Branding Style Guide
“Prepare for the
WORST Plan for the
BEST”
Table of Contents
Introduction
3-12
Usage
41-100
Our Story
Digital Guidelines
Our Changing World
Print Guidelines
Our Brand Philosophy
Physical Guidelines Advertising
Guidelines
13-40
Name & Logo
Media Relations Charitable Support
Color Palette & Typography Imagery
It’s Up To Us
101-102
Introduction
Introduction We are an ambitious, forward-thinking and innovative organization. We disrupt the status quo, to forever change the paradigm of disaster resilience with aim of creating a safer, more resilient world. To communicate the potential of our current and future clients, we need a confident, authentic, differentiated brand identity. And we have one. Our brand identity is driven by the need to communicate our values and our offering, in a consistent and clear manner, to all of our key audiences: potential clients in the private and public sectors; potential venture or teaming partners; journalists; students, service providers, accelerators and sponsors of small business competitions and residents of the communities in which we operate. The brand identity has been developed to balance
two competing needs: the need to provide structure for present communications and flexibility to be responsive for future ones. This brand guide is designed to give you an insight into the platform on which our brand identity is built. It presents the different elements in our brand identity tool kit. It demonstrates and celebrates the way we express ourselves across all media and in all of our actions. In the year of our founding, Prisere was named to the GEW 50, the 50 most innovative start-ups launched in the world that year as selected by the Kauffman Foundation to be recognized during Global Entrepreneurship Week. From our very beginnings, we have been recognized as a leader in innovation. We have a brand identity we should all feel proud of. It is a powerful asset. Let’s use it productively!
Donna Childs
Our Story
Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses. is updated with 40 per cent fresh content for the second edition, now available in paperback. The book has received favorable coverage from major news media, such as The Wall Street Journal. The leadership team of Prisere LLC led a prior venture in a community that was declared a federal disaster, one of the worst disasters in history. Thanks to our unusual professional backgrounds (in reinsurance and information technology), we were exceptionally well prepared. Our team’s work was featured in the “Ready for Business” campaign of the Department of Homeland Security as an example of best practice for business resilience. To share our experience with other small businesses, our founder Donna R. Childs wrote a book that was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
For ten years after our experience of living and working in a federal disaster area, our team volunteered to help other small businesses impacted by disasters. The Hurricane Recovery Director of the American Red Cross honored our volunteer work to help small businesses in the Gulf Coast states recover from Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike. It became clear that our unique combination of professional and personal experience could motivate disaster resilience action in areas where other approaches had failed. We also recognized unique disruptive opportunities to develop, tools to enable and insure disaster resilience.
Our Changing World
To provide insurance to protect an increasingly risky climate requires enabling tools and support, such as risk maps and risk models. We cannot take those tools for granted. Consider, for example, that it has been a decade since January 12, 2010, when an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 devastated Haiti, killing over 40,000 people and displacing another million. Relief and reconstruction efforts were confounded by the absence of key tools such as risk maps, an unthinkable consideration in developed countries. Using high-resolution satellite imagery, volunteers worldwide took to their computers with GIS applications to develop risk maps. But increasingly, even where such maps exist, a changing climate is rendering them obsolete. Consider, for example, that Super Storm Sandy returned Lower Manhattan’s coastline back to its origins more than a century ago before land was reclaimed to change the island’s geography.
The result is that industry incumbents, established insurance and reinsurance companies find that their proprietary risk models and maps, which were a source of competitive advantage, are becoming burdensome legacy investments. The time is now for industry disruptors to develop innovations to meet the needs of a changing world. Prisere was formed to do just that. Our brand identity conveys our creativity and innovation with a relentlessly optimistic outlook for a better future for our changing world.
Our Brand Philosophy
Our organization may be small (at least, for the present), but our ambitions are not. That is why we have invested time and effort to develop our brand promise that can scale with us as we grow. Our brand promise sets the tone and level of expectation of our audience, while communicating our philosophy and unique value proposition in a meaningful way. Our brand is an important asset as it allows us to be heard and seen above the noise and clutter in a crowded market. Our logo is the most critical component since it drives the creative for all other elements.
Stroock & Lavan LLP, a law firm headquartered in Lower Manhattan. Stroock’s Public Service Project focuses on six themes, one of which is disaster relief, as summarized on Stroock’s website:
Our brand expresses our values of independent thinking, creativity, innovation, optimism and authenticity. A key element of our brand philosophy is resourcefulness, the ability to get things done as if resource constraints didn’t exist. Because, for the creative mind, they don’t. Prisere LLC was incorporated thanks to the pro bono work of Stroock
We are a recognized leader in providing critical legal pro bono services in response to national disasters. After the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, the Public Service Project (PSP) put itself on the front lines of legal relief for thousands of struggling Americans, with focus on assisting small businesses.
Founded and advised From the Ground Up, a self-help and advocacy group for small businesses in Lower Manhattan. Created a template for a citywide “Adopt-aFirehouse� program that provided Trust & Estates advice to firehouses and families of first responders.
After September 11, we: Conceived, staffed and helped launch the citywide Small Business Legal Relief initiative, which served approximately 800 small businesses struggling to survive while facing an oppressive array of legal needs. Helped organize and staff a unique mediation program in the Housing Part of NYC Civil Court to help keep small businesses from being evicted while also responding to the needs of landlords.
Drawing on our experiences, we came to the aid of thousands of small businesses in New Orleans after the shocking losses caused by Hurricane Katrina. We co-created and counseled the grassroots advocacy group Second Wind, with over 1,000 small business members. Among other victories, Second Wind successfully lobbied for and helped organize a $100 million small business grant program. After Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal homes and businesses in and around New York City, the PSP again drew on its knowledge of small business legal needs to help coordinate law firms and legal services providers, to lead a citywide training, to open and staff walk-in clinics, and to provide direct representation to struggling entrepreneurs.
More recently, we helped strategize and coordinate legal relief efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Stroock lawyers incorporated Prisere as a limited liability company in Delaware, registered us a “foreign company� established to operate in other states and secured trademark registrations for Prisere’s name, logo and tagline. One of the most joyful experiences of our work life is the ability to collaborate and benefit from the talents offered by others who share a commitment to our mission. We are deeply grateful to Stroock for helping us get started.
Prisere itself was initially capitalized with two $5,000 grants as the winner of corporate small business competitions; one was from a wireless carrier and the other was from FedEx.
