Citizens Union is New York City’s oldest good government watchdog. Over 117 years of operation this organization has become a formidable force when it comes to protecting democracy for all New Yorkers. Unfortunately while lawmakers know Citizens Union all too well from its activity at City Hall, most New Yorkers are unfamiliar with the organization fighting on their behalf. In today’s political climate, with civic participation at an all time low, the work of Citizens Union has become more important and more difficult than ever.

Citizens Union wanted this to change. Our focus was to reposition the organization to reach its audience in the 21st Century. During this project we created a new brand strategy, visual identity, and brand voice for Citizens Union. I was the lead strategist on the project, which meant I was in charge of research, strategy development, and client management. 

The research combined a landscape analysis with internal stakeholder insights to decipher competitive advantages and better position Citizens Union in a crowded sector, while still honoring existing audiences. For the landscape analysis we examined many other comparable civic, advocacy, and civil liberties organizations. This in-depth review enabled us to highlight where the CU brand and messaging were presently located and recommend a future position that was both advantageous and actually possible. Stakeholder interviews and workshops with the advocates and board members provided much detail about the organization's culture and illuminated the strategic path for change. 

We designed the brand pillars to set a foundation that would express the legacy and reputation of Citizens Union, while opening up in new ways to foster greater participation. We rounded out the identity with a third pillar grounded in the tradition of integrity and honesty. As the core of the brand the three pillars guided the positioning statement, brand promise, attributes, and eventually the voice and tone. 

Working with a copywriter we created messaging guidelines that put this strategy into practice. These guidelines aimed to give the organization a voice that was more accessible to the majority of New Yorkers. Through strategic planning they had already identified their priority audiences, which were legal minds and highly educated New Yorkers who followed legislative processes at the local and state level. However, we encouraged them to be even broader in their messaging, since a message that reached the general public would also  be heard loud and clear by those well versed in policy and legalese.

 There were many internal stakeholders influential to the project. While design by committee can often be a sure fire way to draw out the length of a project and get a mediocre product, we found a way to incorporate the many important voices in the process. We provided several additional presentations at key moments, while still allowing the designers to do their best work. These helped give everyone within the organization a forum to share ideas and the space to build consensus, so that they would be champions for the final product.

It was an honor to work with such an important organization to the city. The new brand messaging and visual identity was successful because it drew from the richness of Citizen Union's history.