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MICROPLACEOUR BRAND

CONTENTS

Our Brand Essence

Our Brand Pillars

Our Brand Promise

Our Brand Personality & Voice

Our Mission Statement

Visual Communications

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WHY THIS GUIDE?

Great brands have the power to inspire. They live in people’s hearts as much as their minds. They represent ideas that are valued and when constructed and managed properly, they can become engaging symbols of our individual identity.

Every organization has a brand. But not every organization has a clear, concise strategy to guide it. As an evolving business and growing organization, it’s important that we all connect to the same core set of ideas about who we are, why we exist, what makes us special, and what we need to emphasize at every point of contact.

The intent to tell our unique story, to consistently convey to stakeholders what’s unique about our offering and to inspire them through the experiences they have with us.

brand strategy is all about intention.Simply stated,

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We believe that as we work with common purpose to improve our product, invent new experiences for investors, and effectively communicate the value of our model, we will inspire thousands.

And that one day, not too far off, we will all look back with great pride at what we’ve created. Seeing greatness in our brand, set against the backdrop of a community inspired by and connected to our mission.

brand strategy is all about intention.

OUR BRAND ESSENCE

Shared Humanity.People everywhere will be aroused by and connected to their shared humanity. Recognizing that which ties us all together will inspire them to act. This is the idea that drives the MicroPlace brand. As a universal truth, a foundation of many belief systems, the concept of our shared, collective humanity, provides MicroPlace with a broad platform to connect and compel individuals to take action.

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Seliv Cruz • Guadeloupe, Mexico

Betsy Jenkins • Omaha, Nebraska, United StatesInside we’re all the same. We all share essential needs, desire for security, and the right to self-respect and dignity. What separates us is resources and opportunity.

MicroPlace is the fuel and the connector serving to inspire an army of individuals to create opportunity and hope for others.

OUR BRAND PILLARS

MicroPlace is both a heart-centered, inspirational brand – resonant to those who want to make a difference in the world. And MicroPlace is an action brand, all about impact – delivering a highly effective method for achieving results. If you are inspired to act and results-oriented, MicroPlace is for you.

The paired ideas of inspiration + impact are represented by the metaphor of ‘pillars.’

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inspiration MicroPlace inspiration is central

to our mission – bringing

together individuals who want

to make a difference with those

who deserve an opportunity to

improve their lives.

impact MicroPlace impact is tied to the

efficacy of microlending as an

effective, sustainable way to make

a tangible difference in the lives

of micro-entrepreneurs and their

communities.

SHARED HUMANITY Our brand essence.

MICROPLACE EXISTS TO:

COMPEL US to remember our shared humanity – ‘we’re all alike’philosophy

INSPIRE US to take action on behalf of othersheart

INFORM US on how investment-based change vs. charity is so effectiveeducation

CONNECT US to an easy-to-use system of philanthropyaction

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OUR BRAND PROMISE:

MicroPlace inspiresindividuals to take action and make a difference. MicroPlace is part of a new global movement that fuses the instincts of philanthropy with the logic of investing – a proven method that delivers dividends in multiple dimensions. We create opportunity and ignite the potential of micro entrepreneurs throughout the world. We motivate people from all walks of life, from the everyday citizen to the sophisticated investor, to engage with a highly-effective model for creating social change.

Investor Paul Smith

Professor of Quantum Physics

Boston, MA, USA

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Our Brand Personality & Voice:

Inspirational. Accessible. Action-oriented. Diverse.INSPIRATIONAL We communicate in ways that express a belief in our shared humanity, in order to activate the heart

and higher intentions of our audience.

ACCESSIBLEWe use a voice, tone and manner that ordinary people can easily relate to. Our communications make

use of simple messages that speak to both the head and the heart.

ACTION-ORIENTEDWe are a motivated, engaged, results-seeking force of optimism and change in the world.

DIVERSEWe represent all of humanity. We possess dimension and variety, just like the individuals we help to

inspire and connect.

Our Mission Statement:

MicroPlace creates opportunity in the world.

We exist to connect individuals who want to make a difference with hard-working entrepreneurs that seek to improve their lives. Small business owners, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters like you and I that simply need a chance. Our model breaks the cycle of poverty by supporting a proven system of individual merit and free enterprise. Simply stated, it works.

15Gloria Loremipsum

Visual Communications

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National Context

Obama’s Inaugural Speech of 1/20/09

“For as much as government can do and must do,

it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American

people upon which this nation relies…

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which

we meet them may be new. But those values upon which

our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and

fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism –

these things are old. These things are true. They have been

the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is

demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era

of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every

American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation,

and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept

but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there

is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our

character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.”

MicroPlacean eBay company.

Prepared by Incite Partners