Posted on December 30, 2004

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The Devil's in the Details: From Inspiration to Implementation

Once your new brand identity has been approved, you'll want to unveil it to your stakeholders (staff, board, and important volunteers). Take a moment to celebrate. The next stage of the process can be a minefield.

The brand presentation should show your new identity in application — that is, applied to letterhead, brochures, Web pages, et cetera — so that stakeholders don't focus too much on the logo, which is only one (albeit an important) aspect of your brand. As you present the various elements of your new identity, be sure to repeat the key words that informed the development of the brand; talk about the process. Nothing encourages "buy in" like giving credit where credit is due. Reinforce the role the community played in developing the new look. Share any feedback that led you to a solution to a particular problem. Make it clear the process was inclusive, not unilateral. It's important to get as many people as possible on board with the new identity. Target the people who can aid in the successful implementation of the brand (or bring it crashing to the floor) and speak to them one-on-one. Remember, each person has the potential to be your ally — or your nemesis.

Next Steps: Cleaning Up the Mess

Once the applause has died down, it's time to turn your attention to the mixed communications messages that have been holding your organization back. Before they go through the re-branding process, most nonprofits' collateral materials resemble a messy closet: brochures and letterhead are poorly designed and uneven in their production values and/or use of imagery and typography; Web sites tend to be a hodgepodge of content and sensibilities. Even if one or two of the pieces are okay, the overall impression conveyed is one of confusion and disorganization. Absent a consistent voice, it's almost impossible to identify a unifying message.

There's a reason for this: Because nonprofits rarely have adequate resources to apply to their identity systems, branding tends to be an afterthought — and it usually shows. It's almost as if the saying "You can have it good, cheap, or fast — which two do you want?" was coined for the nonprofit sector.

Unfortunately, nonprofits that find themselves in a time or funding crunch usually opt for the cheap-and-fast approach to communications. But unless the brand identity is supposed to look down and dirty (in which case it's a brilliant strategy!), this kind of approach usually derails even the best-intentioned attempts to brand. Don't despair. I firmly believe that good design does not have to be expensive, and that the best brand identity is almost always a clear and simple one, regardless of the resources available. It all hinges on solid research and getting a good designer on board.

Many nonprofits, especially newer ones, rely on the kindness of strangers — or the connections of board members — when developing their logo and collateral materials. In these types of situations, it's not unusual for lots of people to get involved and for no one to truly take charge. Then, years later, after the organization has become a big success in spite of its chaotic, disjointed messaging, the board and/or executive director, having come to the realization that the organization can no longer go on this way, seeks professional help. Typically, someone suggests a documents audit. Then the "closet" is opened and out topples a mess — a mess that you're expected to clean up.

It doesn't have to be this way. Organizations that start out the right way, with a good solid plan and the talent to back it up, invariably save themselves time and money and are able to have greater impact, faster. That most nonprofits don't seem to start out with a good grasp of their brand identity and the discipline to execute it is a conundrum.

Don't make the same mistake. If you've been following my process (and be sure to visit the Nonprofits By Design archive if you haven't), your organization is well on its way to developing an effective identity, one that your branding team and stakeholders are happy with and you can start to apply to the materials on your documents audit list. But how to proceed?

First, keep two objectives in mind: 1) Be inspired — create a system that has continuity, depth, and breadth; and 2) Be pragmatic — make each piece shine, while also being sure to maximize its impact and utility.

If you're the executive director and/or brand leader, you almost certainly will deal with staff and board members who are anxious to see where this process leads. Each one of them is likely to have a different mindset with respect to the organization and different attitudes about the process, and each one will bring some degree of creativity, skill, and ability to the table. In addition, many of them are likely to have been responsible for a communications piece that is going to be tossed. Don't be surprised if some gratefully accept the new brand, wanting the best for the organization, while others do what they can (often unwittingly) to sabotage the process. If your nonprofit is relatively non-hierarchical in structure, as most are, then it's your job to make sure everybody's voice is heard.

Of course, experienced designers deal with this kind of tension all the time. They understand that, for most people, subjective opinions trump objective facts. And they know that since we "hear" with our brains, not with our ears, it's not unusual for people to take in information selectively and then interpret that information in a way that may not be useful. As Jane Zusi, associate creative director at Klemtner Advertising, a division of Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare, says, "We've all had clients ruin our ideas at one time or another."

