Unifying brand identity : lessons from an NGO.

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Unifying Brand Identity: Lessons from

an NGO

Nicole Cramer Student Number: 10403922 Master of Business Administration Final Submission: 6 September 2013 Supervised by: Dr. Jean Johnson

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Executive Summary

An increasingly prevalent issue in the context of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) today is how to effectively communicate the brand and unify the brand experience across a diverse group of stakeholders. The NGO organization faces a number of stakeholders in the structure and relationships within its organization that sets it apart from the stakeholder-corporation relationship that we typically see. This is a key point of tension when developing the brand within an NGO, as a diverse group of stakeholders has to be taken into consideration when structuring the brand message it wishes to create.

So the question becomes, how to develop the brand so as to effectively appeal to and meet the needs of all stakeholders involved? As these needs and desires of various stakeholders can often be conflicting with each other or with the organization’s mission and values, how can it merge or balance these and create one cohesive brand message and experience? The core issue revolves around dynamic brand building to reach a wide audience both in terms of interests and geographical representation.

While much research has been conducted in the realm of branding in the corporate context, little has been explored in the implications of branding communication and strategy to stakeholder experience in the environment of NGOs. Branding is just as relevant and important to the nonprofit sector as it is to the for-profit sector. In both contexts, the organization must convey its message and values effectively thus engaging and interacting with targeted audiences. A unique feature for NGO’s is that unlike corporations, nonprofits have a multitude of audiences to reach with their message. There are many constituents to consider, making effective branding of utmost importance in this sector.

In the following report I seek to address how to tailor brand communications and strategy so as to appeal to diverse stakeholders. This involves not only communications, but also the underlying strategy in which they use to expand the brand. All of these elements, and the way in which they are addressed, affect stakeholder and partner perceptions of the NGO brand.

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I. Introduction

The concept of branding is a complex one that not only applies in a corporate context, but also very relevant in the nonprofit environment. Like any corporation, nonprofit organizations are faced with similar decisions on how to create a brand strategy, appeal to its stakeholders with its messaging, and how to further expand the organization’s portfolio with additional brands. Brands are strategic assets for NGOs if optimized and these organizations, “are exploring the wider, strategic roles that brands can play: driving broad, long-term social goals, while strengthening internal identity, cohesion, and capacity.” (Kylander and Stone, 2011 p.1). It is the development of the role of brand within the nonprofit context that begs for further examination on how to foster growth of the organization, optimize brand identity both internally and externally, and also develop branding strategies to coordinate these elements. “Global nonprofits also speak to diverse audiences, making the alignment of image and identity particularly challenging. If images are too closely tied to specific projects or designed to appeal to particular donors or supporters, they may quickly become detached from the internal identity of the organization.” (Kylander and Stone, 2011 p.10). Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can be especially vulnerable to brand identity issues due to the multiple stakeholders, more so than a corporation, which they must appeal to through their brand. It is the flexibility that is required in this environment and the need to connect with each target audience whether they are partners, stakeholders, donors, or end user, that places added pressure on the organization to the point that identity confusion can occur from wanting to “be something for everybody.” It is then this identity blur that can spill over to other aspects of brand strategy such as external messaging and channel management creating an ongoing tension of how to manage this dynamic brand appropriately to connect with external audiences. Honing in on the source of this confusion, making adjustments to create a solid identity, and managing communication are valuable tasks that can guide an NGO to efficiently manage their brand.

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In developing an NGO brand, an inconsistency with brand identity between internal and external audiences can lead to brand blur or confusion. Using the exercise of a brand audit and evaluation of the organization’s communications documents, I will explore the concepts of brand personality, the Customer-Based Brand Equity model, brand mantras, brand architecture, and emergent strategy to propose a set of recommendations of how the chosen organization, Aflatoun, can re-evaluate the path that they are currently on and work to optimize their plans for the future.

Through the course of this paper I will examine how Aflatoun can use these concepts within the framework developed by Jenkinson et al (2005) to manage identity, mobilize staff, and manage contact via a qualitative case study that is applicable across the NGO sector. In the following chapters I will review the branding concepts discussed above and develop my recommendations applying these principles from branding and strategy literature to decipher how Aflatoun can plan for future growth from a brand architecture perspective, strengthen their brand identity, and evaluate their channel communications.

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II. Framing

Useful Concepts in Analysis

In this context, there are several brand concepts that come to mind that would be useful in the successful evaluation and creation of next steps for the organization at hand. In the following section I will review the key concepts, frameworks, and models that will be used to address the case question for Aflatoun. These are not only branding specific concepts, but also options to explore in other functional areas. The core exercise undertaken to conduct my analysis was a brand audit, interviewing a cross-section of the staff to evaluate their perceptions within the context of brand personality, the Customer-Based Brand Equity Model, brand mantras, and brand architecture. Using that information, I further inspected which concept of corporate strategy theory would be preferred for the branding team going forward. In this section, I will give an overview of these concepts and how they are of use in this analysis.

A. Brand Audit

“A brand audit is an exercise designed to assess the health of a given brand. Typically it consisted of a detailed internal description of how the brand has been marketed followed by a thorough external investigation.” (Keller, 2000 p.8). In the context of this project, I investigated the internal perspectives, as capturing the external perspectives would be a large undertaking outside of the scope of the project. The aim of the “internal brand audit” was to understand the current views of employees towards the Aflatoun brand and benchmark where there was a match to previous surveys. Through this audit I sought to determine the brand personality perceptions, brand mantra(s), input on brand architecture, and overall feedback on the brand itself including associated emotions. It is crucial to evaluate these elements from an internal perspective first and foremost because that is where the brand identity begins. Once the brand identity is built from within it can then be communicated outwardly. This is the same principle that I followed throughout my research, focusing on the internal stakeholders, the staff.

It is my stance that the messaging of the organization also begins internally, with the staff. The staffs as I found in Aflatoun are the main touch points to stakeholders and partners to convey the mission, values, and message of the organization. An internal brand audit gauging the brand personality, brand essence, key associations perceived by partners, effectiveness of

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communications, consistency of messaging, etc. is relevant in this context in an attempt to unify the experience of the partners and stakeholders and also establish one cohesive brand architecture of Aflatoun. I created a questionnaire to facilitate this audit to interview the staff that involved the use of qualitative, open-ended questions, which allowed employees to express their original thoughts freely, allowing for a better understanding of employee perception of the Aflatoun brand. Please reference the questionnaire in Appendix I.

