CivicWell

The Local Government Commission (LGC) engaged Mekanic when they decided it was time to go forward with a comprehensive rebrand, the development of a new website, and to explore whether a new name would better position them for their future vision. Mekanic proved to be the best partnership option for LGC in this gigantic undertaking with proven leadership and a successful track record for similar ventures with a large-scale marketing challenge.

The Mekanic approach is a hands-on partnership that begins with an extensive discovery process of surveys, interviews, and workshops. After this deep dive into stakeholder impressions and beliefs, we recommended pursuing a name change for future clarity and distinction in the marketplace. An in-depth collaborative name exploration process ran through all of the avenues available and the name CivicWell was selected.

The new moniker appropriately places the nonprofit organization adjacent to local government, but not directly within it, allowing for clarity and accurate correlations to the group’s mission. The name hints at the intended focus on thriving communities and engaged leaders who are prepared for the challenges of the 21^st century. The new name also aligns neatly with their existing flagship volunteer and capacity building program, CivicSpark.

One major hurdle for this organization was their vast level of involvement in so many different programmatic issue areas, partnerships, coalitions, and other initiatives. Telling the story of what the organization is and does was a major challenge for most internal and external stakeholders—there was no elevator pitch that did it justice.

To solve this, we knew that core competencies and successes needed to be defined and called out. Once these mission critical elements were pulled out and held to the light a new brand platform was created. This revitalized platform centers on four key functional roles that the organization champions.

• Inspiring leaders
• Equipping leaders
• Connecting leaders
• Cultivating leaders

Each role is connected to their interaction with key decision makers and those who affect change. Together, these roles become a continuum of leadership development that ultimately supports innovative initiatives being shared and implemented in new places. CivicWell solidifies its position as the fuel that powers the positive potential of the future through strong leaders.

The brand’s new mark represents the organization’s many years of commitment, laying a strong foundation in bold new areas of climate action and community engagement. Above the bottom layer, two more lines, like the mathematical congruence symbol, represent the layers of complexity and variety that CivicWell effectively pulls together. These layers of unmatched experience and knowledge are represented in its member network and many different program areas.

For deeper and more profound impact, we developed multiple variations of the brand to represent CivicWell’s core program areas. These images are designed to have long-term applications and can be combined with silhouetted photography to create a unique, multi-dimensional aesthetic. This style expands across the new website and marketing materials.

The Key Focal Points for CivicWell were:

• Rebrand discovery and strategy development
• Brand naming exploration and selection
• Brand storytelling and visual identity design and development
• Custom web design and development
• Animated video development for rebrand & 40^th anniversary
• Strategic brand launch support for internal and external audience communications

The partnership of CivicWell and Mekanic successfully executed on all focal points in a way that could not be done by other pairings and definitely would not have come to fruition if our groups did not draw on our combined skills, experiences, and willingness to push boundaries. We couldn’t be happier with the end results and share a great sense of pride with CivicWell in the end results.