brand name...

[Venkat Krishnan]

Dear All,

For the last 2 years, we have been having back-and-forth discussions on a new name for JGW. While Rajan has had an "aha" experience 2 years back, we have tried hard to come up with an alternative name sooner than later.

Now that we are beginning to really take JGW to rural India and "mass India", the need for an Indian name has become even more apparent. People are simply not able to either relate to or even pronounce "Joy of Giving Week". Frankly, it has been an uphill task to get even our own vols to use this name (most people shorten to either JOG which is actually someone else's brand name, or to "Joy of Week" when speaking in a hurry). Every branding expert we have spoken to, reminds us that the name is too long and cumbersome. And every rural/ mass interaction reminds us that this name is not Indian and people don't relate to it.

A name change becomes more and more difficult with passing years. For whatever it is worth, JGW already has some brand recall and this will only grow stronger as time progresses. This year, specially, with good chapters in place in Delhi/Gurgaon, and some of the large scale public participation events planned, the brand could grow even more. So it is best to make the change now! 

After a lot of throwing up options, we've finally settled on "Daan Utsav". A logo design is currently under way and will be shared with everyone soon... hopefully, we will have logos ready in at least 4-5 languages. We hope we can have a logo unveiling for ourselves, in Bangalore.  

Each logo will have a tag line in it... In English, we will continue to use the words "Joy" and "Giving" in the tagline so that the continuity with the previous name is clear. 

We're not going public with this information till we have the final logos, etc. in place, but just thought of sharing this with all of you.... However, do feel free to share with your local volunteer groups. 

:-)!!!

regards

venkat

--
Venkat Krishnan N.