A scholarship awarded to our founder by the September 11th Fund helped her to build the first website. With this, Donna took two courses in corporate desktop publishing and website design at the Continuing and Professional Studies Division of Baruch College in the City University of New York. The program included classes on the Adobe, HTML, JavaScript, etc. The faculty who taught the courses had their own design businesses and provided feedback to the assignments that ultimately became our first website. A laptop and Adobe Creative Suite software were purchased to support the work required of the program thanks to the generosity of the Sumasil Foundation.
marketing company owned by the newspaper’s corporate parent. With their help, we grew our Facebook community to just under 30,000 members. We participated in the Google Digital Analytics three-day course, thanks to a scholarship from Google and Citizens Bank to help us improve our digital marketing and search ranking.
The Webb Foundation provided a scholarship for our founder to take a course in Digital Media Authoring at the Sony Institute in San Jose. A workforce development grant covered the cost for our founder to participate in the “Mini MBA” Digital Marketing” program at the business school of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey followed by an online program in content marketing paid for by a STEP grant of the Small Business Administration. When Prisere was selected the winner of a small business contest of our local newspapee the Providence Journal, the prize was a $5,000 digital media marketing package offered by a digital media
Finally, thanks to the talents of faculty and students at Johnson & Wales University in Providence: Megan Comtois, Rheanna Diehl, Jeff Drury, Sariah Folson, Francesca Maldari, Deana Marzocchi, Jessica Paquette and Elana Valderde. In fulfillment of requirements for two graphic design courses, they created this branding guide and many of the brand toolkit elements included. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity and talents of many people, this brand guide and its supporting elements have come to life! A relative scarcity of resources is no problem for us as there are those out there who share our commitment to a safer, more resilient world. And that is the cornerstone of our brand philosophy.
Guidelines
Name & Logo
People often ask how our founder came up with the name for our business. It was no easy task! The name for a new company must be unique, distinctive and memorable. It must also be available; that is, no other party can claim ownership of the name and the URL is available for a website address. It took months of brainstorming as, one after the other, initial naming concepts were ruled out for the potential legal risks as others might assert rights to those names. Finally, after our exasperated legal counsel threatened to generate a name through a sequence of randomly selected letters, our founder came up with Prisere.
The concept of the name derives from the vesper iris, the most resilient flower. It can thrive in all climates and even bloom in the absence of sunlight. Indeed, the vesper iris would blossom as the faithful were going to their evening prayers, or vespers; hence, the name. Of course, iris is a homonym, as the word also refers to the part of the eye that allows in light to enable vision, an appropriate theme as we are sufficiently farsighted to see the value of planning for resilience. Prisere is an anagram of the vesper iris, minus the letter “V”. Variations of the iris include the Louisiana iris, the fleur-de-lys (the symbol of New Orleans), and the Japanese iris, significant as both New Orleans and Japan are associated with renewal following major disasters. The Siberian iris can even bloom in the frozen tundra, and is the concept shown in our social media banner.
It turns out that the word actually exists: the prisere is the ecological succession to the climax community, in which populations of plants and animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and with their environment. It reflects the concept of sustainable development. A trademark search revealed that no one had claimed prior use of the word. And the URL was available for prisere. com, prisere.org, prisere.net, etc. And “Prisere” passed the final test when executives of the Swiss Reinsurance Group (our founder’s former employer) and the United Nations (an important client) loved the concept! As such, Prisere is the name of our company and the iris is featured in our logo. The logo shows the letter “I” deepened at the base, similar to a root firmly planted in the ground. The tip of the “I” opens up not to a dot, but to a blossoming iris. Our tagline is “Deep rooted. Farsighted.” A tagline is a short slogan used to reinforce a key aspect of a product or brand. In the context of professional services or technology firms,
a tagline is usually part of a firm’s identity (as opposed to an ad slogan) — so it usually appears in conjunction with the firm’s name and logo. Our tagline succinctly captures key themes of our identity: we plant deep roots to weather the storm and we are sufficiently farsighted to plan for resilience. Prisere, its logo and tagline are all trademarks owned by Prisere LLC. As such, they should not be modified in any way. In addition, Prisere LLC owns the trademark for “Coco and Henry”, an illustration of our founder’s two cocker spaniels. That logo is used for products and information related to disaster resilience planning for pets.
The logos should never be scaled down to smaller than .75 inches tall but may be scaled up as needed for larger pieces of marketing material .
The logos should never be stretched horizontally or vertically to ensure the integrity of the logo and readability of the text on the primary logo.
Most times the logo should be used solely on a light or white background. The only other colored background that is acceptable is the Prisere Pantone 215 C with the white iris logo.
Color Palette & Typography
Body - Philosopher
Headers - PT Sans
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Hex: #ffffff RGB: 255, 255, 255 CYMK: 0, 0, 0, 0 Pantone: 11-0601
PT Sans should be used for headers, subheaders and other titles. At minimum, headers must be 18pt. It should also always be in a heavier font weight, and can be used in any color of the brand color palette. Light colors should be used on dark colors, and dark colors should be used on light colors. Philosopher should be used for body copy and other small type. At minimum, this font must be 8pt for readability. It can be displayed in any font weight, although regular is most commonly used.It can be used in any color of the brand color palette, however white should be used only in cases where small portions of text overlay a darker color in which the other two colors do not provide readable text.
Hex: #b01f59 RGB: 176, 31, 89 CYMK: 0, 82, 49, 31 Pantone: 215 C
Hex: #343333 RGB: 52, 51, 51 CYMK: 0, 2, 2, 80 Pantone: 426 C
Imagery
Images are an integral part of our brand identity. The right image can convey a complex message in an instant. Images can lead or support messages and help convey our values. To ensure that images support the Prisere brand, we generally refrain from using stock photography in any of our communications. To consider the risks involved in the use of stock photography, we note the example of an organic line of beauty products that featured a photograph of an attractive African-American woman. She had natural hair and appeared comfortable in her own skin, wore little makeup and was dressed in yoga apparel. She appeared ideally suited to support the image of the brand’s cosmetics. Unfortunately, that same photograph appeared in a print advertisement for tequila shots, illustrating the risk of stock photographs: they are available to anyone.
We nearly always use original photographs that we ourselves have taken. We are not professional photographers and that is okay – an authentic image of our experience, with all of its flaws, resonates with people. Photographs of our work, our team, our accomplishments, our growth – all invite our community to come on the journey with us – and that is what we try to accomplish with the images we share. The following are examples of images that we have successfully used to communicate our brand.
