A birthday celebration for the oldest Armed Forces charity | SSAFA

The challenge
SSAFA Forces Help have supported Armed Forces since 1885 and are the oldest charity of their kind. (Help for Heroes step aside.) To celebrate their 125th birthday we were called in to create a special anniversary campaign identity, a microsite and some marketing materials to help them on their way.

The thinking
A greater challenge was to find a way to communicate all the services that SSAFA offer - their services span far and wide. Another factor with charities is working within a budget, not just with the initial work, but also in creating something sustainable for the future.

The answer lay in their staff and volunteers - it became apparent very quickly that the whole organisation had an undying commitment to the Armed Forces.

The outcome
To capture this passion we came up with the line, ‘First in, Last out’. As well as sounding very ‘military’ this line did the job of conveying the attitude and age of the organisation. The identity created was sympathetic to their existing palette and made use of an iconic chevron borrowed from a sergeant's stripes. This meant that we could make our mark and stand out in the crowded charity space.

We’ve stayed close to SSAFA after the original work (we’ve even gone skydiving with them) and helped out with several other pieces including the Big Brew Up - The UK’s largest tea day. SSAFA hopes to raise £1,000,000 in 2010.

www.ssafa.org.uk