B. Brand Personality

Brand Personality is a particularly interesting concept, especially when evaluating a nonprofit organization (NGO), as there tends to be an inclination to attach human characteristics to the brand. These characteristics invoke more emotional attachment, as the goal of the organization is actually to appeal to the emotional side of external audiences. It is the understanding of the brand personality that can help an organization to ascertain how they are connecting with the audience and how this in turn affects the perception of the organization. In this case, exploring brand personality helps Aflatoun to comprehend the image that it is portraying onto the world, which will allow the organization to readjust if the result is not in line with the intention. The key to this research is to find how to unify this identity between the intended brand identity and the reality of the situation, through which this analysis seeks to identify and rectify any gaps. By attaching human characteristics to a given brand, it gives a tangible point of reference through which multiple audiences can relate.

According to Aaker, “brand personality is defined formally here as the set of human characteristics associated with the brand.” (Aaker, 1997 p.347). The brand personality helps consumers, but in the context of Aflatoun those “consumers” would be stakeholders and partners on a top tier with children being the ultimate beneficiaries, to make more concrete associations regarding a brand and help them to determine how they interpret the brand. Giving the brand personality traits allows for partners and stakeholders to become more emotionally involved with the brand and forge more of a connection.

In “Dimensions of Brand Personality,” Aaker states “perceptions of brand personality traits can be formed and influenced by any direct or indirect contact that the consumer has with the 7

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brand.” (Plummer 1985 as seen in Aaker, 1997 p. 347) It is the direct contact that is the main mode through which the brand is communicated to external audiences. Project managers at Aflatoun carry out the majority of communications with stakeholders and partners and thus are the vehicles through which the brand is communicated. Fundamental to further communication of the brand to external audiences are the fundraising and advocacy staffs that interact with donors regularly. According to Hankinson, “Brands that communicated their brand personality clearly and consistently enabled staff to match their values with those of charity organization.” (Hankinson, 2000 p. 212). In this way, the staff must be congruent with the brand personality traits that Aflatoun wishes to convey. In the results and discussion sections, I will further elaborate on the brand personality aspects of my findings and discuss what this means for Aflatoun.

C. CBBE Framework

The Customer-Based Brand Equity, or CBBE model, (Appendix III) is a means through which to identify what associations there are to the brand from a left and right-brained perspective. The CBBE Framework as proposed by Keller (2001) seeks to evaluate the brand identity, meaning, response, and relationship. “According to the CBBE model, building a strong brand involves engaging consumers in a step-by-step process in which they initially identify with and ultimately become connected to the brand. This salience goes well beyond mere recognition to include a deeper understanding of and commitment to the organization and its larger purpose.” (Becker-Olden and Hill, 2006 p. 74). In other words, this model is used to measure equity of the brand, or rather, how the brand increases value in terms of increased resonance or loyalty. It demonstrates how the connection is created between brand and audience from the base level of brand salience where awareness may be low to how experiences and feelings build customer perception, which then ultimately impacts customer loyalty at the top of the pyramid.

In the evaluation of the Aflatoun case, it is important to understand how the diverse set of partners and other stakeholders move through this process and how the communication strategies of the organization reinforce these elements. This is valuable in the evaluation of the Aflatoun brand because it gives the Communications Task Force team visibility into how the brand is perceived and how it is experienced moving through the CBBE pyramid. This concept 8

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increases their understanding on a high level of the brand and can help to guide future branding decisions to increase loyalty or steer audiences to an alternative path through the model. Once again, this is about alignment and a sanity-check, if what is intended is coming to fruition. I was able to draw conclusions from my questions within the brand audit regarding functional and emotional attributes staff expect partners and stakeholders to associate with the brand to map this in a useful way for Aflatoun.

The key components of the CBBE model through which a positive and effective relationship between stakeholder and organization is formed are brand salience, brand imagery, brand performance, brand judgments, brand feelings, and brand resonance. (Keller 2001). In using this model, it is the focus on having a strong brand identity that is a main pain point for Aflatoun.

Within the context of this project, there is a clearly defined scope, which I have outlined to include internal interviews and the use the information provided by Aflatoun regarding their previous brand audits and the process through which they have developed the brand. While external input via partner and stakeholder interviews would have been preferable, the time constraints at hand and the breadth of the information already within my grasp has proven that by mapping internal responses I can still reasonably make recommendations for the branding task at hand.

That being said, the use of the CBBE framework will be from an internal perspective, mapping the responses as they move up the right or left side of the model. There are two distinct paths in the CBBE Model with the right side being more emotionally oriented and the left side being more practically oriented, as how is often referred to how people in general are usually categorized: right-brain versus left-brain. As can been seen in the CBBE Model shown below, the right path consists of Feelings and Imagery, while the left path consists of Judgments and Performance. As I will explore further in my results section, I intend to prove that Aflatoun internal audiences take the right path which can be assumed that the partners and stakeholders would follow the similar path due to the high amount of contact the internal staff

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have with external audiences. This demonstrates a very emotional connection with the brand as opposed to a functional view of the brand, serving to form the dominant brand concept.

D. Brand Mantras

Brand mantras can be particularly useful from a communications standpoint, allowing for an organization to appeal to targeted audiences in specific and effective ways. According to Keller, “brand mantras are short three to five word phrases that capture the irrefutable essence or spirit of the brand positioning. Their purpose is to ensure that all employees within the organization as well as external marketing partners understand what the brand most fundamentally is to represent with consumers so that they can adjust their actions accordingly.” (Keller, 1999 p.45). This concept of brand mantras is particularly relevant and useful in the analysis of this case. As with other NGOs and also corporations, Aflatoun has developed taglines and things of that nature, but their effectiveness is questionable as evidenced of the mixed brand identity shown in the internal interviews that I have conducted. With this organization, a brand mantra, “Change in the hands of children” has been developed and executed globally. However, they quickly found out that it does not necessarily translate well across regions as certain regions mistook it to infer children begging for money. This mantra could be adjusted to appeal to multiple regions once partner feedback is also taken into consideration. Furthermore, multiple mantras could be created to tailor messaging beyond the core message. These would be supplementary to the core message in order to reach specific audiences such as finance institutions, donors, etc.

