Pro Bono Publico Award Given for Rebranding The Society

“Making the Case for Humanity

New York – October 26, 2009 – Tonight, Alan Siegel, Founder and CEO of pioneering strategic brand consultancy Siegel+Gale, will receive a Pro Bono Publico Award from The Legal Aid Society. The Honorable Jonathan Lippman, Chief Justice of the State of New York, will be presiding over the October 26, 2009 event, which honors law firms and individuals for public service.

Mr. Siegel is being recognized for his pro bono services in the rebranding of The Legal Aid Society, “Making the Case for Humanity,” which was http://www.legal-aid.org/en/mediaandpublicinformation/inthenews/thelegalaidsocietygetsanewlook.aspx unveiled in May, 2009 on the organization’s Website.

“Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale, was the prime mover in the creation of the rebrand of The Legal Aid Society,” said the Society in making the award. “He was an integral part of the team he established to refine the Society’s message about the essential client services provided in the City of New York by The Legal Aid Society in its three Practice Areas and the unique role the Society plays in the social fabric of New York City.”

The Legal Aid Society, founded in 1876, is the oldest and largest not-for-profit organization in the United States providing free legal services for clients who cannot afford to pay for counsel.

In unveiling the rebranding and new logo, the Society said, “The message is clear and crisp: The Legal Aid Society is more than a law firm for low income New Yorkers. It is an indispensable component of the legal, social, and economic fabric of New York – passionately advocating for individuals across a variety of civil, criminal, and juvenile rights matters, while also fighting for legal reform. No other organization in New York City or in the country takes on more cases for more clients than The Legal Aid Society and brings a depth and breadth of perspective from its experienced, capable staff that is unmatched in the legal profession.”

About Alan Siegel
A pioneer of the branding industry and founder of brand strategy firm Siegel+Gale, Alan Siegel is also a well-known photographer (“One Man’s Eye: Photographs from the Alan Siegel Collection,” Harry N. Abrams), and author (“The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Markets,” Lightbulb Press). As consultant, teacher, and commentator, Mr. Siegel’s influence extends to creating strategic branding programs for organizations such as 3M, American Express, AARP, the National Basketball Association, Caterpillar, The Girl Scouts, The New School, and CBS. He also serves on the boards of numerous business and cultural organizations, including the Museum of Arts and Design, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Design Management Institute, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Girls Inc., the Authors Guild Foundation, and the American Theater Wing, where he is a TONY Awards voter.

“Wings of Hope” for Individuals “Rising Above Addiction”

New York, New York – October 22, 2009 – Siegel+Gale, one of the world’s premier strategic branding companies, has completed a brand revitalization project for Phoenix House, one of the country’s leading non-profit drug and alcohol addiction, prevention, and treatment organizations. The new identity debuted on the Website www.phoenixhouse.org on October 21. Siegel+Gale designed a new “Wings of Hope” logo to depict the Phoenix House mission, “Rising Above Addiction.” The logo was unveiled at the A&E Recovery Rally in New York on September 12.

“The new Phoenix House visual identity sends a message that is both aspirational and real,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale, which did the visual identity design on a pro bono basis. “It showcases the Phoenix House values of compassion, commitment, optimism, expertise, and collaboration.”

“We are doing difficult and important work helping individuals recover and remove the stigma of addiction,” says Howard Meitiner, President and CEO of Phoenix House. “Siegel+Gale’s beautiful design and their grounding in simplified communications and real language help immeasurably in conveying our message to people who need our help.”

The logo consists of three components: “Wings of Hope” highlight strength and responsibility, support, and freedom – the layering of the wings and their warm, positive colors symbolize the compassion and caring that lead to recovery in the Phoenix House community. The Phoenix House name, in Rotis Serif typeface, is the foundation from which the wings take flight above the tagline “Rising Above Addiction.”

“‘Rising Above Addiction’ communicates the essence of Phoenix House in a distinctive and effective way,” says Mr. Siegel. “It fuses values, messaging, and identity to convey the Phoenix House personality, culture, and value proposition.”

