Tags |
|
|
Will You Add? - How a Nonprofit Name Change Generated Attention & Momentum: A Case Study in Branding
Workplace disappointment is a growing problem in today’s small business IT marketplace, the inability for technicians to deliver quality and timely services to clients due to increasing demands and lack of quality talent in the available talent pool right through to vendors not coming through on promises in the channel is causing the level of disappointment to rise right through the ceiling.What happens when disappointment takes over? This is a huge problem for business leaders in the small business world. When it is a small issue and not tackled in the early stages can grow to become a over powering concern which can lead to mental health issues like depression and other an overall feelings of “why bother”.Many owners of small business consulting firms when they hit the stage where workplace disappointment is no longer a small weekly challenge often have feelings of personal guilt that they are the source of the problem, questioning themselves, “i
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and o
The increasing amount of workload on businesses has established a special place for outsourcing in the business market. Be it accounting or bookkeeping or any other work, outsourcing is becoming successful in solving thousands of problems. The matter of outsourcing is concerned with giving your work and responsibilities to the other company. Finance accounting outsourcing is meant to shed off the excess workload regarding the maintenance of accounts. Maintaining the accounts is a very difficult task that has to be accomplished with proper attention. And if you have to handle the other work also, then the accounting work will suffer.Finance accounting outsourcing will save a lot of your precious time. The time thus saved can be used for concentrating on other matters of your business that need more attention. When the accounting work is outsourced, then you are left with enough time to take care of your marketing division, production division or any other di
As a matter of fact, the letter was so strong that I decided to follow up with Maureen McFadden, Legal Momentum's Vice President of Communications, to learn more about the process -- and ultimate impact -- of the name change.
CHALLENGE: No One Got the Name, or the Focus
Even with a 34-year record of positive action, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund's growth was held back by two seemingly impenetrable barriers. To begin with, there was perpetual confusion in the media about what the Fund was, and its relationship with NOW. "No matter how successful we were in getting media coverage, nine out of ten times they got our name wrong," says McFadden. "As a result, we didn't have any clips."
You can bet that if the media get your organization's name wrong, time and again, that your target audiences do too. And that's a real barrier to building relationships and brand.
"In addition, audiences didn't know what 'legal defense and education fund' meant," continues McFadden. "They asked us for education grants or direct legal services. The only audiences who did know who we were (and what we did) were long-time feminists and those with whom we had long relationships on Capitol Hill."
Since the Fund was striving to extend its reach to women born after the civil rights era, and to ensure all audiences were aware of the full range of its programs – including new initiatives such as lobbying for universal access to child care – these problems had to be solved.
After much deliberation, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund decided that a name change was the communications strategy most likely to boost its ongoing evolution and outreach to broader audiences. "We needed a name that said who we were and what we did, while enabling us to continue to grow," says McFadden.
STRATEGY: In-Depth Analysis of History, Vision and Audience Perspectives Generates Powerful New Name
Knowing that a name change is a major initiative, and one that can be very stressful (in terms of effort and emotions), the Fund decided to seek outside help. So McFadden and her colleagues applied for, and secured, pro bono assistance from the Interbrand (a leading branding agency) Foundation. With the help of a powerful and dedicated Interbrand team, the naming process was soon underway.
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and ot
Always be professional, do not fall into the old friends trap, you will lose more than you will ever be able to gain back. I have had a few occasions where I was doing business as a consultant and I was asked if I could attend a social event to celebrate the success of the project. I was pleased that the company had asked me and I graciously accepted. The event was on a Saturday afternoon so I dressed appropriately for a BBQ.When I got to the event, everyone else was dressed the same way except the host who was basically in his workout clothes. He was treating everyone like old friends, which is not a bad thing. The problem turned out to be the language he chose to use at the event. If I had joined in as the others, I would have lost a great deal of respect. I decided that I would stay to be sociable but would take the first opportunity to leave. As much as I wanted to be part of the group, I did not feel I would gain anything by lowering my professionalism
Even with a 34-year record of positive action, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund's growth was held back by two seemingly impenetrable barriers. To begin with, there was perpetual confusion in the media about what the Fund was, and its relationship with NOW. "No matter how successful we were in getting media coverage, nine out of ten times they got our name wrong," says McFadden. "As a result, we didn't have any clips."
