Columbia Ability Alliance

Columbia Ability Alliance, formerly Columbia Industries, was at a crossroads in its evolution from the original mission when it launched as the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Benton & Franklin Counties over 60 years ago. The community fixture grew exponentially over the decades, but lost connection over the years with the families and individuals it served under its primary mission of providing vocational training and on-site employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Focal Point partnered with the awesome team at Sonar Insights to do the necessary market research to truly understand the community’s view of Columbia Industries – determining who they think the organization is, who they serve, what they do, as well as opinions on the existing name and logo/brand identity. Through multiple community surveys with more than 500 participants, we garnered that a majority of respondents knew very little about Columbia Industries and offered poor overall grades on the existing name and brand identity in relation to the organization’s mission.

Armed with this knowledge, our team led Columbia Industries stakeholders through a renaming and rebranding workshop, getting to the root of answering those pressing questions of WHO and WHY they’re an asset to this community – what their purpose is. Out of this workshop, we tested several names and logo variations with focus groups made up of community members and Columbia Industries personnel. The data and responses pointed in a brand new direction that gave the internal team and board of directors a palpable boost of energy behind the impending brand launch.