a peek at our rebranding process

// a post by Kevin Dobruck

According to BusinessWeek four key areas help to create an effective brand: belonging, friendship, awareness and dependability. We think ShareFest excels in three of these. The one area we need to shore up is awareness. Many in our service area know of our work, but an even greater number have no awareness of who we are and what we do. We plan to change that in 2011 with our rebrand.

As we started our journey into rebranding we determined to have what marketers call “top of mind awareness” for ShareFest. That means whenever anyone in our service area thinks of community development they will think of ShareFest as a leading example. We want to demonstrate how to collaborate creatively to bring about positive change in a way that improves the lives of everyone in our community.

We began to talk about brand attributes—the characteristics that make ShareFest who we are. We spoke of things like creativity, collaboration, comprehensiveness, volunteerism, and care for the community. We then discussed our look and whether or not our current logo communicated these values. As well liked as our starburst logo was, we felt we could do better. A series of designs were created and the seeds of our new image began to grow.

Over several weeks, a team met together to evaluate our progress. Logos were presented. Some were not right for us and thus eliminated. Others were reworked and modified. We had serious discussion over everything from color and form to typefaces and taglines. Throughout the process we referred often to our attributes and our desire to better represent all aspects of our organization. We were always aware that our new look had to represent our volunteers, sponsors, partners and recipients. We needed a memorable logo that would be flexible enough to be proudly worn on Workday and YDA shirts yet represent our organization in the corporate boardrooms of our sponsors.

The process at times was arduous but the ultimate outcome was worth the effort. We feel the logo hits the mark on all points. We are excited for you to see it, but you’ll have to wait just a bit longer. The reveal is set for January, so watch this blog for the official unveiling.