Posted by Laura Spear, Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator, Zone 32

A couple of weeks ago, my Rotary club co-sponsored a service project/fundraiser with another Rotary club and a partnering nonprofit. The event was held outside on a beautiful day. Our club had a shiny pull-up banner featuring members as People of Action, involved in numerous service projects. Across the back tent poles, we hung a banner with our club logo, created in Brand Center, and the official Rotary Azure leadership color for the background. We handed out printed versions of our brochure, which also featured members at service projects and was created in Brand Center......

The other Rotary club also had a shiny new pull-up banner that was obviously created by a professional designer. It featured the old blue and yellow Rotary wheel--the same wheel that was retired in 2012--and a pale yellow and blue background with abstract imagery. My first thought was that the designer must have done a Google search for Rotary and found the blue and yellow logo. No one from the club provided the appropriate guidance. Why does this even matter?

 

 

 

Even though our Rotary booths were close to each other, it looked like they were for two different organizations. We would have had a more powerful impact with greater awareness for Rotary if we had used the same logo, the same color of blue, similar imagery, and the same messaging that Rotarians are People of Action.

Organizations call this branding. Branding is a way to get non-Rotarians to know us. It creates an identity for Rotary and sets us apart from other service organizations. You don’t have to be a professional designer to create a logo for your club. You don’t have to know what the differences among RGB, CMYK, Hex, and PMS are or what a Frutiger or Sentinel font is. If you have design knowledge and experience, all of that information is available in the Brand Center.

However, Brand Center also has easy-to-use templates for the novice user. You can create your own club logo, club brochure, and People of Action Facebook banners and images without having any design experience at all. You can create a club logo that includes partnering organizations, Rotarian Action Groups, Rotary Fellowships, and more. (The technical term is a logo lockup!) Find the official logos for Interact and Rotaract clubs. You can also find guidelines and tips that you can share with professional designers. You can even download videos to use at your events and meetings.

One more thing… use Google to search on your Rotary club’s name. See what shows up, especially when you click on Images. Does your club reflect Rotary’s distinct character? Is there something that needs to be updated?

Here is an interesting article about branding https://kaizenbarry.medium.com/when-should-a-company-change-their-logo-30b614b660e0

Visit brandcenter.rotary.org  today to learn more. Bookmark it, and login with your rotary.org credentials. Every member is a brand ambassador for Rotary, and through a consistent look and feel and consistent messaging, we can strengthen our brand and help us engage and attract more members, donors, and partners.