ARAHA Brand Image Refinement | Case Study
During my time at ARAHA, one of my main projects was to reestablish the brand image and social currency. I approached this in a comprehensive way in which we worked to improve one thing at a time to help reshape the Brand of ARAHA, and these are the stages I undertook:
Content of hope and progress
Logo consistency
Grow key touchpoints
Brand refresh.
Improve content delivery
Content of Hope and progress:
Get away from the cliche images of African children dying with flies around their faces, and showcase the incredible work ARAHA is doing, and the stories of hope and accomplishments. A large part of this effort took on social media where content is shared weekly. Here are some examples of implemented change on ARAHA’s main social media channel-Facebook
Exhibit 1 | Dig deeper: In the midst of a crisis it is easy to focus on the trauma, and hardship, and emotionally charge people to donate. However, that is not what I wanted to the organization to do, unless in a dire situation. As I was sifting through photos of conflict displacement and the impact it caused in Tigray region of Ethiopia, I came across the below photo, and was curious to know the story behind the image, and thus was the result of the post | Link
Exhibit 2 | Recognize the effort, while acknowledging the impact: It is crucial that not all content be about humanitarian work, but a background, and the appreciation of the efforts it takes to make it happen. The following is a split image of that idea, and an important message to go with it. | Link
Exhibit 3 | Everyone Matters: It is important for organizations to recognize the small efforts as much as the large one. Many times we expend alot of effort naming things, and putting plaques for those who donate a ton of money. But sometimes, small donations, or small efforts can have a beautiful ripple effect of inspiration, motivation and support. | Link
Exhibit 4 | Simplicity is ok: You don’t always have to have a grand story to tell, or impact to report on. You can sometimes use your platform to uplift, motivate and encourage. | Link
Exhibit 5 | Share the true scale of impact: A lot of times, when you are making a contribution you don’t realize the grant scale of impact. It is not just a donation to provide relief or development. It is a contribution to the humanitarian well being. | Link
Brand Consistency:
Clean the brand: At the time, ARAHA did not have a consistent flow of using multiple variations of the logo, from multiple fonts, to different symbols and colors. In addition, all the content did not have a specific flow. There was no consistency. From feedback, the organization was not ready to do a full rebrand yet, so we settled on consistently using the same logo and color scheme for any marketing and promo efforts.
Logo | Old inconsistent variations
Logo | unified use of one consistent logo:
Sample collateral update | Annual report
Previous Annual reports
Updated Branded Report; Simplified, with a focal point, and clean.
Annual Reports Role: Design, write content, gather content,
Grow key touchpoint:
A major part of this process was getting more eyes on the organization and growing our audience on social media. A starting point was Facebook, which was the organization's key touchpoint.
I put together a brand awareness campaign targeted at Local, national, and global levels. The campaign was designed to:
Target audience match of website visitors through Facebook pixel
Use Audience lookalike targeting feature on Facebook and Instagram
Created demography of specific criteria matching our audience persona and profile
A very specific version
A generic version for expanded touchpoints.
After several months of campaigning, we saw our Facebook page followers increase from approximately 1,000 followers to over 200K followers. A significant jump of over 200% in audience growth.
Brand Refresh:
It was finally that time, where I could use one of my expertise– Graphic design. I knew how much the organization liked the logo, and knowing they were not ready to let go of it, I wanted to make minor tweaks and provide a simple brand update and refresh. In addition, I took the time to set the color scheme stone, develop patterns, and create a brand-use guideline.
More on the final product is showcased as follows on my site: Project link
Improve Content Delivery:
One of the biggest challenges for the organization was sourcing the best quality photo and video contents. Many times our team on the ground in the Horn of Africa region just gave a camera to anyone to take some photos, which resulted in poorly crafted photos, low quality resolution, and many times taken from a distance, and nothing that tells a story. Many times, I had to sift through a hundred photos just to find a really good one or few photos. In the end, I was fed up, and proposed the idea of hiring local photojournalists on the ground.
It was imperative that we hired photojournalists rather than just photos. We wanted someone who understood the importance of telling a story through photos, and videos, rather than just snapping a photo.
This proposal led to us hiring at least one photojournalist in each country we have teams in.
Typical photos we used to receive:
Photos we received from our photojournalists:
Conclusion:
In order to improve brand image, the work has to be a grassroots effort. It is important to analyze everything from the bottom and move up one level at a time to determine the best route for improvement. We must look not only at our target market, delivery of content and on; but also how we are setting systems in place for a quality brand image and marketing. Once that is set, we work to make improvements, while staying open-minded to organic improvements as well.
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