While much research has been conducted to analyze the external positioning, little has been done to explore the internal perspective. “Equally important however, is positioning the brand internally i.e. the manner by which the brand positioning is explained and communicated internally.” (Keller, 1999 p.43). The internal perspective is crucial to the branding process because it is the internal actors that are the main touch-points for the brand to be communicated to external audiences. Of particular interest to Aflatoun is how to utilize brand mantras internally to better effectively communicate the brand essence to both current and prospective stakeholders and partners.

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The three criteria for a brand mantra could help Aflatoun to develop brand mantras that are relevant and also scalable across various audiences. According to Keller, brand mantras should do the following: communicate, simplify, and inspire. (Keller, 1999). The brand essence is captured within this three to five word phrase, encompassing the core promise of the brand (Keller 1999). In simplified terms, there should be three words representing the brand function, descriptive modifier, and emotional modifier respectively (Keller 1999). In creating these brand mantras, the key is to create a brand essence that is unique, that no other organization can replicate. “For the brand mantra to be effective, no other brand should singularly excel on all three dimensions.” (Keller 2005, p. 48) Through following these criteria, Aflatoun can create unified messaging that can reach external audiences in a cohesive and adaptable way. The development of this mantra or mantras will be explored more within the recommendations section.

E. Brand Architecture

Brand architecture is the framework through which a brand’s portfolio can be mapped, essentially a hierarchy showing the organization brand and subsequent product level brands (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009). For example, to determine the brand architecture of Proctor and Gamble, you would see Proctor and Gamble as the organizational level brand with its product brands such as Cascade, Pampers, and Charmin as the product level brands beneath it. The concept of brand architecture takes it a step beyond the structural set up of the organization’s brands to determining what relationship the portfolio of brands has with each other. While these concepts are fundamentally corporate-based in nature, there are aspects that can be extended to the NGO context. This is of particular value to the branding strategy of an organization because it lends a sense of congruence and methodology in pursuing continued growth. Understanding the current brand architecture and re-evaluating to determine the appropriate brand architecture can help the organization to understand what its goals are for brand extensions and the role that these various pieces will play. For example, does the organization want a close proximity between the product brands and the organization brand (branded house) or more distance between the individual brands, lending the product level

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brands autonomy (house of brands)? Deciphering this will facilitate the organization of the brand and aligning the goals of the organization to that architecture.

In terms of brand architecture, there are several options that an organization can choose to follow. According to Muzellec and Lambkin, there are three types of corporate brand styles that can be extended to a company: holistic brand, business brands, and trade name. (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009). Beyond this there are also the two main concepts of a branded house versus a house of brands.

A business brand means, “promoting different images for different stakeholders.” (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009 p.46). The basis of this option is that the brand can be interpreted and represented in many different ways according to which audience the brand is intended to reach. This gives much flexibility in the adjustment of the marketing strategies to reach different audiences with the corporate brand not entirely clear, usually showing as an endorsed brand on packaging. The business brand incorporates the concept of a house of brands, where the various brands are organized underneath a mother brand that bears very little similarity. In the terms of Aflatoun, this would mean that the extensions take precedence over the core mother brand, which is not the case.

In a trade name scenario, the corporate brand does not have strong associations; the product level brand takes the forefront. Common examples revolved around a house of brands organization where there is a singular brand that is behind a portfolio of own-branded companies. If I were to apply that to Aflatoun, that would mean that there would be a great amount of distance between Aflatoun the core brand and its product extensions, usually meaning that the product level brands are branded entirely differently with little to no similarity between each other as extensions and Aflatoun as the core brand.

The holistic brand incorporates integration strategy, emphasizing cohesiveness between the corporate and product level brands. This is in line with a branded house configuration: the portfolio is closely linked and is clearly identifiable as being part of the same organizational umbrella. “Successful corporate brands in this configuration align vision, culture and image and 12

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achieve a high level of coherence and consistency.” (Schultz and Hatch, 2002, Urde 2003 p. 50 in Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009). The holistic brand is a “fully developed corporate brand extending across all target audiences.” (Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009 p.39) According to these definitions, I would classify Aflatoun as being a holistic brand, as it attempts to achieve the alignment discussed by Muzellec and Lambkin. However, there is work to be done to improve its position within this classification, which ties into the recommendations concerning brand identity and messaging.

Most importantly with brand architecture is the necessity to align vision, culture, and image between the core brand and its extensions. Hatch and Schultz argue “corporations need to define their corporate identity as a bridge between the external position of the organization in its marketplace and other relevant environments, and internal meanings formed within the organizational culture.” (Hatch and Schultz, 1997 in Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009 p. 41) This is the critical link between aligning internal messaging with the external messaging across the entire brand architecture.

Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) take the classification a bit farther beyond a trade name, business brand, and holistic brand to define a clear brand relationship spectrum. Using this spectrum, the brand’s architecture can be defined and the relationship between the mother brand and the subsidiary or product level brand can be outlined. As you can see in the figure outlined in Annex III, there are four main strategies being house of brands, endorsed brands, sub brands, and branded house. While there are many options to explore in regards to this spectrum, I will briefly explain the four main strategies.

A house of brands is a mere portfolio of various stand-alone brands, which maintain a large distance, and very little direct recognition with the mother brand. According to Aaker and Joachimsthaler, “The house of brands allows firms to clearly position brands on functional benefits and to dominate niche segments.” (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000 p.11). In other words, the house of brands is not concerned necessarily with a clear identity among the brands within the portfolio, but more so focuses on the product brand’s ability to connect with the end consumer.

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Another option within the house of brands concept is the endorsed brand. In this scenario, the organizational brand (mother brand) lends its endorsement to the product level brand. It is this endorsement that lends “credibility and substance to the offering.” (Aaker and Joachimstheler, 2000 p. 6). Within the endorsed brands context, the product brand remains independent of the organizational brand, but retains the value and promise that comes with being affiliated or endorsed with the organizational brand.

Moving on from a house of brands, there are two strategies that fall within the branded house scenario being branded house itself and sub brands. According to Aaker and Joachimstheler, “Sub brands are brands connected to a master or parent brand and augment or modify the associations of the master brand.” (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000 p.14). In this classification, the link is very close between the organizational brand and the sub brand, with the sub brand able to affect the perceptions of the organizational brand.