From India, we have an illustration of the value of building a brand for women-owned enterprises. The Self-Employed Women’s Association or SEWA, meaning “service” in several Indian languages is a trade union based in Ahmedabad, promoting the rights of lower-income, independently employed women. While working in India on a UN project, we were invited to meet SEWA’s founder, Ela Bhatt, and participate in the annual meeting of SEWA members, women who had their own small businesses making embroidered items or textiles or other goods. SEWA had an innovative way of standardizing products for consistent quality such that women working from their homes while
tending their families could stitch items designed by SEWA. This particular annual meeting coincided with an important anniversary for the organization, so SEWA members used flower petals to form the words “Welcome” and “Happy Birthday” to greet visitors on arrival. One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the need to brand SEWA products to allow women to capture more of the value from their sales relative to offering basic commodities. The photographs show the SEWA logo on a street stand selling vegetables grown by a SEWA member and the logo made of flower petals at the meeting site. Branding to differentiate the value of a womanowned business? Lesson learned!
We loved this photograph so much we included it on our website. The National Academy of Sciences has a program dedicated to using science and innovation to enhance resilience in the Gulf Coast region. To advance the program’s work plan, they invited 40 experts, including Prisere, to a workshop in Mobile, Alabama to vet and further refine our concepts for enabling disaster resilience. We knew we were in the right place when the artwork outside the meeting rooms in the hotel where the workshop was held included irises made of mosaic tiles! Our first exercise was an icebreaker in which we were given white pads, markers, post-it’s and other supplies to let our creativity flow as we were invited to design our future. Our design took the
form of a future edition of a fictional newspaper “The Gulf Gazette” with some inspiring headlines: Elon Musk Donates Fleet of Amphibious Teslas for Floor Rescue “There’s an app for that? New Orleans evacuates in record time” “Department of Resilience Enters Third Year of Funding” “They even saved my puppies” This is a positive image showing our creativity imagination of a more resilient future and invites our community to join us in building it.
We work hard, and we play hard. When on assignment in Asia, we cannot practically return home for the weekends, so the clients typically pay per diems to cover hotel and meals for the weekend days when we cannot invoice for work but must remain in the country. That is the time to explore our host country as we did in Sri Lanka. On one weekend we visited an elephant sanctuary and took lots of pictures. To allow the elephants to safely return to their sanctuary from their afternoon bath in the river, a crossing guard stopped the traffic, including the ubiquitous tuk tuk. We were under the shade of the trees, so the conditions were not ideal for the shot and that is okay. The authenticity of the photo resonates with people.Â
This photograph shows a young girl in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, a French-speaking country in Sub-Saharan Africa where per capita income is just under US$1 per day. Guinea is experiencing the “new normal” of alternating floods and droughts, devastating to the effort to build capacity in agriculture. While working on a project in Guinea, we photographed this beautiful girl, who was on her way to do something many girls in her part of the world don’t get to do – go to school. The smiling optimism of a girl hopeful for a better future contrasts with the present reality of poverty and floods. It is a beautiful photo as we work towards a better future.
This is a post office in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan where we went to mail a package during our disaster risk financing work for the Asian Development Bank. This image invites our community to join us on our travels and see parts of the world they wouldn’t likely be able to visit. One of the most gratifying outcomes of our social media platform is that we have high school teachers engaged in our work to share it with their students. Climate science, history, geography foreign languages – it’s all here! While high school teachers are not part of our target audience, this was a serendipitous outcome with some unexpected results: we are overwhelmed with requests from high school and college students seeking summer internships with Prisere. Stock photographs don’t deliver comparable results.
We took this photograph at the 2018 gathering of the Understanding Risk community of the World Bank’s Global Facility for Risk Reduction and Recovery and its Climate Lab. The event was held in the historic district of Mexico City and began with an ice-breaking exercise to demonstrate a key principle of risk resilience. A Mexican origami artist guided us through the process of assembling sheets of colored paper into pillars. The pillars were stood on end, one next to the other, creating a step on which a 200-pound man was able to stand. Can you imagine that something so fragile, a sheet of paper, could support 200 pounds of weight without crumbling? But it did. This is a great visual image, with vibrant colors inviting people in to read the accompanying text and find out what is going on.
NASA satellites collect earth observation data that are valuable for predicting, mitigating and responding to disasters. We were delighted to be included among the VIP guests for the launch of the NASA GOES-S satellite, the Geostationary Orbital Satellite. We spent two days at the space station in Florida as guests of NASA, with special briefings from the scientists, meetings with the tech experts responsible for the monitoring instruments on the satellite, behind the scenes tour at the Space Center and a viewing of “Science on a Sphere�, a 3D model of the earth on which earth observation data are displayed showing storms forming in real time. Separately, we were among the experts NASA invited contribute our innovation concepts to its flood workshop held in Colorado. Photographs such as these examples include our community in the work we are doing, while highlighting our technical competence and capacity for innovation.
Prisere LLC was one of the “scholarship entrepreneurs� funded and supported to present at the 2019 Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco. This photograph, with supporting descriptive text, communicates that we are recognized leaders within the global community of social entrepreneurs. This is a positive image that invites the community to celebrate with us.
We were in Sri Lanka leading a disaster risk financing project for the Asian Development Bank when, following a meeting with the Red Cross, we brought take-out food over to the lake for a picnic lunch. Before we had to leave for our next meeting, a family of macaque monkeys came over to check us out: mom with her baby hanging on to her, dad and an older child. Dad and the older boy kept watch to make sure we didn’t approach mom while she was nursing her baby. But curiosity got the better of her, so as we stood up to leave, she climbed a tree with the baby, so she could get a good look at us at eye level. It’s a spontaneous photo taken with a cell phone, and it works on multiple levels. It allows members of our community, who will likely never visit Sri Lanka, to accompany us on our journey. It underscores the issue of biodiversity, a concern arising from climate change. And it shows fun – who wants a business lunch at Le Cirque, when you can have this?
Still on assignment in Sri Lanka, we stayed at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in the capital city of Colombo. In the middle of a bustling city, the hotel is built around an old village to preserve a view of life when Colombo was a rural farming area. The hotel has spice gardens to grow the cinnamon for which Sri Lanka is renowned and a cow for the family to milk. Every morning, before leaving for our first work assignment, we brought bananas from the breakfast buffet to the cow who developed great affection for us, as we were a reliable source of treats. Since agriculture is directly impacted by a changing climate, which gives rise to increasingly frequent and severe weather hazards, this photo of the hotel cow, with accompanying text, makes the issue real for our community. And clearly this is a very different experience than staying at a 5-star hotel in Manhattan! One evening, we met with the chef-gardener for tips about the best way to grow herbs and spices at home and a cooking lesson to make authentic Sri Lankan dishes. This photo aligns with the authenticity of the Prisere brand.
