Fitch creates multiple ‘Friendlies’ logos for children’s hospice

The charity works to help provide care at the hospice, visits from its Hospice at Home team and support for families of the children using the service.

Fitch carried out the work pro-bono, when consultancy director Kevin Doherty approached the charity. Doherty’s six-week-old son had stayed at the hospice before he died.

‘We spent the last three weeks of Tommy’s life at the hospice and we were looked after incredibly well’, says Doherty.

‘When I returned to work we talked about how we might be able to give something back and it turned out that the charity was looking to start a rebrand project.

‘Although there are sad stories within the hospices they are actually very happy places and I think what we have created is very reflective of that.’

Fitch developed an identity using multiple logos aiming to reflect the ‘changing emotions of day-to-day life at a children’s hospice and the range of services on offer to the whole family’, says the consultancy.

The logos use a number of characters called ‘Friendlies’, based on fingerprints, which look to highlight the idea that each family and child is unique, and create a lively look and feel that breaks away from the idea of children’s hospices as ‘sad and depressing places’.

Doherty says, ‘Having multiple logos is a very brave thought as it probably breaks the traditional rules of branding where it was all about consistency.

‘But brands are becoming more playful and they have to be in the social era and this brand really does that.’

Shooting Star Hospice says it decided the charity needed a new identity following the merger of the Shooting Star and CHASE organisations in 2011. Until the new identity was created, Shooting Star Chase had been placing the former two charities’ logos side by side.

The charity says, ‘Over the last three years working as one charity with two separate identities has become confusing, particularly for new supporters who may not know the background.’

It adds, ‘this isn’t just a pointless rebrand; this is the creation of a family of characters which will help raise awareness of our amazing work.’

Alongside the core group of Friendlies – which include characters called Fitch, Mrs Pinkypops, Sugar and Uncle Bobble  – celebrities such as television presenter Dermot O’Leary and singer Nicole Scherzinger have also created their own designs.

As well as launching the new identity, the charity has also unveiled a new online ‘create’ tool, which allows the charity’s supporters to create their own branded material for use with fundraising activities such as cake sales and collateral for sponsored events.