The challenge
Approached by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the question was raised, ‘how do we make the Get Ready Queensland brand resonate better within the community?’ We helped them recognise a number of issues impacting brand resonance including issues within the brand architecture making it hard for audiences to access information quickly and easily, a lack of emotional connection to the imagery being used in campaign material, and a lack of adherence to guidelines when the brand was being used by other organizations.
To answer these challenges, they required a brand refresh. The new brand needed to be built on a strong brand architecture of various sub brands that held relevance and value at a community level; sub brands that could work together as a group and alongside other partner branding, as well as stand alone entities. They also needed the brand refresh to pave the way for a suite of iconography that effectively highlighted and clearly communicated disaster planning steps.
The solution
We began by updating their visual identity, allowing for a more modern look. This new identity promoted a bold design and headline treatment alongside a bright colour pallette to capture the audience’s attention. This look was rolled out to the master namestyle logos as well as those for the sub categories, utilizing a speech bubble to prompt the idea of community conversation.
To accompany this look and feel, we created a set of key messages that sought to establish a unified voice for Get Ready Queensland for all types of disaster preparation, year long.
In establishing the look and feel for the sub categories, we sought to establish a clear brand architecture. To do this, we implemented a colour system to act as signposts for different types of natural disasters when used in collateral. For example, we used red for bushfires, light blue for storms and a dark blue to signify floods. The intention was to create a system that was simple for local councils to implement, and easy and recognisable for community members to identify.
With the brand look and feel established, this enabled us to create the suite of ‘preparedness icons’ they required. These icons connected to the namestyle and subcategories to highlight and further clarify actions the community should take alongside particular disaster events. The icons have features such as an action arrow to show the process of planning, preparing, contacting and more. The intention was for the icons to be customisable to each sub category colour so they are contextual.
Finally we addressed issues with photography not providing enough emotional appeal. Where previously hero photography had focused heavily on damage and disaster; realising that this didn’t resonate with the audience well, we provided a photography architecture for hero images that would do the opposite.
We broke photography into two areas, positive resilience and active emergency. For active emergency, the intention was to use local images that focus firmly on the reality and consequence of an impending natural disaster or weather event. For positive resilience, we recommended images that focus on themes of resilience, community spirit and the positive outcomes of planning, preparation and recovery.
We then built out a comprehensive suite of photography which the Queensland Reconstruction Authority could rely on as a resource for future campaign work across the different sub categories.
Campaign
Launching the new brand, Johnathan Thurston was selected as a brand ambassador. With North Queensland being disaster prone, Thurston was the perfect match, being a local himself. Thurston was used for a multichannel campaign including a TVC for regional media shot in Townsville, and multiple social videos.
The Outcome
The new brand was launched in July 2019, and has received highly positive sentiment. Internally, Queensland Reconstruction Authority is feeling optimistic about future campaigns as a result of the new branding and clear architecture, and anticipate greater community resonance as a result of the new photography choices available to them.
Additionally, the campaign launch saw 600,000+ people reached via online video, with strong engagement on YouTube (42% finished watching videos). This was bolstered by strong recall across TVC, with 57% of research respondents stating they had seen the campaign on TV.