DIOCESE TO ROLL OUT BRAND STANDARDS TO TIE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY TOGETHER

The Diocese of Nashville will begin rolling out new brand standards the first of the year to help tie together all the ministries, services and activities of the diocese.
 
“The goal is to consistently present the Catholic identity of the diocese along with its mission, ‘Living and Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, Welcoming All,’” said Brian Cooper, chief administrative officer and vice chancellor of the diocese.
 
Over the years, the branding of all the Catholic entities, ministries and organizations has evolved differently, Cooper said.
 
“We’ve subjugated the overall Catholic brand,” Cooper said. The new brand standards, he said, will help send a message that “we’re all one Catholic community inside the Diocese of Nashville.”
 
Brand standards are guidelines of how to use the diocese’s brand and logo consistently, and how not to use it, Cooper said.
 
Frederick Strobel of the Burgundy Group worked with diocesan employees Bill Staley, director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, and Jerilyn Rost, Vocations Office coordinator, to develop the standards.
 
The diocesan brand features the diocesan coat of arms and the words “Diocese of Nashville.” The standards will outline the correct design of the shield, colors, type fonts and positioning, Staley said. The diocese is in the process of having the diocesan shield trademarked so groups can not use it without the diocese’s permission, he added.
 
The brand will be included on the printed materials, such as business cards and letterheads, apparel and video productions of diocesan offices, Staley said. “We have a lot of pieces of public engagement that goes out,” he said and the standards will provide for consistent presentation.
 
The standards will be applied to the diocesan offices which are included under the umbrella of the Mission Support Office first and then rolled out for the other entities, agencies, organizations, and ministries within the diocese, Staley said.
 
The diocesan brand won’t replace the existing brands in use in the diocese, but will be a signature element added to their materials, “so people know we’re all part of the same Catholic family and community,” Cooper said.
 
“We want people to associate the diocese with the good work its doing,” Staley said, “that when they see the diocesan brand, they connect it with the fact that we have the largest private school system in the state, that we have 58 churches throughout Middle Tennessee,” and the other ways the diocese serves the community.
 
The use of the diocesan brand and brand standards will “connect and reinforce our most fundamental mission of living and proclaiming the Good news of Jesus Christ, welcoming all.” Cooper said.
 
Staley hopes the rollout and the use of the diocesan brand standards for all diocesan entities will be in place by July of 2020.