solving the merger mystery: life after acquisition
When Pushpay acquired Church Community Builder, they didn’t just inherit new technology — they inherited a second ecosystem, a deeply loyal user base, and years of built trust. The opportunity was massive. So was the risk. Two brands with different histories, audiences, and emotional equities now needed to speak as one, without flattening what made each indispensable to the communities they served.
We were brought in post-acquisition to help Pushpay solve the merger mystery: how to unify platforms, teams, and audiences in a way that felt cohesive, credible, and built for growth — especially in a category where trust matters more than trend.
Bringing two trusted platforms together without losing what made either one matter.
Systems for scale, not one-off moments
Enabled expansion into the Catholic market through research-driven positioning
Multi-award-winning website
and motion design
Recognized for excellence in animation, aesthetics, and digital experience
The approach
Alignment before aesthetics
This work began with people, not pixels. Through deep workshops and working sessions, we partnered closely with founders, product teams, marketing, design, leadership, and board members across both organizations. The goal was not compromise, but synthesis — identifying the strongest elements of each brand and building a shared language that could hold them together.
What emerged was a clearer way to talk about the ecosystem as a whole: how offerings fit under distinct umbrellas, how different communities were served without hierarchy, and how Pushpay could confidently show up for small and mid-sized churches as well as large, multi-campus organizations. The result was a unified narrative that respected history while creating room to move forward.
From that strategy came a flexible brand and digital system designed to grow alongside the organization. We created content frameworks, modular page structures, and an endlessly customizable WordPress ecosystem that allowed Pushpay’s teams to spin up new initiatives quickly while staying on-brand.
Central to that work was the Visual Formulas system — a practical, deeply considered guide that translated brand principles into repeatable creative patterns. It gave Pushpay something rare: a visual language that could be taught, reused, and evolved. As teams grew, new designers were hired, and campaigns expanded, the system held. The brand didn’t just scale — it stayed coherent.
rock paper saas
Earning trust when “paper” was the competition
For many of Pushpay’s audiences, the real competitor wasn’t another platform. It was paper, habit, and hesitation. In some cases, the people they were speaking to had never fully digitized before. The work couldn’t just make the technology look good. It had to make it legible, calm, and worthy of trust.
We used visual clarity as a bridge. Through careful pacing, simplified moments of explanation, and a system of micrographics designed to translate complexity into something human-scaled, Pushpay’s tools became easier to understand and easier to believe in. These weren’t embellishments. They were teaching tools — small, intentional visuals that helped demystify the product and guide people forward without pressure. Trust wasn’t assumed. It was built, one clear moment at a time.
“THEY WEREN’T REJECTING THE TECHNOLOGY. THEY JUST DIDN’T SEE THEMSELVES IN IT — UNTIL NOW. WE’VE HAD A FEW PROSPECTS CRY DURING A DEMO OF OUR PRODUCT. THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS AN OPTION FOR THEM.”
PUSHPAY POSITIONING & ALIGNMENT RESEARCH
Example Service Provided here
Example Service Here
- Sales collateral design – polished, on-brand brochures, one-pagers, product data sheets, case study write-ups, whitepapers, etc., that communicate your value clearly and attractively.
- Pitch decks and presentations – we build persuasive slide decks for sales pitches or investor meetings, combining compelling copy with eye-catching visuals so your story lands with impact.
- Interactive sales tools – need a sales microsite, an ROI calculator, or an interactive PDF? We can design (and even develop) tools that give your reps an edge during the sales process.
- Templates and guides – we create templates for things like proposals, quotes, or follow-up emails, so your team can quickly personalize and send while staying on-message. We also craft internal playbooks or cheat sheets that boil down complex product info into easy talking points for reps.
- Trade show & event assets – if your sales efforts involve conferences or events, we design booth graphics, banners, handouts, and demo signage that draw in prospects and tell your story at a glance.
In essence, if it’s a material that helps your team sell better, it likely falls under sales enablement and we can help with it. We combine strong design, clear writing, and an understanding of your audience to make each asset as effective as possible.
Sample Role or Service Here
In our experience, the right sales materials can make a night-and-day difference. It comes down to communication and confidence. When your sales team has clear, well-designed content, they can convey your value to customers faster and more convincingly. Prospects aren’t left scratching their heads or wading through technical jargon – they get what you’re offering, which makes them more likely to move forward.
Visually, professional design lends credibility. A sleek sales deck or brochure signals to a customer that you’re a polished, trustworthy organization. Conversely, a sloppy or text-dense document can lose their interest or raise doubts. Good content also ensures consistency: every rep is telling the same compelling story, rather than each inventing their own version. That consistency builds trust and reinforces your brand.
Additionally, having great collateral saves your salespeople time and stress. They’re not scrambling to create slides from scratch or piecing together info from ten sources – it’s all prepared, on-message, and ready to go. This frees them to focus on the relationship and really listen to the client. In short, better design and content make your team more efficient, more confident, and ultimately more effective at closing deals.
Mapping empathy to opportunity: throwing the door wide for a long-coveted market
One of the most significant expansions supported by this work was Pushpay’s entry into the Catholic market — an audience with distinct structures, language, governance, and expectations. While Pushpay had long wanted to serve this community, internal messaging and assumptions were unintentionally eroding trust.
We conducted deep research into Catholic parish operations, decision-making models, and cultural nuances, producing usable guides that went far beyond surface insights. This work wasn’t just external — it educated internal teams, giving sales, marketing, leadership, and the board a shared understanding of how to speak credibly and respectfully as insiders.
A foundation built to keep growing
The impact of this work extended well beyond launch. Pushpay emerged with a cohesive voice that unified the organization post-acquisition while creating room to grow. The systems put in place are still in use today, allowing the site to evolve seamlessly as campaigns launch, teams expand, and new audiences come into view. What once felt complex now moves with clarity, making it easier for Pushpay to scale without losing trust or momentum.
Solving the merger mystery wasn’t about choosing one brand over another. It was about building something larger than either alone. Pushpay gained a shared language, flexible frameworks, and the confidence to expand into new markets while staying grounded in the communities they serve. For us, the honor was helping bring coherence to complexity — and giving a mission-driven organization the structure it needed to keep growing with intention.
