Elevate Your Mission with a
Strong Brand
Branding (or rebranding) can help you establish a recognizable identity, build trust with donors and prospects, and empower your stakeholders to tell your story.
Rebranding a Storied Organization
After conducting a communications audit when arriving at National Medical Fellowships (NMF), I led a nearly two-year-long process to breathe new life into a 75-year-old organization that was not well-known beyond its immediate constituencies and had shifted its positioning in a more progressive direction. The initiative required organizing stakeholder research for discovery, hiring and managing an agency, providing insight and constructive feedback, and securing buy-in from board leadership. Critical to these efforts was leading the board’s rebranding task force to familiarize them with the foundational research and garner support for adopting the most comprehensive rebrand in the organization’s history.
Reimagining a Brand to Convey Impact
National Medical Fellowships
An extensive discovery process found that constituents were excited about NMF’s new, progressive direction, but felt its brand needed to reflect that new direction and tell a story that resonated. With the research in hand, we embarked on an iterative process to develop a brand story, overhaul NMF’s visual identity, and provide clarity about NMF’s impact and mission.
The new logo was a radical departure from its predecessors.
It was intentionally developed to draw upon the motif of the North Star, which carries importance in many cultures that NMF serves.
The north star quilt block was one of many notable patterns African American quilters and “railroad workers” used on the Underground Railroad. It symbolized an important navigational reference and the pursuit of freedom and a better life. It more broadly represents guidance, hope, and finding one’s path. In the context of health and wellness, it can represent the path towards healing. Hopi and Navajo people use an eight-pointed star to represent hope and guidance. A similar Guñelve symbol from the Chilean Mapuche culture represents dawn and the morning star, Venus.
The new logo represents NMF’s commitment to achieving its mission and serves as a beacon for those who wish to join this important work.
A new brand story and elevator pitch provided critical guidance for how to convey the organization’s historic and present-day impact, as well as to underscore the importance of a diverse health care workforce to deliver better health care for all.
Brand Implementation
Activating the New Brand
With a new look and brand story, it was time to execute the rebrand across all digital channels, print collateral, banners, NMF-branded program materials, and various elements such as email signatures, Zoom backgrounds, and business cards.
Training was key, and I led the Communications team and consulting agency as we walked the organization and its board through what had changed and why. The team now has access to a comprehensive brand guidelines document and a wide array of branded assets.
The new brand has resonated well with NMF’s stakeholders who eagerly “rep” the organization with branded materials such as lapel pins, pens, and tote bags, further raising brand awareness of NMF within their networks.
