The RSPB is planning to spend £1.5m on a reboot and “reimagining” of its brand, along with a new campaign.
The conservation charity has partnered with the creative brand consultancy ASHA & Co to redesign its brand identity and messaging, and with the creative group Lovers for a new brand reappraisal campaign.
Work on the new branding started in 2021 as part of the launch of charity’s 2030 strategy.
The branding, featuring a modernised version of the RSPB’s Avocet logo, aims to “communicate the scale and depth of the charity’s work, enabling it to speak with passion, understanding, hope and urgency”, the charity said.
The logo was designed free of charge and the charity plans to invest about £1.5m in the implementation of the new branding and associated campaigns, an RSPB spokesperson said.
This is equivalent to less than 1 per cent of the charity’s annual income, they added.
Ceri Dunne, head of strategy, knowledge and innovation at the RSPB, said: “We are proud and excited by our brand update.
“Working with ASHA & Co we took the time to understand how people perceive us and engage with the RSPB right now. We found that we needed to work even harder at demonstrating that we are an organisation focused on impact for nature during a nature and climate crisis.”
She added: “We retained our USP of birds and through that demonstrate that we take action for nature with a bird’s-eye view.
“The strength of our brand platform is that it gives us the confidence to be the brand that speaks with passion, understanding, trust, hope and urgency.”
The RSPB also launched a video-first brand reappraisal campaign produced by Lovers, which revolves around the charity’s new message: “Nature is in crisis. Together we can save it.”
Paul Birmingham, head of brand at the RSPB, said: “It was always going to be challenging to compress our newly updated brand message into 30 seconds, but Lovers helped us navigate that beautifully.
“What we have is a campaign that emphasises action for nature needing to come from people, expressed in a way that doesn’t point any fingers or make anyone feel told off.”
He added: “That positivity and hope are crucial. We need to energise people, not spread despair.”