Last week Erin and Tim participated in a panel discussion at North Park University’s 2010 Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management Symposium, to discuss some of the issues nonprofit organizations face in branding themselves. The event was sponsored by EPIC, and Erin (founder of EPIC) moderated a panel of experts from some of Chicago’s best creative agencies and companies, including Gravity Tank, Museum of Contemporary Art, Threadless, Simple Truth, Critical Mass, Synthetic Infatuation, and others. Some of the comments overheard during the Q&A and one-on-one sessions:

“Creating a brand is about trust.” “Branding is who you are, and marketing is what you say to different audiences.”

And finally,

“An organization’s visual language organically comes out of the brand story.”