Challenge
After 25 years investing in rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities in North Carolina, Golden LEAF Foundation — a nonprofit funding organization created from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers — was ready for a brand refresh. Golden LEAF needed to carefully honor the past and champion the future. Using a strategic focus for rebranding and a creative approach to design, our team stepped up to provide a new brand that respected tradition while highlighting innovation.
Insight
Every origin story is an asset. Strong brands build on solid foundations while imagining new possibilities.
Our Approach
This project was personal to our CEO, who grew up in a tobacco farming family. She understood the critical importance of retaining Golden LEAF’s connection to the rural roots of the communities it serves, as it works toward economic growth and diversification. In particular, we helped Golden LEAF focus on the timeless themes of what it means to be “rural.” Our creative design process focused on the long-standing industriousness, innovation and resilience of the state’s rural tobacco communities to both anchor and drive a forward-looking brand that elevates hope and possibility.
Our Deliverables
Our brand for Golden LEAF included a new visual identity that provided a more conceptual illustration of iconic tobacco leaves symbolizing the cycle of growth and transformation.
This logo was expanded to sub-brands for the Golden LEAF Scholarship and Golden LEAF Rural Internship Initiative. We packaged the new brand narrative and key messaging, along with a website, templates for email newsletters and a strong collection of collateral items into a comprehensive brand package that Golden LEAF could easily use in its everyday communications.