Usage
Digital Guidelines
The Internet, email and social media are increasingly important communication channels for our organization. These platforms enable us to engage with a global community potentially interested in our work and to do so at negligible cost. Developments in technology, including mobile and network technologies, allow small businesses such as ours to punch above our weight and achieve outcomes that had previously been out of reach.
To capture the benefits of digital technologies, we have developed guidelines that ensure we are communicating our brand values consistently across all media. The guidelines are not only for internal use but may be shared with outside service providers, such as graphic designers, that produce content for us, allowing us to deliver our work product in a consistent and efficient manner. The elements of our brand identity tool kit, such as our logo and color palette, may be replicated across digital platforms in the same manner as we do with our print communications
Having key information populate Prisere website pages allows the organizations with which we hope to do business to efficiently gather information about us in advance of an in-person meeting, allowing us to move into substantive discussions that build on the background information. For that reason, we include our website URL on our business and e-mail signature cards. So, it is critical that we keep the site updated and fresh. All of the elements of our brand toolkit support our website, such as our logo, color palette and images. We also have a “Fav-Icon” of the Prisere iris, the part of the logo that appears about the letter “I” appear in the address field of web browsers. Prisere’s website may be found at www.prisere.com The site was developed with the “Attitude” theme of WordPress, allowing our site to be “responsive” that is, displayed with fidelity across desktop, laptop and mobile devices. The site includes content to inform multiple audiences we serve: potential clients in the private and public sectors; potential venture or teaming partners; journalists; students, service providers, accelerators and sponsors of small business competitions and residents of the communities in which we operate.
In addition, please be aware that we post the logos of other organizations, with appropriate permissions, to our website, such as that of WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, to indicate that Prisere is certified by WBENC as a women-owned business. The WBENC logo must be used in accordance with its brand guidelines and may not be altered or changed in any way. The same is true for the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) WeatherReady Nation logo, which indicates that our organization is a NOAA Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, part of an initiative that works with NOAA to strengthen national resilience against extreme weather. The logo is included on our website subject to NOAA’s Terms of Use and must link back to the NOAA Weather-Ready Nation website at http:// www.weather.gov/wrn/
Social media are networked platforms that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas and content. Prisere has social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn. The profile banner for social media is the photograph of an iris peeking through the snow and ice, with the Prisere logo and a graphic element in the lower right-hand corner. Care should be taken when posting to social media, as our community is global. For example, our Facebook group has community members from India and Pakistan, two countries that do not have diplomatic relations with one another, but with whom we had connected when working for the Asian Development Bank. Images or language that may be appropriate in an American context may be offensive or worse from the perspective of another culture.
Prisere’s use of social media aims to engage our community in our work. Our Facebook page, for example, shows photographs of our work in Sri Lanka, Mexico, Turkey, Jamaica and elsewhere. The page also shows the Prisere team at play as, when we work overseas, the client typically pays a per diem to cover hotels and meals for the weekend when we cannot invoice for work hours, but it would be impractical to return home and back again. When working for the Asian Development Bank in Sri Lanka, for example, we spent our weekends visiting an elephant sanctuary, a tea plantation, a spice farm, the memorial to those lost to the tsunami, and going out boating to see the spectacular blue whales and dolphins close to Sri Lanka’s coast. We were delighted to see that high school teachers had joined our community to share our content with their students!
Email signature cards are available with Prisere brand elements: the website URL, links to social media, the font and palette colors selected for our brand and the company logo. The basic card is personalized to include each employee’s name, telephone number and e-mail address. This allows contact information to be automatically included with every communication in a manner consistent with the brand guidelines. When composing an electronic mail, keep in mind that many of the members of our community (clients, suppliers, and others) are not native speakers of English, so it is best to avoid the use of jargon. Â
Headshots of Prisere employees, for our website, marketing pitches, public talks or other uses, should reflect a professional, but approachable, look. We use a professional photographer to take our headshots. Prepare for your photo session by wearing business or business casual clothing. Be careful of clothing that includes printed, rather than solid, fabrics that can appear “busy� when they are displayed on computer monitors. The headshots are created in full color.
Video is an important tool to communicate our brand values. In some cases, we will share videos on our website and on social media that feature Prisere but have been created by others. Some videos, such as the video link of the Common Good Awards reception, are royalty-free licenses and we can include these links in our online materials. Of course, since other producers create these video files that are not intended for our exclusive use, we cannot edit the files to conform to our own branding guidelines. However, where possible, we can include our branding material, as when the Prisere logo was displayed at the signage shown in the Common Good Awards video. Care should always be exercised to verify that any videos we share do not contain any inappropriate or potentially offensive content.
In other cases, we may license video content from others such as, for example, when Prisere LLC will be included in the Nasdaq video interview series. In such cases, we must ensure that we have permission to share the video files and, as they represent content created by others, we may not alter them in any way.
In creating our own video files, standard branding guidelines apply to fonts and typography, as titles and captions are often used in videos, color palette, as for example, background signage in the video, and logo usage as the Prisere logo may be placed on the lower right-hand corner of the video to identify Prisere as the source of the content, without being obtrusive or cluttering the video field. In addition, the tone should be business-like, but approachable. Should music be used in the video, verify that it has been properly licensed and credited.
In some cases, video will be created in a spontaneous manner as when, for example, the Prisere team were VIP guests of NASA for the launch of its GOES-S, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, which offers advanced technology to predict and track weather-related hazards bringing a new capability to disaster resilience. We certainly would not miss the opportunity to record the launch for not being allowed to bring a production crew with us, so we made video clips with our iPhones and uploaded them to Prisere’s social media. This is entirely appropriate and encouraged, to engage our community with our work.
Print Guidelines
Our logo, images, graphics and color palette come together most clearly in our publications. The system gives us templates to ensure consistency in the basic elements with the flexibility to communicate with different audiences in different ways. When producing external publications, by choosing the right balance of elements from the brand identity toolkit, we can create an appearance appropriate to the specific purpose, audience and content of the print material.
Varying the size and use of images and using colors from our supporting palette are just two of the ways in which we can adapt the level of impact in different publications. Whatever the message and whoever the audience, the correct use of the elements in our toolkit will ensure that each of our publications is as strong and resonant as possible, while remaining clearly and uniquely Prisere.
