the duke of edinburgh’s award (case study)
DESCRIPTION
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a youth program that was founded in 1956 by His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh K.G. K.T. The Award came to Canada in 1963 and currently runs in 120 countries around the world. The Canadian program has divisions in all provinces and territories, each operating with its own volunteers, board of directors and staff. They also created their own materials, without any relation to what other jurisdictions were doing. The rebranding objective was to have the organization speak with one voice to its various audiences, from program participants (30,000+ 14 to 25 year-olds across Canada), to its volunteers and donors. This case study describes the brand identity we created for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.TRANSCRIPT
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The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
A b r a n d g e t s a r o y a l m a k e o v e r
Capabilities applied
Brand audit
Brand strategy
Brand architecture
Brand naming
Brand identity design
Brand implementation
Brand identity standards
Launch date
2008
Sectors
Education
Non-profit
A project by Method Branding/ q30 design inc.
The situation
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a youth program that was
founded in 1956 by His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh K.G. K.T. The Award came to Canada in 1963 and
currently runs in 120 countries around the world. The Canadian
program has divisions in all provinces and territories, each
operating with its own volunteers, board of directors and staff.
They also created their own materials, without any relation to what
other jurisdictions were doing. The rebranding objective was to
have the organization speak with one voice to its various
audiences, from program participants (30,000+ 14 to 25 year-olds
across Canada), to its volunteers and donors.
Actions
Working with the marketing committee (which had representation
from across the country), as well as the national executive director
and a major donor, a strategy was developed to refresh the brand.
This project involved a thorough investigation and audit including
multiple interviews creating a platform to articulate the brand
going forward.
The next step was to refresh the cipher based upon Prince Philip’s
coat of arms. The process was collaborative, reflecting the needs
of international, national and regional elements of this charity
directly connected to the British monarchy. The cipher was used
as the centre of the many logo variations, and accounting for
regional as well as language variations (English only, French only
and bilingual versions) a total of 33 logos was created.
Brand identity concepts were developed and then tested with
a focus group of program participants to confirm that the desired
brand objectives were achieved with the concepts that had been
developed. The two brand identity options for presented to a
national Board meeting in Ottawa (about 50 people), bringing
together all the national Board members and staff from across
Canada. Following the Board’s selection of a direction for
the brand identity, the brand identity system was finalized
consisting of graphic and photographic elements. The variety of
elements allows regions to create their own customized marketing
materials, while maintaining a strong unified look through
all communications.
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Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5V 1R9
© Method Branding, 2014
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Stationery for all regions was developed, as well as PowerPoint
templates, posters and banners, which were distributed across
the organization. The web site for the whole organization was
developed with areas available for regional input. DVDs were
distributed to each regional office with a complete suite of its
regional logos, artwork files, image library and a navigable PDF
graphic standards manual.
Results
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is now speaking with one voice
across Canada, while the regional divisions have maintained their
independence. They have also since extended their reach to
encompass social media.