Early this year, the Administrative Committee of our Executive Board agreed to contract with The Useful Group to lead a rebranding project for our state convention. It is finished and will be revealed on Monday, July 11. You’ll see a new logo but there is so much more that goes into a rebranding effort like this. I learned a lot through the process and really enjoyed working with the creative people leading this effort for us.
As part of the rollout of our new branding elements, I want to explain why we invested in a rebranding effort.
It signifies a new day in the SCBI
The current branding is at least 10 years old. In part, a new logo and coloring will modernize our look and communicate freshness in our approach to serving churches. This is the least important reason, but an innovative convention does not need to convey staleness.
It expresses our personality & new strategy
The new logo and all wording tone guidelines were created after extensive research and development were performed. I was amazed at how The Useful Group developed a survey to capture responses that gave them insight into our convention. Approximately 60 people (staff, board members, and pastors) completed the survey asking them their feelings about the current state of the convention and their desires for the future. The results of this survey alone are incredibly valuable! Even more incredible was how the creative team took this data and infused it into a unique logo that expresses our personality and new strategy of partnering with churches to discover and fulfill their next step.
The explanation of our logo: We were inspired by how the people of Indiana connect so well to both the people around them and the place they inhabit. This logo brings to mind a tile, a whole unit composed of 3 essential representations of the SCBI. Each part emphasizes the importance of people and place. The sun in the top left represents the biblical goal of unity and wholeness. The curved lines in the bottom left-hand corner remind us of country roads, and the branching form on the right side serves as a symbol of both the crops that support Indiana and the SCBI’s desire to connect with their member churches. The arching lines that makeup corn or wheat also can be seen as a view of 3 rows of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Finally, the left two components reflect an “i” form for Indiana.
The new branding also includes a foundational tagline (or brand slogan), which is a short, memorable phrase that reflects who we are: Grounded & Growing.
Our convention is grounded and growing. This is a nod to and respect for our convention’s history and theological grounding in Scripture, as well as a recognition of trust between our churches and their convention. Additionally, growing is a reminder that we are constantly gaining momentum in our mission work together.
Grounded & Growing. Let’s go!