Enactus

Background

Enactus, formerly known as SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), is a global nonprofit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to help mobilize university students to make a difference in the world while they develop the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.

Challenges

Despite its strong strategic foundation and an aligned mission and tagline, Enactus had trouble articulating its brand story in the most effective way possible—primarily because of its multiple key audiences and its complex organizational layers. Additionally, the organization had reached a tipping point in its growth: Participation was high and the organization had successfully expanded into new countries and was attracting new donors. Becoming a truly global network (1,600 participating universities in 39 countries) meant it needed to better define its brand in order to fulfill its mission, continue growing, and achieve its desired impact.

Enactus came to Landor for help in crafting a brand positioning and a name that would house all the emotions and ideas for which the brand stands.

What Landor did for Enactus: Brand positioning

To address the organization’s challenges and aspirations, Landor developed a concise, ownable, and differentiating brand positioning using the organization’s already well-defined purpose as the guiding principle.

Looking at the landscapes of both nonprofit organizations and corporate social responsibility programs, it was apparent that the emphasis among many of them was most often about helping others and making an impact in the world. While this is at the heart of Enactus, Landor determined that it was not enough of a differentiator in the marketplace.

Instead, Enactus’ impact on the world is a result of the tangible involvement of its participants—a system that enables students to apply their entrepreneurial mindset to meaningful actions that result in positive outcomes throughout the world.

Using this key insight, Landor developed the concept of “Entrepreneurial Action” as Enactus’ key focus for differentiation. For students, academics, and business leaders alike, this concept is about creativity, problem solving, and bringing ideas to life in a purposeful way. Entrepreneurial Action taps into the emotional, passionate energy that drives Enactus members while reminding us of the organization’s fundamental belief in using business principles to make a positive difference.

“Enabling progress through entrepreneurial action” became Enactus’ core brand idea, and  guides all touchpoints of the new brand to drive it forward.

What Landor did for Enactus: Naming

The organization was founded as “Students in Free Enterprise,” but the long descriptive name soon became an acronym—SIFE—for ease of use. However, rapid global expansion of the organization, and the cultural and pronunciation issues that accompanied it, meant the organization’s name became more and more outdated. Additionally, the organization recognized an opportunity to create a new verbal identity, one that could transcend physical, linguistic, and cultural boundaries and act as a vessel for its positioning.

The new name, Enactus, was initially inspired by the idea of compounding “Entrepreneurial Action,” but it was created to transcend those roots and encompass the strong emotion that the brand evokes. The name encapsulates the intricate balance between youthful energy and a sophisticated stature that defines the organization. Enactus works as a call to action—it is an invitation to students to put their skills and education into action, and it is an inspiration for the socially responsible leaders of today to help cultivate the socially responsible leaders of tomorrow.