The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread - A New Brand Identity

Our Role

In 2008, The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread retained Jasculca Terman and Associates (JT) to help create and communicate a new brand identity as the Foundation began implementation of a new business model.

The Challenge

Long a highly respected convener of small conferences at its conference center in southeastern Wisconsin, this family Foundation embarked on a strategy of greater involvement in the issue it cared most about – the environment. It would play a greater role in (a) selection of conference topics and participants, (b) conference structure and facilitation and (c) accountability for outcomes. And it would play a greater role in informing a national environmental dialogue among businesses, policymakers, scholars and others. The Foundation’s existing brand equity revolved primarily around Wingspread, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Johnson family home in Racine donated as a conference center in 1959. Wingspread was seen as a pleasant and hospitable destination to host a conference, and indeed, conversations in its bucolic setting had sparked big ideas through the years. But its existing brand identity was not aligned with the new, more intentional mission. Content and messaging required greater impact and accessibility. Much greater use of imagery was an imperative. Its existing color palette did not reflect or advance the new desired brand associations. But Wingspread did have a 50-year legacy that provided a platform on which a new identity could be created and flourish 

The Solution

JT helped position The Johnson Foundation as a catalyst for environmental solutions – a convener of conferences on environmental issues in which participants from diverse sectors would share in a distinctive, exhilarating experience to produce fresh, innovative solutions to critical environmental challenges. JT redesigned the Foundation’s brand – visual and linguistic -- to more closely align with and support the Foundation’s new vision and mission. This extensive new brand identity included a logo redesign, new tagline (“Conferences that inspire solutions”), color palette, messaging, marketing collateral, business stationery, architectural signage and more. Comprehensive brand standards and templates were developed to provide consistency and build brand equity. The brand was then delivered through multiple channels: a new website (www.johnsonfdn.org), social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.), traditional media outlets and third-party outreach.

The Results

The new brand has created and expanded awareness of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread in its new role as a catalyst for environmental solutions and a leader among philanthropic organizations seeking common ground on oft-contentious environmental issues. In what amounted to the public launch of the new brand, JT worked with The Foundation on programming and communications surrounding its inaugural “Environmental Forum,” a series of conferences exploring the looming threatening U.S. freshwater supplies and safety. These conferences shaped the agenda for a major summit in June 2010 at Wingspread, at which leaders in business, government and the not-for-profit arena developed a national Call to Action for addressing these challenges. The Call to Action was then delivered to a national audience in Washington, D.C. on September 15, 2010.