GMMB Response to Washington State Department of Enterprise Services Competitive Solicitation No. 20422 – Category 2
Contact: Janet Goss, Janet.Goss@gmmb.com
3.2 Rebranding Package: American Institutes for Research (AIR)
As the American Institutes for Research approached its 75th anniversary, they identified a brand challenge. Their work had evolved beyond traditional research in education to an expanded set of issue areas and methods, but relative to many of their peers they had an outdated brand identity that didn’t reflect their sophistication or mission-focus. AIR engaged GMMB to update its brand identity and assist with rolling it out to internal and external audiences. GMMB developed a new positioning, brand platform, and voice and visual identity, branded assets and style guide, and a roll out plan for the new brand.
Brand Summit
GMMB hosted a brand summit with AIR leadership and staff to share insights we found through our discovery process. The summit included exercises to learn more about the brand positioning.
Logo Iterations
Drawing from the insights gleaned from the Brand Summit GMMB created multiple logo iterations. We worked with Jesse Ragan on a bespoke logotype that draws on the previous logotype font, Garamond. By making the letterforms bolder and more geometric while adding a bit of softness to the serifs, the new letterforms convey AIR’s friendly, scholarly personality.
Brand Guidelines and Identity Standards
GMMB created a brand style guide for use by AIR staff to ensure the new messaging and brand visual identity are consistent across all collateral, both internally and externally. The style guide contains the brand platform, attributes, message blocks, logo and visual identity details, and sample applications of the new brand.
Collateral Assets
GMMB also created a range of collateral for the brand rollout. Examples included a business suite, social media channel headers and post templates, templates for newsletters, and a one pager that introduced the brand to the entire company.
Template Documents
GMMB created a variety of templates for use by AIR’s internal design and production departments such as PowerPoint presentations, briefs, and longer-form reports.
AIR Brand Story Video
As part of the branding process and brand rollout strategy, GMMB developed a brand story video to tell the new AIR brand story to both internal staff and external audiences.
Brand Rollout Presentation
GMMB developed a presentation for rolling out the rebrand to AIR staff. The presentation outlined the AIR rebranding process, showed the positioning statement, brand attributes, and elevator pitch; listed the internal and external brand rollout components, and discussed the next steps for the website redesign.
AIR Website
GMMB worked with AIR to redesign their website. We began with look-and-feel moodboards, then created wireframes to showcase the revised site structure. We then created page designs that their internal team developed.
