Strong, Silent Types

Barefoot Creative has a unique position -- we serve both the non-profit community and for-profit business. Both groups are struggling to understand the power of brand.
Oh we understand the brand message through the eyes of Apple, Nike and Toyota. The new iPad and Toyota were top stories all last week. But what about the brand equity of smaller organizations.
The disaster in Haiti has already raised over $500 million in the US alone. The fractured international development community is battling for news coverage and donor dollars. Brand is a huge player in disaster relief. Red Cross has raised more than 2/3 of the money. But they are not the largest player in Haiti. Partners in Health, an organization out of Boston, has a strong physical presence in Haiti. Yet they have only raised a tenth of the money Red Cross has raised. Partners in Health has even received accolades for their work from Stanford Innovation Review -- a leader in non-profit knowledge -- whose policy succinctly states they will not recommend any non-profit. They are strong.... and silent.
The brand equity of the Red Cross (Red Crescent) is so high that people simply give because, from their perspective, the Red Cross is the leader responding to disasters. People trust the Red Cross to use the funds effectively (even though recent reports suggest the Tsunami funds were not all well allocated).
Brand is the underlying strength of companies and organizations. In the media, the strong, silent types rarely make it to the front page.