and unclear hierarchy
After
Cohesive brand system with clear directives and built-in flexibility
Designed to support multiple locations and future growth
Imagery reflecting the activity level, values, and aspirations of residents
Expanded visual vocabulary and professional photography
Clear hierarchy enabling confident, consistent application
I guided leadership through visual identity workshops to establish hierarchy, anticipate future growth, and ensure teams could apply the system with confidence—without over-controlling execution.
The Result
Elim Village now presents as a vibrant, contemporary community for active seniors. The brand aligns internal and external teams, supports long-term growth across locations, and scales across projects and departments without losing clarity, credibility, or trust.
“Michelle and her team were the perfect partners for us. They listened deeply to understand our brand and needs, and delivered with professionalism and care at every stage. The process was thoughtful, thorough, and a pleasure from start to finish.”
- Katrina LaRoy, Manager of Marketing & Communications, Elim Village
Selected collaborators: website development (Jeremy Lind); writing (Wendy Lees); photography (Brandon Deepwell)