This brings us to the fundamental branded house option on the brand spectrum. The branded house category consists of a portfolio of brands organized underneath one organizational (mother brand) where the link between organization and product brand are very clear and quite often the naming convention of the brands are similar or the same to facilitate that linkage. In a branded house, the organizational brand is the main player in the relationship, leveraging its name and reputation across the portfolio. According to Aaker et al, “The branded house enhances clarity, synergy, and leverage and thus should be the default brand architecture option.” (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000 p.16). This should be the category of the brand relationship spectrum that Aflatoun strives for. As it stands, it seems that the organization is somewhere between sub brand and branded house. The architecture to be recommended will be more explicitly discussed in the recommendations portion of the paper A bit of adaptation is needed to apply the highlights of the articles presented by Muzellec and Lambkin and Aaker et al to a nonprofit environment. Obviously in terms of the mother brand of Aflatoun, this cannot be fully referred to as a ‘corporate brand’ in the traditional context. While nonprofit organizations and for-profit (corporate) organizations both compete for attention among their audiences, the end aim, or metric to measure the success of the brand differ. The

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corporate brand is reinforced or measured by financial gains, also referred to as brand equity, while the nonprofit brand’s brand equity is measured by increased donor-ship, partnership, and recognition. While the intentions of creating a brand are similar in the nonprofit and corporate context, the method through which it is leveraged can differ. From a brand architecture perspective, the organization of the entities is similar in that extensions are placed underneath a ‘mother brand,’ creating a branded house scenario for Aflatoun in this instance. As the organization currently stands, Aflatoun is the mother brand, with its extensions of Aflatoun (as a core program), Aflatot, and Aflateen organized beneath it bearing the “Afla” moniker.

F. Deliberate Strategizing vs. Strategy Emergence

Aflatoun has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 1991, now reaching millions of children in ninety-four countries (aflatoun.org) As a result of growing at such a fast pace, an organization has to choose a corporate strategy following the path of either deliberate strategizing or strategy emergence. There is an inherent trade-off in employing one of these strategies versus the other in that in deliberate strategizing an organization chooses to follow a specific and premeditated plan going forward while in strategy emergence an organization develops a plan over time through an iterative process (de Wit, de B., R. Meyer, 2010).

There are benefits to each plan. In deliberate strategizing an organization gives direction, commitment, coordination, optimization of resources, and program efficiency. In this way, there is a predetermined plan to follow, lending a sense of security and efficiency to the business development of the organization. In strategy emergence, the organization can maintain its flexibility, entrepreneurial spirit, and learn through a process of thinking and doing. Aflatoun does not seem to follow either strategy path at the moment from a branding perspective, but more so operating on an ad-hoc basis that differs from the strategy emergence path of developing a pattern over time. There have been clear strategic decisions that have translated into actionable steps, but in my opinion this seems to have been done on a case-by-case basis instead of evaluating those decisions on a larger scale. Following one of these strategies within the Communications Task Force team can assist in how to handle growth opportunities and manage the Aflatoun brand on both a product and organizational level. In the recommendations section I will propose which strategy path Aflatoun should follow going

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forward so as to establish decision criteria that will allow strategy to align with brand architecture.

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III. Case Description: Aflatoun

A. Organizational Overview

Aflatoun is a children’s rights organization that has developed three programs to date that focus on providing social and financial education for children. First named Aflatoun by the children involved in the first program launched in India, Aflatoun has grown as a network over the years, encompassing an increasing number of partners that implement the program globally. The network is supported by the Secretariat that provides the tools and technical assistance needed to implement the Aflatoun programs. The approach of Aflatoun is a balanced one, with emphasis on neither social nor financial exclusively, but more so emphasizing the importance of the need to have both aspects in order to empower children around the world. Established in Mumbai in 1991, Jeroo Billimoria founded Child Savings International as a platform to educate children on their rights and their role in the global landscape, which later became known as Aflatoun after its core program after the partners made it clear that the name change would be beneficial.

“Aflatoun seeks to harness this early period in a child’s life and give them an educational experience that leaves them with positive associations with money and social change. Childhood is a precious time, where exploration, learning and character development are key. By teaching basic social and financial skills, and providing children with practical experience, Aflatoun hopes that they will believe in themselves and their ability to make a difference in their lives and in the lives of people around them. “(Aflatoun.org). This special mission has facilitated the quick growth of Aflatoun, reaching over 1.3 million children in ninety-four countries as of 2012 (Aflatoun.org).

Since its growth, Aflatoun has since expanded into developing education programs for children of various ages. Through the birth of Aflateen and Aflatot, Aflatoun has effectively segmented its audience into different age groups and provided specific programs per group, now having added brands to its portfolio to reach children from the ages of 2-18+ versus the core program’s target age group of 6-14 years old.

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There are many stakeholders and partners that play a role within linking the organization to its targeted audiences. Aflatoun divides these key players into two distinct groups: partners and stakeholders. However, there is a third group to consider, the children. Aflatoun’s programs and essentially its brand are geared towards children, yet there is not direct communication between the organization and the end “consumer.” So while the children are an audience of the brand, it is partners and stakeholders that are the direct receivers of brand communication from Aflatoun itself. There are partners, first and foremost, that implement the program in their local region. There are also stakeholders, which could be children, teachers and trainers, donors, financial institutions, targeted general public, and ministries of education or regional educational departments. All of these players serve as key components in facilitating the delivery of the Aflatoun mission to the external audiences of partners, stakeholders, and children.

B. Organizational Brand

Like the organization itself, the organizational brand has also developed over the years since its inception. Beginning as Child Savings International, the organization was separately named from its key product, the Aflatoun program. This represents something of a house of brands architecture where the connection between the program (product brand) and organization was not strong and thus could not be truly leveraged across the brands. Since then, Child Savings International has taken on the name of its founding program and is now recognized as Aflatoun, Aflatoun being the organizational name and the product level brand name of the anchor program.

With the creation of this organizational brand, a fireball character was designed to create a logo that has not only been used for design purposes but also to encompass the key features and qualities that should be conveyed to partners, stakeholders, and children. This character was presented as a fireball from outer space: a bubbly, intelligent, socially and financially aware character that could teach children how to become global citizens and equipped to take control of their own futures. This character represents the brand of Aflatoun and is not just a means of demonstrating core values and mission but also a means of connecting with children and helping them to connect with each other globally.

