Oasis

Crafting the brand, story, and digital presence for a hybrid grocery store + social services provider poised for rapid expansion

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The Opportunity

You’re likely familiar with food deserts, areas in which it’s hard to get affordable, fresh produce.

AJ Johnson, owner of Oasis Fresh Markets, set out to tackle one of the most severe food deserts in Oklahoma: the North Tulsa area. He built a brand-new, modern grocery store with fresh produce, convenient items, and a friendly staff. But he knew selling groceries satisfied only one of many needs of this community.

Food deserts, he explains, are often proxies for other needs: education, employment, transportation, child care, health care.

For this reason, Oasis isn’t just a grocery store. It’s a unique hybrid for- and nonprofit organization that sells groceries and offers community services like rent and utility assistance, clinical health care, and employment resources.

As the first grocery store of its kind, Oasis is gaining widespread interest from funders and government agencies wanting to expand its model. Gitwit created all of the fundamental brand elements Oasis needed to grow quickly: a brand story, brand architecture, pitch deck, and website.

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Customer Discovery + Brand Story

Gitwit’s researchers spent hours at the Oasis store interviewing shoppers. This discovery revealed Oasis’ differentiators and helped us position the brand. Our interviews also identified opportunities in future marketing campaigns, both inside and outside of the physical store.

We crafted a foundational brand story for Oasis that clearly explained its hybrid for-profit and nonprofit model, what makes Oasis special, and why Oasis exists in the world. We utilized this story to create a pitch deck for investors and grant funders.

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Refining the Brand + Creating the Architecture

Oasis had a great initial logo already, but needed an expanded visual identity to accommodate its nonprofit services. The Gitwit team polished up the existing logo, created a comprehensive color palette, and built a brand architecture that streamlined the creation of future Oasis programs and services.

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Website

Gitwit reimagined the Oasis website to serve multiple purposes: first and foremost, it needed to serve grocery store shoppers with timely information. At the same time, Oasis needed a place to explain its model and inform people within the North Tulsa community of all the ways they could take advantage of Oasis services. Our team balanced gorgeous photography taken by the Oasis team with playful illustrations to emphasize approachability.