Brand Council worked with Clown Doctors Australia as a pro-bono project to clarify the brand strategy and support the organisation to deliver on their ambitious impact targets.
How to position an organisation with limited awareness for increased impact and growth
In advance of delivering The Humour Foundation’s (THF’s) 5-year fundraising strategy, and the development and delivery of its 2025-2030 organisational strategy, THF wanted to understand the best way to position the organisation and program brands (Clown Doctors and Laughter Care) to drive greater awareness, understanding and impact from the commencement of the new strategy period.
The Leadership Team understood that a clear brand strategy outlining who THF are, what THF stand for and the value THF deliver would be critical to attracting and retaining funding partners, and the future success and growth of the organisation.
To help develop the brand strategy THF engaged the support of Brand Council.
APPROACH
Work with those who know the value of their impact best: the frontline team
Brand Council worked closely with the Board, Leadership team, partners and importantly the Clown Doctor and Laughter Care Specialists to develop a clear strategy that was aligned to the new ‘theory of change’ and organisational strategy.
Over 100 documents, and key competitors were reviewed to help garner a clear view of the current state of the organisation, the category and its brand and communications.
Following this, one-on-one in-depth diagnostic interviews with Board members, External stakeholders (incl. funding partners such as CommBank, service providers such as Hospitals and Aged care homes) and a Leadership Team workshop were conducted.
A workshop was conducted with all staff and performers to help inform the brand strategy, working through exercises to better define the brand Purpose, Values, Beliefs, Vision, Proof pillars and Personality.
Taking outputs from all stages, detailed analysis was conducted, the brand strategy, revised brand architecture and naming approach was drafted and shared with the Leadership Team for review, refinement and optimisation over multiple sessions – prior to presentation to the Board for endorsement.
SOLUTION
Remove complexity, be clear and embrace who you are
We discovered that THF had long been dealing with an unnecessary ‘layer’ when communicating who they were and the important work they do. This was reducing their potential to attract partners; and limiting the understanding of the impact of their work. People knew and understood Clown Doctors, but no one really knew The Humour Foundation.
We presented a clear business case to the Board to remove this complexity. Creating efficiency and driving impact for the whole organisation:
- realigning the brand architecture,
- renaming the organisation,
- defining & implementing a clear purpose,
- leveraging clear positioning for the program brands,
- improved visual design and communication
To support the brand strategy, a comprehensive implementation plan and guidelines document were developed followed by onboarding and empowering the internal brand team to roll-out the revised brand consistently.
THF is now known as ‘Clown Doctors Australia’, with a clear purpose to “Enhance wellbeing through the uplifting power of humour”. Genuine engagement and partnership has been the key to success and ensured a smooth implementation to deliver results.
https://clowndoctorsaustralia.org.au