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C. Brand Compass

The brand proposition has been a work in progress as Aflatoun works closely with its partners at Amsterdam Worldwide to continually develop the brand optimally. As part of its close working relationship with partners in the Aflatoun network, Aflatoun continually considers partner input when developing branding tools. In recent meetings Aflatoun and Amsterdam Worldwide, their pro bono agency resource, have created a brand compass that demonstrates the new approach that the organization will take towards its branding and communications efforts. This compass is a useful tool developed so that Aflatoun can very understandably decipher what its brand ambition, message, essence, champions, experience, and universal truth are. Please reference the Brand Compass in Annex IV.

D. Brand Architecture

Initially, Aflatoun only had one program, Aflatoun. This offering was targeted at ages 6-14. However, the organization is constantly evaluating feedback from the market and determined that a more comprehensive package was the new demand. This meant that they had to develop educational materials beyond the traditional 6-14 age group and expand to children younger than 6 and also older than 14. From this, Aflatot and Aflateen were born.

With these expansions, more of an ad hoc approach was followed, taking on these extensions as they came rather than creating a core strategy to follow in order to create these extensions. Thus, although there was a similar naming convention with the use of the “afla,” there were few other similarities linking the new extensions to the original Aflatoun brand. This creates a bit of inconsistency that can generate confusion among partners, stakeholders, and also internally.

E. Case Question

The case of branding at a nonprofit organization is quite intricate, as little research has been done to understand the implications of branding strategy on the nonprofit organization. After reviewing the results of previous branding exercises at Aflatoun and speaking internally with staff I have pinpointed the following issues as key pain points for the organization from a branding perspective: inconsistency of external messaging, lack of congruent internal

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messaging, and furthermore a lack of unified formal strategy concerning brand extensions. Each of these pieces individually pose challenges to the organization, but when compounded form a set of issues that must be dealt with so that the organization can be most effective in its brand management.

The inconsistency of external messaging can also be linked to the lack of congruent messaging internally. To begin to communicate consistently externally, first the internal understanding of how to communicate the brand needs to be created. From conducting my internal interviews with key staff, I have concluded that it is in this crucial first step that there is a lack of congruent information. There needs to be an alignment between all of these internal perspectives so that one unified brand identity can be presented to current and future partners and stakeholders. The brand architecture discussion is extremely crucial to facilitate Aflatoun’s high speed of growth as it has seen in previous years. In listening to the market’s needs, the organization has been able to quickly expand its programs to include other age groups and also plans to continue growing. While the foundation of their mission is to provide social and financial education to children and youth, there is the possibility of providing supplemental programs to service other audiences including parents and teachers as these groups have influential power within children’s lives. The organization has taken an opportunistic outlook on its growth, following “strategy emergence” perspective leavings itself with the ability to be flexible and keep its options open to opportunities presented by the market. In doing so, however, there has been a lack of underlying strategy in how to best handle brand extensions so the organization is making these decisions on an ad-hoc basis.

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IV. Results

A. Framework Selected

Utilizing all of these concepts presented in sections II and III require a single framework through which to analyze the branding issues at hand through one lens. In “Optimizing communications for charity brand management,” Jenkinson et al (2005) present a model for integrated brand management that consists of three steps to follow: identity management, mobilizing everyone, and contact management. The main emphasis in my findings will be within the identity management section with recommendations in the latter two sections as well.

Within each section, I will incorporate the various branding concepts discussed previously and propose my recommendations. The overall framework my analysis is conducted within is as follows:

Section Concepts, Models, Frameworks Used

Identity Management • Internal Brand Audit

• Brand Personality and Brand Mantra • Strategy Development

• Brand Workshop • Architecture Strategy Mobilizing Everyone • Elevator pitch per audience

• Common policies how and what to communicate

• Reinforce Teamwork Contact Management • Channel Identification

• Channel Management-Benchmark B. Methodology Used

Aflatoun provided an abundance of information that explained not only how the brand evolved but also the results of their previous brand audits along with associated conclusions and action plans. This information proved very useful, but it was also important to benchmark those

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results against the current perceptions of internal staff. Thus, I chose to conduct internal interviews with various staff members.

The selection and vetting of staff to participate in the interviews was decided by the communications manager at Aflatoun after we had discussed that the employees should be at various levels in the organization with different levels of experience. In short, a cross-section of new and experienced staffers at different functional areas in the organization was sought. The result was eleven interviews with: five program managers representing all regions Aflatoun is present in; two fundraising team members; the Head of Advocacy, Research and Communications; the Head of Program, the Curriculum and Research Manager, and the Communications Manager. Interviews were conducted in half hour time slots over the course of two in-office days.

C. Data Collection and Limitations

Previous partner and employee survey data, branding handbook, communications plans both past and future, and internal discussions around brand strategy were supplemented by employee interviews. The employees sampled were selected because they represented different levels in the organization and also each had various levels of experience with the organization. The reasoning of this idea was that views from all perspectives should be represented and not just those that have seen the re-branding and have been involved in the branding process.

Time limitations of course have placed constraints on the project. Internal perspectives were fairly easy to attain as I had the assistance of the communications manager in organizing those during a period when most employees were in office. It would have also been interesting to include external views, which would have allowed me to benchmark against the previous partner survey conducted. However, in order to do that the questionnaire would have needed to be translated into at least four additional languages and then distributed to partners

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globally. Given the time zone differences and other facts that could contribute to the lag time of responses, it was decided that it was unrealistic to complete this aspect.

The limitations of the internal data are that they are employees, so there is the potential of some personal bias to influence the responses. Also, these are the internal perspectives, which could not necessarily represent what would be expected from external audiences.

D. Data and Materials Analysis

i. Staff Interview Analysis

From the staff interviews conducted, I was able to make a few key observations that seemed to be themes in the responses. As documented in Annex V, you can see the responses by key words in table form when asked regarding the mission, brand personality, and whether there is a clear identity.

Mission

The first question of the interview asked staff to explain the mission of Aflatoun. While some recited the mission as is stated in their communication materials, some staff members generated different key words from their own perspective when responding. The most frequent key word in these statements was “children,” with that appearing eight times out of the eleven interviews. Following closely behind were key words such as social (5), empower (5), change-makers (4), community (4), youth (3), financially (3), economically (2). According to the staff members, these were the most accurate terms that could be used to describe the mission of Aflatoun.

