Purpose+
Profit=
The JN Foundation engaged me in 2015 to help them develop and execute their 'Equals Campaign' but first, we needed to develop a brand system for their social enterprise (SE) initiative focused on local Jamaican SEs.
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE BOOST INITIATIVE (SEBI) - "
The Jamaica National Foundation (JN Foundation) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI) is specifically designed to create an enabling business environment for social enterprises in Jamaica, and to assist them in transitioning their grant- funded operations into viable, profit-making businesses, which can support their social missions.
The expanded SEBI targets at least ten (15) new social enterprises/entrepreneurs (SEs) while continuing to support an existing 6 social enterprises to improve their capacity to become efficiently run businesses. The SEs will undergo extensive training and business planning, while the pilot SEs will continue to implement their business plans. SEBIs will continue to increase public awareness of social entrepreneurship and promote the SEs in the program."
https://www.miic.gov.jm/msme-initiatives/social-enterprise-boost-initiative-sebi
Learn more here sebijm.com
THE VISUAL LANGUAGE
The nucleus for the visual identity was the phrase "Purpose+Profit=", a prefix to something human and beneficial under the campaign title 'Equals Campaign'. We developed a foundation design for the logo and created variants with different answers such as, "Purpose+Profit= Growth".
Once we developed the logos we followed through we various functional brand assets physical and digital, which included leaflets, a brochure, social media communication, table tops, a presentation, and luncheon invitation, and so forth. Event executions were handled by the SEBIJM team. We also developed a toolkit along with the SEBIJM team, to help with the education approach on what Social Enterprises are, which are often confused with charities and non-profits.
The defining factor of social enterprises is what the profit is used for, but they are supposed to be profitable businesses. As a philosophy, I advise entities with a socially intended benefit, whether they are non-profit or not, to engage in brand design and development once they have a structured business model and management with defined products and services. Too often some of these organizations exist in the hope of our charitable humanity, but tugging on the hearts of us humans is not enough, there has to be a value being offered just like any other business.
The campaign was successful, and as far as I know, quite a few enterprises benefited greatly from the SEBIJM effort.
The assumptions we make about consumers, people... are where we often fail in advertising, and we also confuse brand with advertising. Trying to align to everyone is not a good brand strategy, likewise, trying to speak to everyone is not good advertising.
A proper campaign has an objective and aims to speak to the individual, a target audience is made up of several individuals who must believe you're speaking to them. The brand is a representative of a company's core values and promise, you don't adjust it to fit with trends.
