Specialist school announces new name and identity
A dynamic new brand and name change was today revealed in Exeter by the former West of England School and College for young people with little or no sight at the school’s campus on Topsham Road. The organisation will now be known as WESC Foundation: The Specialist Centre for Visual Impairment.
The change of identity has been introduced to reflect the evolution of the school and college over the past 20 years and will also be used to mark the organisation’s 175th anniversary celebrations, which also takes place in 2013.
CEO and Principal Tracy de Bernhardt Dunkin said the changes demonstrated the significant strides that had been made by staff, pupils and parents in the past two decades.
A clear set of sub brands has also been created to help highlight the range and depth of work being carried out by the organisation, which had been hidden by the previous identity.
CEO and Principal, Tracy de Bernhardt Dunkin, said: “Our previous brand was nearly twenty years old and it no longer fully reflected the amazing work of WESC Foundation’s team.
Our image needed refreshing to reflect the changes taking place at all levels at the organisation to enable all the services we provide to move forward with greater confidence. The new name rolls off the tongue much more easily and maintains a reference to the roots of our organisation.
We feel that this strong brand announces us as the UK’s leading provider of specialist visual impairment services to children, young people and adults. That is what we are, and is something we are very proud of.”
Mark Braithwaite, Head of Business Development at WESC Foundation, said: “As a Foundation we are able to differentiate our services under sub branded headings and develop them more effectively in their own right.
The new brand also enables us to differentiate more clearly between our adult services and our children’s services which is vital for our growth.”
The Foundation also launched its new website today, www.wescfoundation.org.uk, and the organisation also seeks to increase WESC Foundation’s online presence and communicate more effectively with all the organisation’s target audiences.
The rebranding project was entrusted to Exeter-based AB Design and cost less than 0.5 per cent of the charity’s annual budget.
Mrs de Bernhardt Dunkin continued:
“It was time to invest in our organisation so that we can continue to be the best for the children, young people and adults whom we support. We are in a competitive market and it was time to invest in a brand identity that unites us with the pupils we support, their families, new families and children, the incredible public who support us with fundraising and those who are yet to meet us.”
For more information about the rebrand, how to donate, forthcoming events or to find out more about how to become a volunteer, please visit www.wescfoundation.org.uk
