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JG Creative Rebrands National Perinatal Mental Health Charity

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on September 18, 2020

Cheshire design and brand agency, JG Creative, has created a new brand for PANDAS, the national charity which supports parents suffering from pre and post-natal depression and other perinatal mental health conditions.

The new brand is the result of months of hard work after the agency took the bold decision to rethink its original approach, following a massive increase in demand for the charity’s support during lockdown.

PANDAS, which is the only service in the UK offering free post-natal depression support, had originally set out to completely change its name for something that more clearly identified it with the services it provides.

During lockdown, however, calls to the charity sky-rocketed by 75% as pregnant women and new parents were isolated from their families and support networks and struggled to access their GPs.

Awareness of the charity and the support it provides was higher than ever before so, despite a new name already agreed and initial logos designed, creative director Joanne Grubb advised the charity to retain its name and focus on strengthening its visual identity.

Whilst retaining the charity’s name, JG Creative did aim to clarify it and provided a clearer definition to each letter of the acronym. By making the initial A smaller it highlights the charity’s primary purpose of supporting post-natal depression, or PND, along with using the final A&S to stand for the Awareness & Support they provide.

JG Creative has repositioned the brand to better reflect the support services it offers and help it to communicate with and appeal to the thousands of parents affected by perinatal conditions, such as pre and postnatal depression.

Joanne Grubb, owner and creative director at JG Creative, said: “This rebrand was a wonderful experience as we worked hand in hand with the charity through one of its most challenging times and it was vital that we adapt our original plans to reflect this.

“A new logo, colour scheme and narrative, along with brand assets such as the umbrella icons and ‘Hope for Parents’ strapline, have been created to represent what PANDAS is and what it does. The brand has also been designed to appeal to both mum’s and dad’s with powerful connotations of supporting mental health.

“We incorporated an umbrella icon into the logo because it is symbolic of temporary protection and shelter and clearly communicates the supportive nature of the organisation. From this, we developed a suite of umbrella icons, pictured in a variety of different weather, for the charity to use either together or individually depending on the message being communicated.

“The icons were inspired by the charity’s mission to be there whatever the weather, to offer hope, empathy and signposting for every parent or network who may be suffering with perinatal mental illness. It also highlights the fact that PND will end, like the changing seasons, and there is hope.

“Due to the sensitive nature of the charity, we decided not to use any photography as part of the brand identity. This was something we agreed with the charity early on as we wanted to avoid showing non-inclusive images. People try to find themselves in photos and it was really important not to make any assumptions about what parents look like and especially not those who may be in need of the charity’s support. PANDAS is there for everyone.”

Annie Belasco, head of charity for PANDAS, said: “We had to make a huge decision about our rebrand at the height of the pandemic when people really needed us. We knew we had to get this right as the sustainability of the charity depended on it.

“We had complete trust in the team at JG Creative and I really believe that our future is now more secure following this rebrand.

“Working with Jo and the team at JG Creative has been a thoroughly enjoyable and exciting experience. Historically, our charity has not experienced any major changes and to meet such an empowering and knowledgeable team of experts was enlightening.

“The relationship was built during and beyond COVID19 which was a great risk for our charity, however, with the insight and advice from Jo and the team we had every confidence that re branding our charity during a pandemic could be successful.

“Jo and the team have transformed our worn-out image into something new, special, fresh and unique. They had a vision and we worked together to make it happen.”

To find out more about JG Creative or PANDAS, visit www.jg-creative.co.uk or www.pandasfoundation.org.uk.