In contrast, the results of the key staff survey conducted in 2011 had different results. Of the six staff members interviewed, finance (6), social (5), program (5), children (4), partner organizations (3), education/educational (3) were the highest ranked in terms of key words in responses. The question posed here was, “How do we describe ourselves?” which is in broad terms regarding the mission. There is a clear misalignment among the key staff interviews that were conducted previously and then as part of my research. While finance and social were the 23

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primary trigger words in the previous research, in my interviews they were not as balanced as far as responses. The message is that it is a balance of social and financial, whereas it appears from staff interviews, that sometimes one is emphasized more than the other. While this shift in brand identity has occurred, it was the goal of the branding team to accomplish this. However, this has not occurred as consistently as would be optimal, requiring a modicum of reinforcement to occur internally.

Please reference the data shown in Annex V for the table breakdown of staff responses.

Brand Personality

As to be expected, when asked what the brand personality of Aflatoun would be (i.e. “If Aflatoun were a person, what qualities or characteristics would it have?”), there were a multitude of responses. Many of these were unique to one person, as Aflatoun conveys different characteristics and meanings to each person, but there were a few common words that staff members used to describe Aflatoun.

The most common key words associated with Aflatoun were fun/funny and friendly with five responses each. Also common key words used were environmentally friendly, dynamic, innovative, curious, smiling, adventurous, and reliable. The key words associated with the brand personality seem to be in line with what the organization aims to convey to external audiences. As far as brand personality goes, I think that Aflatoun has done a satisfactory job of demonstrating the personality traits that are in line with the mission. As one staffer noted Aflatoun wants to “promote that learning is serious fun.” In translating this to brand personality it would encompass innovativeness, smiling, curious, etc.

Brand Identity

The exploration of brand identity is one of the main components that I look to define and improve within Aflatoun. That being the case, it was relevant to inquire if the employees interviewed believed that there is a clear brand identity among partners and stakeholders. The results were mixed, with some believing that there was indeed a clear brand identity while 24

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others believed there was not. There was a division of responses with four of the sample stating that there was a clear identity, four responses reflecting that there is not, and three that were mixed response. The mixed responses were mostly given in that from a design perspective, the logo is unique and recognizable, but a clear identity across stakeholder groups is the area of confusion. While the identity may be clear to partners, as these are the main ties to the various constituents, the identity among stakeholders may not necessarily be clear. My speculation is that this could be due to the fact that the messaging is quite tailored depending on the audience.

ii. Organization Materials- Key Observations

From the materials provided by Aflatoun, I was able to make a few observations that were quite interesting points when considering how the brand is communicated and how these partners perceive Aflatoun.

First of all, according to an online partner survey conducted in from 2011, forty of the sixty-six respondents said that the main mode of communication is through the Program Manager and is done via calls and emails. This whopping amount of sixty percent demonstrates that program managers are extremely important touch points to manage. Also, the partner survey shows that the program manager is the main source of information as compared to newsletter, website, and document sharing with 35% of the responses demonstrating this. Now compared to the responses in the internal survey that I conducted, we can see that there is some possible training and unification of messaging needed in this area so that these touch points can be managed to ensure the right messages are being communicated to partners.

Another interesting point to consider in reviewing the partner survey is that the social aspect of Aflatoun’s mission is not specifically mentioned in the associations with the primary advocacy statement. There is noted a “balanced approach,” but the financial aspect is mentioned specifically as an additional keyword whereas social education is not called out as a separate association. Social education is emphasized in the Aflatoun mission as an important component that is intended to be intertwined with the financial education provided. If the social aspect is 25

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missing as a key association to the Aflatoun mission, then this reinforces my stance that the messaging needs to be more unified internally to then transfer to the external audience.

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V. Conclusions and Recommendations

A. Recommendations: Linking Theory to Practice

As highlighted in the case question section, the main pain points for Aflatoun are the inconsistency of external messaging, lack of congruent messaging internally, and also a lack of a uniform formal strategy concerning brand extensions. There are other elements to this evaluation as well, which leads me to evaluate it using the model developed by Jenkinson et al (2005) as stated in my “Framework Selected” section. This model consists of an integrated marketing model based on the following concepts to be followed in order: identity management, mobilizing everyone, and contact management.

i. Identity Management

Building on the concept developed by Porter, strategy is about positioning. Positioning being how an organization places itself within the competitive landscape, taking into account forces such as supplier power, customer power, threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitutes (Porter, 1979). In positioning, the organization must identify the unique offering that they bring to the market, if of course this unique proposition is present. In the case of Aflatoun, there is a very distinct proposition that the organization puts forward, social and financial education for children and youth. This proposition differs from what other organizations offer because of the unique balance between social and financial, whereas there is typically a focus on one or the other. From this proposition, the resources of the organization can be employed to ensure the competitive position of the organization. (Jenkinson et al, 2005).

Branding Workshop

So that being said, the first step in this process of brand identity is first identifying what that proposition is. The establishment of this proposition across stakeholders would give the staff clarity into how each stakeholder or partner should receive the message. “It provides to all audiences…Each audience is addressed in a distinctive way with a distinctive and relevant proposition.” (Jenkinson et al, 2005 p.83). As will be discussed in the next step of the process, this proposition should be built first as a core message, with supplemental messages then identified to be tailored to the audience.

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Getting the staff on the same page regarding what the brand is, what it stands for, and how this should be disseminated across various audiences, is a crucial factor to unifying the communication strategy of the organization. According to Kylander and Stone, “When an organization’s employees and volunteers all embrace a common brand identity, it creates organization cohesion, builds focus, and reinforces shared values.” (Kylander and Stone, 2011 p.5). As evidenced in my internal interviews, there is a discrepancy among staff members in regards to this area, where more alignment should be sought to form a collective brand identity. According to Jenkinson et al, “Consistent, coherent, and congruent messages have positive effects, while mixed, contradictory or confused messages are dysfunctional, diluting the message or creating negative ideas about the brand.” (Jenksinson et al, 2005 p. 79).

