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AFL/CIO

 
 

Inverting brand perception

AFL-CIO: Work Connects Us All

 
 
 

For decades, the AFL-CIO let the role of unions be defined by others. They became known only for what they fight against.

In our effort to rebrand the AFL-CIO with this multi-media campaign and website, we helped them reassert control of their own image and redefine the role of unions so they’d now be known by what they fight for.

In the current, politically-charged environment, where polarized constituencies share little common ground, we believed everyone could find consensus around this one simple principle: “Work Connects Us All.”

 
 
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Collaborating with B-Reel, we created and launched an award-winning website: “Work Connects Us All.” It encourages active participation and uses a dynamic graphic matrix to visually demonstrate how each individual's work contributes to everyone else's. Videos shared the message online through social media.

Additionally we suggested that, rather than spending good money on conventional brand advertising, the AFL-CIO do what unions do best: organize and mobilize. The real objective of this campaign should be to reawaken a movement.

 
 
 
 

We encouraged the AFL-CIO to go big. The above deck for the proposed launch outlines a strategy for creating a massive, celebratory gathering of workers. This would be a huge opportunity to generate unpaid media attention and put the AFL-CIO’s positive message in the spotlight. 

Another proposal that would reshape perceptions of the AFL-CIO was to validate the contribution of all work by collaborating with LinkedIn to include blue collar workers to their base of white collar workers.

 
 
 

challenge    reposition the AFL-CIO in the face of broad misperception of unions’ role  

strategy    take charge of your own image

solution    define the AFL-CIO by what it stands for, not what it stands against

take away    work connects us all