Brand Strategy
Rebranding Catchafire
Background
Original logo
Catchafire is the leading skills-based volunteering platform connecting high impact organizations in need with talented professionals eager to give back their skills.
The original Catchafire brand served its purpose when the company was young but after ten years it had become misalinged with the business vision.
Leadership decided to boldly enter the next chapter of the company with a clear value proposition that leaves an impression.
It was time to delight our audiences - grantmakers, nonprofits, government, corporations and the general public.
I conducted market research with each of our four customer segments (Volunteers, Nonprofits, Foundation buyers and Corporate CSR program buyers) to understand how the current brand and name are perceived and set benchmarks.
The findings clearly showed that the brand was not cutting it both with with our name and brand perception.
Competitive Landscape
Key takeaways
Messaging is similar across the competitive landscape. “Do Good, Make an Impact, Build Capacity.”
We need a unique POV that differentiates our message
The landscape for volunteering platforms is becoming more crowded and competitive, increasing the need for a strongly positioned brand
When we do stand out, we stand out for the wrong reasons: a complex, hand-drown logotype with a vague, difficult to decipher name.
Research
The majority of our competitors don’t have strong visual brands; the ones that do really stand out. (Candid, Idealist)
The Solution
Our objective
Rename and rebrand Catchafire with a holistic brand strategy that will improve brand perception. We must engage our range of customer segments and differentiate our product in an increasingly crowded competitive landscape.
Creating a brand strategy
“Empowering changemakers through trust, expertise, and investment.”
Through a series of workshops and leveraging our internal expertise, the brand task force developed a strategy to reimagine the company's aspirations.
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To help every community thrive by empowering the leaders and organizations who serve them.
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Catchafire is a global network of nonprofits, funders and volunteers that is re-imagining the way we support the social good sector through skills-based volunteering.
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Fearless, Honest, Loving
We are relentless champions for the people, servant leaders projecting love to our fellow humans and disruption to the forces that have left them behind and limited their potential. We side with the overlooked and under-resourced, lifting their voices and helping them better serve their communities.
What’s in a name?
We partnered with Firebelly, a Chicago-based branding agency, to develop a new name and visual brand.
The brand strategy was used as the foundation to generate concepts for the new name.
Let’s get visual
We developed a logo type and mark that reflects how Causeway supports and elevates nonprofits. The Causeway mark begins as ‘C’ but the angled upper stroke leads beyond the ground path where a fluid connection exists at the confluence of the two trajectories. While the logo type utilizes a humanist typeface that is both modern and timeless.
Gestural Path
While the logo reflects steadiness and rational direction, the gestural path brings energy, spontaneity and progressive movement into the mix of our design elements at play.
Photo Styles
Causeway’s new textured photo styles uses a stipple-like technique that enhances the texture and grit of individuals, representing them in an authentic way that doesn’t filter out imperfections.
Color Palette
The new palette was anchored by a nuanced black and soft white, establishing credibility and a solid foundation. The color palette is offset by bold, bright colors that convey the vibrant energy that is felt when you interact with a member of our team.
Photo collage
Much like remote collaboration through digital tools, this method of combining is achieved through assembly or collage.
This visual approach recognizes in-person contact may not occur but progress continues and meaningful connections are made.