CDT grabs a piece of the ActionAid identity

A new identity for international development charity ActionAid is to be launched next March. Its name will remain unchanged.

London design consultancy CDT has been appointed to work on the corporate identity, which will reflect the organisation’s Fighting Poverty Together strategy, initiated last year.

The strategy has four main goals, including helping poor people exercise their basic rights and promoting change internationally. The rebranding also aims to communicate the new focus to its supporters, and its staff.

“The rebranding exercise is about policy as well as marketing. We have to make sure our supporters are on-board, that they understand our message and support it wholeheartedly,” explains an ActionAid spokeswoman.

ActionAid wants to encourage its supporters to become more active in their support, rather than just making donations. “We must look at ways to reach more people, by looking at the root causes of poverty and how to make this work for the poor,” she adds.

The cost of the exercise remains confidential, but is within the charity’s allocated budget. The spokeswoman believes the charity is justified in spending the money. “I think everyone recognises that there are costs involved, but you have to argue it on the grounds of being more efficient and more effective, and showing that you can justify that,” she says.

CDT won a four-way credentials pitch to work on the rebranding, which includes a new logo that will be applied across all points of communication.

Blue Frog, a London-based organisation set up three years ago to help charities raise money, but which has since broadened its remit to include communications, is to work on the creation of the ActionAid Communications Toolkit, an internal publication that will communicate the charity’s message to its staff.