Sharing a global brand that connects lives.

Situation

If you remember the foreign exchange student in your high school, chances are that student was there under the auspices of AFS, the international intercultural exchange program. Founded just after World War I, and active with over 50 partner countries around the world, today AFS is one of the most trusted non-profit organizations that provides intercultural learning programs that inspire people who participate in AFS throughout their lifetimes.

AFS turned to CoreBrand first to help define and articulate an AFS global brand that would unify what had become disunited and fragmented as each country pursued its own definition of the AFS brand. Beyond bringing together multiple perspectives, the global AFS brand platform needed to be brought to life through communications and actions that acknowledged individual partner cultures and languages.

Solution

CoreBrand worked with AFS Brand Management to identify a series of branding initiatives that would create a highly flexible brand identity that could work in any country to express the new brand platform.

Informed by interviews with local country directors and volunteers, CoreBrand designed a new global visual brand identity and guidelines that reflected the brand platform and could be customized by each country partner.

To help make brand messages more consistent, CoreBrand also developed a brand message map that makes brand platform planks relevant for specific audiences. CoreBrand also develop brand-based training that translates the brand platform into actions and behaviors for AFS staff and volunteers.