The why, what and how of a charity rebrand
Killer Creative’s guide to when to consider a rebrand and how to make sure you get it right.
A rebrand is a pivotal moment for any forward-thinking charity: an opportunity to harness greater levels of support, a new audience, showcase what they stand for, reposition within the sector, stand out against competitors, overcome adversity or reflect changes within the organisation (a merger or a takeover, for example).
Done right, it can be a galvanising force. A visible representation of a charity embracing change and aligning their mission to the issues that matter now.
But what drives a charity rebrand and how do you ensure you get it right?
Quite rightly, charities are answerable about how they spend money and anything spent on something as visible as a rebrand is likely to attract attention, usually accompanied by a strong opinion on its success. Whether you want that opinion or not. This doesn’t mean everyone needs to like it. As long as your target audience do.
Of course, a full rebrand isn’t always the solution. It could be a simple refresh, modernising a well-known and trusted brand with slight tweaks to a full root and branch overhaul. A full rebrand is a big undertaking, so it’s important you do it for the right reasons and you follow the right steps to ensure its success.
As donor databases age, charities are facing the challenge of attracting new, younger audiences. To do this they need to ensure their brand is relevant. Part of this means having a clear brand mission which is relevant to them, as well as a look & feel and tone of voice which appeals to this younger generation. It also needs to work well in digital channels that probably didn’t exist when the brand was first established.
It’s worth considering how your current brand sits against other similar charities. How do you appear as part of a competitive set or similar charities? Is your current brand holding you back, out-dated, and lacking relevance? Does it stand for what your charity currently campaigns for, or is it something which represents what your charity used to be about?
The most important starting point is to listen to your people: the teams who regularly use the brand (marketing, fundraising, comms) as well as those delivering frontline services and donors (current and potential). Does your brand still represent who you are? What problems are they facing with the existing brand? These are most likely the people who will be responsible for the brands’ success, so it’s crucial you bring them along with you and they feel valued and heard.
Our starting point is always listening to these different groups, finding out what they truly need from a new brand and the positioning of the charity. Within every charity, there is something that makes them unique and it’s our job to find out what that is and hook into it, setting the charity apart through the vision and communication of the brand. Again, it’s important to speak to a wide range of people to really understand what this is (including those that might not currently support the charity, as this can be just as important). Leeds United’s controversial rebrand lacked backing from the fans and resulted in 77,000 strong petition to stop the launch of the new crest, so it goes to show how crucial this stage can be.
Once you are clear on your mission and what it is your charity stands for the rest becomes much easier. Next, you need to understand what we are communicating, who are we talking to and where the new brand will be used.
Understanding what is staying and going is always a good place to start. Charity name, brand colours, graphic elements, copy lines, photography style, visual elements all need to be considered. Some will be non-negotiable (obviously a charity name change is a big deal and needs to be very carefully considered) but all need to be front of mind. There are lessons to be learnt here from the commercial world. A seemingly positive rebrand from Weight Watchers in 2018, embracing the body positive movement and changing their name to ‘WW’, lost them 600,000 subscribers. Whilst many welcomed the sentiment, the timing and execution was heavily criticised. But it’s not all bad news. Dunkin Donut’s rebrand embraced people’s own naming of the brand and dropped the ‘Donut’ to encompass their offering of coffees and other treats. A great example of a brand representing how the business has evolved (to be more than just donuts, with income coming largely from beverages).
Once the design process begins, it’s important to consider each of the elements both individually and cohesively. A brand is much more than a logo, a colour palette, and a font family. It becomes the foundation on which a charity builds to communicate its message. If the audience engages with how it looks and how it speaks, they will like the charity for it.
We know how important it is to tackle each element as part of a whole. How does a new photographic style sit with the selected font? Do the visual elements and tone of voice work in harmony? What accessibility standards do we need to consider, and how do these work in different mediums? Our aim is always to enable a charity to future proof their brand.
Although there will be guidelines set in place, ideally the brand needs to be confident enough for a degree of flexibility in usage, otherwise that consistency can turn into banality. Everything and every communication looking the same and its impact ultimately diluted.
A good set of guidelines should aim to contain interesting examples of how the brand can be applied to different media and collateral, illustrating ways in which it can flex. This removes the notion that every aspect of the brand is rigid and allows a certain amount of creative freedom and inspiration when using it on roll-out.