Brand by Me case study: Ambitious about Autism

Ambitious about Autism: Helping #TeamAmbitious build a brand to meet their ambition
“I knew I needed someone I could call on with brand expertise, practical hands on experience and understanding of what it means to move at pace. I called in the cavalry otherwise known as ‘Brand by Me’”
John Trampleasure, Director of Fundraising, External Affairs & Strategy, Ambitious about Autism
What was the problem?
Ambitious about Autism is a great charity. They work with children and young people with autism, to help them learn, thrive and live their potential. But more recently, there was a sense within the charity that their positioning and purpose had become diluted over time due to rapid growth. While staff were as passionate as ever about the great work of the organisation, the strategy had become lost in the day to day activity. It was time to act before the charity entered the next phase of its vital and ambitious work with children and young people with autism.
What was required from Brand by Me?
Ambitious about Autism asked me to help them create a brand strategy that would help define a clear positioning for the organisation and inspire and drive integrated activity across everything they did.
What was Brand by Me’s solution?
Over the years, Ambitious about Autism had received a lot of branding but no real brand. So it was clear that they needed a strong brand framework to help the organisation understand and embed their strategic priorities. However time was of the essence as we only had about 6 weeks. And frankly, the organisation was a bit daunted by the prospect of “yet another brand process”. So my approach needed to be simple, speedy and really collaborative to help them succeed.
I broke the project down into 3 phases, designed to create the insight and content needed to build a strong brand.
Phase 1 – A thorough brand review and audit
I reviewed the existing brand and strategy documents as well as recent donor research and conducted in-depth interviews with staff, agencies and partners.
These provided insight on the current brand and also gave staff the opportunity to feed into the work from an early stage. I shared these findings with the leadership team – posing questions, challenges and opportunities to shape the next phases of the brand work.
Phase 2 – A collaborative co-creation process
I ran a series of interactive and creative workshops with staff from across the organisation to develop the purpose and brand personality. We then used these elements of the brand to refine the existing vision and values. These collaborative workshops allowed us to test the new brand framework, making sure it would work across the organisation.
Phase 3: A hands on brand planning approach
Once we had the draft brand framework, I ran mini brainstorms with teams across the organisation (fundraising, communications, campaigns, service delivery and HR). These helped us get further feedback on the new brand framework, and develop a practical action plan for each team to take forward.
What was the result of our work together?
Ambitious about Autism now have a motivating and simple brand framework to help them bring to life the ambition that’s in their name. Working in an integrated way across the organisation meant that we created champions in different teams. These champions will now share the responsibility of making the brand real both inside and outside the charity. And finally, the inspiring and practical action plan will help them lead with purpose and build the brand through day to day activity. This will make sure that they continue to make the ordinary possible for children and young people with autism for years to come.
The impact of their new brand positioning – in the words of #TeamAmbitious
John Trampleasure, Director of Fundraising, External Affairs & Strategy, Ambitious about Autism
“I joined Ambitious about Autism to establish a new role that ‘joined up’ the fundraising, external affairs, media and marketing. At the same time we started work on a new three year strategy. A review of the organisation’s brand positioning was the obvious place to start for me and the charity.
In quick order Collette worked with me to shape the brief, a fast timetable and a process to engage the whole organisation. The job was completed to time and with the engagement of staff at all levels and across all disciplines, along with trustees and beneficiaries. We produced a fabulous end product that passed every sense check in the organisation and played back a winning vision, mission, purpose and personality for immediate implementation. Result!
The key ingredients for success were Collette’s expertise, her direct approach to wringing value out of discussions and highly pragmatic approach to getting the job done.”
Charlotte Lore, Head of Digital, Media and Marketing, Ambitious about Autism
“With tight timescales, we were looking for a highly practical and tailored solution which would bring our brand positioning to life and devise a clear action plan for moving it forward. Collette ensured we remained focussed throughout and maximised every opportunity for stakeholder engagement (internal and external) to inform the development process. She was a pleasure to work with and has delivered a strong brand framework for us to take forward as we develop our three year strategy.”