Kroc Logo backstory:
Without a centralized corporate marketing base, Kroc logos and brands vary across the nation. Many Kroc Centers moved towards the above logo with serif font, prominent shield and identifiable location. Kroc Centers are a part of The Salvation Army proper, but also have their own purpose and identity. With a 100+ year old brand, it is slow-going with defining what Kroc Centers are; both to those in the Army, and external audiences. In general the Shield is associated with disaster relief, red kettle charity, and helping people in crisis. Kroc Centers are designed to grow families preventatively, to help them avoid being in states of crisis.
Challenge:
At the Omaha Kroc Center, our team was tasked with cleaning up the brand communications and messaging. The Omaha Kroc Center is divided into seven departments. Each department provides unique offerings and as such, they require variated marketing support. With so many ideas, messaging and individual goals, the Kroc logo itself became lost in definitive messaging.
Solution:
Because of this, the Department Brand Icons were developed to support and enhance the Kroc Logo. The "family" of icons is a way to compliment and speak to the unique aspects of the Kroc Center and, when used correctly, be a unifying brand foundation, helping to define: "What is a Kroc Center?"
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Department Brand Icon Guidelines
*These brand guidelines were designed to work for all Kroc Centers nationally, and were intended to be shared.
In 2019, the brand icons were given a rolling launch. Areas of high-contact communication were our top priority in the implementation process.
These included:
1. Internal Communications
-Icons were launched in department areas; both print and digital platforms. The icons and color use are strategically designed to attract the attention of members and guests seeking particular information provided by that department.
2. External Communications
-Icons' identification became more prevalent and recognizable in all external messaging. This included all print and digital pieces. Use of Kroc logo proper and icons in tandem was properly defined.
3. Class Schedule
-This is a unique piece that spanned both internal and external audiences. Also, it is one of the only areas where all icons are used together: unifying all Kroc offerings.
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1. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS:
All internal communication pieces reflected the prospective department icon and color. This included permanent signage, bulletin boards, digital monitors and print promos.
Plug 'N' Play templates:
Problem:
With all seven departments and managers, it was a challenge to be able to provide all necessary communication pieces in the moment needed. In addition, all marketing materials needed to be professional, approved and branded cohesively.
Solution:
Working with our managers, we developed a series of "simple signs." Providing these easy-to-manage templates allowed our departments the autonomy needed to make quick communications to internal audiences, while serving Marketing's need for professionally branded signage. The term Plug 'N' Play was developed for training modules given to leadership in description of the ease of using these templates. Managers were still encouraged to submit marketing requests for projects requiring an external audience, ie. selling.
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At times, managers had specific needs for recurring events or activities. Marketing met with managers and leaders who then described their need in detail. If the template's goals were in alignment with Marketing's efforts, a new customizable template would be created.
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In contrast to icons used in branded templates, below is an example of how Marketing used the icons for projects that were to sell to or attract a specific audience. This mini-campaign was a Healthy Aging potluck kick-off event.
2. EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS:
-Icons' identification became more prevalent and recognizable in all external messaging in all print and digital pieces. Use of the Kroc logo proper and icons in tandem was properly defined. For example, if the vehicle of messaging was Kroc Center branded, then the visual ad would not require both the Kroc logo and the department icon, but rather only use of the icon.
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Examples of branded elements in the digital arena.
3. CLASS SCHEDULE:
-This is a unique piece that spanned both internal and external audiences. Also, it is one of the only areas where purposefully all icons are used together: unifying all Kroc offerings.
Class schedules were collections of department offerings published quarterly. The process to collect and disseminate data was arduous. To prevent Marketing from having to complete multiple revisions and manual entry, procedures were developed and offered to the program team such as a bank of class descriptions and a universal xcel to house data efficiently.
The purpose of class schedules was for current members and non-members to browse the specific class offerings at the time. They were printed and offered in-house and also were updated as a downloadable pdf on the website.
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For the implementation of the Department Brand Icons, the class schedule's layout was reworked to reflect our marketing efforts.
RESPONSE TO COVID-19:
Problem:
Due to the nature of the pandemic, the operations of the Kroc Center were constantly in flux. This made programming extremely difficult with covid restrictions and safety precautions. As the building was phasing into reintroducing classes, the traditional Class Schedule was too robust an option for communications. Managers needed a solution where they could make edits as quickly as changes happened, and Kroc Members needed the familiarity of having a correct class schedule to make class selections.
Solution:
Marketing developed "Mini Class Offerings" per department. These were department icon branded templates built in Publisher that managers could update as they needed. Legal size, these "one-sheeters" were more accommodating to the limited class offerings. Once a change was made, the new document would be sent to Marketing to print and upload online to meet the need for members and guests.
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This is the Mini Class Schedule for Youth & Education.
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Here is an area on the Kroc website, where the most up-to-date Mini-schedules would be available; providing members and guests what they were used to having.
