MetroWest Brand Makeover: New Look and Name to Match New Services and Innovation by Eric Brody

The makeover that changes the United Jewish Federation of MetroWest into the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey encompasses much more than the answer to the Shakespearean query, "What's in a name?"

To Cynthia Geller, UJC MetroWest's director of marketing and communications, the changes are part of a process that was begun two years ago and is aimed far into the future with the goal of ensuring the flourishing of the area's Jewish community.

"It is not about a name change," says Geller. "It's about rebranding the federation giving more clarity to the people who are confused about exactly what we and what our agencies do and more awareness to people who don't know we exist."

To Geller it is a basic issue of survival. "We know from our research that one half of our population, some 60,000 Jewish people, have either never heard of MetroWest or are confused about what we do. We want to make sure they learn of our huge system and its services that can help them lead their lives Jewishly."

MetroWest's incoming president, Ellen Goldner of Maplewood, firmly agrees. "We've all got to change with the times," she says.

The first goal, explains Geller, is to educate people about what MetroWest is and what it does, especially because there is no such actual geographic location as MetroWest.

MetroWest was a name created when the Jewish Community Federation of Metropolitan New Jersey and the United Jewish Federation of Morris and Sussex Counties merged in 1983. "We're one of the only federations in the country that covers four counties Essex, Sussex, Morris and parts of Union," says Geller. "All of the others have specific areas, like Chicago or Atlanta or Detroit. The term 'MetroWest' doesn't mean anything (to most people).

"So to clarify," she explains, "we added on 'New Jersey.' But there is much more than just a geographic community. There are all kinds of people we're trying to reach out and connect with.

"We're talking about the community of children," she continues. "We're talking about the community of Holocaust survivors. We're talking about the elderly, the teenagers, the people with special needs. We're talking about people who want cultural and educational services."

To Larry Rein, a professional marketing executive who served as chair of MetroWest's marketing committee during the makeover process, devising the new identity was a labor of love combined with an opportunity to apply the skills he uses in the profit-making sector to the nonprofit world.

In a sense, he says, "it is like trying to get people to buy a bottle of Coke and then take a taste." "The federation," he says, "was not attracting young people or the elderly or receiving as much money in contribution as we could."

Rein, a West Orange resident who is in charge of information technology at Global Crossing in Madison, says that changing the name and dropping the word "federation" from the title "was a very tough decision and the most controversial we had to face. Some of the more senior leadership didn't want the old name touched in any form."

That, to Geller, was a big part of the problem. "The qualitative research we did showed that younger people don't identify with a federation. They think it's their parent's organization."

So the marketing committee, funded by a strategic initiatives grant, hired a Morristown Branding, Marketing & Communications agency called Trajectory, to help the then federation redesign its image. Trajectory's track record includes successful rebranding and marketing programs for Meridian Health System, The NFL Consumer Products Division and Konica Photo Imaging.

Says Eric Brody, Trajectory President, the firm specializes in building brand momentum - through insightful and imaginative strategic and creative solutions that help their clients drive their brands and drive their business. In our case, "it is branding services for people", says Geller.

Once Trajectory came up with the new positioning and name, its designers set to work on a new logo to replace the venerable MetroWest menora. People representing different constituencies now take the part of the candles in a symbolic effort to humanize the services the agency offers to the Jewish community.

"We want people to begin to look at us and recognize us," says Geller hopefully.

Trajectory tested its creation on focus groups insiders and outsiders, lay people and rabbis, and individuals who just happened to enter MetroWest headquarters in Whippany. "It was tremendous fun," says Geller. "And it is so exciting to see all that research and everything we worked for come to life."

"We have got to pique people's interest," says Goldner. "It's a question of putting a new face on what we do. We need something dramatic. We're not only about raising money, we're about raising awareness."

Trajectory also created a new slogan for the new MetroWest: "Touching lives every day. Every way." Geller and Rein acknowledge that the new themeline is a huge success - capturing the vision of UJC MetroWest in a way that everyone embraces.

The theme and the logo will appear on the letterheads of all MetroWest departments to avoid the confusion that reigned in the past, when they all had different designs. Beneficiary agencies will also be asked to include the new logo on their materials.

Changing names and logos was just part of the process, and once Trajectory's work was over, the marketing committee turned to the Linnet and Harrison agency of Millburn to launch an advertising blitz.

In the coming weeks and months, the new name will appear on highway billboards and in preshow ads on movie screens in the geographic areas encompassed by the entity called MetroWest. It will also appear in four-color inserts in north Jersey newspapers and on every poster and piece of stationery from UJC MetroWest NJ. And it will make its debut on the Internet on a newly named Web site: www. jewishmetrowestnj.org.

Geller has big expectations for an effort "that will bring us all together." "We hope it is going to last a long time. We think it's strong and meaningful enough to have a long life."

Beth Barnes, assistant dean of graduate studies at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, believes the rebranding "shouldn't have much of a downside" and that it gives UJC MetroWest "a good reason/excuse to generate some publicity."

Barnes, a former chair of the school's advertising department, says the new logo and slogan are "more dramatic" than the organization's name change, "and are likely to have more impact than the name change itself.

"A lot of people, especially younger people, are visual learners, so a logo that demonstrates the organization's mission or strengths can be very useful." To Barnes, the rebranding effort "is a huge undertaking" that entailed the massive task of reprinting stationery and creating new signs along with paying for consultants and agencies.

What UJC MetroWest must do now, she suggests "is get this new name and logo and slogan out to as many places as possible to reach a target audience and so justify the expense."

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THIS ARTICLE IN FULL OR PARTS OF CANNOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED CONSENT OF ERIC BRODY.