With the staff being the most frequent and valuable touch point to the organization, further emphasizes the need for consistent messaging. King points out that “The consumer’s choice of what they buy will depend less on an evaluation of the functional benefits to them of the product or a service, but rather more on the assessment of the people in the company behind it, their skills, attitudes, behaviors, design, altruism, modes of communication, speed of response, and so on, the whole company culture in fact.” (King, 1991 in Muzellec and Lambkin, 2009 p. 41) This calls for the staff to not only properly convey the mission and goals of the organization, but to furthermore, take steps to truly live the brand.

I propose that the organization creates a branding workshop or training session where the staff can be brought up to speed as to what the brand is, how it should be communicated, and provide input on the state of the brand. The internal interviews conducted as well as previous branding exercises showed an obvious mismatch between employees, which I believe is due to the ad-hoc nature of the branding strategy implementation. By seeking an opportunistic or somewhat of a strategy emergence strategy, the organization has taken these decisions one of one instead of developing a specific brand strategy plan, there has been an inability to keep the staff abreast of how brand development is handled. By implementing a true strategy 28

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emergency plan, Aflatoun could still achieve flexibility and responsiveness to changing market needs, but over the long term develop a pattern that forms their strategy. There should be some general guidelines in place, however, that set boundaries for how these decisions are taken.

Strategy Development

Setting a strategy plan is a key step in the process. Being an NGO, the feedback loops differ from its corporate counterparts in that their brand equity is measured in a less visible way, mostly attributed to increased donor-ship or partner influx. In the corporate context, this equity is highly visible in the form of stock performance. It is these less tangible feedback loops that can make it difficult for NGOs in a branding perspective, because it is not particularly clear what benefits the brand is bringing to the organization. It is due to this feedback loop process that nonprofits may be able to more easily accommodate an emergent strategy, a less formal strategy to undertake that develops as strategic courses are taken and patterns identified. Nonetheless, in branding it is important to decide between a deliberate or emergent strategy so that communications efforts are met with some strategic aspect.

The branding workshop as described above can then, in one swift and efficient manner, align all levels of the organization as to the brand elements and communication. As relayed to me via internal interviews, there is a small group, or task force that mostly handles the brand related decision-making, which they then involve partners and the board in. The organization is somewhat detached in this respect and it seems that that this then leads to lack of consistency in relaying these decisions across the staff. In developing a brief branding workshop, which could be done in house for example or during the staff retreat, the staff could then be informed in a comprehensive way the various aspects of the Aflatoun brand.

In this exercise, topics such as brand personality and brand essence can be touched upon but more so in practical terms. A brief brainstorming could be done to ask staff to participate in an archetype building exercise where traits are assigned and an embodiment of the brand created. 29

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This type of exercise can make sure that all of the staff input is received and those in charge of branding decisions can align that information with the direction they have decided for the brand strategy and explain responses that perhaps are not in line with their strategy. Furthermore, exploring how the stakeholders and partners perceive them is another valuable exercise. Apply theory to practice, Aflatoun would move up the right side of the CBBE pyramid, appealing to the emotional aspect of stakeholders and partners seeking to get them to identify with the mission of the organization. Understanding this concept would help Aflatoun to define their messaging to appeal to those desired associations. In this respect, it would also be beneficial to have the input across the organization since after all it is the staff that have great contact with the partners and stakeholders and thus could give insight into how the recommendations would be perceived by external audiences. In this process, following the more bottom-up leaning way of the organization, partner input should also be considered. My recommendation is that feedback from staff and partners needs to be taken into account, but the Communications Task Force team should be the main driver, aligning these views into an actionable plan.

Brand Architecture

The brand architecture must be not only defined as it currently stands, but also as it will be handled going forward. As discussed in the brand architecture brand concept section in the beginning of this research paper, the current brand architecture is unclear but leans towards being a branded house organization because of the close proximity of the product level brands to the organizational brand. This is the most reasonable course of brand architecture to follow as the organization would want positive associations to flow down from the organizational brand to the product level brands but also have the positive associations from the product level be associated with the organizational brand.

The primary driver of an evaluation of the architecture of the brand is due to the quick expansion of Aflatoun into other program groups. The recent extensions of Aflatot and Aflateen have been created without a considerable analysis of how to proceed. A credible concern arose 30

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in the internal interviews in which a staff member communicated that these brand names do not necessarily translate across different languages. While it translates well in the Latin languages, in the Nordic, Russian, and Arabic languages it does not necessarily translate in a desirable way (internal source). Consideration must be made for this in a way that does not disrupt the trend already established with naming the extensions, but perhaps attached messaging can help to clarify the purpose of the organization along with the name.

There is an underlying strategy for the brand extensions, but this strategy is not necessarily clear. The “afla” naming convention creates a direct link between the product level brand and the organizational brand. Partners and stakeholders have come to be comfortable with this strategy, but do find it somewhat amusing. The question is to how far can Aflatoun take this extension strategy while still being taken seriously? I would suggest that it make a very clear distinction between its core products that target the child and youth age group with the “afla” naming convention and its supplementary products that form as support for the core products. So what do I mean exactly? Currently, there are Aflatot, Aflatoun, and Aflateen, which serve as the main program offerings reaching children and youth. Furthermore, there is Aflatoun Academy, which is a training program for teachers and educators with potential plans for training for parents and other community figures in the pipeline. Aflatoun Academy is referred to internally as Afla Academy, perpetuating an emergent tension between the internal identity and external identity. This can cause a bit of confusion as to whom Aflatoun focuses on as key audiences of its programs. My suggestion would be to maintain the “afla” branding for the key audience-targeted programs, but pursue a different naming strategy for the supplementary programs to avoid confusion. Aflatoun wants to keep the focus and the mission of its organization clearly identifiable, if all extensions are branded with “afla,” partners and stakeholders could misinterpret the mission to eventually become all inclusive of various audiences instead of the primary focus on children and youth.

Furthermore, I think that having Aflatoun as both the core product name and the organizational brand is somewhat confusing from a brand architecture perspective. While Aflatoun was the 31

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founding program of the organization, reaching a broad age range of 6-14 years old, it also serves as the mother brand name. To achieve the branded house architecture, the core product name of Aflatoun could potentially be adjusted so that a differentiation is seen between the product and organizational level brand. The best way to address this name change would be through the process that is in line with their organizational structure, a brainstorming session conducted by the Communications Task Force team that is currently in place, with then some suggestions of how to proceed brought to the board, staff, and partners for feedback.

