Adapt Community Network

When a 70 year old organization like United Cerebral Palsy of New York City re-launches with a new name and new positioning, there is obvious risk involved.  Most people don’t use phrases like ‘brand equity’, but we all know what it is at stake when a name known all over the world is abandoned.

We were stunned when the leadership did not award the assignment to one of the safer contenders, both globally established specialists in name changes. We should not have been: this was a true re-positioning from the start, with people ready to move away from old definitions of difference and ‘the disabled’.   CEO Ed Matthews, who was a creative contributor throughout, received the best possible compliment from a fellow agency leader, who said simply: ‘You just moved our entire field forward’.