Aside from the U.S. government, Alzheimer’s Association is the world’s largest funding source for Alzheimer research. Yet the organization is known primarily as a support network of voluntary caregivers, a perception that was reinforced by the organization’s much-loved—but outdated and amateurish—logo, which reflected only the care-related programs and initiatives.

Studio/lab was commissioned in 2002 to develop and champion an identity program that would align the organization with its dual mission of research and care and reposition the brand in the eyes of donors, researchers and the public. In addition, the new identity would need to address confusion in the competitive arena by creating greater distinction from organizations with similar names, like Alzheimer’s Foundation and Alzheimer’s Society.

Duality, the quality of two forces acting in unison that cannot be separated, became the core design strategy. We set out to develop verbal and visual brand tools that would embrace the concept of duality inherent not only the care and research mission, but in other aspects of the organization and the disease: research/care, life/death, head/heart, comprehensive/focused, national/local, science/people, joy/pain, personal/progressive, supportive/professional, hope/despair, compassionate/powerful.

The new logo for Alzheimer’s Association is inspired by the universally known symbol for duality, the yin/yang symbol. The new “people + science” symbol is an abstraction of a human profile and a laboratory beaker. The new positioning identifies the association as the world leader in Alzheimer care and research. And the tagline—the compassion to care, the leadership to conquer—places the organization as the current and future leader of the field in both research and support.

The new brand identity was launched to existing and potential donors, the medical community, people with Alzheimer’s, their families and caregivers, and the general public in public relation events and in print and broadcast media in March 2004.

Total project budget for Studio/lab to develop the brand identity: $300,000. Total spent by the Association on rebranding: $3 million.

“You can see the whole ‘hub and wheel’ approach. This is what this competition is about.” Ken Carbone