How can we excite world leaders to join IDRA during its launch at COP 27?
Background
Objectives
Encourage partners
Inspire action and commitment
Launch the alliance



How did we work through the challenge?
IDRA came to life very quickly, with the governments of Spain and Senegal coming together to sponsor the launch of the Alliance. UNCCD as the hosts would need to launch the Alliance in a matter of weeks at COP27 and gather pledges from various partners and countries. Our team conducted an expedited scoping and audience study to develop and organize key messages, develop a brand identity anchored in strong storytelling and produced a website and communications kits.
Our brand designs would need to be cleared by government officials, and various high-profile individuals across multiple timezones. We developed three concepts that were presented to the UNCCD team and then refined for presentation to the launch partners:
1. The signature
A symbol of promise and an internationally recognized act of commitment. Our designers took the essence of the concept of a signature and brought that energy into the “A” in Alliance, capitalizing on the dynamic and meaningful act of signing.
2. The cycle of recovery
This idea was represented by a circle with a gradient that transitioned from orange to green in order to represent the transition from drought emergencies to drought resilience.
3. The symbol of land recovery
Behold our logo, a symbol that blends drought, coordination, planet/sun, and arable land. It encapsulates our commitment to unity in combating drought and nurturing Earth’s bounty.
UNCCD liked elements of both concepts, so we combined these elements into one single visual route to tell one even stronger narrative: We focused on the signature as the key visual of the identity, and added the gradient to show the path to drought resilience.

Selecting & implementing the brand
In parallel to our work, UNCCD developed IDRA’s communication plan. We worked closely with their team to define the pillars necessary to successfully realize IDRA’s vision, highlighting in particular the need for an optimistic tone. After some quick, iterative feedback, we combined the best ideas of two options together to form an identity that the team felt they could own, and most importantly, represented their culture and ideals. While the collaborative design was repackaged and presented for approval by all members and stakeholders, our team advanced in documenting the brand, and preparing for the launch of the brand. Given the short turnaround time, our team took charge of designing and launching the IDRA website, highlighting the key messaging of the alliance, and most importantly, showcasing partners and supporters of IDRA’s objectives. This proved key in gathering additional support at COP 27 when IDRA was launched. Our designers worked in tandem on applying the visual identity to all these assets, including different templates and graphics for social media.
Outcomes & impact



