Battle lines

Recently, three service-oriented charities rebranded. Brittany Golob visits the front lines

In decades past, military charities evoked a sense of now long-tired national pride following the two world wars. The poppy-wearing, song- singing spirit of the military-supporting British public has since transformed into a modern perception of the armed forces and those whom are serving in them. The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have propelled a very real sense of the ‘modern soldier’ into the nation’s psyche. Gone are the Tommy helmets of the 1910s as a symbol of the fighting man, today’s men and women in uniform wear their multicam and kevlar as a proud symbol of the modern military. Though the journey may not have been a swift one, it has swept along with it the support mechanisms and institutions that keep the military moving, including the charities that support service personnel.

Since the end of Britain’s involvement in Iraq, charity organisations that have traditionally dealt with the military have sought a means of managing the needs, both tangible and conceptual, of a modern armed force. In doing so, many have rebranded or repositioned themselves in a bid to raise awareness, raise funds and raise support. This month’s Brand:Rebrand features three recent rebrands in the military charity sector. Though drastically different visually, each has approached the challenge of modernising through a major organisation overhaul, featuring both a repositioning and rebranding.

Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation

Like many of the organisations that emerged to support the United Kingdom’s service men and women, the Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation (RMNEF) has a centuries-long history. The 186-year- old organisation was originally founded as an orphan’s asylum and school for the children of Britain’s merchant navy seafarers.

Throughout that extensive history, however, the charity has maintained its original remit, that of providing children with the means to gain employment. The organisation’s trustees looked into the charity’s structure and realised that it tackles one of the biggest challenges facing the UK: youth unemployment. Thus, they decided to redouble the RMNEF’s efforts in providing support for education. “That’s why our strapline is ‘Education is the foundation,’” secretary-commander Charles Heron- Watson says.

The challenge it faced, however, was attracting more beneficiaries to its services. The charity provides funding for younf peeople during and after A-level education. Physically locating the students and families to which the RMNEF traditionally provided support had become more difficult in recent years. In the past, Heron-Watson says, shipping companies and registrars would keep records on addresses and familial information of its employees. Now, data protection legislation and the changing world of shippping means the RMNEF works with registrars to disseminate its information thus making its digital properties more important than ever in attracting beneficiaries.

In navigating this sea of change, the RMNEF enlisted the services of Shine Creative, a Hampshire- based design agency to examine its branding and wider remit. Despite the wealth of history and tradition the organisation espouses, one of the objectives of the rebrand was to modernise its approach toward outreach and support. Samantha Stokes, Shine’s creative director, says, “It was important to demonstrate to various stakeholder audiences - parents of beneficiaries, beneficiaries themselves, donors and other referring maritime charities - that the Foundation had very much ‘moved into the 21st Century’ and was able to support a wide range of qualifying children and young people, from birth to completing their professional career-entry qualifications and anywhere in between.”

Shine took that history and transformed it into an instantly recognisable, modern and flexible identity with a focus on digital. Stokes adds, “We wanted the logo to have a strong link with the sea, and the idea of education and support. As such, the idea of the three curves was that they represented a wave, almost encompassing and nurturing like a hand, giving support and encouragement. The choice of the two typefaces in the logo also helped to back up the idea of modern and traditional combined.”

Heron-Watson says the charity has changed with the times. When Britain was a major sea power, its merchant navy was both massive and widespread across the country. Today, though 97% of Britain’s trade is carried by sea, the professional merchant navy has diminished. This puts the charity in the unique position of focusing entirely on its support for education, with enough funds to do so. “We just needed to sharpen the whole image up, to look more relevant to the 21st century and address the issues that our beneficiaries have,” Heron-Watson says.

Nearly 200 years after its inception, the RMNEF can dedicate its efforts to supporting children and young people in their educational pursuits. “It’s a real joy to be getting back to what we want to be doing, which is helping children,” Heron-Watson says.

SSAFA

For SSAFA, family matters. The 128-year-old organisation has a history of supporting the needs of service personnel and their families. It found that its existing branding was one that had developed over a course of years and lacked a coherence and consistency that made it difficult for potential beneficiaries to access the organisation’s resources.

“We needed one common story,” SSAFA marketing manager Vicky Maskell says. “If you have 8,000 people and everyone is saying something different, it’s much harder to hear than 8,000 people saying the same thing. We all had to say the same thing, but it had to be something our 8,000 volunteers could get behind.”

After undertaking internal research, the organisation found that public support for military charities had risen dramatically, but that the market had grown increasingly more fragmented. In order to create brand awareness, SSAFA needed to clarify its communications to its target audiences both within the armed forces and externally. It determined that family was the chief differentiating factor that SSAFA had to offer. SSAFA’s services extend not only to former and current servicemen and women, but also to their families. This became the focus of the rebrand.

One of the key changes the charity made was to use the term ‘SSAFA’ as a name, not an acronym. It points to brands like IKEA and HSBC as examples of strong brand association based on a current or former acronym. By adding the strapline “Lifelong support for our forces & their families,” the organisation was able to emphasise its focus on family.

