A Dicey Branding Situation

Day 29

When I joined this organization nearly month ago, there was good news waiting for me… and bad news. The good news was that the executive committee had taken the big step of engaging in the redesign of the organization’s brand – a name change, a new logo, a new tagline, the whole works. They had lived with the same brand for years (maybe even decades! The history is unclear) and it was courageous of them to both recognize that they needed a change and start the process of change.

The bad news is that the result of their re-branding process was less than inspiring. In fact, it looked like more of the same – a vague name with a vague tagline and a forgettable logo. As I learned more about their process, it sounded like they had violated all the ground rules of re-defining your organization.

First, they had changed the organization’s name so that it better reflected what they thought they did. They didn’t seem to consider whether this new name would mean anything to their constituents and audiences, whether it would engage, spark, or intrigue people, or whether it would be a recognizable something that people would want to be part of.

Second, they didn’t seem to consider how this name change would differentiate themselves from their competition (other organizations that advocate for similar issues). In fact, when I asked one of the directors about their choice, she stated that they chose the name “because it will be more like what other organizations are doing.”(!)

Third, they didn’t plan the release of this new brand to coincide with any external or social event. Instead, they assumed that the name change itself would be enough of an event to get people excited. They didn’t seem to realize that people get excited about the issues we work on and the work we do, not about any organizational restructuring or internal redefinition. As has been said many times in the nonprofit marketing world, it’s not about you! It’s about what they think of you.

This is a sticky situation for me. They have invested a lot of time and energy (and money) on this rebranding process. But I believe they are making a big mistake and missing a huge opportunity. I’ve prodded one director a bit about how open they are to reconsidering the new name/brand now that I’ve joined the team and the answer was, “Not much.”

So how do I address this situation? How do I get them to see the opportunity they are missing? How do I get them to revisit the issue without denigrating the work they have already done?

I could let it lie and just go with it, but I feel it is my professional duty to pursue a better outcome to this process. Any suggestions?