Tell it like it is

Tell it like it is

“Use of arms to hold an object close to one’s body,” describes a hug. And
Oncology Children’s Foundation describes the Kid’s Cancer Project. Somewhat.

The charity did six months of research to find out that Oncology Children’s Foundation wasn’t working for them. 

“No one knows what we do or why it’s important,” had been keeping chief executive officer, Pete Nielsen awake at night.

Enter Core Sydney. Core’s motto is, “solving the problems that keep marketing directors awake at night.”

There are more than 10,000 charities in Australia, all of them worthy of support. Core Sydney’s creative director, Christian Finucane, grasped the problem immediately. The challenge for the Oncology Children’s Foundation was to grow an active donor base, and enlist those supporters to spread the word. “That’s hard to do when nobody really understands what oncology means unless he or she has been touched by it.”’

Its branding had to communicate what it did and why it did it a whole lot better.  It had to tell it like it is.

Core figured that if you have the most powerful juxtaposition in the universe, use it. Kids + cancer tells it like it is. And there isn’t a human on the planet who isn’t stirred by how it is.

So Core changed the charity’s name from the Oncology Children’s Foundation to The Kids’ Cancer Project, and developed an identity that better captures their work and how they do it.

“The new name clearly articulates the charity’s single mission,” Finucane realises. And touches hearts, which opens pockets. Open pockets are enabling the project to continue to do what it does. What it does works. In just 50 years, medical research has increased cancer survival rates from 2 percent to 80 percent. 

Because employees have hearts, the new name also ignited the charity’s employees.

“Core’s new identity for the charity transformed the brand from one that leveraged the negative of cancer, to one that promotes a positive, optimistic and forward-focussed vision,” Finucane explains. “The molecular design communicates the charity’s belief in science as the answer and is also an interpretation of how it brings together the best research brains from around the world to become part of its project teams.”

Results were rapid. The new mood of drive and professionalism opened new doors immediately (including a corporate sponsorship from one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world).

The dollars have already begun to pour in.

Moral of the story, if you have something to say, just say it.

[Core Sydney creative directors, Christian Finucane (also art director) and Jon Skinner (also copywriter). Designer, Anthony Jones. Head of strategy, Justin Gurney]