PPR’s awareness campaign for Louisiana Delta Service Corps is drawing near the climax, but we’re still dealing with issues that should have been resolved at the beginning of the semester. For example, we hope to have a definite logo by this evening. We presented more than five logo choices throughout the semester, but none were chosen. This week, we redesigned and sent the director, Betsy Irvine, four more options. Without an answer from her, we fear we may be forced to choose the logo for the organization and add it to all printing materials.
Currently, LDSC has been using AmeriCorps‘, its parent organization, logo on paperwork and the official website. There is not necessarily anything “wrong” with using a modified logo from a parent organization, but in many ways, a logo is usually the initial- often the only- visual communication audience members may be subjected to. So, having a distinct, recognizable logo is important in reshaping the image of an organization that is supposedly, and unfortunately, “the best kept secret.”
I think a new logo is imperative for this campaign and the organization to have good success– success that surpasses simply gaining X number of new volunteers but can also help to sustain the future goals and needs of a federally funded program. Using the AmeriCorps logo takes away from the credibility of LDSC; it makes our client seem like a new, unstable organization that is attempting to find its way in the nonprofit sector. LDSC certainly is not that character, though. The organization has been operating for more than 20 years and has a membership base of more than a thousand. The executive board is unknowingly suffocating the organization and its potential. The public has nothing to explicitly connect to the organization itself; everything is a hand-me-down. This may be one reason why much of LDSC’s attention and success is credited toward other organizations and programs.
If you want to stand out and be an independent organization, why would you assume the identity and brand of another program? If having the same identity as another business is that pertinent, there should be a merge between the two organizations. What’s the point in having identical organizations with identical purposes? The executives may not be aware of the issues behind a simple logo, but we (the PR team) do and thereby have a responsibility to act in the best interests of our clients– whether they see it that way or not. We have to make decisions that others cannot.
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