for the Allegheny Conference
Proposal · Strategic Brand Launch & Digital Partner

Move the
region forward.

A new brand, brought to life. A family of organizations, made one. A digital home worthy of eighty years. Launched by October.

Prepared for
Kolt Codner, COO
From
Noble Growth · Mattimore Cronin
Due
July 3, 2026
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A decade of brands, from local institutions to national names
Comedy CentralFood NetworkDancing with the StarsErewhonStartEngineUSCNational Flag FoundationiKahanSurviosEVCSCoast SportsLeft on FridayBag-allCoddle
01A note before the details

Kolt, and the selection team,

You have already done the hard creative work. The identity is set. What remains is the part that decides whether a rebrand lands: bringing it to life. The messaging, the legacy bridge that protects eighty years of equity, the website that finally makes the family of organizations legible, and a launch the region feels.

You do not have to imagine what we can do. Bill Flanagan has already seen it.

We built the website, brand, social, and press operation for the National Flag Foundation's Pittsburgh Regional Sojourn, with Bill. A senior partner who ships fast, gets the civic register right, and treats the work as if the institution were our own. We would be proud to do the same for the Conference.

Mattimore Cronin
Principal, Noble Growth · [email protected]
02The assignment

Activation and integration. Not a design exercise.

The identity is finished. The work is to bring it to life, unify the family of organizations, honor eighty years of equity, and do it fast.

  • One identity, four front doors. Make the Conference and its affiliates read as one, without discarding the equity each name has earned.
  • Eighty years of trust is the asset, and the risk. Continuity compounds it. Erasure costs it. This is where most rebrands quietly fail.
  • The audiences are sophisticated. Board, investors, partners, and the public each need the story pitched to them.
  • The website is the proof of the new structure. Make it instantly legible and the rebrand is believed. This is the highest-leverage deliverable.
Allegheny Conference Pittsburgh Regional Alliance Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Economy League of Greater Pittsburgh
1944
FoundedThe institution behind the Pittsburgh Renaissance.
10 cos.
The region servedSouthwestern Pennsylvania. One economy, one story.
~250
Leaders & organizationsInvestors who must feel ownership of the new identity.
4 in 1
Entities to unifyThe Conference and three affiliates, under one brand.
A first observation, on us

Today the Conference and its three affiliates present four separate digital front doors. A visitor cannot easily tell they are one organization. The highest-leverage move in this launch is one unified site that makes the whole family legible at a glance. We have already sketched how it wants to work.

03Why this matters

A region that always rises.

Pittsburgh has remade itself in every era. The Conference has led each renaissance. This rebrand is simply the next one.

George Washington at the Battle of the Monongahela
1755
A young Washington's first stand, at the forks of the Ohio.
Fort Pitt, 1759
1758
Fort Pitt rises. A frontier becomes a future.
The Homestead Steel Works
1875
The furnaces light. Pittsburgh forges modern America.
The Pittsburgh Renaissance at the Point
1950
The smoke clears. The Renaissance begins.
Pittsburgh today
Today
Robotics, medicine, energy. The comeback compounds.
Drag to travel through the eras →
04Relevant experience

The three things this RFP asks for. Done all three, recently.

Brand launches. Multi-entity integration. Institutional reputation transitions. Every project below is live. Click any device.

NFF Pittsburgh Regional Sojourn
Mobile
nationalflagfoundation.org/pa · Desktop and mobile · Open live ↗
Lead reference · Pittsburgh

NFF Pittsburgh Regional Sojourn

Civic launch · multi-entity · fast
Visit the live site →
Multi-entityCivic launchUnified websitePress + socialAccelerated

The website, brand, social, and press operation for a regionwide civic event, with Bill Flanagan of the Conference. One dignified brand holding the Foundation, America 250, the Heinz History Center, and a wall of regional sponsors, on a clock that did not move. When the national site was later compromised, we rebuilt and migrated the whole institution within days.

