What’s your role at DGB?
As Art Director at DGB Global, I oversee all creative output. We aim to enrich the potential donor’s experience: to captivate their attention, evoke emotional resonance and ensure a thorough understanding of each campaign.
What’s the difference between a brand campaign and campaign branding?
A client’s brand is their visual identity. Within a fundraising context, a strong brand visually communicates an organisation’s mission, builds trust and differentiates it. Consistency, storytelling and credibility are key for engaging donors and driving support. Campaign branding differs from a client’s existing brand by focussing on specific initiatives, tailored messaging, distinct visuals, targeted audiences and temporary nature, while still aligning with the overall brand. Campaign branding can inadvertently contribute to the evolution of a brand as assets are developed and refined. However, resistance to change
can arise, particularly if it challenges established identities.
What are the key elements of successful branding in fundraising?
Key elements include clarity, consistency, authenticity, differentiation, emotional connection and…we could go on! For fundraising, all this needs to pour into a single key element – compelling storytelling. Of course, objectives, target audience and transparent communication come into this also, but from a creative perspective, the visual language incorporated into telling the story is just as powerful as the strategy in terms of when and how it is delivered. We need to really understand the client; their motives, goals, passions etc. Their brand has usually been established for reasons other than fundraising – for marketing mainly. Aligning a campaign brand is not to remove from existing objectives, but rather realign with the specific purpose of what a transformational campaign looks like.
Where do you start when creating fundraising campaign branding?
At the beginning of all campaigns, we unearth what we call the ‘emotional truth’. A wide team of minds contribute before filtering out the final outcome. This kicks off concept development and design ideation. Ideas bring on more ideas: it’s a process of exploration. It’s only through exploring outside of client’s existing branding constraints and with a clearly defined purpose that you start to see outside the box…
What advice would you give to organisations out there who are looking to realign their brand for fundraising purposes?
Transformational campaigns require a transformation of the brand. Potential donors actually expect to see some sort of transformational perspective with your brand. So, be open minded and flexible. You’ll probably find that tweaking your brand for a comprehensive fundraising campaign will actually open your eyes to fantastic new ideas about your organisation and what you do.