​Challenge

Faced with a highly charged political and social environment in a deeply red state, the Kansas Humanities Council sought to clarify and elevate its brand and to use the power of the humanities to inspire all Kansans to engage more deeply with their communities and democracy. The organization sought to cement its status as the statewide humanities leader and to use the power of ideas and storytelling to create a smart, modern brand.

 

Solution

We led robust research, brand and creative development phases of the project from discovery to delivery of the final brand style guide. View the brand in action. 

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+ Brand discovery: Led a comprehensive discovery process including work sessions with leadership and Re-Branding Task Force of the Board of Directors, focus groups, interviews, e-survey, competitive audit, brand exploration and more.

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Presented robust findings report with recommendations to leadership and the Board’s

Re-Branding Task Force.

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+ Positioning and Messaging: Created a cause positioning for the organization that positioned it as the leader of a movement of ideas in Kansas. We wrote a brand messaging platform that reflected this cause positioning, defined the power of the humanities to strengthen communities, and activated audiences to join a movement of ideas in their communities. We wrapped the branding phase by creating a robust brand style guide.

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+ Naming: Advised on name change to Humanities Kansas.

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+ Visual identity: Partnered on visual brand with design team, including logo, color palette and graphic elements

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+ Approvals and Endorsement: Presented the findings and new brand to the full 20-member Board of Directors and won their enthusiastic endorsement.

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+ Website: With the brand work complete, our founder played an advisory role on website development and wrote the script for a two-minute video introducing the new brand and website.

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View the website and video.