I was informed that realistically, the organization can make design changes every four years with appropriate approval from the board of directors and consideration from the partners. This core product change could proceed through a relatively smooth design change that incorporates some sort of differentiating factor, to be decided by the organization and their advice from Amsterdam Worldwide, which would not result in changing the logo itself. This change would allow for a proper brand architecture to be established via the branded house scenario; an organizational brand with close proximity to its associated product level brands. This would allow for specific associations to be associated with the organization as a whole first, which then could be transferred to the product level brands. As it stands, there is confusion as to which brand, Aflatoun the program or Aflatoun the organization that the associations are attached to.

Going forward, I would suggest that Aflatoun follow the strategy that I have highlighted in order to establish a clear identity that can then be translated to the external audience. The internal understanding of the brand mission and values, and subsequently establishing a standard for how to communicate this, is the imperative first step in the process. Additionally, the brand architecture formulation will help for external audiences to understand the organization and help for them to see a clear identity of the brand.

ii. Mobilizing Everyone

External Messaging

“The challenge to organizations is to make sure that the external projection is consistent with the

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experience, which requires that the internal dimensions be quite carefully considered and deployed." (de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, 1998 p.435)

The inconsistency of external messaging can be pinpointed to an organizational component that is very familiar to NGO’s, the need to interface with current and prospective stakeholders and partners on an ongoing basis. This wide array of audiences makes it quite difficult to convey a single, consistent message externally. As noted in my internal staff interviews, different aspects of the mission are highlighted depending on whom the receiver of the message is. We can also see this in regards to the different key words in the mission being used when explained externally. As explained in the internal interviews, different stakeholders and partners are looking for different aspects of the Aflatoun educational program; some emphasis the financial components over the social, some identify with the social aspects more than the financial, and a select group recognize that the balanced approach is needed.

This is a tricky landscape to navigate as each prospective partner or stakeholder is a potential resource and means of spreading the mission of Aflatoun, so ideally they should be capitalized. This flexibility of the program and messaging, however, comes at a cost: an inconsistency of what Aflatoun does on a comprehensive level. Flexibility is an important and valuable trait of the organization as it allows for exponential growth because partners can tailor the product to their specific needs. This is beneficial because it perpetuates the mission of Aflatoun without too much focus on the brand. In theory, this is extremely valuable and demonstrates that Aflatoun’s first and foremost goal is to spread social and financial education around the globe to reach as many children as possible. However, this flexibility has further led to much flexibility in how staff communicates the organization’s purpose and mission. The issue with this is that the core of what Aflatoun does can somehow be lost in this process as it is at staff discretion what aspects of the program are emphasized to the recipient. Given this, I recommend that this policy be transitioned into a process that allows for flexibility but does not stray from the core message.

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What I would suggest is the development of a core message or keywords to consistently communicate regardless of the recipient of the message. From the data analysis of the internal interviews, I can see that there is a lack of balance between social and financial keywords being communicated congruently and also variance in what other keywords are used to convey the message. So how can Aflatoun create one core message and then establish secondary phrasing that can be used to tailor it to the audience?

Thus, an analysis of the various stakeholders and partners and also their associated needs from Aflatoun, is quite useful information to employ in order to decipher what the messaging should be. In the communication plan created in 2011, there is a table, shown in Annex VI, which breaks down by audience what the message and delivery system are. This table more so refers to the need on a functional level of the audiences, not necessarily the core message that they are looking to align with the mission of their organization.

This messaging is not only blurred across different audience groups but also within those groups. In the past, Aflatoun has developed a mantra, “Change in the hands of children,” but this mantra was not perceived succinctly across partners globally. Linking back to phase one of the framework, Identity Management, I would suggest that these mantras are developed and discussed within a branding workshop. This should include representatives of the regions where Aflatoun is present, for example the program managers of those regions. Then, once there are some options generated, the partners could consult on which mantras translate best globally, bringing Aflatoun to one adaptable message to be used across the partner network. This is a challenge as there are disparities across cultures, but there should be the ability to create at least one unified message that appeals across the network, it would just involve more consultation with the partner group to decipher.

If I were to categorize Aflatoun as any brand definition it would be that of a value system. (See appendix VII for classification categories). This means that as a consequence, brand values match relevant customer values (de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, 1998). As de Chernatony

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and Dall’Olmo Riley point out, “ Building brands as value systems necessitates going beyond short-term promotions, increasing awareness….It necessitates a longer term commitment, building on any latent or current values which are fine tunes to match consumers’ needs. “(de Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, 1998 p. 437)

In light of the findings of de Charnatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, while the partner or stakeholder’s needs must be taken into account, the core of the brand “must be bound together by a vision which gives them meaning, impetus, and direction.” (de Charnatony and Dall’Olmo Riley, 1998, p. 437-438) This support my recommendation to develop a core message which gives direction to the brand, with the ability to tailor specifically once this unified message has been communicated. Given this, the suggested message seems fitting to be the official mission as stated in Aflatoun communications, “Inspiring children to socially and economically empower themselves to be agents of change in their own lives and for a more equitable world". So the key words of “children,” “economically,” “empower,” “for themselves,” “agents of change,” and “equitable world.” This could be taken a step further and also include “community.” In broad terms, these keywords were reflected in the internal responses, but I could see that some of the individual tailoring was coming into play as words such as “entrepreneurship, balance approach, movement, advocacy,” etc. were part of the mission according to some staff.

Beyond this core mission as stated officially, staff can then tailor their messaging according to the audience. This could be developed based on Keller’s notions of brand mantras; i.e. Aflatoun can create various brand mantras to utilize on different audiences, going a step beyond the core mission mantra but still maintaining cohesive messages within stakeholder and partner groups. Note, however, that this should not be done unless the agreed upon core mission is first communicated. This should be communicated across all communications to reinforce the foundation which the brand stands on. Tailored messages could be such that for example, a staff member is talking with a prospective donor who’s CSR initiatives are centered around facilitating financial empowerment in developing regions; the staff member can focus on the financial aspect of the mission and the change that has been enacted by stating that “Aflatoun has reached 1.3 million children as of summer 2012 and has enabled them to save (insert figure) amount of money in order to contribute to their own lives as well as that of their communities.” Employing this concept of first setting parameters for the brand and then allowing space

Unifying brand identity : lessons from an NGO.