“Give a Brand!” 2012: Orphans Rising
Early this spring, we decided that instead of spending our annual self-promotional budget on gifts and giveaways, we’d try something new: bring the extreme makeover concept to branding and do it for charity.
We dubbed the project “Give a Brand!” and reviewed a variety of nonprofits that might be a good fit. We eventually narrowed them down to three that we thought had the right mix of inspirational stories, commitment to the project and boots on the ground. After a month of public online voting, we had a winner! In the last week of voting, AIDS Orphans Rising — an organization run by the Religious Teachers Filippini in Morristown, NJ — pulled ahead by just a handful of votes. It was exciting seeing the votes roll in each day and to watch our combined social networks light up with support for the initiative.
On August 16, we set our client work aside and dedicated the day to the orphans. We weren’t completely sure how things would turn out or how far we’d actually get, given our one-day deadline. As we would normally do, we read, researched and consumed everything we could with regards to their work and mission — but at a pace different from anything we’d experienced before. It was all hands on deck, and we were very fortunate to have the help of good partners like Matthew Septimus Photography, Finlay Printing, Premier NYC, Skillcrush and MyCity4Her.com. We live-streamed the whole production with six cameras positioned in the studio and conference room, on designers’ screens, and even at the after party outside on the terrace.
An urgent situation
AIDS Orphans Rising works in Ethiopia, Eritrea, India and Brazil, supporting orphans and child headed households (CHH) — many of whom have lost both parents to AIDS. The Relgious Teachers Filippini work tirelessly to provide education (both academics and trade skills), food and shelter to CHHs, arming them with the basics so that they can keep their families together. The sisters also run orphanages to care for the babies and toddlers.
“Every 14 seconds, somewhere in the world a child becomes an orphan head-of-household,” said Sister Mary Beth Lloyd. “These kids are left with nothing, not even the comfort their parents had given them, let alone something to eat. One little boy knocked on our door not too long ago and said, ‘I heard there is love here.’ Once you know their story, it’s impossible not to help.” ‘
Pretty heavy stuff compared to the light-hearted, kid-focused content we‘re accustomed to. But after 20 minutes in a room with two of the local sisters–and Sr. Mary Beth on Skype–we were motivated to make a difference.
Findings & recommendations
Before we got busy designing, we came up with a roster of recommendations, points of clarity and a guiding strategy. These things formed the foundation for the new identity and helped focus our efforts for the day.
Simplify the name
AIDS Orphans Rising is an unwieldy and somewhat imprecise name:
Is it an AIDS organization?
Do the orphans have AIDS?
Do they work solely with AIDS orphans?
To streamline things, we recommended changing the name to “Orphans Rising.” Conceptually it reads better and highlights the optimistic movement the organization produces. It also works better online. The URL is reduced to “orphansrising.org” and the twitter handle is simply @orphansrising.
Focus on fundraising
Our main contact, Sister Mary Beth Lloyd, is the organization’s international mission director. Unfortunately, she’s also the primary fundraiser. Her efforts are spread extremely thin. With her busy schedule and solo approach to fundraising, opportunities were falling through the cracks. Furthermore, they had no online donation capability. We knew that generating money would be the number one focus of what we would produce that day.
Expand the salesforce
With the right tools, just about anyone can effectively promote a cause and raise money. We suggested the organization leverage the energy and eagerness of the girls at Villa Walsh, the high school in Morristown that the Religious Teachers Filippini run. We suggested they establish a club wherein students could help build, monitor and expand social networks on behalf of Orphans Rising.
Design development
Identity elements
After toying with a few, more complicated ideas, the true objectives of the Orphans Rising identity began to emerge. It wasn’t about being clever or crafty; it was about creating an identity that would confidently deliver the orphan’s message without any distractions.
Colors, typefaces and illustration style all worked together to create something that was child-friendly, but not childish.
We set the new name in a bold, clear, sans-serif (Knockout Bantamweight) and paired it with a warmer serif font (FF Roice) for the modifier beneath. Yellow and green, the primary colors of the identity, were derived from the yellow shirt and green pants/skirts of the orphans’ uniforms. The other colors add a friendly, bright, urgency to the palette.
Website
The website was the centerpiece of the redesign effort. Business cards and stationery weren’t going to be all that useful for the organization. It needed ways to deliver precise, consistent and compelling messaging and an easy means for managing donations and grants.
The website (click here for a preview of the real thing) accomplishes this in two ways: presenting the compelling story of the child head-of-household and providing opportunities for people to help in specific ways. The main-stage area of the homepage uses a portion of Sr. Mary Beth’s quote — counting down every 14 seconds — to emphasize the urgency of the situation.
Because so much of the Orphans Rising approach has to do with empowering children to provide for themselves, we decided not to use typical photographs of suffering children. Instead we use simple, hand-drawn illustrations to tell the story. Our approach also helps the site stand out from the dozens of children’s charities online, many of which are virtually indistinguishable from one another.
The “Help” section provides donors with a concrete way to contribute, listing needed supplies and the quantity that can be purchased with a set dollar amount. We know from experience that people are more likely to give if they have control over exactly what their money will be used for. (We also thought it would be fun to be able to say, “I bought my brother a goat for Christmas.”)
Fundraising collateral
We created a kit of materials to help with fundraising. Targeting secondary, junior and high school students, the fundraising guide is a handbook for individual fundraising. It contains tips on how to structure a fundraiser as well as the key messages and story to convey. It also includes a color flyer that students can copy and post on their campuses.
The printed “pass-along” cards we designed are to be handed out by fundraisers. They feature brightly colored statements that give context to the orphans’ needs by comparing the equivalent dollar amounts to something in the donors’ lives.”$200 will buy an entire garden for children orphaned by AIDS. Why not skip that fancy dinner just once and donate instead?”
We also designed several greeting cards that feature photography of the children and quotes from notable individuals such as Saint Lucy Filippini and Mother Theresa. These will be used by the sisters and fundraisers as thank you notes and to keep in touch with donors.
Other promotional elements and social media
For volunteers, Thinkso designed T-shirts featuring the “love is here” quote and online banner ads featuring the same messages as on the pass along cards . Finally, we established and designed Facebook and Twitter pages for Orphans Rising.
All in a day’s work
Truth be told, one day really isn’t long enough to create a new brand identity. It takes time. There’s a lot of research, planning and thought that goes into it. But thanks to a trusting client, a dedicated staff and generous event sponsors, we transformed the look, feel and personality of an under-appreciated organization that does very important work. Best of all, they now have a solid set of tools for fundraising and a development plan for taking things to the next level.
This was our first “Give a Brand!” and once the smoke cleared, we reflected on what we learned about extreme branding. Here’s a taste:
Complete the team
We had great sponsors and a lot of talented help. But there were still things that could have been done and services provided to improve our effectiveness. We’ll definitely recruit in the off-season to fill those gaps. Contact us here if you’re interested in helping!
Be realistic
Since it has to be completed in a day, it doesn’t pay to get overly ambitious or obsessed with a single aspect or application. That’s why it’s called a “design sprint.”
Stick to the strategy
It’s how we work the other 364 days of the year, so why should this be any different? We’ll likely close voting a little bit earlier next time around so that we can spend more time preparing, planning and formulating our game plan before the big day.
Go with your gut
There just wasn’t time for our usual exhaustive exploratory phase. The old adage, “The first idea is most often the best idea,” proved itself to be true.
Manage expectations
When working against the clock, a handful of well executed ideas are worth more than a laundry list of great ideas that never see the light of day.