Project
Overview
- Brand Strategy
- Visual Identity Design
- Website
- Jenni Benatar, Branduo
The Brief
When our client Lauren Gillis met Sivan Yaari, the founder of Innovation: Africa, she was inspired by the organisation’s mission to bring clean, safe water to African villages through solar technology.
Lauren reached out to us to start conceptualising ways she could convert her newfound passion for water into impact. The resulting “Walk for Water” campaign led to two significant outcomes: The raising of R1.5M which delivered safe, readily available water to 4000 members of the Nomu Wa Huku village in Mpumalanga. And the collective realisation that this was merely the beginning of our water journey together.
We had a concept that could shift from a once-off campaign into building a brand that could make significant long-term impact and live within the ecosystem of Lauren’s existing NPO, The Relate Trust. We now had to build that brand. Enter Relate Water.
Brand Strategy
The Relate Water brand strategy focused on creating powerful and emotional storytelling narratives to connect with potential funders. We had to balance that emotion by clearly solving some of the strategic challenges we identified in our brand strategy workshop such as where Relate Water fits within the Relate brand system? What does Relate Water actually do? What are we “selling” and who are we selling to? How do we get our message to land without falling into the typical NPO pity trap? And, how do we now build a brand with a compelling offering and message.
We created a monolithic brand structure and unpacked how the nonprofit model would work in a way that aligned with the core values of the parent brand. We positioned Relate Water as a social enterprise with a difference, including a fully transparent and sustainable impact model.
We defined our intended impact, coining the Relate Water ‘Ripple Effect’. The idea that water unlocks untapped potential and prosperity for villages and their people: a true multiplier effect of opportunity and hope.
We defined 4 models for support that would appeal to our prospective donors, and a 10-step process for how we deliver water. The brand’s newfound fundamental belief is that ‘Clean water shouldn’t be a privilege’ – a powerful testimony to the concept that underpins everything they do.
Brand design
