BUILDING BEAUTIFUL BRANDS: CAUSE MARKETING, HUMANITARIAN BRAND-BUILDING AND CHARITABLE PROMOTIONS.
I REALIZED, SOME TIME BACK, WORKING FOR AS LONG AS I HAVE, THAT BUILDING BEAUTIFUL BRANDS, HOLISTICALLY RICH, ROBUST AND BEAUTIFUL, VISUAL AND TEXTUALLY ARTICULATED BRANDS IS WHERE I HAVE LIVED—AS A PRACTITIONER OF BRAND AND DESIGN WORK—FOR THE LAST 45 YEARS.
Even in my earliest days, it was, for me—a shopfront, an item, a team of people, a building, an object, shopping bags, wrapping paper, a sign, a brochure or booklet, surprise at deep integration would come as:
“whoa, that’s beautiful: an excellently orchestrated brand.
Look at that.
Beautiful.
Behold…”
Since that time, it’s about capturing the idea that,
to captivation, holistic integration and
deeply concretized branding,
it is about this—
“it all fits.”
inspiration:idea:leadership:story:name:message:identity:integrations:deployment
Still, there must be more than fit and well-notched integration and synchronism.
There has to be that requisite sense of
BE-LONGING: the reasoning of being—
“why am I here?”
PURPOSEful relevance—
“what are you standing for?”
CAPTIVATION+BELIEF—
and “I believe in this brand, I’m here working on this brand, because…?”
Because?
Be cause.
And belief, too, as foundational descriptor,
is
about
L O V E.
The Question of Belief—what’s it really mean?
It lies in its etymology, for to believe is to “be love.”
Brands and love, in a base level strategy, suggest an engagement and intertwinement. That loom of warp and weft, thread and shuttle are an interweaving of passion, enchantment and embracement. There is love and passion in the making and the makers of brands — and so too, the reflectivity that is shared in community members and experiencers.
What if your brand is about a cause—
love would drive that cause-based passion?
What if your brand is humanity—
would you love your community?
What if your real messaging reach is love?
And the question would be—
do you believe in love?
And do you believe in how love can play to the pieced integration of brand?
When I worked with Louis Vuitton [and LVMH’s ownership of] Benefit, partnering with Jean and Jane Ford, as well as CEO Jean Andre Rougeot, we learned about the power of love and community—how you hold that fast to heart in thinking strategies of engagement, commitment, leadership presence: the future.
Thankful for knowing the Ford sisters.
Grateful for the grace of Jean’s presence—
having known her.
And saddened in
her passage.
Onwards, the journey.
Your brand celebrates them—the core visioning, the envisioning of the dream of the future.
And what of working with Lynda? Lynda, as a self-described wundermatrix of learning exploration and commitment to finding better ways for her to learn, catalyzed Lynda, which is now an article embedded inside LinkedIn. Lynda.com users, back then, wrote an endless flow of happy poetics about their love of Lynda, the woman, her quest for learning and the how-to of Lynda.com, the brand.
We packaged that study in a BrandQuest®.
As human brands, they were intertwined, one to another, a learning leader, a leader who learns, a brand that teaches learning, packages learning, a learner that yearns, comes to learning, comes to Lynda—to learn.
And to love learning.
And learning to love.
Lynda + and Lynda.com.
The Fords, LVMH | Benefit—entwinement.
Like so many stones, solid ideas concretize on a foundation of millions of granular conversations, and they could all assemble some visible core message — that might take a sky-bound and earthward view to grasp in its entirety.
As above,
so below.
So while some presuppose a vast chasm between the human and the brand, it’s my premise that they’re far more synthesized—they have a soul, evidenced in the foundation of their actions and purposeful interest in direction, their attributes and personality. That alignment, as noted above, speaks as well to the premises of humanitarian and cause-related marketing: work that is synchronized to charitable promises.
An overview of Girvin’s strategic thinking about the nature of humanitarian and cause-related branding strategy and tactics.
What is the armament of direction, and how is it built out?
There have been a series of talks and presentations offered that reach to this place of marketing, over the course of the last several years. GIRVIN, the firm, has been working on a layering of messaging and image development programs for cause marketing that have had both local and international applications. There are fundamentals to the premise of the cause, the humanitarian agenda and marketing and it comes down to this — the story, the embrace, the human and finally, most importantly, love.