You can bet that if the media get your organization's name wrong, time and again, that your target audiences do too. And that's a real barrier to building relationships and brand.
"In addition, audiences didn't know what 'legal defense and education fund' meant," continues McFadden. "They asked us for education grants or direct legal services. The only audiences who did know who we were (and what we did) were long-time feminists and those with whom we had long relationships on Capitol Hill."
Since the Fund was striving to extend its reach to women born after the civil rights era, and to ensure all audiences were aware of the full range of its programs – including new initiatives such as lobbying for universal access to child care – these problems had to be solved.
After much deliberation, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund decided that a name change was the communications strategy most likely to boost its ongoing evolution and outreach to broader audiences. "We needed a name that said who we were and what we did, while enabling us to continue to grow," says McFadden.
STRATEGY: In-Depth Analysis of History, Vision and Audience Perspectives Generates Powerful New Name
Knowing that a name change is a major initiative, and one that can be very stressful (in terms of effort and emotions), the Fund decided to seek outside help. So McFadden and her colleagues applied for, and secured, pro bono assistance from the Interbrand (a leading branding agency) Foundation. With the help of a powerful and dedicated Interbrand team, the naming process was soon underway.
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and o
Recently there was an article in USAToday by Edward C. Baig that cast doubt on the value of spending large amounts of money on pricey banner ads.According to Baig, the Nielsen Norman Group, based in Fremont California, recently released a study where the Nielson firm asked more then 230 participants to research specific topics online. The participants were hooked up to sophisticated eye-tracking equipment that allowed the authors of the study to track what people were looking at on their computer screens.Baig writes, “the study findings show companies still have much to learn about how best to present an online image.” The findings of the study suggest people see very little on most web pages – including the pricy banner ads at the top of most web pages.This would explain why most banner ad click through rates are horrendously low. If most companies get a click through rate of 5% they are incredibly happy with the results of the ad campaign.
Since the Fund was striving to extend its reach to women born after the civil rights era, and to ensure all audiences were aware of the full range of its programs – including new initiatives such as lobbying for universal access to child care – these problems had to be solved.
After much deliberation, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund decided that a name change was the communications strategy most likely to boost its ongoing evolution and outreach to broader audiences. "We needed a name that said who we were and what we did, while enabling us to continue to grow," says McFadden.
STRATEGY: In-Depth Analysis of History, Vision and Audience Perspectives Generates Powerful New Name
Knowing that a name change is a major initiative, and one that can be very stressful (in terms of effort and emotions), the Fund decided to seek outside help. So McFadden and her colleagues applied for, and secured, pro bono assistance from the Interbrand (a leading branding agency) Foundation. With the help of a powerful and dedicated Interbrand team, the naming process was soon underway.
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and o
Pallets are platforms that are used for transporting or storing things. They are used especially in industries like factories, warehouses, retail, food storage, grains, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, etc. Pallets are often placed in rough industrial conditions with high humidity, pollution, and dust levels. It is thus very important to use covers for protecting the pallets.Pallet covers not only protect the pallets from dust but also provide insulation against excessive humidity, thus lowering the chance of rusting, scratches, and corrosion. They also protect wooden pallets from insects and keep the contents of the pallets safe. They also keep the pallets separated from one another. Pallet covers are a very cost-effective alternative to cardboard boxes.There are different kinds of pallet covers: clear, flat polyethylene, heavy duty/light duty, waterproof, disposable/reusable, etc. Pallet covers are also available in various sizes. They can also be order
STRATEGY: In-Depth Analysis of History, Vision and Audience Perspectives Generates Powerful New Name
Knowing that a name change is a major initiative, and one that can be very stressful (in terms of effort and emotions), the Fund decided to seek outside help. So McFadden and her colleagues applied for, and secured, pro bono assistance from the Interbrand (a leading branding agency) Foundation. With the help of a powerful and dedicated Interbrand team, the naming process was soon underway.
