The Liverpool studio has given the Manchester tree-planting company a brand that finally says what it is: a business doing good, and damn proud of it.
You know that optional contribution you get when you pay your food bill at a restaurant? The no-brainer “do you want to donate?” bit, and you can’t say no? That’s what’s interesting about GiftTrees, which does exactly that. They’re not a charity; they’re a private organisation that passionately believes purpose and profit don’t have to be separate.
Opt for “yes” at checkout, and every contribution helps plant trees in agroforestry projects, restoring ecosystems, strengthening food security, and creating sustainable income for farming families across Sub-Saharan Africa. How could anyone refuse?
But even though it’s responsible for over five million trees so far, the ambition is to plant a billion. That’s no easy feat. And its brand wasn’t living up to the mission. GiftTrees approached MOKSi, the Liverpool-based brand studio, to help refresh its visual identity and mark a new chapter for the organisation.
The brief, according to Rich Pay, founder and creative director of MOKSi, was “how do we bring people, planet and profit together under one brand that speaks to everyone the same way?” It wasn’t so much that GiftTrees was lost; it was more a lack of confidence in being both profitable and good. “They didn’t need to hide that they’re a successful commercial business and not a charity because they’re giving so much back and helping to change entire communities. They just didn’t know how to bridge that gap.” I get it. Perhaps it’s a British thing. GiftTrees, after all, is headquartered in Manchester.
But it wasn’t just how GiftTrees felt; it was about getting across the right tone to everyone else: “We need people to immediately feel good when they see the brand. Not guilty or overwhelmed. Just clear on what GiftTrees is about and excited to be part of it,” says Storm Postlethwaite, managing director at GiftTrees.
With this in mind, MOKSi’s starting point was spelling out GiftTrees’ value proposition: “impact made easy”. It perfectly articulates where the brand needed to go. What happened next was a ton of research. Workshops with everyone involved. And lots of competitor analysis. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t go down the same route as charities, avoiding any clichés and just doing something different to other brands in the sustainability category,” Rich says. I presume that meant not looking too saintly or twee, and Rich agrees. “We wanted to bring some positivity to the identity as well. So many charities opt for the alternative, and that’s not what GiftTrees is about. We wanted to help it celebrate its impact.” It’s an “anti-guilt vibe”, as Rich puts it. Because it simply isn’t a charity.
Visually, that meant a complete overhaul. A new logo, colour palette, typography, iconography, graphics – you name it. MOKSi used existing photography. And a new website is in the works. “What I love most about this brand is how you can trace everything back to that original value proposition – impact made easy,” Rich says. That begins with the logo, which features two green leaves pressing together into the shape of a bow. They could also look like open hands. Please Display Medium by PSTL is the logo and headline font, and it carries that same breath-of-fresh-air feel, if I’m describing it. It was paired with Outfit, a Google Font and a lovely geometric sans, to balance things out.
OK, so the category is flooded with green, as you can imagine. And yes, it forms the primary brand colour for GiftTrees, but that was a deliberate decision by MOKSi. You want people to instinctively understand that this is a company that does good for the environment, but at the same time, as it’s not a charity, MOKSi opted for a complementary palette of vibrant purple, orange, and red. “Not to be geeky, but there’s a science behind these colour choices. Purple represents prosperity and orange is optimism. Red, meanwhile, is urgency because we want people to act,” says Rich.
Once the foundations were in place, the identity was rolled out across socials, posters, and lots of marketing materials to encourage restaurants to sign up to the scheme. “Together, we created a brand that doesn’t stand out from the industry for the sake of it. It stands out because it is a more honest reflection of who we are,” says Maria Buitrago, marketing manager at GiftTrees.
After launching the identity, GiftTrees tested it with customers, and the approval rating was 95%. A successful outcome for all. Rich adds: “When we began this process, the client didn’t know how to bring together people, planet, and profit. It’s not something we see often, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable. We gave GiftTrees the confidence to be unapologetically themselves. We proved that doing good can be part of business every day.”