Human brands: every brand begins with a human.
The idea of love is about the furthest and most impactive level of compassion in relationship development. It is the ultimate sharing. The key to this connection gestures to resonance and relevance. To love, there is the sound of alignment—a note of familiarity is heard and sensed; and relevance is the relating, the carrying over of one to another—bringing something from one place to another. The beauty emerges in the sound, the quality of the symphony of connectedness—relationships are simply that: relation.
Relating, too, connects to story—relating a story.
What of human?
Human, the earthly bound,
the shadow on earth—
the ideas are the spirit, aloft.
From the latest iteration of the use, around 1250, from Medieval French — humain “of or belonging to man,” from the Latin humanus, probably related
to
homo
(gen. hominis)
“man”.
O F
H U M A N
K I N D:
E A R T H
M A D E.
But there’s an added level, reaching back — humus “earth,” on notion of “earthly beings,”
as opposed to the gods (cf. Hebrew adam “man,” from adamah “ground”).
Cognately derived with Old Lithuanian zmuo (acc. zmuni) “man, male person.” To the first record of “humankind” documented from 1645. “Humanoid” (1918) is a hybrid of Latin humanus and Greek –oeides“like,” from eidos “form, shape” (see –oid).
That earthly connection is meaningful—it’s a foundational sentience, from which we began, from whence we come. And what of cause? From the Latin, causa—it’s about cause, reason, a judicial process. The idea of a link between the humanitarian and the sense of process aligns the earthly and intellectually reasonable.
And therein lies the strategy—a bridge between foundation, the earth, beneath, the human arising and what action is followed in the dreaming that whorls outwardly.
The distinct link is that sense of bridging—the search for meaning, the seeking of direction, the sharing of compassion — the acknowledgment of pain — and the quest for spreading the word, and the worldly, in embracing others. But that layering is — to metaphor — an unfolding, explication, or explanation, is a kind of unwrapping; a package,
a story is made, and gradually
revealed in the sentiment.
Story is the best bridge in virtually any connection—human to human, human to brand, brand to human; and surely, causal intimation to connectivity a gesture in outreach from humanitarian concerns. What that really comes to is how people — how we — explore and understand time, place and the relationship to other souls and our time on earth.
Importantly, it is of reflection—that is,
one story is your story,
another story is shared; and
the energy grows and spreads,
from person to person.
A beautiful thing.
My story is your story.
You tell me your story,
it becomes mine.
And so
it goes.
E V E R
M O R E.
The curious positioning is that people tend to think of their lives in a string of experiences—not facts, but stories.
These can be large stories—bigger, mythic movements—and smaller cycles of stories,
and micro-movements of telling
moments.
Of relating. Of carrying—passing to another.
And that carrying is something that we move forward—the valuables of our lives—
moving ahead in the advancement of our sensing of experience.
This is your life, and how you tell it.
There’s more to it, the science of mind—
and mind fullness,
the beauty of how the sentience of our experience is framed,
recalled and celebrated.
How it is cherished.
While I’m certain that many people are thinking—“geesh, I’ve heard that already, all that story stuff.”
But for me, this exploration,
it’s not done, and it’s
never
going to be done.
It’s how I listen.
It’s what I ask,
“what is your story?”
“Who are you?”
I’m looking for stories—
how people tell them.
The what of their lives.
Given the power of the experience, and the continuing explorations of storytelling—it doesn’t stop, nor does the relevance subsume in time.
It’s a mythic cycle; it’s a continuing journey; it’s a quest.
And either you, your brand, your cause, has a quest, or it’s merely sitting still, hoping for something to arrive. But in the character of this level of story-told—tale telling—there needs to be a strategy of rippling.
Stories ripple out—but so does the person,
the legends spread, and
finally, the brand itself.
R I P P L E.
Think of a structuring, in exploring the idea of the hybrid marketing of your causal enterprise; what’s at the center, what drives the spirit of the organization; and finally how does each relate? They should be, hopefully, the same—yet more tuned to each level of message. For example: establish a thread message, then tune the levels of that message so they become integrated, yet prismatic of the central thematic intention.