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and o
If you have ever simply watched people at work you will find that many often come in late or miss work entirely for days on end. We may be able to draw a connection in our reasoning that says all these people showing up 10 minutes late can add up to lots of lost revenue for the company. The problem is how to control attendance issues and still treat everyone fairly?A CCH study on unexcused absenteeism indicates that 83% of employers feel that unexcused absenteeism will continue to rise. The problem is that absenteeism costs have been growing which now range around $800 per employee per year. It doesn’t seem like much but when this cost is multiplied by 10 or 20 employees the numbers speak for themselves.Absenteeism and Punctuality PoliciesHaving an absenteeism and punctuality policy is important for any business with employees. Such policies help keep records on missed work time, encourage employees to attend work, and set a case for dismissal
This is how it unfolded:
Step One: In-depth organizational probing.
The branding team learned about the Fund's vibrant history, including the leaders who built and sustained the Fund since its inception. Discussion focused on what the Fund once was, what it was at present and what it wanted to be in the future.
Step Two: Focused audience research, with current audiences and those the Fund wanted to reach in the future.
After extensive discussions with Fund staff past and present, Interbrand reached out to other key audiences (funders, colleague organizations, and others with whom the Fund had long-term relationships, as well as women that they felt should know more about the Fund).
Step Three: Training of staff and other key stakeholders on the development, impact and launch of a new name.
The Interbrand team wisely ensured that the Fund staff, and other stakeholders such as board members, were prepared to select the right name, and to support its launch to generate the greatest amount of awareness possible. Most importantly, they were trained to know how they wanted to be viewed.
Step Four: Creative brand building, and a grueling final selection process.
The branding team, armed with its understanding of the Fund's strategic approach to using the law to defend, motivate and inspire women – and its knowledge of audience perceptions – went to work. After an intensive creative process, they came back to NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund with 100 options.
As a result of the training they had received, the Fund staff were able cut to the final 15 contenders quite easily. The final decision was more wrenching. Legal Momentum (LM) recommended to the board as the name that best conveyed the organization's mission – to advance the rights of women and girls by using the power of the law and creating innovative public policy – while enabling its evolution.
Once the board agreed, Interbrand went on to create the look and feel to support the new name.
Step Five: Proactive, engaging communications strategy to launch the new name.
The next step was the crafting of a campaign to assure long-time audiences that the organization's mission and relationship with NOW remained in place, while capitalizing on the attention to trumpet its forward motion to "build a world where women have the right and the ability to fully participate."
Developed key messages around the name change (focused on LM's growth and change), and trained staff on delivering them:
• Core message: "We changed our name but not our mission."
• Prepared FAQs for staff members.
Launched comprehensive communications campaign to capitalize on opportunity to engage audiences:
• Message from the President and Chair
-Featured in LM's newsletter, In Brief.
-Highlighted on the LM website via a headline on every page on the site.
• Letter to colleague organizations.
• Postcard announcement, with photo of staff with signs reading "Legal Momentum," sent to all staff.
• Name change announcement flyer in all direct mail pieces (fundraising, event invitations, etc.).
• Revision of collateral (stati
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/7808/atriclecheck-How-a-Nonprofit-Name-Change-Generated-Attention--Momentum-A-Case-Study-in-Branding.html">How a Nonprofit Name Change Generated Attention & Momentum: A Case Study in Branding</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/7808/atriclecheck-How-a-Nonprofit-Name-Change-Generated-Attention--Momentum-A-Case-Study-in-Branding.html]How a Nonprofit Name Change Generated Attention & Momentum: A Case Study in Branding[/url]
Related Articles:
Accounting Verification by Trial Balance, Preparation of Trial Balance
Branding Blunder—Creative Technology's Mistakes
Bookmark it:
|