The new identity also transforms the Phoenix House Phoenix House Website ( www.phoenixhouse.org), newly rebuilt to encompass the full scope of the organization’s programs in 10 states, and improve access to information and tools for individuals suffering from addiction and their families, former program participants, and the broader addiction community of professionals, researchers, and treatment providers.

Phoenix House serves close to 7,500 men, women (including women with children), and teens each day at more than 150 drug and alcohol treatment prevention programs in 10 states.

New York and Bridgehampton, NY – October 14, 2009 – When Bridgehampton-based real estate brokerage startup Saunders & Associates hired leading global strategic branding consultancy Siegel+Gale a year ago, the goal was to create a brand for the highest level, concierge real estate experience in this internationally known luxury real estate market. The result is “A Higher Form of Realty,” the brand promise that drives every Saunders & Associates branding touchpoint – advertising, online experiences, and new business initiatives.

Now, Saunders & Associates has received the Phoenix Award for “Most Outstanding Brand of 2009” from Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, the global network of the world’s top 1,500 luxury real estate brokerages.

“Our firm was designed from a blank canvas to provide a higher form of real estate service for customers, clients, and especially the brokers,” says Gary Nolan, Saunders & Associates Director of Brand Fulfillment. “With Siegel+Gale, every internal system and possible brand experience was considered to bring that vision to reality.”

The Website, www.SaundersAssociates.com, is a cinematic, user-friendly, internationally promoted, luxury-minded destination for individuals and other real estate brokers who may be interested in buying or renting Hamptons properties. Brokers are supported with elegantly produced brand-amplifying selling tools – traditional stationery, property signs and maps, as well as a vivid brand brochure and postcard-sized sales and rental booklet published several times a year.

“The key for Saunders was empowering brokers in every way possible,” says Alan Siegel, Founder and CEO of Siegel+Gale. “The real estate sector, particularly in the Hamptons, has been consolidated and corporatized, and brokers have been marginalized as the corporate parents try to cut costs. Saunders & Associates is now a model for best practices in the entire industry.”

If you would like to speak with Alan Siegel, or for more information about Siegel+Gale, please contact Gail Nelson of Siegel+Gale at 212-453-1468 or gnelson@siegelgale.com.

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Siegel+Gale, one of the world’s premier strategic branding companies, has completed a major rebranding project for Care Support of America, a national family care manager service formerly known as Your Support Nurse. Care Support of America, which is staffed by registered nurses with at least 10 years of experience in eldercare, provides practical guidance and compassionate support to family members coordinating care for their aging parents or spouses — from finding in-home aides, nurses, and equipment for aging safely at home to organizing a parent’s return home from hospitals to understanding doctors’ treatment plans and insurance benefits.

The new Care Support of America identity and “Trusted Guidance as Your Parents Age(TM)” tagline reflect CSA’s national scope and commitment to helping families. A new logo of stylized stars symbolizes the changing relationship of adult children becoming caregivers for their parents, as well as the guidance that Care Support of America offers to its clients.

“Everyone involved in caring for aging parents needs to know about Care Support of America,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale. “CSA has a particular challenge in the eldercare space. We all discover as we begin to become involved in our parents’ care that eldercare is an intricate web of services that are national, regional, statewide, and local; for-profit and non-profit; medical and non-medical; and for the most part well-meaning but also with the potential for elder abuse or fraud.”

Care Support of America is unique. Its approach to family caregiving has been published in respected peer-review and trade publications, and has been proven in clinical research to extend aging at home, improve patient outcomes and satisfaction, and reduce time in nursing homes.

Siegel+Gale redesigned Care Support of America’s robust new Website
(www.caresupportofamerica.com), which launched on October 5 and now includes expanded information, tools, insights, and checklists for family caregivers who are coordinating care, with professional help or on their own.

“Siegel+Gale really understands the Care Support of America brand promise,” says Dan Tobin, M.D., Founder and CEO. “It’s in our DNA at Care Support of America to help our clients solve eldercare problems so that they can focus on spending positive, meaningful, quality time with their aging parents.”