But in this sentiment — it is just that: sense—a causal relationship between the messaging, the imagery and how that might actually feel. Feeling is where memory is stirred, embraced and held in the psychic space of experience. Brand is place. And humanitarian brand development is fundamentally about feeling—emotion, the movement of humankind—are captivated,
magnetized in that sensation.
There is a subconscious attribute to everything we do—how we see, how we are seen, how we present ourselves, the language of our bodies and expressions. So in building any grouping of messages,
creating the foundation of your branding mission—your promise—what drives you,
what drives others
and what drives your organization?
Finally, if there are drivers that empower the character of your brand, the fundamental challenge is about care.
Literally, who does engage, embrace, intertwine?
Who cares?
Knowing your audience, whereby simple interceptions, engagement and deeper research studies will help, it’s really about starting with the one—one person, then another, then a group, then dozens, hundreds, thousands in a larger sense of embrace in exploration.
Moving in, moving deeper, there are approaches for how you examine the patterning of how people connect; and what’s the deeper sensation of your mission. Your mission is merely your promise—they are etymologically reflective. To depth—there’s more; in how the mind works, how people recognize traits, trends, instincts and relationships — and to that, brands. This is where the metaphor—strategically, thence tactically—links to human mind and emotion.
Surely, some people can articulately write their impressions—while others, reaching into the subconscious sensation of experience (and brand, its causal impetus or otherwise) can find a relating to a story and a quest for experience in relevance.
Zaltman, an anthropologist who’s developed a trademark offering – to research, that’s worth exploring. My involvement with Zaltman’s examinations are through our efforts with Procter & Gamble and new product development and innovations. More on that front, here.
And our take, the deep metaphor.
W H A T
D O Y O U
S T A N D F O R ?
Stance.
What is the stance—the standard—of your organization? The concept of standing goes back to the beginning—the notion of the human and the earth; what’s the ground that you stand on, [and the inner standing of understanding: how you stand-in] and more so, to questioning—what do you stand for?
The real point, to comprehending accessibility is the directed level in the way in which people grasp your message. How are your messages arrayed—how simply are they understood? This mapping suggests some exploration—a quick stringing of the levels, and the way, in which communications are nailed down—and expressed to the quick transit of relationship exploration of your brand expressions—in whatever medium they might be manifested.
In which, to all media—the question.
How fast?
C O U L D
Y O U
F E E L
M O R E ?
Feelings.
Impressions.
Touchpoints.
What’s the instinctual way in which people touch you?
How do they gather a sense of your enterprise—in many ways? Are each evaluated?
Are the messages comprehensible—threaded?
Consider the meaning that’s suggested in each of the message—for me, it’s a spherical symbolism. The idea of the messaging structuring will be seen—in scene—and sensed in the idea of a holistic grasp.
Reading, touching, scenting, tasting, hearing, intuition, instinct, balance, memory.
Wholly believable.
Let’s explore some brand developments. What of the idea of trying for a message that really revolves around the logo itself, as a single opening point of messaging? Working with my youngest brother, Matt Girvin, his role at Unicef and the Chinese Ministry of Health we created a symbolic reference to ignite a movement to solving one of the great crises of modern day China.
Iodine deficiency disease.
By the year 2000, through a relatively simplistic campaign of action and populace messaging, we instigated a predominantly visual campaign that could be recognized by everyone, from the lowliest country farmer, to sophisticated urban dwellers. The campaign focused on a “sunny mind” — the metaphor distinctly relating to the challenge of Iodine Deficiency Disease (IDD) — caused by the lack of iodine in the diet creating complications of “cretinism“. The iconic approach to treatment — our simple device — could be read to the leading campaign of educating all Chinese consumers on the notion of appropriately “fortified,” brightened minds.
IDD was eliminated in the year 2000 in China.
1.3 billion people, 6 billion
one kilo bags of salt per year.
One logo.
Examining the concept of simple messaging and structuring communications, working with Richard Gere, and helping to create the Gere Foundation, we focused on delicacy — not pushing too hard; building a subtle layering of messaging, from color, identity, voice, donation structuring, quiet messaging, celebrity messaging, tools to spread the word and explore the artful capture of Gere’s remarkably striking photographic treatments.
