Background: For far too long, America’s government and healthcare system have struggled to adequately attend to America’s vast mental health needs. And yet there has not been one organization dedicated solely to advocating for policy that better serves Americans’ emotional wellness. As the COVID-19 pandemic fueled unprecedented levels of stress and suffering, and the government’s emergency response focused solely on physical health, an urgent need arose for a new organization that could fight for the mental health policy America needs to heal. We were asked to help create this organization’s brand.

Brand Strategy: Despite the widespread prevalence of mental health challenges, mental illness remains deeply stigmatized in much of American culture. So, we needed to build a campaign that would help people advocate for their own mental health, but under the guise of helping others. Because of stigma, this could not be a me brand. It had to be a we brand. The name inseparable embodies two concepts fundamental to the organization’s messaging: 1.The widely shared belief that communities take care of each other in hard times; and 2. The fact that mental health and physical health are intertwined, and therefore mental health can no longer be dismissed as unimportant. The call to arms for the brand became: “We need to take better care of each other, and we need to do it right now: by demanding mental health policy that better cares for us all.”

Services Provided: Landscape analysis, audience research, brand workshop, brand positioning, brand platform (including naming, story, values, core messaging), logo, visual identity, style guide, collateral design, and roll-out counsel.

Results: Inseparable launched in May, 2020. In its first months, the brand, including its core messaging and often graphics including its visual identity, has received significant media coverage in top-tier news platforms (Today Show, MSNBC, USA Today).