CLN look protects

Citigate Lloyd Northover is to create a consumer-facing identity for the Health Protection Agency, an independent quango backed by chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson that will tackle outbreaks of infectious diseases and bio-hazards like chemical spills or radiation leaks.

The marque – to be unveiled at the HPA’s national conference in September – will depart from the typographic treatments that are typical of Government-related organisations, says CLN director Neil Hudspeth.

‘The logo needs to engage with the public and it succeeds in encapsulating all the key attributes – protection, dynamism, security, public-facing warmth and necessity’, he adds.

With 42 local and nine regional teams, the HPA’s ‘reach and brand visibility will not just be across national centres, but much nearer people’s doorsteps’, says Lawrence Knight, its head of communications. Advising local councils and the Environment Agency on anything from contaminated land to legionnaire’s disease will form much of its day-to-day work, he suggests.

According to Knight, ‘The brand needs to be distinctive, but also representative of a shift from being a science-based and somewhat inward-facing set of organisations to one that needs to satisfy a very public remit.’

The HPA aims to provide an integrated approach to health protection and reduce the impact of infectious diseases and other major health hazards. It will offer impartial information, as well as liaising with the National Health Service.

Shaped in the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the 11 September 2001 attacks, the HPA brings together a number of pre-existing organisations, while overlaying new functions arising from ’emergency planning’.

Hudspeth adds that the Sars crisis also showed the need for such a body, and the HPA’s jurisdiction covers England and Wales.

CLN pitched last week, with four groups making the final shortlist.