Subject
The PrĂŠcis series is a collection of white papers with unique content authored by Prisere intended to establish our innovation and thought leadership in our industry. It is intended to be distributed digitally in .pdf form, consistent with our commitment to sustainability. Where it is necessary to print documents, the paper stock in our inventory is from recycled, post-consumer waste materials.Â
White Paper Title Subtitle
Our editorial practice is to follow the Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage. All work is expected to be original research, except where noted and properly cited. A second review is required for purposes of copywriting and fact checking as well as to ensure that we are in legal compliance prior to publication. The writing style should be succinct and clear, as if we were writing for the Wall Street Journal (as Prisere’s founder did when she was a Dow Jones senior columnist). The white paper is a tool to provide Prisere’s expert knowledge with the aim of shaping a policy agenda or displaying our expertise for marketing purposes. The white paper template provides the standard layout to be used with the selection of elements to be incorporated, such as graphics, supporting color palette and images. The template balances the need for standard brand identity while allowing some degree of creative expression.
Sufficient white space should be used to ensure that the page layout is not too “crowded”. As a white paper is intended to be a concise means of informing readers about a complex issue, while presenting Prisere’s view on the subject, it should not exceed eight pages in length, including the cover. The cover page should have a unique, single image to distinguish it from other papers in the Précis series. The paper should always be published in .pdf form with editing rights controlled to prevent third-party changes subsequent to publication.
How to protect your small or mid-size business against disasters Now in its second edition, Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best presents you with a structured, time-tested blueprint to help you evaluate your business in terms of its vulnerability and guide you through developing a cost-effective, individualized disaster and recovery plan. This book is an essential handbook for anyone who owns, or plans to start, a small business, to help you move from paralysis to preparedness. Praise for Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best “A fascinating read, based on experience with 9/11 but applicable to many types of natural or human-caused disasters. The author provides detailed and useful information on disaster recovery planning for small businesses, emphasizing IT recovery but providing useful tips for much more. The extensive explanation of insurance coverages is well balanced with guidance to help a small business take action to survive, remain viable, and ultimately to recover and remain competitive in the marketplace following a disaster.� —Diana L. McClure, Director of Business Protection & VP, Institute for Business & Home Safety
One of the elements in our marketing toolkit is a one-page flyer to promote our founder’s book, Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses. The book was published by Wiley, which also designed and printed the flyer. The flyer shows the cover of the book, featuring the Prisere theme color for brand alignment. It also provides an author’s bio, a description of the book, purchasing information (such as the book’s unique ISBN number assigned by the Library of Congress) and professional endorsements or “blurbs.� Generally, we do not make changes to the flyer until the publisher releases a new edition with updated book content. A .pdf of the flyer is available on the Prisere website. In some instances, we may print the flyer and include it with our marketing materials for client calls.
“As the number of businesses grow in the United States, so do the numerous threats to their survival including natural or manmade disasters, technology and security breaches, and questionable or ultimately unsuccessful business relationships. Donna Childs’ extraordinary personal and business experiences, coupled with her economic development work, make her a remarkable resource for entrepreneurs as they integrate contingency planning into their overall business strategy. Her focus on IT is particularly important given how vital information storage and retrieval has become for businesses of all sizes. A must-read-and a must-plan-for any business owner.� —Erin M. Fuller, Executive Director, National Association of Women Business Owners “How will you confront that nightmare scenario, an unprecedented event that puts your business on the line? If you’re not inclined to ‘wing it’ when facing the worst, and if you’re ready to channel some new revenues to your company by demonstrating real preparedness, this book is for you.� —Robert D. Austin, PhD, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School; Faculty Chair of the Harvard Executive Program for Chief Information Officers
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“Small businesses are now facing disasters on a scope and scale that were previously unthinkable. This book is a must-read to prepare your business for the worst.� —Murray Low, PhD, Associate Professor, Columbia Business School; Director of the Entrepreneurship Program “An essential handbook for anyone who owns, or plans to start, a small business, Prepare for the Worst, Plan from the Best helps you move from paralysis to preparedness. It’s a logical, understandable approach to protecting the business you worked so hard to build.� —Lauren Simonds, Managing Editor, SmallBusinessComputing.com
About the Author DONNA R. CHILDS is a former senior executive at the world’s largest reinsurance company, which required her to deal with major and minor disasters on a daily basis. This experience proved critical when she established her own small business in Lower Manhattan. Her company, located on Wall Street, was directly impacted by the events of September 11, 2001, and that experience gave her firsthand knowledge of what small businesses must do to ensure that they are protected from future disasters. In 2007, the National Association of Women Business Owners named Donna Childs its Woman Business Owner of the Year. Her website, www.preparedsmallbusiness.com, offers resources to help small businesses become resilient.
Wiley and the Wiley logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Capability Statement
Core Competencies Most of the world lacks risk mapping and risk modeling tools essential to insure resilience. And where such tools exist, emerging risks and a changing climate are rendering them obsolete. Prisere LLC aims to fill that gap by building capacity for climate and disaster resilience with improved risk tools, including risk communications, risk mapping and software apps, technical training and consulting services.
Past Performance
Differentiators
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction & Recovery Asian Development Bank Swiss Reinsurance Group U.S. Department of Energy (SBIR Award) Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) Turkey Disaster Emergency and Management Authority (AFAD) Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE)
Prisere LLC offers a unique combination of experience and empathy; our team has rare professional reinsurance experience offering deep risk management expertise matched with the personal experience of having each lived and worked through major disasters. Prisere’s founder was in the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11 when the planes struck the towers and was homeless for several months when her neighborhood was closed and evacuated by New York City authorities. Major news media rely on our expertise in disaster resilience.
Company Data Certified Woman-Owned Small Business DUNS: 078794131 CAGE Code: 6VQB9 NAICS Codes: 541611 Business management consulting 541511 Custom computer programming services 541620 Environmental consulting services 611430 Professional and management development training
Awards and Recognition
As Seen In
In 2011, Prisere LLC was named to the world’s 50 most innovative start-ups launched in that year as selected by the Kauffman Foundation and celebrated during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Prisere’s founder received the “Growing with Technology” award from Cisco and the “Business Breakthrough” award from Microsoft as well as the “Woman Business Owner of the Year” award from the the National Association of Women Business Owners and is a winner of the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge. SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, a program of the Small Business Administration, named Prisere LLC an “American Small Business Champion”. Prisere LLC is one of ten women-owned businesses in the 2018 Class of the Vital Voices Global Ambassadors and one of ten high-growth businesses participating in the 2019 Class of the Nasdaq “Milestone Maker” Accelerator.
