Connections that cut carbon
“A world of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with greater prosperity for all”. That’s the goal of the Climate Group, one of the world’s leading brands in the battle to halt climate change.
The Climate Group isn’t a grassroots organisation. It works directly with business and government leaders, using its networking power to spark action that drives real progress. And it does this via dozens of sub-brands and initiatives, all with their own focus and specialities.
We were asked to refresh the Climate Group brand. The executive team wanted to increase the brand’s association with the word “climate”, and to cement the organisation’s standing as a leading force in its space.
Following a period of rapid growth, the Climate Group also needed help articulating its work, and how its diverse sub-brands worked together in service of its mission.
We wanted help in understanding how we could more clearly articulate our vision, mission and USPs, without losing the strength of the identities established by our initiatives. Human After All were really great in helping us to navigate through that process.
A stronger, united brand architecture
We could see that the Climate Group master brand was at risk of being lost among its peers. The many sub-brands all had individual character, but there was nothing tying them all together. There was a lack of unity to the brand architecture, and this was fuelling a lack of harmony within the organisation as a whole.
And as we surveyed and spoke to people working throughout the Climate Group, it became clear that some people lacked faith in the master brand. They felt it was too timid to lead the more independent initiatives.
With input from leaders from across the Climate Group, we carefully reorganised its brand architecture. At its center was a revamped and revitalised master brand: the monolithic heart of the Climate Group’s brand identity, informing all the sub-brands that exist around it, and empowering them.
The power of shared purpose
Through workshops and interviews we gathered insights from more than 70 different employees, pulling apart the old brand and exploring the values, USPs and personality traits of the Climate Group — everything that makes the organisation what it is.
We used this information to create a purpose statement for the Climate Group, a declaration that distilled its reason to exist into just five words: “To drive climate action. Fast.” This statement became the focal point for all of our design work, guiding our creative as we reworked the visual identity.
Our research also informed an entirely new Tone of Voice for the Climate Group, channeling a personality that was bold and driven, but also trusted and practical.
Simple guidelines made it easy for international teams to wield this new voice, with principles that could be easily translated into any language.
The mark that makes the brand
The climate symbol is the defining mark of the Climate Group’s new identity. Just as the parent brand sits at the core of the revised architecture, this symbol is the recurring element that threads together every sub-brand and program.
Our creative process transformed the existing symbol into the key element of the Climate Group’s visual language. We also developed a series of animated behaviours to help bring the mark to life, inspired by three traits that characterise the Climate Group’s work: Collaboration, Scale and Speed.
Close collaboration, global partners
When your organisation is as large as the Climate Group, a rebrand is a major undertaking that involves many decision-makers. From day one, we strove to develop a close relationship with our client, helping to guide stakeholders through every stage of the process.
As part of our discovery process, we conducted one-to-one interviews with senior figures from Climate Group initiatives across the globe. This helped us develop a partnership based on mutual understanding — setting the foundations of our work together, and ensuring that everyone stayed aligned as the project progressed.
Working with Human After All has been an absolute delight. We now have a really clear articulation of who we are and how our initiatives work towards our overarching goals.
A brand built to lead climate action
The Climate Group’s new branding gives it a bold visual and verbal identity. Under the reworked brand architecture, individual initiatives still have room to shine, but now they link back to the distinctive strength of the master brand.
All of this has changed how the Climate Group is seen and how it talks about itself. In turn, this paves the way for more of the conversations that really matter: with the world’s leaders in business and government, taking place everywhere from clean tech summits to Climate Week 2020, and beyond.
Want to know more? Our Creative Director Craig Lewisohn spoke to It's Nice That to discuss the creative process behind the Climate Group rebrand.
