Today, DrawHistory, a strategy and design consultancy and Certified Benefit Corporation, announced its rebrand and new purpose statement to signal its focus on tackling social issues. To accelerate this effort, the consultancy also grew its roster with key hires of strategists and researchers from Google and Wikipedia, and expanded their services into social research, community engagement, and public relations.
DrawHistory’s rebrand is rooted in its new purpose statement: “Designing new futures for people who need tomorrow to be better than today.” This change signals the consultancy’s move to ground its brand, design and campaign work in deeper social insights. After an extended consultation process with stakeholders, DrawHistory found that businesses and nonprofits alike emphasised the need for a creative partner with an understanding of the social impact sector to help them create change.
“In the pursuit of purposeful work, brands run the risk of watering down their relevance and impact by fixating on self-indulgent, culturally relevant media narratives,” says Alex Anderson, a brand and innovation strategist who has worked with the Obama White House, NBA, and Twitter, and led the consultancy’s rebrand.
“DrawHistory continues to demonstrate their ability to subvert the allure of ‘faux purpose’ — and instead leverages firsthand experience working with vulnerable communities to guide effective decisions in service of greater potential and more meaningful impact.”
To further this new direction, DrawHistory has added talent to strengthen their expertise and build on their work. Key additions to DrawHistory’s team include:
• Jeffrey Effendi (chief of innovation), who rejoins the agency after his role as global communications manager for Google’s Next Billion Users initiative last year.
• Kosta Lucas (head of community practice), a community researcher and practitioner whose past work involves advising initiatives from the United Nations and Google.
• Essie Zar (head of brand), formerly global brand manager at the Wikimedia Foundation, parent nonprofit of Wikipedia, and senior brand strategist at Dentsu McGarryBowen in New York, United States.
• Christine Garcia (head of communications & PR), formerly principal content strategist at social enterprise turned global data company, Atlan.
“Between client growth and making sure our partners can navigate such an uncertain time, this year has been pivotal for us. We’re glad that we now have a unified definition that represents the heart and urgency of our mission — and one we can rally around in this next chapter of our journey,” says Angel Chen, chief of strategy at DrawHistory.
“It’s why we’re thrilled to welcome our newest team members, whose unique mix of global thinking and community insights will ensure that we can continue to offer fresh strategic perspectives for those who need it most.”
Top Image: returning founder Jeffrey Effendi (Google), Kosta Lucas (United Nations Alliance of Civilizations), and Essie Zar (Wikimedia Foundation)