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The irresistible urge to rebrand 3

Fundraising | David Burrows | 8 Dec 2009

Once a year some mysterious instinct grips the primitive crustacean minds of an army of 250,000 spider crabs in the depths of the southern ocean. Some primal urge draws them together to shed the bony shells that they have now outgrown. I know this, because I watched David Attenborough’s ‘Life’ the other week, and it certainly was an awesome sight.

The same primal instinct appears to drive charities too.

Hardly a week goes by without some charity or other ‘rebranding’ or ‘refreshing its identity’ or some such. Why is this?

It can be for very valid reasons. In some cases the name or brand really has become an inflexible shell that has started to restrict the growth of the organisation. Few would argue that The Spastics Society was placed in a very difficult position when spastic became a term of abuse in every playground. Sometimes two organisations merge and a new organisation is born that is more than the sum of the parts – Cancer Research UK, for instance.

However, is this always the case? It bothers me that almost every organisation I talk to has either recently changed some aspect of its identity, or is debating doing so. While it is great that organisations are thinking carefully about how they are perceived I worry that brands can be the victim of another deep-seated primal instinct – the urge to tinker. 

My guess is that if you aspire to be head of communication for a charity it is important that you can talk a good game about brand. Masterminding a corporate identity project looks good on your CV. It’s a high profile project and rather fun going to meetings with those swanky branding consultants. And changing the typeface or coming up with a new strap line is a lot easier than actually changing your organisation or reputation for real.

So if you really have got a good reason to try and significantly change the way you are perceived by supporters and the public then the best of luck to you. But don’t make it an annual ritual.

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