Days
brief to a live, press-ready site
25K+
Instagram followers grown from 124
Regional TV
earned coverage via our press hub
iKahan Media
Mobile
ikahanmedia.com · Desktop and mobile · Open live ↗
Full brand system

iKahan Media

Brand → web → email → ops
Visit the live site →
Brand activationWebsite + CMSEmail systemClient-owned

Not a website, a complete communications system. One identity across every surface: a custom site, lead-capture forms, a segmented email program on the client's own infrastructure, and a private admin dashboard. Live, owned end to end, and run through the same leadership sign-off cycles the Conference will need across its board and investor council.

One system
brand, web, email, admin, integrated
Fully owned
code, domain, and data held by the client
BluelightAI
Mobile
bluelightai.com · Desktop and mobile · Open live ↗
Repositioning

BluelightAI

Messaging + website
Visit the live site →
Messaging architecturePositioningWebsite launch

The messaging proof point. We rewrote the company's core narrative and homepage around one sharp idea, then shipped it as a new website, through structured rounds of team feedback. This is the muscle behind RFP Sections A and B: positioning that survives scrutiny from sophisticated stakeholders, and that a whole organization can stand behind.

One message
a sharper positioning the team aligned on
Live
strategy translated into a deployed presence
05In their words

Clients who handed us the keys.

You've brought it into 2026. I think we're going to get an enthusiastic response from all the partners.
Bill Flanagan
Bill Flanagan
Allegheny Conference on Community Development
Mattimore is an integral part of our company, allowing us to keep top of mind awareness through incredible marketing.
Alex Kahan
Alex Kahan
CEO, iKahan Media
In the very first week, Noble Growth solved a Facebook issue that had been nagging at us for months. In the second week, they proved we can acquire customers profitably through advertising. And in each subsequent week, they've helped us scale our top line revenue while improving overall profitability.
Lesia Dallimore
Lesia Dallimore
Former Head of Brand, Erewhon
In this calendar year alone my business has grown 77%. That's a real number. We're shooting for 90% next year.
Coach Steve Morris
Coach Steve Morris
Coast Sports
We have absolutely adored you on this side of the brand.
Anita Gatto
Anita Gatto
CEO, House of Harlow
It's like somebody turned on a light switch.
Chris Olfers
Chris Olfers
The Southern Influence
I don't know if this normally happens with all your clients, but I feel we have been winning.
Sydney Sue
Sydney Sue
The Wayback Cafe & Cottages
06The Pittsburgh work, in motion

The film we produced for the Sojourn.

A short film for the National Flag Foundation's Pittsburgh Regional Sojourn, produced in collaboration with Bill Flanagan.

07The plan

Three months. Clear value at every stage.

Kickoff July 27, public launch in October. Each phase leads with what you receive, not the paperwork behind it.

Month 1
Weeks 1–4

A story the whole region can rally behind.

You receive: the messaging architecture, audience positioning, the legacy-transition framework, and the unified site map.

  • Messaging & positioning
  • Legacy bridge
  • Activation roadmap
  • Information architecture
Month 2
Weeks 5–8

A new digital home, and every asset to launch it.

You receive: the website on a scalable CMS, plus the full communications suite, in review.

  • Website design & build
  • Investor decks & one-pagers
  • Sector narratives
  • Transition messaging & FAQ
  • Launch toolkit
Month 3
Weeks 9–12

A launch the region feels, and a team ready for it.

You receive: internal rollout and training first, then a coordinated public launch, then stabilization.

  • Staff & leadership readiness
  • Coordinated go-live
  • Media & social rollout
  • Perception monitoring
  • 60 days stabilization

NDA signed and brand assets ingested on day one, so we build from your real identity from the first hour.

08Timeline

Mapped to your dates. Built to hit October.

