UNIFYING BEHIND A SINGLE PURPOSE

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The challenge:

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ACCION (a leading global microfinance organization) realized its brand practices were interfering with growth and impact.

Key Issues included:

―Considerable brand fragmentation

―Competing sub-brand and naming strategies

―Perceived conflict between B2B vs.B2C audiences and agendas

―Low brand recognition among individual borrowers and competition among its licensed entities

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The approach:

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We quickly realized we needed to unify the organization around One name. One brand. One idea. And, that this idea had to be a clear, aspirational goal everyone in the org. could act on, regardless of where they sat.

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We also found that ACCION (and the category overall) was fettered to a “charity” mentality that was limiting to its innovation and credibility. We spotted a major opening to identify differently-- as “champions” for small business owners vs. lenders, and as creators of opportunity vs. relief for scarcity.

‍Why it worked:

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This shift fundamentally impacted the new design, communications, and experience strategies Creating access to opportunity meant interactions with ACCION had to be empowering and rewarding. New design was warm, optimistic. New messaging focused on people and what they achieved with new resources, support and success. The new voice was welcoming, educational and affirming. Lastly, a new masterbrand brand architecture based on services (vs.geographic sub-brands), drastically simplified interactions with ACCION, significantly widening its impact.

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Owler Hook:
Part of the ACCION opportunity was to tap into the people-oriented, entrepreneurial spirit of the organization's founders and shed the institutional, regulatory trapping it had come to embody. This helped forge common ground between the B2B and B2C sides of the business and most importantly, to connect with individual borrowers (themselves entrepreneurs) as a single brand to champion their resolve and their progress.

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