Citizen Advocates is the leading behavioral health and developmental disabilities service provider in upstate New York. While it has always had a presence in its communities, it was that of a quiet, invisible giant rather than the vocal, visible, cutting-edge leader in holistic community healthcare that it is. The organization had also evolved over time and management felt its then-current brand identity didn’t accurately reflect its goals, values and aspirations. There was also confusion in the marketplace about Citizen Advocates due to some murky branding in the past and historic usage of alternate names for the organization.
Through our discovery process, involving research, interviews with key stakeholders, competitive landscape review, critical analysis and more, we immersed ourselves in Citizen Advocates’ world. But, as with all of our rebrands, this did not happen in a vacuum. Working hand-in-hand with the Citizen Advocates’ team, we identified the goals of the rebrand (which were used to establish baseline information and develop metrics to measure against) and analyzed the organization’s focus, core offerings, ideal customers, culture, values and points of differentiation. What we found was an organization that provides its communities access to a full spectrum of health and lifestyle care, with innovative, industry-leading services and programs designed around person-centered practices that support and celebrate each individual’s choices—in short, an organization that perseveres with courage and optimism to uplift its communities.
As with all of our rebrands, from the conclusions derived from this process, we developed the organization’s brand personality, brand positioning, brand essence and brand promise, all of which then drove messaging, brand identity and collateral (i.e. logo, website, sales materials, etc.), communication plans and marketing campaigns. The result was the creation of a singular, consistent and bold brand identity that reflects the person-centered approach of Citizen Advocates and its commitment to making a positive difference in the life of any individual that needs help along their unique road to health, independence and fulfillment.
From there, we rebuilt their outdated and rather dysfunctional website to be easier to navigate, have more relevant content and functionality and be ADA compliant within the confines of their bold new brand. Developed in record time and being the first piece of collateral that reflects the rebrand, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from both internal and external users. Since launching their new site Citizen Advocates has seen an almost 30% increase in users on their website as well as a 20% decrease in their bounce rate. This means more people are finding their content and spending more time on their site than ever before.