Telephone: +1 401 615 4000
United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC): 93131800 Disaster preparedness and relief 93131802 Disaster preparedness response services 46201002 Disaster management training simulation system 72101504 Disaster proofing or contingency services 80172101 Crisis planning and avoidance services
Fax: + 1 401 615 4100
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Wall Street Journal New York Times The Economist CNBC National Public Radio Barron’s Forbes Bloomberg Businessweek Investor’s Business Daily Los Angeles Times Entrepreneur Inc. New Orleans Times-Picayune USA Today U.S. News & World Report
URL: www.prisere.com
Queries: info@prisere.com
The capability statement is a one-page document used to market a company’s goods or services to a government or private sector purchaser. Certain information is required such as contact details, NAICS codes (for North American Industry Classification System); DUNS number (the Dun & Bradstreet unique identifying number for Prisere), CAGE code (Commercial and Government Entity Code, which is required for government contracting), UNSPSC codes (United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes), which is required for doing business with international development agencies, core competencies and past performance.
The document also lists the company’s certifications: in our case Prisere is “Woman-Owned” for which we have been certified by WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. This information intended to help procurement officers identify suitably qualified vendors when they are preparing to put contracts out to bid. While the document is strictly limited to a single page, we chose to include “Differentiators” to summarize for procurement officers the qualities that make Prisere unique; the “Awards and Recognition” we have received and “As Seen In” which highlights
the prestigious news media in which are work has been featured. This information provides helpful marketing support to the capability statement. The capability statement reflects the brand guidelines with the logo, appropriate font and a design element in the upper left-hand corner for personality and definition. The current version of the capability statement is published on Prisere’s website. It is also filed with the agencies with which we are certified, government purchasing registries, and private sector companies for which Prisere LLC is a registered vendor.
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1-401-615-4000
22 Hyde Street, Cranston RI, 02920 USA
http://www.prisere.com
The first and most widely used communication material is our stationery. Our letterhead is designed with a bold graphic element in Prisere’s signature color to convey our innovative thinking. The Prisere logo appears in the upper left-hand corner to communicate our commitment to creativity and sustainability.
22 Hyde Street, Cranston RI 02920 USA
The envelopes used features the Prisere logo in the left hand corner with return mailing address information. The flap used to seal the envelope is the brand’s primary color, with a white version of the iris logo. The envelope is designed to express our unique brand identity.
The Prisere business card was designed to create a distinct, memorable impression. The cards are produced at a letterpress printer on heavy card stock to create an image consistent with customized work done with artisan-like care. The physical address of the employee is not shown on the business card, as some employees will choose to work from home and, for disaster resilience reasons, we prefer to digitize our communications wherever possible.
What Happens to Small Businesses After a Disaster Strikes? Citi’s website states: “Small businesses are the backbone of the US and with the economy under pressure, Citi has stepped in with a lending commitment to the sector of $24 billion over the next three years, with $ 7 billion available in 2011, $8 billion in 2012, and $9 billion in 2013.” “We recognize the vital role small businesses play in our economy and are excited about making this commitment to increase our lending to entrepreneurs across the country,” said Citi Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit. “During such challenging times, we appreciate how important it is for government and businesses to work together to catalyze economic growth. Whether it’s creating new jobs, supporting local investments or providing financial expertise, Citi is committed to helping our clients capture the American dream.”
Presentation Name | Slide Number
Well-edited and designed presentation aids support the message and facilitate learning of complex subject matter, while at the same time supporting the Prisere brand. PowerPoint and KeyNote are key communication tools for creating presentations aids within Prisere; we use the software for creating both on-screen presentations and for producing pitch books and other printed presentations. We have created templates for different types of slides, for displaying a presentation cover, table of contents, graphics and text. The templates enable anyone to assemble on-screen and printed presentations that communicate important information while ensuring we clearly and consistently represent the Prisere brand.
When delivering presentations, be mindful that PowerPoint/KeyNote do not communicate; you do. An on-screen or on-paper presentation should add emphasis or support your remarks, but the main focus should be on the conversation you are developing, not on the slides or pitch book. Consider carefully whether you need to use supporting materials as an aid; in many instances, it will be more effective to speak directly with your audience or prospective client. If you decide to use slides as an aid, use them to support your message with only the key points, not the entire story. If necessary, you can write your additional supporting information in the notes pages as a prompt.
The key to remember with presentation and pitch materials is that less is more: Avoid using more than five bullet points or lines of copy per slide; otherwise, the audience will be reading the slides rather than listening to you. Use clear pictures and charts that can be appreciated from a distance. When writing slide titles, think of a newspaper headline that would attract and engage the audience. Aim to use no more than one slide per minute; any more than that will overwhelm the audience.
Infographics use striking, engaging visuals to communicate information quickly and clearly. As we often have to share complex risk information, involving hazards and loss data over time series, an infographic is often the most effective communication tool. A few guidelines apply when creating an infographic: The infographic should have a title to identify the message,the file should be tagged with meta-data to facilitate search and retrieval, and the source of the data should be cited to convey accuracy and authority. The branding guidelines for the color palette and font also apply.
80%
of companies that do not recover from a disaster are likely to go out of business within 1 month
51%
of companies will close within 2 years
75%
of businesses without a business continuity plan fail within 3 years of disaster
43%
of businesses never reopened
seafood
shoes
Physical Guidelines
Our physical space and objects provide an opportunity to express our values and shape our culture.
Principles of resilience, energy efficiency and sustainability all play a role in communicating Prisere’s brand identity. As such, our first order of business as we moved into our current office space was to trench the area surrounding the building, lay serrated pipes leading to the public sewer and cover the area with stones thus allowing rain to be drawn away from the building, reducing the risk of water intrusion! The stones also provide an attractive visual and underscore the message that mitigation work is often low cost/high reward. In other words, we practice what we preach.
Our office is located in a building that has undergone a major energy retrofit to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint. Solar panels provide a renewable source of energy with onsite battery backup to ensure that we model best practice in business resilience. An electric vehicle is onsite to power automobiles.  Gardens and open outdoor space, along with a beehive, provide a change of scenery to relax and refresh the mind’s creative process. Our brand guidelines address the needs of our key constituencies, our employees and visitors to the office.