To speak with Alan Siegel, or learn more about Siegel+Gale, please contact Gail Nelson of Siegel+Gale at 212-453-1468 or gnelson@siegelgale.com.

LONDON and NEW YORK, Sept. 29 — Global brand consultancy Siegel+Gale announced today that it has appointed Tom Blackett as Chairman of its UK office. Mr. Blackett was formerly Group Deputy Chairman of Interbrand, and spent 25 years with the company working in all areas of corporate and product brand development for clients throughout the world.

“We have built an outstanding team of talented people in London who are doing world-class work for our clients in Europe and the Middle-East. Tom’s arrival bolsters this still further,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and Founder of Siegel+Gale. “There are few people in the world that have his depth of experience in brand matters. Tom’s thought leadership and expertise are visible in the books he has published, the conferences he has spoken at, and in the High Court, where he is a highly regarded expert witness in disputes involving brands.”

Over its 40-year history, Siegel+Gale has demonstrated that successful brands live or die through the customer experience they deliver, and that this extends far beyond advertising or communications. Siegel+Gale’s “Simple is Smart” philosophy means they are able to create brands which are both crystal clear in their meaning and relevance to customers, and which their clients are able to bring to life through the whole customer experience. This pragmatism has been at the core of their recent success.

Fred Burt, Managing Director of Siegel+Gale in the UK, adds: “Building coherent brands that deliver business impact has become extremely difficult, and we see that brand consulting is changing. Tom has been in the industry long enough to know the difference between strong effective brand building and the expensive, inefficient navel gazing that are the hallmarks of too many so-called brand consulting assignments. We’re thrilled he’s chosen to join us at this exciting point in our development.”

To speak with Tom Blackett, Alan Siegel, or Fred Burt, or to learn more about Siegel+Gale, please contact Gail Nelson of Siegel+Gale at 212-453-1468 or gnelson@siegelgale.com.

Siegel+Gale survey finds dramatic lack of understanding of basic points in plan, even among Democrats

Only 36.9% of Americans believe they understand the plan

NEW YORK – September 18, 2009 – As President Obama prepares to make back-to-back appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows and David Letterman in an effort to garner support for his proposed health care plan, his primary challenge will be in helping his audience to understand what the plan entails.

According to a recent survey commissioned by global strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale, Americans across the political spectrum are significantly confused by major points of the President’s proposed health care plan – even after his nationally televised address to Congress.

The online survey of 1,042 adults and 102 health activists from WEGO Health, conducted last weekend following President Obama’s health care address to Congress, finds that even among supporters of the President and his plan, most Americans could not correctly identify key aspects of the proposal – including funding, who would be covered by a public option, and when the plan would go into effect.

“Clearly the whole health care issue is fraught with complexity, political in-fighting, and emotion that is not helped by poor media coverage. So I’m not surprised that the American people have thrown up their hands – even sophisticated consumer advocates are not clear about the plan,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and Founder of Siegel+Gale.

Key findings include:

• Only 16.5% of the public believes the plan would not add “one dime” to the federal deficit, and 36.1% believe that the plan will add a “massive amount” to the deficit

• When asked about how the plan would be funded, less than one-third of the respondents cited one of the key funding sources that Obama mentioned – fines to be levied on large companies that don’t offer health insurance to their employees

• Almost 20% of respondents answered that funding would come from a fine levied against wealthy individuals – an answer included in the survey questions that has never even been discussed

• While health activists – online consumer health opinion leaders – were significantly more accurate than the average consumer on most points, the majority also reported a low understanding of the President’s plan

• Online health activists also confirmed that typical consumers they encountered online had a poor comprehension of the Obama health care plan

Taking the nation’s temperature
Conducted on the weekend following the President’s September 9th speech, the Siegel+Gale survey asked respondents whether they understood the proposal, and inquired about its details based on President Obama’s speech. Among the general population, just 36.9% said that they understood the President’s plan. Of those who actually watched the September 9th address to Congress, the number was higher: 57.9% claimed to understand it. Yet even these respondents provided incorrect answers with surprising frequency.

