Internet Society 2015–2017 Rebrand
Rebranding a global organization from the inside out
The Situation
The Internet Society (ISOC) is a global nonprofit that has championed an open, globally connected Internet since 1992. With chapters and volunteers spanning the world, it is one of the most recognized voices in Internet policy and development.
In 2014, the board of directors recognized the need to strengthen the ISOC identity, improve organizational positioning, and update the brand to differentiate the organization as a credible voice.
The Challenge
ISOC had a deeply held organizational philosophy of multistakeholder, bottom-up, community-driven decisions. In many ways, that philosophy was the organization's greatest strength. But it had an unintended side effect: "marketing" had become a dirty word.
The prevailing belief among staff and community was that polish and professionalism were at odds with authenticity. As a result, brand had never been a priority. The visual identity was outdated. Templates were inconsistent. And the tone of voice varied wildly with more academic paper than unified organizational voice that was shaped more by individual contributors than any shared standard.
The challenge wasn't just designing a new brand. It was making the case that a strong brand and a genuine, community-driven mission were not in conflict.
My Approach
In 2015 I was brought in as the internal brand lead and served as the primary point of contact for Moving Brands, the creative agency that led the strategic and creative development of the rebrand. My role was to make sure that relationship produced something that actually worked for ISOC which meant deeply bridging two worlds: the agency's creative expertise and the organization's complex internal culture.
On the agency side, I was responsible for briefing Moving Brands, providing organizational context, managing the relationship day-to-day, and shepherding their work through internal review and approvals. On the organizational side, I was the one navigating the politics.
The biggest obstacle was alignment. In a multistakeholder organization where everyone has a voice, getting consensus on something as subjective as brand is genuinely hard. I had to navigate strong personal opinions from staff, leadership, and the wider community while consistently bringing the conversation back to what was right for the organization, not any one individual's preference.
My approach was to make the strategic case for brand before any creative decisions were made. By framing the rebrand not as a cosmetic exercise but as an organizational asset something that would empower chapters, unify the global community, and amplify the mission, I was able to shift the conversation from skepticism to investment.
Once Moving Brands delivered the foundational work, I took ownership of adapting and extending it internally, owning the full rollout, and championing the brand across the organization long after the agency engagement ended.
The Work
The rebrand was comprehensive and phased, covering every dimension of the brand:
Logo and visual identity: a modernized mark and cohesive visual system that balanced the organization's legacy with a more professional, contemporary presence
Tone of voice: a shift from fragmented, academic-sounding contributor voices to a single, unified organizational voice: clear, credible, and human
Brand guidelines: thorough documentation to ensure consistency across a decentralized, global organization
Templates and rollout: practical tools that made it easy for staff and chapter volunteers around the world to represent the brand correctly and confidently
The Outcome
The rebrand landed well, not just internally, but across ISOC's global network of chapter volunteers. For a community that had long operated without standardized assets, the new templates and guidelines were immediately embraced as tools that helped them do their work better and spread the organization's message further.
And more than a decade later, the brand has stood the test of time. A testament to the strength of the strategic foundation it was built on. The brand in its entirety can be seen on Internet Society’s digital asset manager.
Scope: Brand strategy, logo and visual identity, tone of voice, brand guidelines, templates, rollout
My role: Internal brand lead: agency management, stakeholder alignment, rollout and implementation
Agency partner: Moving Brands
Organization type: Global nonprofit
Scale: International chapters and volunteer community