Organizational Rebrand and New Website
Bringing a brand from 1974 to 2018
Role: Content Strategy Lead
The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) was founded in 1974. About 44 years later, it got a new brand identity.
The Challenge
Updating a global organization's visual identity is never easy. It certainly doesn't make it easier when it's gone four decades without an update. And in case that wasn't difficult enough, try adding the fact that many of the employees at the beginning of the rebrand had been at IFDC since a few years after its founding. The cherry on top: it was my first ever rebrand. Yikes. The work needed as much sensitivity as it needed resolve. Additionally, our website was a series of hot fixes. I often compared it to an old sweater: if you pulled one little loose thread, several others would start to unravel. It was time for a change.
The Approach
I worked in conjunction with IFDC's senior leadership and the business development office to identify organization strategy and priorities that would inform the creative background of the new brand. We settled on five strategic priorities that would be a part of our new five-year strategic plan. Working with in-house designers, we did a series of draft logos and solicited internal feedback via anonymous voting. Ultimately, we outsourced the design and developed the logo as it appears now. At the same time, we contracted a firm specializing in NGO website development to help us rebuild our website. We identified our new content types and worked with the business office to prioritize information that would appeal to our donor base.
The Outcome
While it took some time to convince some of the long-standing IFDC staff, most of our staff in Africa and Asia loved the new design. It was well received by the donor community, and the refreshed brand and website gave the development world the sense that IFDC was evolving and staying up-to-date. The website was also much easier to update and maintain, both from the development and content perspectives.
Key Highlights
- Led IFDC's first organizational rebrand in 44 years, modernizing a legacy 1974 identity for a global audience
- Partnered with senior leadership and business development to define five strategic priorities informing the new brand and five-year plan
- Managed end-to-end rebrand execution including logo redesign via internal feedback cycles and a full website rebuild with an NGO-specialist firm
- Architected new content types and donor-centric information strategy to support post-rebrand messaging and engagement
- Drove global brand adoption across Africa, Asia, and Europe; new identity and site well received by staff, donors, and the development community
Interested in working together?
I am currently open to senior content strategy and editorial leadership roles.
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