The Siegel+Gale poll reveals that many aspects of the proposal – particularly the impact it will have on the U.S. deficit – are widely misunderstood or not believed.

Perhaps the most significant conclusion of the survey is that only 32.4% of the public actually supports the President’s proposal at this time. Even among WEGO Health’s health care activists – a group that leans predominantly Democratic according to the survey – fewer than half (44.7%) support the plan.

Fear of mounting deficit
Despite the President’s statement that, “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future,” only 16.5% of the public believes this. 12.8% believe it will add “a modest amount,” and 36.1% believe it will add “a massive amount” to the deficit. Of those who watched the speech and claim to understand the proposal, 28.8% believe the plan will add a massive amount to the deficit.

Source of confusion: funding
While the President cited three sources of funding – savings from reforms, fees from insurance companies, and fees from large companies that don’t offer health insurance to employees – there remains widespread confusion about how President Obama proposes to finance the plan. Despite the President’s assurances, people think funding will come from the sources below:

Confusion also reigns when it comes to abortion coverage, one of the most emotional issues. Among the general public/health care activists, 19.6/16.5% believe the Obama proposal will pay to terminate pregnancies, 28.9/36.9% believe it won’t, and 51.5/46.6% don’t know. Even those who watched the speech and claim to understand the proposal are split: 23.2% say yes, 48.8% say no, and 28.2% still don’t know.

Lack of clarity about the “public option”
The majority of the public acknowledges that the plan still contains a “public option,” but it is confused about who would participate in it. Again, even those who watched the speech and claim to understand the plan betray a lack of understanding of the meaning of the “public option,” as evidenced below:

When would the plan be implemented?
The President cited 2013 as the target date for full implementation of the plan. Despite that, over 40% just don’t know:

Confusion over business’s role
The public also does not understand what the Administration is asking of large businesses. Again, even the cognoscenti who watched the speech demonstrate confusion: 42.8% say all large companies will be required to offer health insurance to their employees, 47.0% understood the President to say that large companies that don’t offer health insurance will be required to help cover the cost of making insurance affordable to individuals. And, among the general public, 34.6% have no idea.

What the speech did accomplish
Among those who claimed to understand the President’s proposal, the speech did increase the percentage of people who can identify certain specific aspects of the plan correctly:

• 91.2% of those who watched said the President’s plan will cover all U.S. citizens, versus 84.8% of those who did not watch the speech but still claim to understand the proposal

• Only 18.6% believe the plan will cover those who are in the country illegally, versus 37.4% among those who did not watch the speech

• 36.1% stated that the plan will add nothing to the deficit compared to 17.2% among those who did not watch

• 28.8% of those who watched the speech said the plan will add “a massive amount” to the deficit, versus 59.6% among those who did not watch

• 87.6% state that people with insurance coverage today can keep that coverage if they want to, versus only 51.6% of those who did not watch the speech

Of those who listened to the speech and claimed to understand it, 67.4% came away convinced that the plan incorporates ideas from both Republicans and Democrats.

Who supports the proposal?
The public still needs a lot of convincing to support the plan. 56.7% of Democrats support the President’s plan, while just 54.0% of Independents who lean Democratic support it. Less than 10% of Republicans and Independents who lean Republican support the plan. Of the 16.3% of the respondents who identified themselves as true Independents, only 21.2% of them support the plan.

Interestingly, those with lower incomes – who are more likely to be part of the public option – are less likely to be supportive of the proposal than are those with higher income levels, suggesting that the outreach and educational efforts might be profitably focused on that audience:

African-Americans are much more likely to support the plan than are other ethnic segments:

The Bottom Line
“The bottom line,” says Alan Siegel, “is that this survey reinforces in very dramatic terms that the American people are extremely confused about the President’s well-intentioned desire to bring universal health care to our broken system. The White House, in my opinion, should outline the basic architecture of the plan instead of reacting to criticisms and emotional issues brought by critics.”

Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted by Siegel+Gale LLP, a strategic brand consulting firm in New York City. The survey of the general public was conducted on September 12-14, 2009 among 1,042 individuals 18+ years of age using Greenfield Online’s consumer panel. The maximum sampling error of the survey is +3.0 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

The survey of health care activists was taken by 102 members of Boston-based WEGO Health’s panel of health care experts, bloggers, and other activists. The maximum sampling error of this survey is +9.7 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

About Siegel+Gale
Siegel+Gale (www.siegelgale.com) is one of the world’s premier strategic branding companies and a pioneer in simplifying complex customer communications. Since it was founded by Alan Siegel in 1969, the firm has applied the art and science of simplicity to create branding programs that have helped many of the world’s best-known organizations excel. Driven by its philosophy of “Simple is Smart,” Siegel+Gale has led the way in bringing innovation to the corporate branding field, including transforming complex, incomprehensible customer communications into plain English; helping clients create distinctive brand voices across all their communications; transporting brands onto the Internet; and aligning the brand experience with the brand promise.

The firm’s clients include AARP, Aetna, American Express, Bank of America, Dell, The Four Seasons Hotel Group, The Internal Revenue Service, Lexus, Merrill Lynch, 3M, Microsoft, Motorola, the National Basketball Association, Pfizer, and Sony PlayStation. Siegel+Gale has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Dubai, and strategic partnerships around the world.

Siegel+Gale is part of the Omnicom Group Inc. (www.omnicomgroup.com), a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms serve over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

About WEGO Health
WEGO Health (www.wegohealth.com) is first online home for consumer Health Activists, social media’s most active 10 percent, passionate about helping others lead healthier lives. Health Activists – organizers, connectors, leaders and contributors – meet at WEGO Health, then carry knowledge, content and relationships back to the health social Web. In addition, WEGO Health’s Activist Social Network is the trusted community liaison to pharmaceutical and health marketers, who engage the Activist Social Network through innovative sponsorships, industry advisory panels, collaborative content development, widget distribution and more. Founded in 2007 and led by online health pioneers Jack Barrette and Bob Brooks, WEGO Health gives consumer health activists a voice to industry, and helps the world’s top health brands support, navigate, and participate in the evolving world of health social media.

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Leading global strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale has won four 2009 WebAwards, sponsored by the Web Marketing Association to showcase the best work in Website development across 96 industry categories. Siegel+Gale’s winners competed for the prestigious awards with entries from interactive agencies and Website marketing departments from 47 countries.

The winning Siegel+Gale entries are:

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library

Best Associations Website

Genworth Financial

Financial Services Standard of Excellence, Health Care Standard of Excellence, Insurance Standard of Excellence

Baylor Health Care System

Health Care Standard of Excellence, Non-Profit Standard of Excellence

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Hope Portal

Outstanding Website

“I’m gratified that Siegel+Gale’s cutting-edge digital work continues to be recognized,” says Jason Cieslak, Managing Director of Siegel+Gale Los Angeles, whose team produced the winning WebAward entries. “It is imperative that we continue to push our clients’ businesses and brands into dynamic media.”

LOS ANGELES – AUGUST 4, 2009 – Global strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale has hired veteran marketer Terresa Zimmerman as a Strategy Director in Los Angeles, Jason Cieslak, West Coast Managing Director of Siegel+Gale, announced today.

Ms. Zimmerman joins Siegel+Gale from Landor Associates, where she was client director in San Francisco. She has held a number of senior marketing and communications positions around the world for Doremus, Brodeur, and Porter Novelli, working with companies such as QUALCOMM, Philips, Fiserv, Medtronic, Brocade, NVIDIA, Gerdau, Teck, Boeing, and many others.

(more…)

“Clarity Alone is Not Enough; Respect Trumps All”

NEW YORK – JULY 28, 2009 – During times of economic crisis, organizations struggle to communicate unfavorable news, from lower earnings and shrinking market share, to cuts in service and increases in prices. The conventional wisdom is that bad news damages customer relationships and breeds mistrust among consumers. However, a new Simplicity Survey from global strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale finds that delivering bad news is an opportunity – if done in the right way – to strengthen customer relationships and lay the foundation for increased trust and loyalty when conditions improve.

