Caritas Branding Communications Forum 2012

Caritas A Five Second Test

Caritas

Which aid networks did you spot?

Caritas Agreeing the problem Churches and related organisation are at the forefront of responding to emergencies and undertaking development. Caritas is in terms of membership and geographical reach the second largest aid operation in the world. But compared with other large families, our work does not always show that we belong to a strong family.

Caritas.

Our lack of high visibility as one family impacts on our effectiveness: Our ability to influence key decision makers Fundraising Credibility Our own sense of family identity Our members have little recognition outside there own borders, including the ones who work internationally Impact

Caritas

What is in a name? There are 52 Caritas members who do not have the word Caritas in their name. These include: CRS, CAFOD, CORDAID, Trócaire, SCIAF, SECADEV, CADEV, Karina, Tirisanyo Catholic Commission, Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat, etc. There is little legal protection for the Caritas name.

Caritas Media The media coverage over a 12 month period in 100 selected English language papers published Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Pacific, Europe and North America IFRC 1229 Oxfam 279 MSF 226 Save the Children 131 World Vision 88 Caritas plus members known by other names 58 IRC 47 Care 36 LWF 4 Caritas 12

Caritas What is a brand? More than a logo How to we want to be seen, heard and understood by various audiences

Caritas Branding objectives Build a strong shared family identity Increase global visibility and voice Improve effectiveness of confederation as a whole and of individual membership

Caritas Strong visibility is crucial for existence and success of the confederation and its members Lack of funding at a secretariat level to attain visibility equivalent to that of other global players like the Red Cross, World Vision, Oxfam Branding Realities

Caritas Our members often have well established brand identities. Our members idenditfy themselves more strongly or equally with other networks like CIDSE. Rebranding is expensive. The current colour of the logo is graphically difficult to work with. Brand risk if we identify too closely with Caritas members who don’t have the same ways of working or identity. National brands have grown up historically and reflect cultural realities. Other realities

Caritas 2002 Branding Strategy Establish a standard logo that enables identification of all member organisations Decide on the font, colours, and shape Accept the word Caritas as a graphic element to which the graphics and identification elements of each Caritas can be added All member organisations should integrate the word Caritas into all forms of their identification A code should be established for using the logo. Guarantee legal protection of the Caritas logo and name (national and international)

Caritas Co-branding in an emergency

Caritas Co-branding on a single campaign or event

Caritas Co-branding on website

Caritas Caritas branded day wear for all staff

Caritas

Questions Has been part of Caritas ever helped your communications work? How would co-branding affect your communications, advocacy and fundraising work? What is the Caritas Brand? What elements would co-branding need? How do we practically show our visibility as a single family? Steps to move forward?