A brand that saves lives

Workshop | Brand strategy | Positioning | Brand Naming | Design | Messaging | Guidelines | Collateral | Marketing 

Project overview

The Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust (ARHT), is a much-loved not-for-profit providing lifesaving helicopter rescue services in the Greater Auckland Area. They knocked on our door as they had been facing significant challenges with their positioning and brand presence, and needed to move on to secure their future.

ARHT’s brand was complex and outdated, with the staff considering it almost detrimental to their comms. Additionally, the organisation’s major sponsor, Westpac, had overshadowed the Trusts identity with the development of their own logo, “Westpac Rescue,” to support their own marketing.

Adding to the challenge, we had to retain and leverage ARHT’s equity, voted “Most Trusted Charity Brand” in New Zealand in 2024.

Research and Strategy

We’re an evidence-led agency.

Our task was really about helping ARHT stand up and take ownership of their brand – how it looked and how they dealt with sponsors. So, our strategy for Auckland Rescue aimed to create a clear, distinct identity that would strengthen its presence and highlight its essential services. This involved simplifying and modernising the brand while resolving confusion with their major sponsor, Westpac.

To do so, we conducted extensive market research, both locally and internationally, as well as consultations with staff and the senior leadership team. This research revealed that while ARHT’s branding had some strong cues, their use was too inconsistent, dated and unclear to be recognisable or relevant. Additionally, the Westpac sponsorship relationship weakened ARHT’s own branding, adding complexity and blurring the identity with Westpac branded elements.

We quickly understood that donors perceived “Westpac Rescue” as the brand responsible for the helicopter rescue services in Auckland, overshadowing ARHT. This heavily hindered ARHT’s ability to build its brand profile, attract donations and even posing a risk to future activities.

Creative and Brand Design

The rebranding of Auckland Rescue was driven by one main mantra: Simplification

Identity
We introduced a modern, almost over-simplified identity to replace the outdated elements like the blue box and the two real-style helicopters, creating a clean, clear and cohesive design. This was purposefully done to be clearly readable and memorable in a confusing donor market. The simple helicopter icon provides just enough of a visual cue as to who the organisation is.

Name
The simplified new name, “Auckland Rescue” meant that the identity was much clearer and readable. And crucially it also gave them scope for growth into other ‘rescue’ services in the future if they desired.

Sponsors
The result was also designed to coexist harmoniously with the Westpac Rescue brand – acknowledging Westpac’s significant role in raising awareness and funds over the last 30 years – while taking more ownership of who they are.
We updated the colour palette for own recognition while differentiating from Westpac, and repositioned Westpac as a sponsor rather than the primary identity.

Brand Messaging:

The charity sector in New Zealand, like many countries, is extremely busy. A huge number of charities fight for donors attention and dollars, with donor fatigue being a real problem.

Like many Trusts, ARHT have a complicated organisational structure and a history which has never really been told or explained over the years to the public, making it even harder to communicate today. The messaging update we proposed was embracing industry best practice of audience connection through relatable stories and emotional feelings, while not exaggerating Auckland Rescue roles and responsibilities.

Thanks to the adoption of caring, human photo style, combined with a growing emphasis on transparency, presenting facts and results to prove the effective use of funds, we leveraged the brand narratives to focus on the impact of donations and the positive outcomes supported by public contributions.

We supported this refreshed message with Auckland Rescue unique history as the first helicopter rescue service in the world, to bring additional differentiation its within the industry, reaffirming it’s world class position in the aeromedical emergency sector.

Conclusion

The reaction from the target audience was very enthusiastic. Internally, staff and leadership embraced the new brand with renewed pride and purpose. Externally, donors and the public appreciated the clear, modern look and distinct separation from the sponsor’s branding.

The Re:brand team takes immense pride in having had the opportunity to work with such an incredible organisation as Auckland Rescue, helping to secure their future and reinforce their essential role in the community. It was a privilege to contribute to the revitalisation of a brand that truly makes a difference in people’s lives.