To ensure that Prisere employees feel safe and at ease at their workplace, aspects such as access to natural light, ergonomics, air quality and functionality, have been taken into consideration. Flooring is composed of sustainable hardwoods or bamboos, as carpeting is not found in our offices, both for sustainability and employee health considerations, to avoid the accumulation of allergens. Our offices are illuminated with LED lighting, both for energy efficiency and individual well-being. All products in our office are environmentally friendly and can, if necessary, be disposed of by environmentally safe means.
Many of the products in our office were made by artisans, supporting the entrepreneurial economy and reinforcing the values of creativity and individual expression. Plants are abundant in our work place for their health benefits. In some cases, Prisere employees do not work from our office, but from their homes, either to balance family responsibilities or for disaster resilience reasons, to distribute our team. Prisere LLC supports telecommuting and provides resources to ensure disaster resilience, such as remote IT support and guidance to set up a healthy workspace.
Art provides an inspiring and culturally significant work environment, while fostering a strong brand identity and engaging people in dialogue. Prisere’s vibrant, accessible and varied collection encompasses media ranging from photographs and paintings to installations and sculptures. The works of art in our growing collection align around the theme of climate resilience and sustainability. We acquire the pieces during our various projects when we meet local artists. In some cases, the art works were purchased to raise funds to support disaster-impacted communities. The following is not a comprehensive list of pieces, but it highlights the theme of the collection, one we hope will engage visitors to our office while inspiring us on a daily basis.Â
In the classic style of Mexican folk art, this Amate painting features bright colors painted on tree bark. The artist, one of the Ayala brothers, is known for his unflinching stance on political matters. This painting captures the despair of a community torn apart by an infrastructure project imposed upon them by those far away. The villagers don’t even have access to the elites determining their community’s future – note the planes above the domed building. Ayala captures the despair of the disenfranchised in an image that has universal relevance. Prisere LLC had the opportunity to work on a risk resilience project in Mexico with the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and
Recovery. In one of life’s ironies, a tremor caused a building evacuation just after we had arrived. But our meeting had started, as all public events in Mexico City do, with a safety briefing about earthquake and fire risk. For those not traveling to Mexico, the work of the Ayala Brothers may be viewed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. American tourists who happened to be art collectors have provided income to a poor community, bringing their art to a larger audience via the Smithsonian and helping the Amate painters to thrive.
This painting captures, in one powerful image, the essence of Guinea, a French-speaking country in Sub-Saharan, Africa. The painting shows jars in characteristic colors with the French names of the institutions spilling over the map of the country. For example, the green jar is labeled “BM”, or “Banque Mondiale”, the French term for “World Bank” in the color of the U.S. dollar, the Bank’s reserve currency. The light blue jars have the white olive branch symbol of the UN and the French names of the agencies. “UE” is the French abbreviation for European Union with the characteristic blue shade and stars for its member countries. The gold jar represents the International Monetary Fund.
The borders of the country are shown in the colors of the Guinea Flag. Note the red paint bleeding into the northern part of the country. “Refugees” from Sierra Leone used that route to enter Guinea causing violence and crime in the country. Mohammed Abdoulaye, the painter, captured his homeland in one powerful image. He showed extraordinary resourcefulness in going through the garbage of the foreign embassies to acquire cardboard and other supplies to create his paintings (Guinea is desperately poor). And he showed extraordinary courage in selling his paintings on the street across from the Hotel Camayenne in Guinea’s capital city of Conakry, where UN and World Bank officials stay when they are on mission. While this painting was literally made from garbage, we wouldn’t trade it for a Picasso. It shows the resilience and creativity of Guineans, something to which we should all aspire. And it is a beautiful reminder of a project we had delivered in Guinea where alternating cycles of flood and drought have become the “new normal”.
These limited-edition prints were sold to raise funds for the New Orleans small business community. We were proud to participate and help to raise funds.
This photograph by Julien Campbell is a limited edition sold to raise funds for the Sri Lankan elephant sanctuary we had visited during a free weekend when we were on a disaster risk financing assignment for the Asian Development Bank. Photographs of our weekend visit to the elephant sanctuary were posted on Prisere’s Facebook page.
Glamour magazine presented this photograph to Prisere’s founder when she was among the women recognized as “Women at Their Best� for her volunteer work for small business disaster preparedness and relief. The photographer, Monte Nagler, was influenced by Ansel Adams with whom he had studied during an intensive workshop at Yosemite National Park. The photograph has a serene feeling and reminds us of the importance of our work to environmental sustainability.
Prisere led a disaster risk financing project for the Asian Development Bank and was happy to acquire this lovely watercolor from an artist in Thailand. The watercolor depicts an iris, the most resilient flower and the symbol of our company.
This sculpture, Seeds of Destruction, was made by a Hawaiian artist to depict the destruction and rebirth caused by the 2018 volcanic eruptions in Hawaii. Proceeds from the sale of the sculpture went to a fund to help Hawaiians who had lost their homes.
On occasions when Prisere has to present or exhibit, such as at small business matchmaker sessions, for example, or pitch contests for venture funding, we bring signage to display our marketing collateral, and in particular, our name, logo and tagline, in a manner consistent with our brand guidelines. As event sponsors typically determine the size and placement of signage, we have to consider our displays on a case-by-case basis. Templates for signage used at past events are available on our Intranet to provide acceptable models for use at future events.
Prisere has occasion to host events. Some are directly related to our business, such as workshops to advance small business disaster resilience. Â Others are indirectly related to our business as we host open houses, meetings of our small business giving circle or other social events. Events afford an opportunity to welcome newcomers to our community and engage them in our work. As such, brand guidelines for marketing collateral, such as signage and display of our logo, should be observed. In addition, we have a separate planning guide that offers suggestions to ensure a successful event. Even the most experienced pilots use checklists to ensure that no detail is overlooked. To ensure that we do the same, and deliver a consistent event experience, please consult the event planning guideÂ
There are occasions when we present a gift on behalf of the company to a client, a host or sponsor. Care must be exercised when offering a gift to ensure that the gifts in excess of $25 in value are not offered to government officials to ensure compliance with applicable laws and preserve opportunities to contract with governments. Gifts should be unique, memorable and created in a sustainable way to be consistent with our values. Examples of gifts Prisere has given in the past include:
Books signed by the authors. We reach out to friends who have authored books to invite them to our office to facilitate discussions about their books and their work. We distribute copies of the book in advance so that we can read them and be prepared to contribute to the discussion. The authors graciously sign their books for us when they visit, and extra copies are signed to share with important clients or partners. This is a way of involving others in our work and deepening their engagement with us. One such gift was Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs that was signed by the author, Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunus.
