Latinx civil rights and advocacy
UnidosUS
As the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) approached its 50th anniversary as the country’s largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy group, the organization realized its name was no longer relevant for the diverse and vibrant Latino community that it serves. The name, steeped in the organization’s Chicano history where it was founded in the Southwest, did not resonate with the many other Latino groups that the organization represents throughout the country. NCLR wanted to rebrand the organization to be more inclusive of the diverse identities and experience of Latinos in America. NCLR’s leadership had already chosen a new name when they approached Spitfire to help prepare their staff to own and live the new brand as they unveiled it publicly at their annual conference.
Spitfire developed a message platform to guide the brand rollout and prepared the staff to answer hard questions about why NCLR would now be called UnidosUS. The messaging reflected unity among Latino communities and was intended to help NCLR transform into a group that joins all communities in the fight to protect civil rights. The messaging also sought to engage millennials and reflect the changes going on within the Latinx community. We used the message platform to draft various brand reveal communications like internal messages from the leadership to staff, FAQs and external messages for the organization’s various digital channels.
NCLR officially became UnidosUS in July 2017, and the announcement generated significant news coverage, including NBC News, NPR and Univision.