“It’s important to communicate facts clearly, but clarity is not enough,” says Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale. “In order to strengthen relationships with customers, organizations must commit to open, transparent communications that respect people’s intelligence by offering complete, relevant, and insightful explanations of bad news. People are tired of self-serving platitudes.”

Siegel+Gale examined a wide cross section of customer communications likely to appear in the average consumer’s mailbox, and tested four representative examples, anonymously, in an online consumer panel. The examples tested included a:

Charge card company letter – announcing an increase in late fees
Major bank letter – announcing a credit card interest-rate increase
Not-for-profit institution letter – announcing budget cuts and soliciting donations
Mortgage lender pamphlet – explaining a new mortgage summary document

“We tested communications using six criteria: comprehension, clarity, credibility, relevance, usefulness, and engagement,” says Lee Rafkin, Siegel+Gale’s Global Director and Practice Leader of Simplified Communications. “We found that even though customers didn’t like the bad news they were receiving, they still respected and trusted those organizations that clearly communicated the reasons behind the bad news.”

Worst Scores
The communications that scored the lowest on measures of credibility and engagement did very little to offer comprehensive, credible, and contextually relevant explanations. For example, the letter from the bank announcing a credit card interest rate increase gave as its explanation that it was raising rates “to maintain profitability.” Predictably, it drew this comment:

“It feels like the bank wants to squeeze me for all they can. They’re not interested in me as a loyal customer; I’m just a number to them.”

The letter from the charge card company announcing an increase in late fees gave absolutely no reason at all for its change. “This is even more offensive to consumers than a dubious or incomplete reason,” says Mr. Rafkin. “In a vacuum, consumers will ‘fill in the blanks’ and invent their own, sometimes much more damaging explanation,” as represented by this comment:

“This company just wants average customers like me to compensate them for losses they’ve suffered due to their own poor business practices.”

Best Scores
The letter from the not-for-profit was both comprehensive and relevant in the detailed explanation it provided. It used 2½ pages to explain the impact of the economic climate on revenues and fundraising, detailed how and why it was cutting its budget, gave an overview of its plans, and reaffirmed its commitment to its core mission. The response from consumers was dramatic. This letter scored twice as high as the bank and credit card letters on factors including trust and loyalty. Respondents appreciated the organization’s efforts to justify their actions:

“This organization seems honest and upfront. They are forthcoming and direct with their information, which is always good.”

Respect Trumps All
Siegel+Gale’s Simplicity Survey found that when communicating in times of crisis, respect trumps even clarity and comprehensive explanations. The communication that tested best overall was the pamphlet from the mortgage lender. It explicitly stated its commitment to transparency and easy-to-understand descriptions of loan terms and costs. It was judged to be most informative, balanced, and direct, and made respondents feel most loyal to the company. One typical comment was:

“This pamphlet makes me feel the mortgage lender is being straightforward and inviting me into their financial institution. I feel very good about this company.”

Says Lee Rafkin: “In the current climate of mistrust toward financial institutions, it’s clear from Siegel+Gale’s latest study that communicating bad news does not have to damage customer relationships. The path to rebuilding trust and loyalty is through clarity, comprehensive explanations, and respect.”

“How bad news is communicated matters,” says Mr. Rafkin. “We found a strong correlation between clarity, comprehensive explanations, and respect on the one hand, and trust, engagement, and loyalty on the other.”

If customers believe that organizations are forthcoming, provide an appropriate level of relevant detail to support their actions, and show they value and respect their customers, people are not only more accepting of bad news, they are also willing to show such organizations deeper loyalty down the road.

Siegel+Gale’s conducted its online consumer panel survey in June 2009, with a nationally representative sample of 400 U.S. respondents over age 18; 200 respondents read and answered questions for each of the four communications.

To speak with Alan Siegel please contact Gail Nelson of Siegel+Gale at 212-453-1468 or gnelson@siegelgale.com. To download a copy of the Simplicity Survey research report, click here.