Explore, here.
The idea is about softly implicating the character
of the brand positioning, message, call to action,
without aggressively overstating the cause of humanitarian spirit.
This grouping of studies relates to a scenario in which GIRVIN worked
on the creation of a new brand strategy for
Heifer International.
That work ranges from mission and vision development,
a renewed sensation of personality and tactical attributes
(why and how,)
strategic considerations and planning,
new identity and imagery,
as well as naming consulting to the
nature of the newly completed Heifer Village.
PEOPLE
ADMIRE
THE
BRAND:
THEY PARTICIPATE.
Importantly, the idea of treating the messaging premise is one of a holistic nature—thinking of every component as leading back to the promise of the power of that relationship. Given the challenges of the current economic climate, there’s been a shift in the site structuring—and perhaps this approach to offering, literally, the individual
“here’s what you get” premise is more
transactional to get the work done.
Money in. Is that it—all that’s important?
I’d venture no,
to assessment.
More transaction,
less emotion
in humanitarian
brand development
is not the way to go—
this marketing wholly lives in the compassionate
and shared space of bridging incipient and excipient communities.
BRANDQUEST® WORKSHOPPING TEAMS
GIRVIN uses team collaboration in a group of brand colleagues to hold the promise of approach in building out alignment, empowerment, commitment and ownership in the sharing of ideas. This process is called BrandQuest®. We have been evolving this practice for nearly 20 years. The theory is cumulative explorations of emotional and strategic intention, to build on teamwork, and what we call a cumularity of minds.
WHAT OF THE QUEST OF HUMANITY—
AND ANIMAL COMPANIONS?
While our work with Heifer has lasting value, a story
that has emerged in the last several years for GIRVIN’s team of strategists and designers relates to humans and their companions.
Our journey began with a string of Board encounters to build a new naming strategy for Seattle Humane—and then to build this strategic shift into a venture of enormous implications—the building of a new $30M WSU School of Veterinary Medicine | Seattle Humane Alliance facility replacing their old Eastgate headquarters and animal care and shelter facilities. The alliance is significant as an innovation in pet care wellness environments. What’s remarkable about this journey, from our consulting experience, is the key learning about the power of people and their animal companions — and the willingness by high level community leaders to advance vanguard efforts to build an ever-increasing and empowered community of contributors. Hundreds of volunteers dedicate their time to Seattle Humane and, at this point, millions of dollars have been raised in various capitol campaigns to support construction on the facility, which was initiated in 2016, completed in 2018.
That led to identity, collateral systems and website design and programming.
We took that context and framed it out as a string of veterinary vehicle wraps for medical care and transport.
Seattle Humane’s PR team built out the premise of “Animal People Can,”
and the attendant sub sites for the capital campaign for SHS
The alignment between humans, their brands, and the intermingling of their strategies lie too in the layering of experience in synchronizing spiritual leaders with events and contexts in playing out storytelling, exemplars, and teachings in experiential potentials.
We workshopped that too.
This notion of accumulation is founded on the metaphor of clouds, literally: cumulus. By leading, moderating, facilitating and developing this approach to brandstorming, we can create alignments in brand, story and strategy that offers a unique balance between the concept of leadership coaching, marketing, business planning and the messaging and visual outcomes that will create results.
What is the promise that lies in the soul of premise?
Working with the Kirlin founder, Dan Kranzler and a tactical team on the creation of the Seeds of Compassion brand, an inspiration emerged in the session, the foundation of the “seed” metaphor that built the premise of the thinking of the event itself. Workshops are custom designed to dig deep, considering the strategic unfolding of brand, story and messaging.
This notation of spirituality — the power of the human spirit — it goes back to the center, and indeed, the ideas that we explored in the beginning of this overview.
But in some attributes of spiritual dimension, it’s critical to build communications that are “relatable” that is: people, regardless of their spiritual heritage, might be willing to explore the thinking of the organization.
Working with the United Jewish Communities, Girvin created an identity program and messaging structure to support a foundation of Jewish legacy, yet at the same time, reaching to others, as you might note in the current site modeling and message.
