The US Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business organisation, representing companies of all sizes across every sector of the economy. Members range from small business and local commerce to leading industry associations and large corporations.
For over 100 years The Chamber has been the voice of business in Washington, across America, and around the world. The Chamber advocates for pro-business policies that help create jobs and grow the economy.
The Chamber’s Global Innovation Policy Center works around the world to champion innovation and creativity through intellectual property standards that create jobs, save lives, advance global economic and cultural prosperity, and generate breakthrough solutions to global challenges. Safeguarding IP supports domestic innovators and creators, attracts world-leading research and development, and creates and sustains high-quality future jobs.
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lcdc.co became involved with The Chamber on a project basis from 2016. The opportunity presented from the previous successful of corporate branding partnership with a colleague now employed with The Chamber.
All engagement for this series was managed through global headquarters in Washington and briefings, meetings and reviews were conducted online, via virtual platforms.
The partnership concluded at the end of this series when ownership of ongoing work was accepted by The Chamber’s internal design and communications department.
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The US Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest industry association, located in a prominent position in Washington, opposite the White House. It is influential in US politics and with policy making across the world.
The Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) is a key division of the Chamber, representing companies that have Intellectual Property (IP) issues such as pharmaceutical companies, Hollywood film studios, major trademark companies, some of the world’s biggest companies, including GE, Microsoft, and IBM, and some of America’s biggest sports leagues such as the NFL, and NBA.
The GIPC engaged us to set the strategy for a complete overhaul of its branding, marketing, and communications. The key challenge was that the strength of the GIPC brand was derived from the Chamber; a conservative image of red, white and blue. However, the GIPC would benefit from more innovative brand communications—considering members are making blockbuster movies, finding cures for disease, revolutionising our world with new technology.
This was a brief in which we leveraged brand storytelling and archetypes in order to create a powerful brand identity for the GIPC, reframing dry policy positions into meaningful messages—better aligning the brand with its member organisations, and delivering cut-through messages that better articulate why Intellectual Property rights really matter.
The GIPC have a broad range of audiences globally. By developing the GIPC’s brand imagery strategy through an archetypal lens, we were able to build more effective pathways for these various audiences to understand the brand message and character. This provided a foundation for building the appropriate brand associations, and facilitating more authentic human connections.
Defined as universal, archaic symbols and images that derive from the collective unconscious, as proposed by Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. They are the psychic counterpart of instinct.
We immersed ourselves in the world of Washington DC policymaking to understand the GIPC point of view, before zooming back and considering their role in a broader global context – what do IP rights offer humanity? What does IP mean in our human story?
We outlined six key paradigm shifts that would shape the GIPC’s brand communication strategy. Shifting the brand image from protectionist to opportunity creator, shaking off the rigidity of an old institution to ultimately rebrand as an Innovation Center that works not just for its members but for all of humankind.
Fairness creates opportunity
For some audiences The Chamber represents “crony capitalism”, which describes an unfair system.
Intellectual property is about the pursuit of fairness.
Portray through imagery how a fair system creates opportunity.
Adaptable and change-seeking
The brand appears dated and institutional in comparison to the innovative and dynamic brands it represents.
Policy itself is dynamic
and innovative.
Visually place the GIPC at the core of the innovation world.
Leading the innovation concept
It’s easy to lose audiences in the complex detail of what the GIPC are advocating for.
The GIPC’s ‘big picture’ messages are resonant and aspirational across audiences.
Use imagery to bring humanistic aspirations of innovation to the forefront.
Altruistic motivations
Some aspect of intellectual property rights are opposed by other special interest groups who see things differently.
The existence of the IP concept has enabled a system which has driven a fundamentally human agenda.
Amplify the role of intellectual property rights in doing good for humankind.
Making human connections
The GIPC has many different audiences to message.
The commonality is that all audiences are human.
Make small human connections in visual communication.
Working for the common good
Intellectual Property rights are perceived as being of value to big businesses only.
Intellectual Property encourages innovation that delivers solutions to global challenges.
Demonstrate how Intellectual Property is of value to the everyday person.
We presented 3 alternative creative territories from which to develop the GIPC’s brand identity and communications touchpoints.
Each territory was differentiated through archetypal characters. This ultimately posed the GIPC with the key question – which type of character do they see themselves as in this great story of Innovation.
Primary Archetype:
The Magician wants to make dreams come true through knowledge of the fundamental laws of how the world works. In addition to a white rabbit, the Magician pulls brands that are transformative, have a spiritual or psychological component, or help to expand consciousness.
Secondary Archetype:
The Everyman wants only to belong and fit in and desires to connect with others. The mark of the Everyman is prominent on brands with a down-home culture, that create things used in everyday life, and that help people feel that they, too, belong.
Primary Archetype:
The Creator’s core desire is to create something of enduring value and give form to a vision. Brands that encourage self-expression; provide choices and options; help foster innovation; or are artistic or creative in design embody the Creator archetype.
Secondary Archetype:
One word: Control. The Ruler wants to create a prosperous and successful family, company, or community. Brands that enhance or promote power, help people become and stay organised,
or promise safety and stability in a chaotic world are easily identified as Ruler archetypes.
Primary Archetype:
Guided by the discovery of truth, the Sage uses intelligence and analysis to understand the world. Look at brands that provide expertise or information and that encourage people to think and you will see the Sage at work.
Secondary Archetype:
The Hero strives to prove worth through courageous and difficult action and to exert mastery in a way that improves the world. Look behind that flowing cape to find brands that help people perform at their best, address a major social problem, and incite people to take action.
With our brand strategy approved and a creative territory selected, lcdc.co was again engaged to facilitate execution.
A change to the organisation’s name kickstarted implementation of the strategy. GIPC’s policy-related work is invaluable to their members. It is this work that protects innovation and given it’s importance, the decision was made for the organisation to be referenced as The Global Innovation Policy Center.
A name change offered the opportunity to refresh GIPC’s logo. However senior decision makers were concerned that an entirely new brandmark might result in loss of awareness, so we moved forward with a refresh of the existing mark.
The overly confused layout of the original felt as if it was in fact two separate logos stitched together. To remedy this, we moved to a fully horizontal hierarchy. A clean, simple san-serif typeface allowed us to modernise, presenting the image of a business that plays in the innovation space.
Utilising the strategy’s chosen creative territory as a framework, we then began conceptual development of guidelines for the new GIPC visual identity, to be delivered in the form of a style guide. In addition to a full colour palette, type library and custom illustrations the guide provides a one-stop-shop to assist The Chamber in their quest to visually represent the Global Innovation Policy Center.
Once completed, we successfully validated the guidelines by using them as to build a for a full range of business templates, brand assets and communications materials.
