Rebranding Strategies:
Best Practices
www.veng-group.com
About the VENG Group
The VENG Group is a government relations, communications, public affairs, and
outreach firm that specializes in the nonprofit community. Our team is based in Boston,
Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.
We help our clients with:
Public Relations/Message Development
Public Policy Research and Advice
Content & Communications Strategy
Government Relations
Day-to-Day Communications Operations
Coalition/Community Building and Outreach
Media Training
Multicultural Outreach and Advocacy
Social Media Marketing
Innovative Technological Solutions for Advocacy
Website Development/Management
Grassroots/Grasstops Outreach and Campaigns
Brand Development/Reputation Management
Conferences and Events
@charugupta
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What is a brand?
A brand reflects your organization’s entire
programmatic spectrum and approach.
A brand is about your competitive advantage, your
relationships, what you do best, and what inspires
you.
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Why Brand Identity is Important
A deep and clear understanding of who you are,
where you fit and what your competitive advantages
are will allow communications – what you say and
how you say it – to flow effectively.
A well-designed brand architecture and identity
means that all programs and services are coherent
and allow communications tactics to be sharp and at
their best.
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A brand is much more than a name change.
It involves all your spheres of influence.
Spheres of Influence
Policy
makers
Board and
advisory
council
Media
Funders
Management
and staff
Coalition
partners
Community at
large
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Branding vs. Rebranding
Branding
•If you are a new nonprofit and need to find your
niche.
•You get too many “what’s that?” when talking about
your organization.
•A strategic planning process has made branding a
necessary next step.
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Branding vs. Rebranding
Rebranding
•Your original brand is out of sync with new
organizational goals, priorities, and programs.
•Your image and messages are too many and lack
consistency.
•You are experiencing a decline in membership
and/or funding.
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Quick Poll: Brand vs. Rebrand?
How many of you feel that your organization needs to
1. Brand to begin with?
2. Rebrand?
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Why should you rebrand?
Increase in donors and donations
A clear brand identity and message will influence who
donates and how often.
New audience/membership
Communicating the brand consistently and effectively
will grab the attention of new stakeholders, including
corporate partners.
Increase in brand awareness
A clear and consistent brand is the best way to cultivate
loyalty and establish credibility.
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What does rebranding entail?
Cosmetic refresher of your logo, tagline, collateral
materials.
Full-scale approach that assesses brand position,
messaging, tagline, and visual identity.
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Cosmetic Refresher
• Updated logo
• New tagline, elevator speech
• Revised marketing and collateral materials that
reflect new logo and design
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Case Study: Human Rights Campaign
Before
After
Human Rights Campaign Fund
Human Rights Campaign
The new name and logo in 1995 were made to reflect the
goals and influence of HRC, which had widened and
grown since its founding in 1986.
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Full-Scale Rebranding
Conduct research
1.Competitive Landscape Review – How do similar
organizations in your sector position themselves?
2.Communications Audit – A review of all
communications strategies and materials to assess
alignment and gaps.
3.Brand Review – How is your organization viewed by
internal and external stakeholders? What do they see as
your strengths, weaknesses, competitive advantages, and
growth opportunities?
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Full-Scale Rebranding
Brand and Communications Strategy
The research will help you determine:
1.Brand Architecture – What is the relationship between
programs, and also between programs and the organization.
This is a good time to determine whether programmatic
changes need to be made.
2.Strategic Positioning – Identify what is the organization’s
unique advantage and what niche it wants to occupy.
3.Message Hierarchy – What are the different messages for
the organization, and what is their order of importance?
4.Mission Statement – Does it need to be rewritten and in
what way?
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Full-Scale Rebranding
Developing the brand
•Mission statement
•Organizational name change
•Tagline or slogan
•Supporting messages
•Design logo and new visual identity
•New website and collateral material, i.e. email
templates, newsletters, etc.
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Case Study: CENYC
The Council of the Environment of New York City
(CENYC) is a privately funded citizens’ organization
(within the Office of the Mayor). It is a hands-on,
nonprofit organization with about 50 staff charged
with improving New York City’s quality of life through
environmental programs and empowering New
Yorkers to secure a clean and healthy environment
for themselves and their children.
Donations and volunteers are critical to its mission.
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Case Study: CENYC
Name Change: GrowNYC
Research revealed a disconnect between
stakeholders’ perceptions of what CENYC was called
versus what it did.
The name had to change, and reflect the who, what
and vision of the organization.
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Case Study: CENYC
Key Programs and Messages
Research can reveal multiple programs with names
that are confusing or do not reflect a holistic
message or organization.
Group programs together, or determine if
programmatic changes are required.
At GrowNYC, all programs now fall under four
categories: Garden, Recycle, Teach, Greenmarket.
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Case Study: CENYC
New Logo and Visual Identity
Logos are shorthand for what the organization
represents.
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Case Study: CENYC
The final logo for GrowNYC was a variation of a green
apple at the center of key program words.
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Key Times to Rebrand
• A new campaign
• Change in executive leadership
• 10th or 20th Anniversary
• End of strategic planning
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Avoid Pitfalls
• Board buy-in – make sure you know where your
board stands and how much your board members
want to be involved. Most likely, they will need to
approve any major change in direction.
• Brand champion – make sure you have a wellrespected staff or board member leading the cause
and building consensus.
• Regular check-ins – Consultants don’t know you as
well as you do. Stay in constant communication, ask
for a brand strategy, and agree upon a timeline and
decision-making process.
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THANK YOU
Charu Gupta
cgupta@veng-group.com
@charugupta
617 830 1790, x 106