We are incredibly proud and excited to give you a special matchblog sneak peak of our 2010 On The House recipient rebrand, the all new Atlanta Mission.

Brief Overview

Our 2010 On The House recipient, The Atlanta Mission was founded in 1938 and today is the city’s largest organization fighting to end homelessness. The Mission serves as many as 1,070 men, women and children every day of the year with emergency shelter, residential recovery and transitional housing. However they are not just a hand out- but a hand up.

Challenge

In 2008 the organization brought in new leadership which led to big changes and a new flag needed to be flown. After being selected for our 2010 On The House program, our first step was conducting a brand audit (stakeholder interviews, marketing audit, language audit, and an competitive audit) for the mission, which led to three major objectives: 1. Increase Organizational Alignment (both internally and externally) 2. Clarify who the mission serves 3. Evolve the current Brand Identity. Any brand that has been in existence for 70+ years should be approached with kid gloves as it does not take change lightly and needs a careful measurement of current perceptions & equity before moving forward.

Solution

The Name

We first tackled the name and tagline with our On The House partner and good friend Laura Ries of Ries & Ries. A name is a huge asset for a brand and should be memorable and portable (which includes using it naturally in conversation). Our first observation was that the "Atlanta Union Mission" uses three incredibly generic words that create an awkward phrase to use in conversation which results in using an ackronym (AUM) or simplifing the name to just "The Mission". With this in mind we explored the two possibilities of a name change, revolutionary (start from scratch) and evolutionary (use what you've got). Revolutionary, although it would allow us to create the perfect name, wouldn't be a wise decision due to the risk of loosing years of vested stakeholders and brand recognition, but an evolutionary route helps us solve our portability problem.

The three current words are all generic but they are not all created equally.

Atlanta is the focus. It is the biggest differentiator and keeps the power of the local organization without having to compete nationally.

Union is most ambigious and least significant of the three. Original translated as "Non-Denomination", now it has lost all meaning in this context.

Mission is the most powerful word of the three. It is the action, the calling, the purpose. It is crucial to the heart of the brand.

That leaves us with…

The new name is still not the perfect name and retains some generic qualities, but it is simplified, easier to say, and more specific. Most importantly is solves our problem of portability.

The Tagline

Again with the help of Laura Ries, we uncovered our word for the Atlanta Mission, "homelessness". It is unique to the organization, own-able, and specific. In everything we do we want to reinforce that word and build meaning into the brand, including in the tagline. The simplest way to include "homelessness" into the tagline was to describe what the Mission is doing about it; Powerfully put, "Ending Homelessness.". It is specific, clear, and packs a punch.

The Mark

The old symbol, a stationary lamp post, is now replaced a mobile lantern. The concept of "Shining The Light" is core to the Atlanta Mission brand and is retained while putting a new spin on the meaning. Instead of waiting for people to come to it, it will now go out and bring the "light" to those who need it. The mark also now includes a simple cross at the heart of the lantern representing Christ as the foundation of the Atlanta Mission.

Test Applications (Not final designs)

Still to come…

Official External Launch Day September 28th, 2010

Website redesign

Additional Marketing Materials

Motion Design

Video Promotion

We have really enjoyed working with the Atlanta Mission team and looking forward to long relationship together. Their courage and faith have been inspirations to all of us at the ‘stic.

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