In our work with the UJA Federation, a similar communication modeling emerged, in all layers of expression.
But importantly, this expression structure lends itself to a new form —
each level of the site reaches to creating another form of message. Tiering storytelling, brand storytelling as a layering, a labyrinthine exploration of communications to explore, enchant and engage.
Enchantment leads ever inward.
Touch here, and there’s another component of communication, an attractive amalgam of text, photography and emotional negotiation.
Working early on with World Vision, the function of our work was about strategy and intentionality — working into the inside of the organization, at the highest level — then creating an approach that was about direct and immediate outreach at the emotional level. Simple: Sponsor a Child Now. Not loud. But predominant in everything that is communicated.
T E A M I N G
W I T H
G E N I U S
Sometimes the work is of one, then it’s of two, then it’s of a team, teeming with genius.
RAIKES
What, here, is the agency of action?
What agency, found?
$38m, so far, their path of contribution.
There’s been extensive discussion about the idea of the human brand. And Girvin has been focused on this attribute of communication experience and brand management for decades. People are everything. Working with Trish May, Girvin explored strategy, story, positioning and naming support — and packaging — for the founder of the brand. There’s more to
the story, here.
About $2,000,000 more.
Donated.
This human component figures prominently in other references — organizations for which a single leader exemplifies the brand, for example Ken Stuart — suggests a path in which leadership visioning is supported by a team and an organization, to build a path of messaging and visualization that is holistic, even to the point of creating environments.
This branding positioning not only relates to the issues of storytelling in the spirit of science and biomedical research, but as well, the notions of placemaking in explaining the depth of the brand experience strategy. Of course, things change and funding and leadership evolve. SBRI became Seattle BioMed—and with new leadership, is: Center for Infectious Disease Research. That’s not our naming, we named those which came before.
Girvin’s original launch design, for the creation of BioQuest, a key storytelling and presentation experience portal to the overall spirit of the SBRI brand.
This selfsame messaging extends to website, and you’ll note below, the structuring shows an analyses of messaging and imagery to relate to the construct of the framing of the brand strategy and the outcomes.
Here too, the benefits of the cumulative exploration of Girvin’s BrandQuest® methodology in building aligned leadership and community messaging.
Larger scientific initiatives can be more comprehensive in building plans that relate to holistic conjoining of multiple scientific programs, like Duke’s efforts in building one of the most powerful genetic research groups in the world.
That concept of brand unification was envisioned by Dr. Huntington Willard, and Girvin’s team met with a circle of scientists, leaders of various genomic exploration groups, to unite them under the aegis of a single cause, Duke’s Institute for Genome Science & Policy and it’s evolution. Girvin created the master branding document, as well as the opening website launch, campaign and visual materials in the form of collateral.
We stay in touch.
And Kajeet, a brand that we built and workshopped with the founding leadership team, a mobile program, built for kids.
FOR
KIDS.
FOR
GOOD.
Human built for kids.
This conception of positioning assets — in this case, donation-based channeling for the Pacific Northwest — is the fundamental imperative of
The Seattle International Foundation.
In this expression, to visual brand alignment, the modeling of the site components relate conceptually to the logotype of the organization, shifting to varying imagery and messages that relate to the group’s efforts — all based on the circle, the o, the ring portal. Girvin’s team worked directly with the founders, Bill and Paula Clapp, to initiate the strategy of the organization, the identity program and visual components.
Even the concept of story could be considered in the relationship of reviving legacy in the case of historical heritage—in this case, the creation of a website and video series that relates to the significant character of emergency care innovation—
no, the invention of it—in
Seattle’s Harborview Hospital.
I’ve outlined some conclusions below, that suggest a parting shot at the summary of our references in experience. And what could be your experience, in evolving the structuring of your brand, your story, your cause related marketing power, and finally the humanitarian branding initiatives of the future.
Love, finally, is everything.
Who commits to leadership—and why?
Who commits to a relationship—and how?
t i m | GIRVINevada
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BRANDSPIRIT AND THE JOURNEY OF IMAGINATION
WHY BRANDS ARE LOVED:
Girvin strategies of memory +
enchantment = audience engagement