A new brand for the world’s largest news organization.

Situation

Founded in 1846, The Associated Press is the world’s oldest and largest news organization. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, as a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members, it maintains a single-minded focus on newsgathering and a commitment to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism.

Process

AP approached Clarity Group to help it organize and streamline its visual identity system and brand communications. We conducted extensive research in AP’s major markets around the world with customers, news consumers, and internal stakeholders, as well as a comprehensive brand analysis of AP’s competitors, to understand how to position AP in a distinct, relevant, and authentic way. This process, which included soliciting input from more than half of AP’s 3,200 staffers, also resulted in a genuine enthusiasm for the branding process and ultimately built buy-in to the project.

Clarity Group developed a full brand platform strategy for AP. We developed and conducted brand engagement workshops to educate staff throughout the company’s offices around the world on how to “live the brand” through their actions each day. This helped staff to understand their role in delivering the brand and further reinforced that brands are not simply about logos, but only truly come to life through behaviors.

Outcomes

With a clear and accepted strategy in hand, we developed a creative brief for a new visual identity and helped find and manage the appropriate agency resource to design the new identity system and related applications. The new visual identity was rolled out across all touchpoints from signage, stationery, and digital applications, to vehicles, on-air graphics, and premium items.

www.apnews.com