ABOUT

The challenge
ACT, formerly Luna Children’s Charity, treats children with PTSD, particularly child refugees. The need for their expertise was growing but they were not able to meet it.
They needed a brand that would help them overcome three key issues:
The name Luna had unfortunate connotations in mental health
The identity was making fundraising hard and putting off organisations they needed to partner with
Audiences don’t care about mental health issues in the way they do physical ones. As a result, only 1% of international aid funding goes to mental health.


Concept
To be taken seriously by partners, the brand needed to look both established and professional. To increase donations, the brand needed to stand out and make people see that PTSD is just as worthy of funding as physical injuries.

Execution
We came up with a new name – ACT (Action for Child Trauma) – referencing their proactive hands-on approach. Then we built a professional, modern identity around the idea that, when you have PTSD, your life is stuck on repeat - reliving your worst moment again and again.

We built repetition into every aspect of this identity – from the logo to typography, copy to photography. High impact, emotive, occasionally shocking, it makes mental health visceral and urgent.

Results
The rebrand successfully differentiated in a sector that relies on "fly in the eye" photography, which is losing its impact with donors, or dry illustrations and infographics.
- A 30% increase in donations with no additional fundraising activity
- First-ever unsolicited donations from people with no previous contact with ACT, donating purely on the strength of the brand.
- Partnerships with organisations that previously declined to work with them.
- Admitted to the Consortium for Street Children, an influential network of humanitarian organisations, a long-time goal