“We needed to engage a wider group of key audiences to understand what it is we do and how they can support us.” Phil Buckle explains why charity Electrical Safety Council rebranded and repositioned

It’s vital to take a step back every so often and re-examine how your key audiences perceive your brand. While there’s no point in change for change’s sake, it’s important to avoid complacency and to scrutinise how you’re perceived.

We’ve recently undergone a rebrand from the Electrical Safety Council to Electrical Safety First after we analysed how we were communicating about ourselves. Around 18 months ago, we began undertaking extensive research and consultation to highlight what the public, industry and our other stakeholders – such as other charities, manufacturers and government bodies – think and know about the charity. The main concern was the fact that there was a great deal of confusion about who we are and what we do. We were frequently regarded as a trade association or quango or even as part of the government machine. We’re a consumer campaigning charity – we’re dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries from electrical accidents, so we provide advice and information and campaign for improvements to electrical safety. However, we can’t do this alone; we need the support of other organisations to help garner support, add credibility and endorse our work. It became increasingly clear that we needed to go on a journey to ensure that we could engage a wider group of key audiences to understand what it is we do and how they can support us.

A name change was important: although only one word changed. ‘Council’ had some misleading connotations and we wanted to stress that we need to challenge as well as work with government, in order to better protect and engage consumers. We accompanied the name change with an emphasis on streamlined, accessible design, from our refreshed website to our new visual identity; clear, attractive and slightly retro images to appeal to a wider audience. Our agency, Forster Communications, examined the level of brand awareness amongst consumer audiences and helped us to assess and improve the way we presented ourselves. By becoming more publicfacing, we’ve ensured that we’re not viewed as too industry-centric or inward-looking; this has been fundamental to opening up new relationships with organisations that previously might have been unsure about whether or why to align themselves with us.

We harnessed several diverse channels to get the message across to electricians, safety charities and other key stakeholders. I also sent out a personalised email explaining the reasons behind our decision to rebrand. Another part of the process was to reach out to consumers. We revived the 1970s-’80s public information film, Charley Says, to raise awareness of electrical safety. As the original films were voiced by comedian Kenny Everett, we secured David Walliams, a hugely popular household name. Refreshing a much loved heritage brand was the perfect vehicle to launch our own.

The rebrand involved some tough thinking about how to present ourselves in such a way that maximizes interaction and impact with both consumers and other relevant organisations. We’ve engaged a wider group of stakeholders that we previously had little or no traction with including: manufacturers, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and other organisations like housing and homelessness charity Shelter. We’ve also been charged with leading the launch of the new mark for competent electricians with other stakeholders including NAPIT, Certsure and DCLG. It’s a scheme that has a great relevance for consumers and industry alike, and demonstrates the value of taking stock and making changes.

Phil Buckle is the director general of Electrical Safety First.