Northern Rivers Rebranding
During my time as Digital & Graphic Design Specialist at Northern Rivers, a non-for-profit serving children, adults, and families, I had the unique opportunity to be a key contributor of the rebranding efforts of three affiliate agencies.
Background
Parsons and Northeast were two separate agencies that existed independently of one another for over 30 years. In 2012, Northern Rivers was developed to centralize and coordinate services to avoid duplication of effort between the two agencies for cost savings and efficiency purposes. At that time, Northern Rivers was the overarching agency of both Parsons and Northeast and they all maintained their own entities. Parsons and Northeast were competitors for over 30 years and were now affiliated under Northern Rivers, which caused a lot of internal inconsistencies and issues.
In 2015, it was time to evolve and expand the existing brand platform to create one united, cohesive, and consistent brand identity for all three organizations.
Goal
Create a unified brand identity both internally and externally. No longer three separte organizations but rather one unified organization serving the same mission and having the same values.
Problem
1.) Public Knowledge and Awareness
The public knows both Parsons and Northeast, as they have been around for 30+ years. However, not everyone is familiar with Northern Rivers, as Northern Rivers is a new agency
2.) Internal Buy-in
The staff at Parsons and at Northeast are very devoted to their individual agency, reluctant to share resources, perceive each other as competition still and not affiliates, and are reluctant to change. Most of the staff have been with the organizations for many years and feel a sense of ownership and pride in their individual agency.
Opportunity
Unified new brand identity
My Role
Brand identity strategy and design
Team
Darlene Olivieri, Chief Communications Officer, Eugene White, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Stakeholders (Chiefs of each internal department), PR Firm Reukert Advertising for Video and Press
Research & Interviews
Together with the team, I conducted research encompassing clients, employees, stakeholders and community members to learn as much as possible about the three organizations. We needed to understand the organizations, learn about their competitors, and discover the key points of difference. We then developed an organizational positioning statement - “Life changing care” - be adopted to reflect the exceptional depth, breadth and quality of services offered.
The internal buy-in was so strong that 85% of the staff at both Parsons and Northeast did not want to lose their own logo. Taking that into consideration, we added their agency names into the new Northern Rivers logo. We landed on blue and green as key brand colors to unify the two separate agencies.
It was important to maintain the history of the agencies while modernizing and unifying the brand.
Interviews
I conducted interviews with staff members, the CEO, and other members of the community.
Key Findings
The agencies had the same mission and purpose - to better serve their community by providing life changing care to children and families in need.
Brand Personality
Supportive. Reliable. Welcoming.
Imagery
Use real photos of our children, families, teachers, staff and buildings that demonstrate the authentic and diverse culture of Northern Rivers.
Tagline
Life changing care
Brand Colors
Blue and Green to combine Parsons and Northeast into one unified brand as Northern Rivers
Mission
Empowering children, adults, and families to change their lives and build stronger communities.
Our Vision
Northern Rivers leads the way in providing coordinated, innovative, comprehensive, and responsible delivery of human services.
Our Values
Northern Rivers is guided by a set of universally accepted principles that guide the actions of every member of our family. We organize these values through the acronym HOPE:
Honor: To help others is the highest calling; we strive to do what is right for those in our care
Optimism: We believe things can get better if we work together, aim higher, and set meaningful goals
Progress: Every day provides an opportunity to improve, and we promise to continue striving
Excellence: We hold ourselves to the highest standards, because our communities deserve the best from us
Our Core Principles
Every member of the Northern Rivers family is guided by a set of five core principles that guide the way we treat our clients and each other: cultural competence, family- and youth-driven, strengths-based, safety, and trauma-informed.
Cultural Competence
“Culture” implies a pattern of human behavior, including thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, and values of a racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, gender-based, work group, or social group. “Competence” implies the ability to function and interact effectively. Cultural competence incorporates culture, assesses cross cultural relations, attends to the effects of cross cultural differences, increases cultural knowledge, and adapts to meet the needs of those with culturally unique needs.
Family and Youth Driven
We believe that the experience of the families, youth and children we serve must always be our measure of success. As such, it is the youth and families who truly measures the impact of our services for them, and it is a partnership with the families we serve. This creates an environment driven by youth and families who that value and seek out the experience of the youth and families engaged in our services every time they come into contact with Northern Rivers, its member agencies, and its dedicated staff.
Strength-Based
Individuals have strengths, resources, and the ability to recover from adversity. A strength-based approach focuses on opportunities, hope, and solutions. It emphasizes developing skills, abilities, and positive attributes rather than the diminution of negative attributes. We assume individuals have the ability to help themselves. We see beyond the behaviors and characteristics of others—in particular children, youth, and families—to support the potential of what can be.
Safety
Physical safety is the ability to recognize and avoid danger, express feelings appropriately, and engage in practices that are consistent with good physical health. Social safety means feeling accepted for who you are. Boundaries are respected and people care about how you feel. Emotional safety means being free of shame and humiliation and having a sense of self control and self-efficacy. Ethical safety means you can trust that what people tell you is the truth and decisions are made out of a sense of justice rather than self-interest.
Trauma Informed
Adverse experiences may have a negative effect on one’s ability to be successful. Trauma-informed approaches assess for the impact of trauma. These approaches also support the use of strategies and interventions and in creating environments that help achieve safety, manage emotions, and develop healthy relationships. Trauma-informed care focuses on understanding and healing from loss, promoting and supporting self-care and wellness, and working toward a positive and productive future.
