New Look

Q. The Friendship Force website, stationery, name tags and business cards look really different. What’s going on?

A. As of May 1st 2008 Friendship Force International has a new look and new mission. We have ‘re-branded’ the organization to address new, vital areas of the world where we can be even more effective AND in order to attract more and younger members.

Rebranding?

Q. What does “re-branding” mean?

A. A brand is the public image by which an organization is recognized or identified. Examples: the Nike ‘swoosh’, McDonald’s ‘golden arches’, etc. A brand that does its job well will capture the attention of the public and invite them to learn more about the company or organization.

Why a new logo?

Q. Why do we need a new logo?

A. *To raise awareness in the general public about The Friendship Force and attract new members.

*In our 2007 survey of Clubs, there were two concerns consistently raised: first, the membership is growing older and newer younger members are not coming in and second, The Friendship Force isn’t well known outside the Club system.

Hands Logo

Q. Why not keep using the green handshake logo?

A. The handshake hasn’t been a standard logo worldwide for 15 years. A survey of Club websites and newsletters indicated that the ‘handshake’ had either been dropped or had been locally re-designed.

Why Not Update Hands

Q. Why not up-date the handshake or make it look better?

A. We tried. We hired a graphic artist to create an updated version of the handshake. That’s when we learned that there were so many thousands of handshake logos being used by companies around the world that creating a distinctive handshake logo for Friendship Force was no longer possible.

Choosing Logo

Q. How did FFI choose this particular new logo?

A. The logo was custom created for us by Iconologic, an Atlanta-based company. The designer used our mission statement as inspiration and also spent time getting to know The Friendship Force. The logo is meant to be abstract. In other words, it can convey different things to different people; the six continents; doves of peace; people; some even see hands. Or, it can be simply a sparkle of color that we will help us capture the attention of potential new members.

Clubs Logo Use

Q. Are the Clubs supposed to use this logo on our websites?

A. We hope you will! A standard public ‘face’ (websites, t-shirts, badges, business cards) is the best way to strengthen The Friendship Force worldwide and make sure we have a bright, strong future. Also, the corporate office will be glad to help you with design templates for your website and stationery.

New Merchandise

Q. So how do we get merchandise made with the new logo?

A. You can order it on-line. Check out the Friendship Force store on the our FFI website. We’re also working on finding ‘stores’ in your part of the world so that you can save on shipping costs. Stay tuned.

New Colors

Q. Is there a new official Friendship Force color to replace green?

A: No. We don’t have any single official color. Rather, our new logo symbolizes the many colors of diversity that more truly reflect today’s Friendship Force.

Do we toss them?

Q. Our Club just spent a lot of money on new green badges and green t-shirts. What do we do with those?

A. Keep them and enjoy them! When they wear out or run out we hope you will consider replacing them with new merchandise from our Friendship Force On-Line Store (see website for details.

New Website

Q. Why does The Friendship Force website look so different?

A. We have worked very hard to make the website more user friendly for current members. Plus we’ve added innovative features to attract the general public to explore who we are. We hope you check it out.