Reconciled a 20-year-old brand with a case that became a movement
Our Children's Trust is the only legal organization dedicated to advocating for youth harmed by climate change — fighting through the courts for the constitutional right to a stable climate.
Project Details
Client: Our Children’s Trust
Issue Area: Climate Action
Role: Brand strategy, audience definition, identity architecture
Project Type: Advisory
Challenge
They don't teach marketing in law school, and OCT's brand reflected that. The primary logo was nearly 20 years old. Then one of their cases, Youth v. Gov, caught fire — generating its own media presence, activist following, and visual identity. The organization was operating with two brands that weren't talking to each other, and audiences who couldn't be more different: Supreme Court Justices who need to trust the institution, and youth climate activists who need to feel the urgency.
The challenge wasn't just updating a logo. It was building a brand architecture that could hold both — without flattening either.
Solution
Competitive landscape and SWOT analysis to establish the field. Audience definition and persona work to map the real range of stakeholders — activist, media, judicial, philanthropic — and identify where the brands needed to speak differently. Brand identity development that updated the primary OCT identity and formally integrated Youth v. Gov as an official sub-brand rather than a rogue campaign.
Outcomes
Updated primary brand identity
Youth v. Gov adopted as official sub-brand with its own defined lane
Roadmap for phased brand transition
Refined multi-entity brand architecture integrating identity and messaging across activist, media, judicial, and philanthropic audiences
When a case becomes a brand.
Litigation organizations aren't built to think about audiences. When Youth v. Gov became a cultural moment, OCT suddenly had two publics — one who wanted rigor and one who wanted energy. The answer wasn't to pick one. It was to build architecture that let the organization show up differently in each context while staying coherent underneath.
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