A new scholarship platform for higher education institutions needed a brand, a website, and essential marketing and sales assets to reach the market fast.

Making Financial Aid Teams in Higher Ed See the Magic

Scholarship Magic

Project Type: Brand Evolution, New Market Entry
Agency Role: Brand & Identity - UX/UI & Web Design - Sales Enablement
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Year: 2024

Scholarship Magic is a SaaS platform built for Financial Aid and Advancement teams at higher education institutions across the U.S. Many scholarships go unawarded, not for lack of funds or students, but because matching the right scholarship to the right student is hard, slow, and often manual. Scholarship Magic auto-matches students to scholarships using existing student data, streamlines awarding, and keeps donors, students, and institutions connected throughout the process. 27zero partnered with the team to bring it to market with Brand Essentials: the brand, the website, and the core marketing and sales assets it needed to launch.

The Business Problem

The problem Scholarship Magic solves is real, but easy to underestimate. Scholarship teams at higher education institutions are small, or part of larger departments with other priorities. Many still match by hand, or stretch an institutional CRM and other tools never built for the job, so the impact is smaller and the wait is longer.

The new platform had to reach the market fast and speak to several audiences at once: the financial aid and advancement teams who buy it, the students it serves, and the donors who need to see their impact. And it had to make a complex idea feel simple: one system that identifies needs on both sides and keeps donors and students in the conversation.

The Strategic Idea

Building bridges, the magical way.

We built the brand around one idea: connection. The archetype blends the magician and the sage, wonder backed by wisdom. A single continuous line runs through the identity and draws the Magic M, shaped like a wand in motion. That same line wraps around the people the platform serves, from financial aid staff to students and donors, set against bold colors designed to grab attention.

Through Agile Brand Development, the essentials launched first, putting speed to value ahead of a finished brand, and keep evolving with the business. Targeted market research shaped the messaging for each audience, and the website follows a proven SaaS structure built to explain the functionality, from auto-matching to donor reports, and turn visits into demo requests.

Client's feedback

27ZERO’s industry knowledge and agility allowed us to accelerate our brand and marketing strategy for the year.

Scholarship MagicCEO at Scholarship Magic

Our Results

Scholarship Magic started as a product without a market presence of its own. Today it runs its own marketing, shows up at the events where financial aid and advancement leaders gather, and keeps adding higher education institutions to its customer base. Built on solid essentials, the brand has room to grow with every new expression.

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From positioning to websites to demand generation. Built for EdTech, not adapted to it.

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