“What came through time and time again was how important family was to SSAFA,” Joe Ryrie, creative strategist at Figtree | Prophet, the design agency tasked with developing the brand. “These insights formed the basis of our family positioning.” However, Figtree did not want to use a traditional feel to evoke the family focus. Instead, it emphasised dedication, practical support and commitment through a bold use of photography, graphics and a striped underline beneath the wordmark. Those values were always core tenets of the organisation, but they have since been articulated better in the rebrand.

“Essentially, we’re now positioned all around family,” Maskell says. “That does differentiate us. We are here for the whole forces family: service personnel and their families, veterans and their dependents, our family of volunteers and family of staff, and family in the wider sense, your regiment can be your family.”

The new branding has a distinctly military feel, but it is approachable and warm, as is the tone of voice. Above all, SSAFA has sought to redefine its place in the military charity ecosystem with a clear, concise platform and an approachable visage. “Clarity is what people wanted,” Maskell says. “There was a feeling that not enough people know or understand what we do.”

The armed forces as a whole has undergone a period of rapid change throughout the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is now rife with young men and women who have served overseas and are seeking support from charities like SSAFA for a number of reasons from health to financial support and education to job seeking. SSAFA’s rebrand seeks to position the organisation to better attract and meet the needs of these young veterans.

ABF: The Soldier’s Charity

The Army Benevolent Fund began working with Dragon Rouge in 2009. At the time, it was an established organisation with a lengthy history. But its appeal did not extend far into the ranks of the modern military. It was also comprised of a confusing structure and purpose that few understood.

“We looked at their name as the principal asset of the brand and it was quite clear that the name did not convey all of the things that the organisation offered or would offer in the future,” director of corporate branding and communications at Dragon Rouge Joe Hale, says. As the war in Afghanistan was at the forefront of national attention at the time, the charity sought to emphasise its role in supporting the lives of soldiers. The change to “The Soldier’s Charity” was reflective of the word ‘benevolent’ being antiquated and unclear to a modern audience.

While this increased awareness within the military audience The Soldier’s Charity sought to access, it also held greater appeal for corporate partners, Hale says, because the plight of soldiers had become a public cause. The ABF preface was retained as a nod to the heritage of an organisation founded at the end of the second world war.

One of the main strategies of the rebrand was a series of gritty, emotional photographs depicting servicemen and women in uniform and at home that emphasise the areas of service that the charity provides. “The photography was able to show the breadth of the work that we do,” digital communications manager Stephen Steele says. Hale adds, “We wanted the imagery to have a sincerity and a grit to it. It’s human and striking. It gives the communications a punch.”

The charity’s goal, like most others, was to raise awareness. However, The Soldier’s Charity wanted to clarify its complex organisational structure in the process. While the group supports individuals, it also helps fund smaller military charities that specialise in a particular area, like Combat Stress or SSAFA. Much of its work involves putting service personnel in touch with these specialised organisations. Through the rebrand, the role The Soldier’s Charity played was made more apparent. Steele says the rebrand was intended to help people understand “who we are, the work that we do and the services that are available to service personnel at home, abroad and for their families.” The rebrand, like most others, coincides with

a digital push and a major awareness campaign. However, as this rebrand was completed two years ago, the results are already apparent. The organisation wanted to double its fundraising efforts to £14 million by 2014. It has already hit that mark.

The amount of people involved with the charity has also increased due to a wider awareness of its services. Hale says the need to support those returning from conflict has enhanced the demand for services and in turn, the organisation’s standing within the military community. As Steele says, it’s an organisation that is “just outside the wire” or close enough to engage its beneficiaries, but with enough freedom to provide effective assistance.

Hale says the rebrand’s has already been successful, “I think it has helped the organisation focus on the things that are most important to its future and to the sustained success of the organisation. It has helped to raise income, but it has also helped the organisation to work out why it exists and what it is there to do.”

Head to head

Though all three rebrands are at different stages in their life-cycles, the most pressing need each faced was to raise awareness for its services in a crowded marketplace. Whether through photography on the part of The Soldier’s Charity, striking graphics for SSAFA or a modernised web presence for the RMNEF, each has achieved this. A sense of history pervades across all three organisations. Each has deep-rooted ties to the military and to its beneficiary communities, yet each had seen its relevance decline among the young class of men and women serving in modern wars.

For the RMNEF, the challenge was clear: attract new beneficiaries to the wealth of services on offer. The rebrand referenced the history of the charity while bringing it squarely into the digital age. SSAFA sought to reestablish itself in the minds of service personnel Thus, it focused on family as a subtle repositioning of values and implemented striking yet warm graphics. For The Soldier’s Charity, a complex organisation barred a more widespread understanding and awareness of its services. The organisation tackled this with a focus on clarity and ease of navigation while simultaneously emphasising its own role among military charities.

The battle lines have been drawn, but only in the sense that each charity has now identified and emphasised the specific space within which it works. Through clarity, repositioning, and solid graphics and photography, these three charities are prepared to meet the needs of the modern military head on.

Peer review

Young Kim, creative director, Siegel+Gale in London

Interesting how these three recent charity military rebrands share similar challenges and yet each took a different approach. Each has evolved its name and created a tagline to clarify and resonate more strongly with its audience, whilst updating its visual identity to signal a more relevant and rich brand experience.