Zoe’s Place

How Zoe’s Place introduced a brand refresh that reflected the charity’s vision and values and won the hearts and minds of colleagues.

Overview

Zoe’s Place is one of the only baby hospices in the UK, offering support to babies and infants as well as their families. To help raise the charity’s profile, 44 worked with Zoe’s Place as a trusted partner to gather insight about the existing brand and ideas for the future of the brand.

Our comms specialists undertook focus group workshops and one-to-one interviews across three locations involving parents of poorly children, clinical staff, professionals and volunteers. Working with the senior leadership team and trustees, we reflected on feedback and explored options, refining the creative until we arrived at a preferred choice that supported the charity’s purpose, vision and values.

“One of the things that impressed me about working with 44 was the amount of time they were willing to invest in getting to really understand the charity, what it was we were trying to achieve with the brand and what the challenges were.”

Annabel Arkless, Director of Income Generation & Marketing, Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice

The solution

Considering all the feedback, we created a clear purpose statement and narrative that formed the foundation for us to build the brand on. We delivered a refresh of the current brand so that it was consistent, professional and provided clarity. This was launched internally and externally with supporting resources and guidance on its application. Our research showed that Zoe’s Place lacked a clear purpose statement that connected colleagues, families, and donors together. Whilst everyone was passionate about what they did and the work of the charity, there was no clear statement of ‘why’.

The creative

Working with the management team and trustees, we shaped a new purpose statement that underpinned a comprehensive new brand including adaptations of the logo and a review of fonts and colour palette. As part of the brand, we developed a new mascot, building on the historic bear to bring it up to date and give Zoe’s Place a personality that can work across a wide range of purposes.

Sitting alongside, we designed a selection of assets and templates to carry the new branding into all areas of the business, including business cards, letterheads, vehicle decals and clothing design.

The story behind the project

We caught up with Annabel Arkless, Director of Income Generation & Marketing at Zoe’s Place, to hear her thoughts on working with 44, the challenges on the project and the growing sense of pride amongst colleagues following the rebrand…

What was your challenge?

For us, the challenge was a really disunified brand. We had a low level of identity across our visuals and brand. We wanted the brand to be unifying across all sites – to create a strong identity and that sense of one charity. We also knew that for our cause to be heard, we had to be clear with the core messaging of who we are and what it is we do, so it was suitable for replication across the three sites.

What made 44 stand out was the amount of time you wanted to put into the early-stage processes.

What convinced you that 44 was the right option?

I knew I needed to bring in specialist agency help. What made 44 stand out was the amount of time you wanted to put into the early-stage processes. In getting to understand us, as a client. You spent time getting to know the charity and our stakeholders, which shows that you recognised the complexities involved in such a project.

How did you feel working with 44?

Upon meeting the team, 44 was a real mix of right price and right dynamics, picking up on the areas that we wanted to focus on and reflecting that back to us. You understood what we were trying to achieve and that our people were a key part of the brand identity. It felt like you were really investing yourselves in us. Actually visiting the sites and listening to people was really beneficial.

What has the impact of the work been so far? What do you hope it will be?

You’ve helped us to shape our sense of identity and have created a brand that works on multiple levels. It’s part of that cultural shift that we’re looking for, which is so difficult to achieve. The day when the collateral arrived, and people saw the letterheads, business cards and t-shirts, was monumental in terms of growing a sense of pride. For the fundraising team, there’s now that relief that they’re getting the tools they need to do the job.

You’ve helped us to shape our sense of identity and have created a brand that works on multiple levels.

Any feedback from colleagues you can share with us?

One of my colleagues said to me: “It wasn’t until we had the session with 44 that I realised how different each hospice was, because I never really looked at the other hospices. I now know how important it is that we look and feel united.”