London re-use network: Building the brand & supplying media
The London Re-use Network is made up re-use projects, including charities, across London that work together to find new homes for donated furniture and household items. This involves collecting donated, furniture, appliances and unwanted household items, repairing any damage and giving local people the opportunity to buy them at affordable prices.
The brief
The LRN approached us with the need to create a strong brand identity. They had already developed some resources, a set of material icons, a logo and some initial brand guidelines, but these needed organising and refining to create a clear identity that would be easy to apply to ensure consistent looking promotional material in the future.
Design and identity guidelines were supplied as books & interactive .pdf's
There was also a considerable amount of campaign material to be produced for the launch of the service. Main fields to be covered were:
- Refine the brand guidelines
- Design the LRN website
- Develop stationery and business cards
- Develop promotional material including livery, leaflets and courtesy cards
- Create a photographic library for use by the LRN’s member organisations
- Develop an easy to use slideshow template
The solution
Working with the LRN we started with the guidelines, which have been further, developed to show approved colours, fonts, iconography, photography and example layouts. They also show how designs should be produced for different media types to establish a strong, consistent and trusted brand for the whole of the re-use network.
Templates for basic stationary were also created, e.g. letterheads and business cards.
Power point templates make visually compelling presentations easy to achieve
It was necessary that the members of the LRN had the facilities to create compelling presentations, consistent with the quality of branding that was maintained through the supporting literature and advertising. These would be used for presentations to existing and potential member groups, charities and funders, as well as members of the general public. The Power Point format was used as it is popular, easy to use and produces excellent results when supplied with branded slides and easy instruction. By producing a set of easy to use, LRN network branded slides we were able to allow high quality presentation materials to be created by any member of the organisation or its associated groups.
The LRN website design makes it easy for users to navigate, give and receive
It will come as little surprise that the majority of people looking for re-use services will be using the Internet. We were tasked with creating a website that would not only look attractive but have an easily accessible interface; after all, the whole point of bringing all of these groups together was to avoid any confusion in how to donate and receive goods. A high quality and accessible design means that the users will be able to access all of the information they need without having to search or be redirected, often the case in poorly designed websites.
Livery was developed for collection vehicles. Good quality livery is always worth investing in as in comparison to short term billboards and other outdoor advertising it will drive customers to your organisation over a much longer period of time. Costs are also significantly lower than, for example, a billboard in central London.
Missed collection cards make it more simple for the staff
Collection vehicle staff were given courtesy cards of two kinds. One was to thank users for donating to the LRN and act as a reminder to make future donations. The second gave the message “We’re sorry we missed you” for use in the event when the resident wasn’t in at the pre arranged collection time. It then gave details on how to re-arrange a collection.
The quality of photos can dictate people's response to a campaign
A strong folio of images is key when photography is being used to promote a brand. On this point we were tasked with creating a library of images for use by the LRN and their partner organisations. We created a range of images covering two main aspects. One was a set of lifestyle images; aesthetic and aspirational shots of items within a house. The second was covering re-use events to produce a range of images that would show people happy with having bought re-used items. Hiring a photographer is a considerable expense and the development of this resource gave small organisations, whose budgets would not extend to commissioning photographs, the chance to use high quality images to support their work.
With the guidelines and brand identity, plus a good library of materials to use, it was straightforward to put together two promotional leaflets. These will soon be distributed throughout the LRN member organisations, local authorities, information centres and many other points where the general public can be made aware of the new re-use network.
Conclusion
The work for the LRN has been extensive, taking in a wide range of media types and requirements. Through careful planning and working to create a solid brand we were able to not only make a strong impact in the LRN’s introduction but also supply the materials to ensure quality in future campaigns. By working in this way the LRN has given its member organisations the strength of this brand, which will help them to operate in a more efficient, appealing, and successful manner.