Hand-made items from areas of the world where Prisere has delivered climate and disaster resilience projects. Gifts from areas where we work deepen engagement with our community and underscore the significance of our work. This approach also allows for affordable, unique gifts. For example, one year we returned from Guinea with small hand-carved wooden animals and the nimbathe mythological symbol of the country. The pieces cost just under $1 each, easily fit in suitcases wit little risk of damage during the long return trip and were exquisite examples of African woodcarvings. They represent a memento from a country few Americans will ever visit and items that are unlikely to be found on eBay. One corporate executive became a hero to his grandson when he gave him these unusual pieces, a lovely gift for a child who loves animals. Another told us she used the pieces as Christmas tree ornaments. In 2017, we returned from Sri Lanka with tea samplers for holiday gifts. They were inexpensive, small enough to include a number of them in our
suitcases and would not damage easily. Like the artwork in our office, holiday gifts open up a dialogue about our work. In this case, the tea samplers led to conversations about the climate and disaster resilience project we had delivered for the Asian Development Bank in Sri Lanka. Small producers account for 73% of the tea production in Sri Lanka. In recent years, they have sustained devastating losses arising from a changing climate. One of the concepts we developed was branding a “climate-resilient” tea that would cost about US $0.25 more per kilo, put would cover the cost of climate mitigation work and insurance premiums to protect small family tea farms.
“Charitable” gifts are also appropriate, such as a contribution in the recipient’s name to plant a tree, restore a designated coral reef, support a turtle nursery and the like. This approach deepens the engagement of our community with our work, particularly if the gift benefits a recipient in an area where we have recently delivered a project.
Sustainable gifts: One year, we selected a small desktop terrarium to send to the offices of each of our suppliers. It was a practical and low-cost gift, was within expense guidelines, sustainable and distinct. Another year we gave water bottles produced by an organization that gives a percentage of its profits to ocean conservation. This was a practical gift that recipients could keep on their desks as a reminder of their connection with us, that they could refill at their water cooler without causing the degradation of disposable, single-use plastic water bottles. Plants in attractive pots would also be a suitable “sustainable” gift.
Local gifts are also appropriate as they share with our community items from Rhode Island where we are based, while supporting our neighoring businesses. Suggestions include a Cross pen with the Prisere logo or perhaps an Alex & Ani bracelet with the iris charm. Gifts should be packaged in re-usable gift bags and presented in an attractive manner with a gift card. We also have available enamel iris pins, highlighting a detail of Louis Tiffany’s famous stained-glass window that can be used in place of a bow in gift packaging. They are also suitable to include in event give-away bags.
Advertising
At present, Prisere does not engage in advertising. Our business opportunities are sourced through direct relationships or responses to competitive RFP’s, Requests for Proposals.  Should we decide to advertise our services in the future, we will develop guidelines to ensure that our advertising copy is consistent with the brand.
Media Relations
Media coverage offers an opportunity for Prisere to change the paradigm of climate and disaster resilience and be recognized as a thought leader. Prisere has received favorable coverage for our work in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Economist, CNBC, National Public Radio and other major media outlets. Our work has been covered by business news media in Asia (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand), across the United States and Canada as well as in Egypt, Ireland and Spain. Each earned media placement is an opportunity to shape thinking and public debate and a chance to build our brand.
Certain concerns must be at top of mind when communicating with the media: the issues and needs of any clients with whom we work and the need for cultural sensitivity when dealing with global news media. At the present time, only Prisere’s founder is authorized to speak to the media on behalf of the company.
effective board members of nonprofit organizations and more strategic donors. Giving circle members also pool contributions to target larger grants to selected charities. Together we have mobilized approximately $395,000 in resources, both cash grants and in-kind services, to support nonprofit organizations.
Prisere supports charitable causes that align with our mission and vision in a variety of ways; for example, we thank each member of our board of advisors with a contribution to the Red Cross chapter in his/her community made in recognition of his/her service to our organization. We also support our own community by contributing our resources and experience to the cause of climate and disaster resilience. Prisere also leads a giving circle of small business owners who gather for monthly programs facilitated by guest speakers with expertise in philanthropy. The program aims to make small business owners more
We were honored that our work was recognized with a Common Good Award, a program offered by Rhode Island Monthly magazine in partnership with the Rhode Island Foundation, with the support of presenting sponsor Citizens Bank. The awards recognize Rhode Island businesses of all sizes that support philanthropy in their communities. We can support only charities that are inclusive and non-partisan; any support of institutions that engage in political lobbying could have material consequences for our business and, in particular, for federal government contracting for some of our research and development work. As demand for support could quickly overwhelm our resources, we do not accept unsolicited requests for support.
Prisere is currently advancing two initiatives to deepen charitable engagement. First, we are undertaking a study to consider how we might build a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that would assist small businesses that had properly prepared for disasters but, despite their best efforts, sustained residual losses. This approach avoids the risks associated with incenting moral hazards; that is, discouraging preparedness efforts by implying full relief will be available after disaster strikes. It also addresses two critical gaps in disaster philanthropy: first, assistance is available to individuals and households but not for small businesses, which support most private sector employment. Larger enterprises have the resources to invest in business continuity; those that are publicly traded or in regulated industries (banks, for example) have legal or regulatory requirements to do so. And, when their efforts fail, governments will backstop large corporations with resources that are not made available to small businesses. The second gap concerns the time period over which resources are committed to disaster recovery. In the immediate
aftermath of a disaster declaration, donors step up to support emergency relief, but it is rare that a commitment is made to long-term, sustained recovery. This initiative is currently a preliminary idea and will require detailed analysis and planning to bring to fruition. Everyone’s thoughts and contributions to help advance this initiative are most welcome.
The second of our charitable initiatives in the early planning stages is an idea to plant a tree for each small business that has completed our small business disaster resilience program. The idea is to realize two benefits: reduced atmospheric carbon from more trees and a visual representation, in the form of a growing forest, of the growing community of resilient small businesses. All are welcome to contribute their ideas as to how we might bring this idea to fruition.
It’s Up To Us
Our brand represents a promise of innovation for a more resilient world. Together we can ensure that Prisere grows to become a thought leader in climate and disaster resilience work. We build familiarity and trust through our brand. Clear and consistent use of the brand identity will help us reinforce this trust and increase our brand recognition. Please treat our brand identity with care and do not alter or amend any of the elements or brand touchpoints in any way.
Telephone: +1-401-615-4000 Fax: +1-401-615-4100 URL: www.prisere.com Queries: info@prisere.com