A troubling story in the Ottawa Citizen this morning tells of how a group of volunteers with the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation building a memorial to cancer survivors in this city had to change their plans. The reason, pressure from — of all groups — the Canadian Cancer Society. It seems the designers of the park had planned to decorate the park with large metal daffodils. The Canadian Cancer Society folks objected, claiming the daffodils would infringe on their trademarked logo. Big mistake. Like so many other organizations, the Society confused protecting a logo with building a brand. The resulting media coverage (”Dispute over cancer logo ‘ridiculous’”) did nothing for the logo, of course, but plenty to erode the brand.
The mistake here is a classic. Organizations think their logo is equivalent to their brand. The two, in fact, are only somewhat related. Logos are shapes and lines and colours. They’re shortcuts that, when they work, allow us to access our feelings about, and knowledge of an organization quickly. A brand, on the other hand, is the sum of all those feelings and all that knowledge. Brands exist in each of our minds and a logo helps us connect to the brand quickly. Flags and religious symbols work in much the same way. They evoke the understanding and sentiment we have accumulated.
Brands then, are much more complex than logos and, in the long run, infinitely more important. The best shortcut to a troubling destination is of not much use to anyone. As I tell my clients, especially those with a keen interest in changing their logo so as to improve their brand, there are four elements which together contribute to the formation of a brand in the audience’s mind:
- What the organization says about itself (its website, ads, flyers, speeches, etc.)
- The actual experience people have with the organization (”Nice new logo, Air Canada, but the plane is still 3 hours late!”)
- What others say about the organization (buzz, word of mouth and, of course, media coverage)
- And, finally, the logo (along with a name and maybe a slogan) that is meant to bring all of these elements together in a hurry.
So, the Canadian Cancer Society wants to protect the integrity — the unique meaning — of its logo. In principle, this is a smart thing to do. Avoiding “brand confusion” in a cluttered and competitive fundraising environment is a noble and necessary endeavour.
But here’s the problem: avoiding confusion comes at the price of negative media coverage and, I suspect, all of the word of mouth that will follow. All of which might just mean that potential donors won’t be confused at all next time they see an appeal letter with yellow daffodils at the top. They’ll remember that this is the big national charity that somehow got in the way of a memorial park in their city. Then they’ll decide whether to give.
To their credit, the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation took the high road on this. CEO Linda Regan is quoted as saying simply: “It belongs to them.” They’ve agreed to use different coloured flowers instead, to the chagrin of some volunteers.
Bottom line? It’s one thing for a charity to create a logo that looks like the Canadian Cancer Foundation’s logo and attempt to use that logo on fundraising material. That is worth fighting for. It’s quite another for some oversized metal daffodils to appear in a 4.5 acre park with dozens of different plants, plaques and sculptures. The Canadian Cancer Society does vitally important work on behalf of millions of Canadians and now, sadly, will have to work a little bit harder to repair its brand in this region.
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