Minnesota 4-H, part of the national 4-H youth organization, is operated by University of Minnesota Extension. They provide a wide range of leadership and learning opportunities to over 66,ooo youth across the state. Focus areas are extremely diverse — including animal science, gardening, STEM, civic engagement and more.
While their programming content was robust, Minnesota 4-H’s state and county-level branding lacked consistency and cohesiveness. Although program materials did consistently use the 4-H clover logo and signature green, they also used a wide range of fonts and accent colors. The use of poor quality “clip art” was also commonplace. To add to the challenge, most marketing and promotional materials were being created by staff with little to no formal design training and spread out across the state. All of these factors were contributing to a diluted, weakened brand.
Looking to solve these brand challenges, University of Minnesota Extension included the Minnesota 4-H program within its larger, comprehensive brand initiative, and they selected DRIVE as their partner in this rebranding effort.