Month 1Month 2Month 3
Strategy
Foundation
Legacy bridge
Framework + assets
Website
Design → build → stage
Comms suite
Decks, narratives, FAQ
Rollout
Training
Launch
Go-live

What we need from you to hit October

Our production is fast. The one real risk to a civic timeline is the approval loop. Hitting October is a shared, light commitment:

  • NDA and brand assets at kickoff
  • A single empowered point of contact
  • Consolidated feedback within 3 to 5 business days
  • Stakeholder availability for the rollout
09Beyond the brief

What a world-class launch includes in 2026.

Your RFP asks for a website and a launch. Here is what actually makes them work, built in by default, no upcharge.

i

Unified social presence

Every channel integrated and activated, one voice across the whole family of organizations.

ii

Email & audience capture

Turn website visitors into a list the Conference owns, with sequences that nurture investors and partners.

iii

Search, built in

Structured and optimized so the region, and the world, find you on Google from day one.

iv

AI search visibility

Optimized to be cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, where attention and research are moving now.

v

One analytics view

Every channel in a single dashboard leadership actually reads, owned by you.

vi

Built to last

A maintainable stack with no platform lock-in, so the brand keeps compounding long after launch.

The RFP is the floor. This is the standard we hold ourselves to.

10Deliverables

Every line of your RFP, accounted for.

i
Brand guide & operating guidance

A working playbook stakeholders use, per entity.

ii
Activation strategy & roadmap

Internal rollout, external sequencing, stakeholder plan.

iii
Messaging framework & toolkit

Architecture and audience-specific positioning.

iv
Full communications suite

Decks, one-pagers, fact sheets, narratives, talking points, FAQs.

v
Legacy transition strategy

Continuity narrative, dual-branding, stakeholder messaging.

vi
Website, launch-ready

Audit, design, build, scalable CMS, owned.

vii
Internal rollout & training

Everything staff need to carry the brand from day one.

viii
Launch plan & toolkit

Releases, announcements, digital and social assets.

12Team

Senior judgment, built for speed.

A principal accountable for every deliverable, and a focused studio that delivers what a fifteen-person agency delivers, on a faster clock.

Mattimore Cronin
Mattimore Cronin
Principal · Strategy & Creative Lead

Founder of Noble Growth. He leads strategy, messaging, and creative direction, and stays hands-on through build and launch. He personally led the Pittsburgh civic work Bill Flanagan knows firsthand.

  • Magna cum laude, University of Notre Dame: business and classics
  • Growth roles at Comedy Central, StartEngine, and Scripps Networks, London
  • SonicCloud: cost per install cut from $315 to $1.75; iOS App of the Day
  • Millions in ad budgets managed; tracked revenue for 100-plus brands

The studio around the principal

Brand & web design

Identity expression and the visual system, across site and assets.

Development & build

The unified website and CMS, on a fast, secure stack you own.

Messaging & content

Architecture, narratives, decks, and launch copy.

We take on one flagship at a time. Through the launch window, the Conference would have our full attention.

13Investment

One number. Full scope. Clear value each month.

The engagement · fixed fee
$36,000 all in
The complete RFP scope, plus everything on the previous pages. Billed simply: three monthly payments.
$12K
Month 1 · StrategyMessaging, legacy bridge, site architecture
$12K
Month 2 · BuildWebsite and the full communications suite
$12K
Month 3 · LaunchRollout, public launch, stabilization
Comparable agency brand-launch-plus-website programs run $90,000 to well past $250,000. A lean, senior model delivers the same caliber for a fraction of it.

Optional add-ons

Social content & growthInstagram $1,600/mo · +$800/mo per channel
Paid digital launch campaignbuilt & managed
Motion & video assetsscoped to need
Ongoing operate retainermonthly
You own everything. Work-for-hire, as your RFP specifies. Code, site, assets, data, social, and email are yours at the end. No platform lock-in, no renting back your own brand.
Ready when you are

Let's bring the new brand to life.

We are the one partner who has already done civic work on Pittsburgh ground, with your own Bill Flanagan in the room. Ready to sign the NDA today, present on July 10, and begin at kickoff.