The charity marketing agency that cares

Charity branding – or just wallpaper?

September 8, 2022

It is an opportunity, when the time is right. But when IS the time right for charity branding?

Is it when a ‘new broom’ comes in on the marketing, fundraising or management side and ‘wants to see change’ or worse, when they quickly want to ‘have their presence felt’ in a fast and visible way way? This point may get some readers a little annoyed, it has to be said. And if it does, the reader has to ask themselves why… Because (as part of the charity branding exercise) being a bit too playful with the identity of an organisation  that has an important and meaningful cause could be very damaging  – not least to those who benefit from its good work.

Branding can be such a flat term that means differ things to different people after all. Even the brandingjournal.com describes it as “…one of those marketing concepts that are a bit vague and can quickly become confusing, even for people who have studied marketing.”

But yes, when the brand looks a feels tired, dated, worn out to everyone involved: management, staff, volunteers, supporters and the wider public. When data and trends show that appeal is ‘on the wane’. This is a good time to think about whether the discipline of recreating, refreshing or totally renewing the organisation’s branded representation. Be that in name, logo, design or tonally.

But it can also be a missed one if the branding exercise merely manifests itself in a design exercise. One which only serves to excite the personal aesthetic taste of a few of the organisation’s leadership.  It is really a change to take a deeper look at the identity of the group of human beings that make up the charity. What is it that binds them together? What are their shared beliefs and convictions? What truth is at the heart of it all?

Sometimes it is more fruitful to think about the branding opportunity from different points of view. What is the purpose of the change: is it to improve engagement, perhaps? Because this in itself take you down all kind of routes that go to the heart of all the communication of the organisation. This begets asking people things rather than just telling them things. It calls for the creation of more reasons for interactions with all stakeholders. It calls for an approach to communication channels like social media that creates appeal and maximised sharing.

Our communication landscape nowadays calls for a far more broad approach than the design of the label on the can. And makes us all realise that the communication activity and the brand is actually part of what is IN the can.