Disappointed in The Beacon's name change
Hi All It's been a long time since I posted. I've been thinking about this, and watching to see if anyone else commented on this. I don't know if somewhere along the way I've missed something. Was th...
Forum Discussion
I've been following the discussion with interest and here are a few of my thoughts:
The Name and the Logo:
Pink Lady might've cut the mustard 20 years ago but the logo and name seem out of touch with contemporary thinking about women and their place (the word 'lady', the colour pink, the dress....I never wear pink, like to be thought of as a woman and only rarely wear dresses!). Come on...surely the challenge is to move into the C21 and to be future looking in both the organisation's approach to innovation, and its branding! Otherwise, it is in danger of becoming redundant. It's great that BCNA tried to save $ and did these changes in-house......and I commend you for doing this.But key messaging and branding reflect the values of the organisation - 'pink lady' doesn't do it for me in 2018.
The Colour
The 'breast cancer space' as @Christine_BCNA-CEO says, is like all not-for-profits, a competitive environment where there is shrinking funding and so there is a need to have a brand that exemplifies, highlights and promotes BCNA (or is there a need for mergers across not-for-profits to rally resources????)....but pink is used by everyone (see McGrath Foundation and the Pink Test; see Pink Stumps Days; see Field of Women). It is a culturally loaded colour - not gender-neutral...and frankly, so is blue...so I'm not sure how I think about that! Compare this to Sam and Connie Johnson's Love Your Sister (http://www.loveyoursister.org/ ) use of black....so powerful because all of us who have had cancer know it's no walk in the park and black seems to sum it up :)
The Consultation
The BCNA Online Forum would've been an excellent place to start the discussion - free, low cost, and with access to thousands of women and men to float ideas, brainstorm together, build ownership. What BCNA has failed to do in their 'State of the Nation' (which I also responded to, and was not given any opportunity to discuss 'Beacon' vs 'Pink Lady') was leverage this resource....in fact, BCNA completely overlooked it (see Marketing and Comms 101) and failed to gather a Guiding Coalition to lead the change.
Next steps
I didn't mind the name of the Beacon, but I certainly don't embrace or support the name 'Pink Lady': it's dated, it's excluding of male members; it's gender-biased and it's out of touch! Time for BCNA to get with the program!
Your members....all of us here....are a resource that needs to be tapped into (I won't go into my reaction to the latest BCNA promo video for now, but suffice to say, it was like we didn't exist), leveraged and utilised. We care. We appreciate the work you do. And we're at the front line.
In the end, what you do with the magazine won't affect me much at all - but I'll be less inclined to read it, less inclined to promote it and reluctant to share it with others. Is that the outcome you genuinely want?
Nikki
The Name and the Logo:
Pink Lady might've cut the mustard 20 years ago but the logo and name seem out of touch with contemporary thinking about women and their place (the word 'lady', the colour pink, the dress....I never wear pink, like to be thought of as a woman and only rarely wear dresses!). Come on...surely the challenge is to move into the C21 and to be future looking in both the organisation's approach to innovation, and its branding! Otherwise, it is in danger of becoming redundant. It's great that BCNA tried to save $ and did these changes in-house......and I commend you for doing this.But key messaging and branding reflect the values of the organisation - 'pink lady' doesn't do it for me in 2018.
The Colour
The 'breast cancer space' as @Christine_BCNA-CEO says, is like all not-for-profits, a competitive environment where there is shrinking funding and so there is a need to have a brand that exemplifies, highlights and promotes BCNA (or is there a need for mergers across not-for-profits to rally resources????)....but pink is used by everyone (see McGrath Foundation and the Pink Test; see Pink Stumps Days; see Field of Women). It is a culturally loaded colour - not gender-neutral...and frankly, so is blue...so I'm not sure how I think about that! Compare this to Sam and Connie Johnson's Love Your Sister (http://www.loveyoursister.org/ ) use of black....so powerful because all of us who have had cancer know it's no walk in the park and black seems to sum it up :)
The Consultation
The BCNA Online Forum would've been an excellent place to start the discussion - free, low cost, and with access to thousands of women and men to float ideas, brainstorm together, build ownership. What BCNA has failed to do in their 'State of the Nation' (which I also responded to, and was not given any opportunity to discuss 'Beacon' vs 'Pink Lady') was leverage this resource....in fact, BCNA completely overlooked it (see Marketing and Comms 101) and failed to gather a Guiding Coalition to lead the change.
Next steps
I didn't mind the name of the Beacon, but I certainly don't embrace or support the name 'Pink Lady': it's dated, it's excluding of male members; it's gender-biased and it's out of touch! Time for BCNA to get with the program!
Your members....all of us here....are a resource that needs to be tapped into (I won't go into my reaction to the latest BCNA promo video for now, but suffice to say, it was like we didn't exist), leveraged and utilised. We care. We appreciate the work you do. And we're at the front line.
In the end, what you do with the magazine won't affect me much at all - but I'll be less inclined to read it, less inclined to promote it and reluctant to share it with others. Is that the outcome you genuinely want?
Nikki