Emergency Action Alliance

Overview

Emergency Action Alliance (EAA) provides Australians with a simple, trustworthy solution for people who want to help those in need during an international crisis. 

The organisation is an alliance of 16 leading international aid charities in Australia. These charities have committed to pooling their collective experience and strong network of resources to efficiently and effectively respond to global emergencies. This type of alliance exists overseas but is a first for Australia!

EAA partnered with Marlin to create a brand refresh. Once complete, Marlin then assisted in launching and building awareness of the new brand to the Australian public through digital channels.

Problem

EAA is a brilliant initiative to raise more money for humanitarian crises overseas, but the public were unaware they existed.

Solution

Brand refresh, new website build, digital launch of the organisation and ongoing campaigns.

Results

This is not just a launch project, it’s a 3 year partnership to build a National supporter base to increase funding for international aid.

The Challenge

Emergency Action Alliance is a brilliant initiative to raise more money for humanitarian crises overseas, but the public were unaware they existed.

The alliance formed two years ago and came to Marlin with an existing brand. This brand included a value proposition, logo and simple website, but something wasn’t right. It needed a third party to review and provide strategic recommendations on what to keep and what to change.

Many Australians want to donate money to help when a crisis hits, but are unsure of:

• who to donate to; 
• how their money will be used; and
• whether the money will make it to the right place.

To launch the first organisation of its kind in Australia the brand had to be strong, professional and have a very clear message. The new look and messaging had to convey why EAA was the simple and trustworthy solution for the audience.

All member organisations committed a sum of money to the organisation to develop and launch the new brand.

The Solution

• Branding – a complete new look and feel including key messaging and identity.
• Digital Marketing support including:
  • planning, setup and creative development of ‘peace time’ always-on campaign;
  • planning and setup of templates/processes for emergency appeal activations; and
  • crisis appeal activation plan.
• Website design and development using Raisely platform.

Showcasing the refreshed verbal and visual identity of the brand, the website introduces Emergency Action Alliance as:

• the new simple and trustworthy go-to-site for donating to international crises;
• explains their approach; and 
• provides reason to believe in their member organisations collective strength and experience in responding to humanitarian emergencies. 

The creative development of the brand happened in three stages:

 1. Style-scapes – we explored three visual territories and presented them as style-scapes (an online version of well curated mood boards).

2. Branding Concepts – taking on board feedback on the styles-capes we then presented three distinctive design directions. 

3. Refined Brand Prototypes – we further developed the chosen brand concept to show how it would come to life in various channels. 

All of the above was captured within the EAA’s new brand guidelines, which includes:

• their vision;
• proposition; 
• tone of voice; 
• logos and logo icon; 
• colour palette; 
• fonts; 
• use of photography;
• language tips;
• key messaging for crisis and non-crisis campaigns;
• in situ examples for website, social and press; and 
• bespoke iconography

The Results

So far Marlin has delivered:

• a brand value proposition that reflects the organisations need and desire to exist for the beneficiaries;
• a striking brand with a clean and simple visual identity;
• a clear, straightforward tone of voice and messaging hierarchy for all crisis and non crisis communications; and 
• a strong, easy to navigate website with an active donation page using the Raisely platform, all within their tight lead time for the go-live date.

Marlin is EAA’s digital strategy and communications partner from 2021-2023, helping them to:

• build brand awareness; 
• maintain their website;
• optimise their always-on campaign during peace time periods;
• help grow a supporter database; and 
• implement any emergency appeals that arise during the time.

Wrapping up

This project marks a historical time for our sector – the first organisation of its kind in Australia – and we’ve been chosen to be part of it because of our strategic, digital and creative expertise. This is not just a launch project, it’s a 3 year partnership to build a National supporter base to increase funding for international aid. We’re helping Emergency Action Alliance to provide a service to Australia that’s on par with what exists in the likes of Europe and the UK. What a proud time to be at Marlin!