At nfpSynergy we have been washing away ‘Blue Monday’ by looking back at charity brands of the past (yes, we know how to have fun…) and wanted to give you all in the charity sector a go too, and the chance to win a £25 John Lewis Voucher.
It is intriguing to see how charity brands, names and logos change over time (for better and for worse as shown by our data), rising and falling within public perceptions. We know that charity brands are incredible tools for engaging with both supporters and often service users among other stakeholders. They have to be flexible to promote both the need of the cause to inspire fundraising and campaigning, alongside a hope for the future and the possibility of change.
Charity brands are so much more than logos. However, as seen in the logos below (the names have been removed so test yourself in the quiz if you remember them!), charity brands can need updating in order to appear professional, forward thinking and to engage with their service users. We will not pass judgement here in this blog about which we think have been successful in doing this, but our data on individual charities from the general public demonstrates the impact of a logo or brand change.
For some charities however, the general public are not the only audience that they are trying to engage with their brand, and they must be sure not to alienate one group of their stakeholders in order to reach one specific audience. Most charities have a juggling act of engaging with these different groups, and there is a danger of a new brand engaging with new service users but not supporters or vice versa.
One trap that we see some charities falling into is that at the point of a logo or charity name change they agree on a choice that is internally understood but does not resonate with any other audiences (we have included a few charities that we in the office think fit in this category in the quiz). This leads to confusion as to the charity’s remit and can discourage engagement from many different sides. We always suggest that testing ideas for proposed changes should be within every brand development process to safeguard against this and ensure that the brand performs as it needs to with all of your stakeholders.
To take the quiz, click here
To see the correct answers for the quiz, and what percentage of people got them right, click here
Our Charity Brand Evaluator is our new research tool with the general public that uses brand attributes to measure charities against the ‘ideal’, driver analysis to understand the key attributes that the public are warm to and specific metrics to measure the performance of your brand in different areas from relevance to loyalty or authority. Understanding how a charity’s brand is currently performing and the attributes associated with it by the general public, beneficiaries and supporters is key to unlocking the potential to engage with all of your different audiences in a positive and constructive way.
If you are interested in learning more about CBE please contact us on cbe@nfpsynergy.net