What should you do if you find yourself in this situation? Start with the following:

• Keep disgruntled staff and/or board members focused on the concrete goals and objectives of the new brand strategy.
• Remind them that the brand is not a personal statement; it's a philosophical statement about the organization.
• Keep repeating the key words that were used to define the brand identity.
• Make sure the brand leader and brand steward roles are understood and observed by all.
• Accept feedback in a way that leaves the channels of communication open.
• Summarize that feedback for the brand leader; the brand leader should make the ultimate decision, not the larger group.

You want to tap into, not discourage, the collective wisdom of the group. But even though yours may be a non-hierarchical organization, that doesn't mean it's a democracy. Each person needs to be reminded (gently) to focus on his or her specific role and give feedback appropriately. Anyone who doesn't have a role in the process should be encouraged to make his or her views known to the person in charge. That person, in turn, will decide what to do with the feedback. At no point, however, should feedback be given — or solicited — outside the structure created for that purpose. The more it is, the greater the likelihood the process will degenerate into mob rule.

A Case Study: Re-Branding Aish HaTorah

Recently, Aish HaTorah ("Fire of the Torah"), a large international membership organization that promotes the Jewish faith to young people, came to the realization that, in terms of its communications messages and vehicles, it had a very messy closet indeed. Over the years, each of the organization's eight branches had gotten into the habit of developing their own collateral materials, with some branches doing a job better than others. The result was a weak, almost nonexistent brand for the organization — and a lot of frustration for its executives.

At some point along the way, the organization's New York branch found an angel: Lynn Altman, a branding expert who runs Viverito and Brandmaker Express. Because she works primarily with large corporations, Altman, who describes herself as a "not-very-practicing Jew," decided to take on the job of re-branding the New York branch on a pro bono basis, figuring that if "I volunteer my personal time and skills by teaching karate to disabled adults, why not donate my professional time and skills by helping a nonprofit with their branding needs?"

Altman first identified college students, singles, and young marrieds as Aish HaTorah's primary audiences. In doing so, she also realized that those groups were less receptive to an obviously "Jewish" brand than their parents or grandparents might have been. Her solution to the problem was to create a brand identity for the organization that eschewed obvious Jewish iconography (e.g., Stars of David or Hebrew letterforms) and, instead, relied on subtle "cues" and a series of humorous taglines ("All of the fun; none of the guilt") to signal its upbeat, sophisticated attitude and strong connection to the Jewish faith.

The new branding system, which was designed by the Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group of New York, provided a variety of approaches (depending on the audience) that could be applied to business cards, letterhead, brochures, and all sorts of other materials. It also called for the organization to shorten its name to Aish, which had already been used informally by several of the organization's branches.

Realizing that brand and message continuity was important to maintain across the organization, Aish's leaders convened executives from its eight branches to compare their collateral materials. After some discussion, they decided that the system developed by Altman and Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group for the New York branch was the most effective and agreed to adapt it across the organization.

click image to enlarge

The brand guidelines developed for Aish describe in straightforward fashion how the organization should apply its new identity to its collateral materials, which typeface families to use, the concept behind the color palette, how imagery should be used, how copy should be written to tie into the concept, and so on. And while many different application examples are included, they all share the same humorous sensibility and are presented in a way that illustrates the tremendous variety that can be achieved within a robust, consistently branded identity. Though you may not need go to these lengths to create your brand guidelines, you should strive to accomplish the same thing.

In my next article I'll talk more about the importance of planning and securing buy-in from stakeholders before you launch a new brand new identity.

Until then, keep a sharp eye and happy branding!

Writer, strategist, and art director DK Holland has been developing award-winning programs that include branding, licensing, promotion, and product development for companies such as Mattel and Citicorp for thirty years. She was, until 2001, a partner in the Pushpin Group, an internationally acclaimed design and illustration firm based in New York City. Currently the principal of DK Holland, llc, a communications consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofits, her clients include the Literacy Assistance Center, New Internationals, the Sustainability Education Center, World Reach, the Buckminster Fuller Institute, and Sisters of Charity New York. DK serves on the board of directors of the Alliance for Nonprofit Governance, which she is in the process of re-branding; is an editor of Communications Arts magazine and the author/art director of a dozen books on graphic design; and teaches in the graduate school for nonprofit management at New School University. She lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.