DORA Gives a Brand Personality

Good news! I see where one of my past clients, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) is in the Spotlight feature of the Denver Business Journal. The column provides an overview of the Department, quotes from one of the Department's directors and information about their new online offerings.

I remember when we first started the branding project, the eleven divisions that make up the Department were lacking an overarching strategy to connect them. As is the case with any brand building project, there were varying degrees about the need to do so. Often larger entities do not see the need, while smaller ones want to connect to something larger. Over the course of a year or so, we conducted research to determine audience opinions about the image of the organization, developed a brand platform to communicate the essence of the organization in an accurate, authentic, concise and consistent manner, and created an internal branding program and establish a culture to support the organization's mission of consumer protection.

One of our recommendations was to leverage the acronym DORA. We felt that if DORA was the focus and it was taken literally, like one of my colleagues' aunt Dora, that strategy would not only help tie the divisions together and dilute some perceptions that government is unfriendly, but it could create a personality for the Department. We also hoped that when DORA launched a new campaign, which they are doing so now, then the media would also warm up to DORA, and use it as the brand name. In the past, whenever a story related to the Department was seen or heard, it was always at the division level, or sub-brand. So, it great to see DORA front and center and people are getting to know her.

And, of course, it is great to know that government is embracing branding, and understands the value of recruiting brand champions.