CASE STUDY
YWCA of Singapore
Engaging hearts and minds through a redefined brand strategy
Challenge
Since its founding in 1875, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of Singapore has been at the forefront of serving needs of women in the community. With a focus on education, safety, employment and other essential needs, YWCA Singapore has demonstrated unwavering dedication to its mission of serving and bringing women into a community of fellowship. Over the decades, however, as YWCA Singapore expanded its community programs to support marginalized groups beyond women, it faced a challenge: a growing portfolio of diverse offerings supporting different groups without a clear brand story that unifies its people and programs.
Approaching its 150th anniversary in 2025, YWCA Singapore sought help from Prophet to redefine its brand positioning and story, with the objective to clarify its brand purpose that will resonate with its partners, donors, employees and volunteers and more importantly, appeal to the new generation of women in Singapore.
Solutions
To uncover the essence of YWCA, we embarked on a deep dive into its rich history and present-day operations. By analyzing archival materials and conducting extensive interviews with YWCA leadership and staff, we gained a profound understanding of the organization’s evolution and aspirations. We identified key strengths, differentiators and perceived gaps of the brand to shape hypotheses for its brand positioning. We learned how the YWCA has consistently strived towards advancing and enriching the lives of women and their families, and how it was pivotal in shaping the role of women through Singapore’s history.
Additionally, we conducted a high-level best-in-class nonprofit brand audit to learn how these brands communicate effectively with younger consumers today. We also explored the evolving landscape of women’s roles, values and challenges in Singapore, which lent valuable insights into YWCA’s target audience and the unique role YWCA should play in society.
Through multiple engagements with YWCA’s board members and key staff, we crafted a compelling brand positioning that reflects YWCA’s unique heritage and what the brand wants to be in the future – bringing women together to serve one another with love, for the good of future generations.
We then distilled the brand purpose into four distinct brand principles:
- Serving with Love
- Embracing Change
- Empowering Lives
- Strengthening Communities
With a refined brand story, we translated the brand positioning into a playbook with actionable messaging guidelines and compelling signature stories that help bring the new brand positioning to life. As part of that, we showcased the transformative journeys of two mothers who benefited from YWCA’s programs. This example brought the YWCA brand story to life and served as a way to inspire and engage with both volunteers and donors.
Results
Armed with a clearly defined and purposeful brand strategy, YWCA is now activating the brand internally to inspire and unite its volunteers and employees. The organization is also looking to activate the brand strategy externally across all its communications channels to drive stronger brand awareness and relevance with a broader audience.
“We are incredibly privileged to work with leading consultancy, Prophet, on our upcoming 150th anniversary. The team’s deep insights, strategic thinking, and great facilitation helped us uncover hidden nuggets of our heritage as a first women’s charity in Singapore and guided us in providing a clearer voice to communicate our mission to the future generation. We are extremely grateful that despite this being a pro-bono impact project, the team put in 100% commitment and were so approachable, always just a call away. Thank you deeply for your dedication and gifting of your talents, Prophet. ”
Ong Puay See
Executive Director