How do you rebuild trust?

In 2022, Oxfam had a trust problem.

The organisation was still living in the shadow of the 2017 scandal, while much of its public-facing communication continued to lean on an outdated White Saviour narrative. The brief wasn't to design a new look. It was to help people believe in Oxfam again.

Which wasn't straightforward, because I wasn't convinced either.

There is no them, just us

The starting point was to stop pretending the past hadn't happened.

Rather than distance the organisation from its mistakes, the new brand positioning acknowledged them.

It recognised that poverty isn't something that happens to other people, somewhere else.

It's part of the same systems we all live in, whether that's the cost of living crisis at home or the power structures that allowed abuse within Oxfam itself.

That thinking became There is no them, just us.

It was more than a campaign line.

It became the foundation of a wider brand refresh, with Oxfam adopting the thinking beyond the campaign itself.