Rebranding Givto during the pandemic
Developing a new charity brand can be exciting and challenging. Andrew Dicker, Communications and Marketing Director with Givto, describes the journey he’s been on with his team developing an exciting new Givto brand.
Launching a new brand is always an exciting prospect. In my day job I lead the team at GeoBrand and we certainly have our fair share of excitement. Personally, I thrive on challenges and our latest brand was certainly full of those!
Zero budget, dozens of voices, one great idea. …oh, and that global pandemic
At the start of this year, I joined Givto as their first Communications and Marketing Director. Little did I know that this volunteering role would become one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on.
Over the past 18 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with charities such as London’s Air Ambulance, Heart of Kent Hospice, the Wildlife Trust and many more. It’s also a huge source of pride when I have the opportunity to help start-ups to get off the ground. Givto was the perfect combination of both, while also offering us the opportunity to give back at a time when so many charities are struggling in the wake of the pandemic.
When I came onboard, the Givto team already had strong foundations. They had run a successful pilot and had a small number of users and charities registered with the service. They had also done some user research which showed what their users and charities thought of the service and crucially, their existing brand. It was clear that this was more than just a great idea. The potential was huge. My purpose in the project was to help define the message, share the story, and build a platform that would support growth.
Working as one
The first challenge, but one of the most rewarding parts of the process, was integrating the Geo team with the talented Givto team of volunteers. In any brand development process, everyone needs to have their voice heard. The passionate Givto volunteers had already spent thousands of collective hours getting this service off the ground, so this was the case more than ever. Our challenge at Geo was to translate the collective voices into one unified vision.
The feedback from our initial brand concepts showed that a symbol was going to be crucial. An original and iconic mark which truly celebrates everything that Givto stands for.
A new symbol and a fresh start
Givto as a service is unique because it provides users with freedom of choice; the freedom to choose, each month, which charity they want to support. The mark is designed to represent this. Giving is at the heart of what we do and in the word itself. The V sits proudly in the centre, symbolising two hands coming together and supporting three charities.
Of course, good branding is much more than a logo – it’s what an organisation makes you think and feel, its values, mission and more. We are at the start of this journey. But good branding is also about telling stories and for me, despite all the separation we have felt throughout this year and last, bringing people together is our biggest story. I don’t just mean charities and givers but, in our case, an array of different talents – each team member having a crucial part in the process and, for a whole year, with nothing more than a Zoom link between us!
Our story was told using an incredible team; from the leadership and vision of the founder to the incredible technical system which we built the website around. From the insightful research and tireless work to recruit charities, to the beautiful imagery, illustration, and inspirational content. All these elements and all these people came together with one single vision in mind, to support charities of all shapes and sizes and to give our users the power of choice.
So the scene is set. The new brand is here. Chapter one is complete, and now our story really begins.
Andrew Dicker is our Communications and Marketing Director. You can read more about Andrew and the rest of the team in our Meet the Team.
