The Big Issue has rebranded and launched a new five-year strategy in response to the challenges faced by people living in poverty across the UK.
The organisation is rebranding to ‘Big Issue Group’, with the rebrand and roll-out supported by a number of pro-bono agencies and led by Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR).
JKR’s brief was to create a progressive and cohesive brand identity, inclusive of all the different sub-brands of the Big Issue Group.
The new five-year strategy aims to create solutions to unlock social and economic opportunities for millions of people trapped in poverty in the UK.
As a part of its new strategy and rebrand, Big Issue Group will also be launching a new value proposition of ‘Changing Lives Through Enterprise’. It is designed to help marginalised people in the UK to earn an income.
The new Group Impact Goal sets out that by 2027, the organisation will aim to engage with or impact up to 11 million people every year through its products and services. The firm has also published a Group Impact Report, which looks at the impact the organisation has had over the last 30 years and lays out its new five-year Impact goal.
All work will be focused around three pillars – Innovation, Investment and Prevention – which will be driven forward across Big Issue Group which is comprised of Big Issue Media including Big Issue Magazine, Big Issue Invest, Big Issue E-Bikes, Big Issue Foundation and Big Issue Shop.
This will also see Big Issue Group bring in two new ambassadors – Jack Parsons, CEO of The Youth Group and the UK’s Chief Youth Officer, and Sherrie Silver, choreographer, creative entrepreneur and campaigner. The new ambassadors will be focused on supporting Big Issue Group to develop Big Issue Recruit, which is set to launch this Autumn, aimed at those who face barriers to employment.
Paul Cheal, CEO of Big Issue Group, said: “Most people readily associate the Big Issue with marginalised people selling a magazine on the streets. Over the last 30 years, we have enabled over 100,000 people to earn over £144m in collective income.
“But there is so much more to the Big Issue. Our business is changing lives. Our new five-year strategy brings all our work together.
“To achieve our new mission, we must expand our service offer to reach and deliver impact to as many people as we can.”
Zoe Hayward, Group Chief Marketing Officer for Big Issue Group, added: “This is an exciting and important next step for the Big Issue brand – not only have we modernised our brand but we are expanding in new ways to create opportunity for more marginalised people than ever before.
“Our new-look and branding has been designed to mirror this new and more innovative outlook. Our new value proposition, Changing Lives Through Enterprise has always been at the heart of what we do, but by highlighting this focus across the Group, we hope to impact even more lives for the better.”
