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The old.
Pretty, but no clear reason for being.
No links (pardon the pun) to the brand’s acronym, mission, or overall narrative.
The highlight bar reflects nothing. Adds nothing. Emphasizes nothing.
No logo to speak of.
The New.
Slight adjustments only, but they provide emphasis on linking efforts.
The highlight bar becomes a link that can and will be added throughout the site to explain LEAD’s commitment to parents, teens, and communities and to the services, technologies, and skillsets that can be linked together to better combat that behavior which leads to addiction.
The rounded typography, though only a slightly change, is more open than the existing font, and it too reinforces the rounded links in the bar below.
Now we have logo that hints at something without insisting.
A compromise.
Note: If there is concern over the need to keep the current typography due to its prevalence in print publications, posters, signs, gala materials, etc, then a compromise can easily be made.
A Return to the Linking Efforts Narrative.
LEAD’s inherent branding issue is its multi-directional acronym. The use of LEAD implies “Leading Efforts Against Drugs” rather than the more agile and correct “Linking Efforts…”
In order to combat this, the Linking aspect must be nudged, highlighted, pushed, and prodded into LEAD’s narrative and imagery:
Further, the notion of Linking Efforts must be broadened to include the diverse, technologically-innovative services that the modern LEAD offers:
This will have the two-fold effect of 1. Reinforcing LEAD’s original and existing mission, while 2. Highlighting what makes LEAD unique amongst modern prevention service organizations.
And what is that?
LEAD’s ability to craft bespoke applications that augment and link together new and existing services for the benefit of teens and the communities they live.
A Return to the linkingefforts.com
In order to reinforce the brand narrative further, it is best to return to LEAD’s roots, changing the domain name back to the original linkingefforts.com.
While the domain itself is a mouthful, it will nevertheless have the befit of further centering LEAD in an altogether empty brand category. LEAD leads searches of “linking efforts.”
“Lead” and “golead” have far too much competition, and LEAD rarely ranks in the first few pages of results.
GoLead.co
That said, golead.co remains well-known as a local shorthand for LEAD and it roles off the tongue far more easily. Thus, it still has a critical role to play as both the short link domain and the LEAD Network domain, coordinating LEAD’s various sites and endeavors under a single site.
Additionally, using a plug-in such as ThirtyAffiliates on the backend, will allow golead.co to serve not only as a host for redirects, but as an analytical hub for measuring where clicks come from and where they lead to on LEAD’s many sites.
Thus, when posting links within social media, print publications, emails, etc, golead.co/whathaveyou would remain the preferred link format.
