ABOUT

Dogs Trust, the UK's leading dog charity, needed a bolder, more visible brand to grow their supporter base and compete in an increasingly crowded fundraising landscape. Working with us at The Clearing since their rebrand from NCDL nearly 20 years ago, the result is a radically evolved visual and verbal identity which is more expressive, more dynamic, and built to work harder across digital and social. The refreshed brand gives the charity a clearer strategic direction, a richer design system and the confidence to reach more dogs and the people who love them.

The challenge:
Dogs Trust is one of the best known and largest charities in the UK, but right now challenges for dogs and their owners are increasing. To tackle the problem, they need to be able to help the 257k owners each year who need support, so more dogs than ever get to live the life they deserve. So, whether it’s caring for them, lending their owners a helping hand or finding them loving families, they’re there for more dogs whenever and wherever they’re needed most.

They’re also involved in global dog welfare with a rabies vaccination programme that aims to reduce deaths from rabies by 50%, preventing 25,000 people dying from rabies annually and the unnecessary culling of thousands of dogs.

These are big ambitions that need investment, but fundraising today is more challenging and competitive, and the cost of delivering their services has risen. Dogs Trust need to become bigger, bolder and more visible, with a brand better equipped to grow their reach and influence with new audiences, working harder across their digital and social platforms.

The strategy:
Our brief was to reaffirm their position as the dog charity and bring clarity and confidence to the brand. A revised mission, vision and story captured their bigger, bolder ambition but kept them rooted in the positivity and love of dog that’s made them famous.

The new positioning makes the connection between dogs, people's love for them and their mutual impact on each other's lives - summarised as 'For dogs, for love, for life'. It provides clarity and direction for everyone across the charity as well as for advertising and all other comms, connecting the strategy back to their famous strapline’ A dog is for life’.


The visual and verbal design system:
The visual identity system has been radically evolved to be more expressive and dynamic, introducing a comprehensive motion system to further bring to life their social feeds and digital channels.

The logo was subtly refined to put equal emphasis on both the words of their name. An outline has been added around their ‘dog tag’ logo to make sure it stands out more confidently.

Homer, the logo’s dog has become a brand mascot as a more lively and integrated character for the brand – beautifully realised by Mr Griff the illustrator who also added more characterful dogs and people to the family of illustrations he created previously.

A broader illustration style for training and education materials has been created by Cathy Hogan, featuring more people, dogs and training-led scenarios to support the renewed focus on Dogs Trust’s rehoming and prevention work.
Sunshine yellow is still the leading colour of the brand, but new colours inspired by the world of dogs – red setter, biscuit and blonde – have been introduced to add depth and warmth.

Type retains their custom font Fido (which we originally created), which is used even more boldly and expressively where it’s appropriate.

Photography focuses on a ‘dog’s eye view’ capturing the bond between dogs and the people who love them as well as the dog portraits that get so much engagement on their social feeds.

Dogs Trust’s tone of voice – always one of their biggest differentiators – is positive, playful and always empathetic, capturing their personality and helping them bark louder.

The results
A clear vision, mission and narrative that confidently captures Dogs Trust’s role and bold ambition to be all things dog for everybody who owns or loves them.

A bold, energetic and dynamically recharged brand system that brings more motion, fun and ‘doggy-ness’ to the brand with even more expressive illustrations, imagery and evolved identity elements.