For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
A global nonprofit organization founded by well-known inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST is dedicated to improving education and interest in science. The company touches the lives of nearly 700,000 kids globally through its robotics programs. Kamen, holder of more than 1000 patents and founder of DEKA Research and Development, set a vision for the organization to “create a world where science and technology are celebrated…where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.”
The identity of FIRST is an excellent example of a grass-roots creation that takes a life of its own through its application. Unlike regimented corporate programs, the company’s symbol is applied freely to just about everything imaginable inside and outside event venues – by FIRST staff, by the thousands of teams and fans, and by the many corporate sponsors and partners contributing time and resources.
Tenet Partners donated its services and talents to helping FIRST create a new logo and signature system that updates its image, solves a range of application issues, and clarifies the structure of the growing nonprofit’s numerous offerings.
Highlighting the real-world value of industry standards
OVERVIEW
The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is an industry-led consortium of consumer electronics, telecommunications, computing and mobile device companies focused on creating seamless interoperability and connectivity for consumers. Looking to drive membership and consumer engagement, the organization brought in Tenet Partners to help.
CHALLENGE
DLNA was having difficulty gaining consumer awareness and visibility. With little articulation of the organization’s vision and value in evidence, an important opportunity to help the industry grow was going largely untapped.
HOW WE HELPED
Given the natural complexities of a member-driven standards group, DLNA’s Board needed help setting a clear course for advancement of the brand and mission. Through a series of facilitated workshops, Tenet unearthed a critical gap in brand positioning, and at the same time established a series of strategic imperatives for brand development including clarification of the DLNA value proposition and helping manufacturers leverage the brand in helping consumers understand the value of interoperability and its impact on the products they buy.
Tenet conducted field work including visits to trade shows and retail stores, along with one-on-one interviews with consumers and industry professionals. We observed pockets of interest in DLNA, but not broad-based enthusiasm among many of the key participants. Explicit support for DLNA was evident in select manufacturers’ communications—LG and Samsung, for example—but by no means all. While other member companies acknowledged support for DLNA, most had little visible presence of the certification in their communications. And the largest challenge was that few people could articulate DLNA’s benefits clearly.
Diving deeper into the challenge, Tenet conducted a global quantitative research study that focused on understanding the issues consumers had expressed during the qualitative interviews. Part of the study tested visual and verbal concepts and assessed the brand equity of the DLNA Certified mark. Building on the resulting insights, Tenet then led a collaborative process to articulate a clear brand strategy, messaging and design approach, and to build consensus with the DLNA membership.
OUTCOME
The program helped DLNA regain momentum as a vehicle for achieving a common objective in delivering a better consumer experience. Key to that success was a deeper level of engagement with all stakeholders to embrace and support the organization and its mission. By June 2015 the organization claimed membership of more than 200 companies, and over 25,000 device models had obtained “DLNA Certified” status.
When Dow decided to incorporate sustainability into its brand strategy as a key competitive element, it turned to Tenet Partners for help. In a project that grew in scope over time, the Tenet and Dow teams collaborated to develop a robust framework to support what Dow is doing today as well as its ongoing sustainability evolution. The result is a fully-evolved set of brands that bring the framework to life.
CHALLENGE
Dow’s sustainability branding strategy went far deeper than putting a sustainability spin on its existing portfolio. Dow chose to tangibly demonstrate its long-term commitment to environmental sustainability by creating a brand architecture around the idea of “Sustainability Science.”
While a vitally important global initiative, this was not to be an overhaul of the existing Dow architecture and identity. The key challenge was to both fit within and complement the existing Dow enterprise brand; the sustainability brands had to be unmistakably “Dow” while also being distinctive.
HOW WE HELPED
The multifaceted project started with brand architecture. In a highly collaborative engagement, the Tenet strategy team took Dow’s ideas as a starting point and developed the concept of “sustainability pillars” under an overarching Sustainability Science umbrella that encompasses all sustainability activities at Dow. Each pillar is dedicated to a specific area of focus: carbon reduction, bio-based materials, recycled content, circular design, biodegradable materials and resource efficiency.
With Dow being a large, matrixed organization, consensus building was crucial. Working closely with Dow, the Tenet team developed a complete sustainability brand architecture, brand platform, pillar descriptors and brand names, messaging, logos and a visual system along with governance planning and implementation, including employee training.
All work was based on qualitative research as well as an extensive verbal and visual audit of Dow and its competitors, including Dow’s corporate sustainability initiatives and reporting around its 2025 and 2050 sustainability goals.
Using these insights along with the existing Dow brand guidelines, Tenet focused on key strategic, verbal and visual opportunities that would enable Sustainability Science to fit seamlessly into the overarching Dow brand while having a life of its own. The nomenclature, messaging, logos and flexible, scalable visual system are consistent with Dow brand guidelines while referencing sustainability benefits.
By uniquely expressing elements already present in the Dow brand such as color, the new system conveys a nature-inspired feel that separates the sustainability brands from Dow’s corporate identity while dovetailing with it – a system within a system. As a result, Sustainability Science enables Dow to both retain the integrity of its core enterprise brand while opening up new pathways for the future.
OUTCOME
With a strong and distinctive sustainability-focused branding approach that is unmistakably “Dow” while carving out its own distinctive niche, Dow is clearly communicating its commitment to the future both verbally and visually. The company is now introducing its sustainability brand and governance across all business units, communication functions and with partner agencies globally in preparation for a global rollout.
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