Crafting a National Rebrand: How Big Brothers Big Sisters of America made it happen

Adam VasalloVP of Development and Marketing

Our organization has been around since 1904 -- Big Brothers Association merged with Big Sisters International in 1977, forming Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Since that time, our model has stayed essentially the same -- our local agencies work hard to match kids who need mentors with volunteers who have been screened and trained, and then they support those relationships to ensure they result in positive outcomes. Our vision is that all children achieve success in life, and we believe one-to-one mentoring is the key to that success.

In 2016, we began a process of developing a five-year strategic plan. Our leadership spoke to our local agencies and other stakeholders, and something that kept coming up was that our brand needed to be updated, that our agencies would be more successful in attracting volunteers, especially men of color, if we rebranded to be bolder and more modern. That's our ultimate goal -- to make sure more children are able to be matched with a mentor who can empower them to reach their full potential.

We want to express that the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is urgent, not just important, because with all the challenges youth face today, from bullying to opioid abuse to violence in their communities, mentoring is essential. Having someone in your corner can make all the difference.

Our marketing firm, Barkley, met with Bigs, Littles, parents, and prospective Bigs in the Kansas City market. They also conducted focus groups, a nationwide survey of Bigs, and a public survey. They also conducted individual interviews with agency leaders from around the country, key staff from our National Office, and members of our National Board. These conversations gave voice to the need for the rebrand, helped us see how the organization needed to pivot from its current perceptions, and steered the creation of three "territories" -- one of which ended up becoming our new main brand idea.

Our brand matters because we want prospective volunteers to immediately think "Big Brothers Big Sisters" when they think of how they could give back to their communities. Volunteering through Big Brothers Big Sisters is powerful, and we have to make sure our brand expresses the power of the experience of mentoring and the urgency of becoming a volunteer. Recruiting more volunteers means serving more kids and furthering our mission.

We have a staff of eight working on fund development, communications, and marketing. For the rebrand, we have worked with our external marketing firm, Barkley, and relied on a committee of leaders of our agencies to give feedback on ideas, offer suggestions, and spread the message of consistency across the country.

We have 270 agencies across the country, and they vary dramatically in size -- some have a staff of 3, whereas others have staffs of over 100. Some serve 100 children per year, some serve thousands. Some have a dedicated marketing team, some can afford an external marketing firm on retainer, and some rely on an intern or a staff person with other responsibilities to manage marketing. Ensuring consistency across the country, regardless of agency size, was one of our biggest goals for this rebrand and continues to be a priority as we move forward and use the brand publicly. This is why Brandfolder is so great for us -- it allows all of our agencies to access and customize the same quality collateral no matter their skills or capacity.

Change can be hard! But our agencies are united in wanting a new brand, and they have had a big influence on its development. And they saw the research from our marketing firm, which showed that public awareness of our brand was lower among younger generations, which presents a big problem for future volunteer recruitment. Also, it's important to remember that our core model is still creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships, so the change is really in the messaging, which we hope will get even more people to believe in the mission.

Certainly -- we'd love to do a #ThrowbackThursday series with old branding, including our older logos and older messaging. The Big Brothers movement began in 1904, so there's a lot of opportunity to have fun with our history.

Our corporate partners have been excited to start using the new branding. One especially fun activation nationally was through Lamar -- the billboard company, which donated digital billboard space for us around the country. Our marketing firm created a customizable billboard template, and our local agencies worked with their local Lamar offices to get the digital billboards up starting the day our new logo became public. This was all possible because of Brandfolder -- the logos and the templates were shared with each affiliate and they were able to customize. Local agencies also received a lot of press coverage of the reveal of the new logo, and we hope to get more press coverage and partner involvement in 2019 when we execute our first national volunteer recruitment campaign.

Brandfolder is a game-changer for us. It allows our agencies, no matter what their marketing skill, to access and customize high quality marketing collateral. It allows all 270 agencies to be consistent with their presentation of the brand but also to have the ability to be creative on a new level and truly meet the needs of their communities. Not to be overdramatic, but using Brandfolder ultimately will help us serve more children. It helps strengthen the brand and saves our agencies' time, both of which will help them recruit more volunteers and make more matches.

Children's Miracle Network has a phenomenal social media strategy and great corporate partner activations, and St. Jude uses great, inclusive storytelling in their marketing. As a father of two, these two missions resonate with me, and I'm glad they do such great work for kids.

My family is a Disney family. We watch Disney movies, we have taken trips to Disneyland and Disney World, and this winter, we'll go on our first Disney cruise. Different aspects of the Disney experience really appeal to our whole family.

This is a challenge for us, and we rely on our local agencies, for the most part, to ensure messages are relevant to their local communities.

We have two exciting campaigns coming up soon, and one on the horizon. First, Giving Season. For any non-profit, the end of the year is a big time for fundraising. For us, it will not only allow us to continue serving our agencies and helping them make high quality matches between Bigs and Littles into the future, but also enable us to solidify our new brand's presence on social media. Second, National Mentoring Month. Our national website and our agency's sites see a big spike in volunteer inquiries in January, which is National Mentoring Month, and we plan a big social push with the new brand and new main brand idea, "Together, We Are Defenders of Potential," that first month of the new year. And third, we hope to launch a national volunteer recruitment campaign in 2019. We are still fundraising to cover the cost of the campaign's creation, but the goal is to provide a strategy and collateral that our agencies will be able to use for years to come. All three of these campaigns will create awareness of the new brand and give our agencies experience in using it in their communities to recruit volunteers and donors to support the mission.

Brandfolder is a game-changer for us. It allows our agencies, no matter what their marketing skill, to access and customize high quality marketing collateral. It allows all 270 agencies to be consistent with their presentation of the brand but also to have the ability to be creative on a new level and truly meet the needs of their communities. Not to be overdramatic, but using Brandfolder ultimately will help us serve more children. It helps strengthen the brand and saves our agencies' time, both of which will help them recruit more volunteers and make more matches.

I have to say our marketing firm, Barkley. They have gone above and beyond to understand the landscape of youth-serving organizations, listen to our agencies, get to know our Bigs and Littles, and position us in a way that helps us grow into the future and continue changing the world through mentoring.