Allergy Standards administers the asthma & allergy friendly™ Certification Program which scientifically tests and certifies consumer products. To qualify, products have to pass rigorous testing to verify they fit the needs of people who suffer from asthma and allergy health issues. Currently, the certification is displayed on 50+ million products worldwide on brands including 3M, Mercedes-Benz, Dyson, Benjamin Moore, and Disney.

According to the 2016 report provided by Allergy Standards, adults who suffer from asthma and allergies continue to be more concerned about the air quality in their homes than the general population and they continue to "step up" their efforts to improve indoor air quality. The percentage of concerned educated moms with asthma/allergies at home jumped significantly (57% vs 39% in 2015). However, the recognition of the “Certified” mark stayed about the same since 2015. 

Allergy Standards reached out to the Masters in Branding program with the following objectives:

• Increase awareness, credibility, and trust of the certification mark with target audiences.

• Improve storytelling capability to support strategic goals.

• New logo and design that appeals to the discerning consumer and industry professional. 

Understanding the Brand

We analyzed Allergy Standards and the asthma & allergy friendly™ certification to understand how it behaves in the marketplace. We asked ourselves what business are they in, who is their audience, and how do people currently interact with the brand. In our research, we found a lack of consistency in how the mark was used and understood across platforms, including partner websites and online retailers.  

We came to understand the role of the Allergy Standards brand as an enabler for consumers and business partners.

• Enabling people to confidently identify products that improve their home air quality.

• Enabling families to create a more asthma and allergy friendly home environment.

• Enabling business partners to sell more products.

Researching the Landscape

We conducted a survey to gauge the clarity and tone of the current asthma & allergy friendly™ mark and where it stood alongside similar brands. We found that the majority of people surveyed thought the tone was too playful and was targeting children. Also, all surveyed people thought that the certifying party was AAFA, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

 We found certification marks in the market range from implicit to explicit, from simple to complex, from generic to distinctive, and from friendly to authoritative. While we analyzed the content, hierarchy, and tone of marks across categories including asthma & allergy, air quality, health safety, product quality, food, and environmental, we also created a matrix to better understand how the asthma & allergy friendly™ mark related to other certifications.

The content hierarchy of the current the asthma & allergy friendly™ mark was complex and explicit.  It contained a lot of components and was difficult to read. We also noticed it's not close to where other allergy/air quality marks are positioned.

Our goal for the new positioning was to move it from complex to simple while still providing clear and direct information.

The tone of the current the asthma & allergy friendly™ mark was friendly and distinctive. They were using Burt, a cartoon character, to communicate the idea that they're friendly and accessible. Depending on the audience, this may change how seriously they take the scientific component of the mark. 

Our goal was to make the mark more authoritative, while still keeping the character of the brand.

Brand and Content Workshops

Once we had consensus on the objective for the certification mark, we needed to figure out the brand character. My team and I held a workshop with the Allergy Standards senior leaders to define the characteristics of the company and explore the hierarchy of content on the certification mark.

We concluded that Allergy Standards is objective, nurturing, and rigorous – three interdependent traits that together activate the company's uniquely diligent approach. Everything Allergy Standards does and says must ensure the well-being of families in their homes while maintaining scientific rigor and authority.

We are here to help guide you through the complex process of creating a healthier indoor breathing environment. Our disciplined approach and rigorous testing process assure you of the quality of products and components that cleanse or affect the quality of the air. We pledge to earn and keep your trust with everything we do.

The dedicated experts at Allergy Standards believe that no one should suffer unnecessarily from asthma and allergy symptoms. Our mission is to make it easy for you to take effective steps to improve the air quality in your home or workplace. Allergy Standards is here to enable you to make the right choices needed to live a healthier life and breathe easy.

Exploring Visual Territories

We explored several visual territories that each highlighted a different personality of the brand character. We landed on the idea of Professional Play which balances the brand's rigorous and nurturing characteristics.

Professional Play is characterized by bright, bold colors with strong contrasts tempered with sharp lines and geometric structures. This aesthetic would live in places including animated and video content, photography, infographics, and physical spaces, like conference booths and offices.

Together with Allergy Standards, we evaluated each element of the current certification mark to determine if it was conveying the intention of the message. Our team then created a series of new diagrammatic, hierarchical marks with those essential elements. We narrowed it to three options with varying levels of information density and complexity.

Allergy Standards has relationships with regional non-profits, like the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and included their logos on the certification mark. In order to be fair to all stakeholders, we needed to give the mark its own identity and create a certification mark, not an organizational mark.

One other major decision was whether or not to keep Burt, the cartoon character currently on their certification. We decided that although friendly, he didn't reinforce the authoritative and rigorous nature brand.

Our team explored three design directions, and further developed one option to see how it would live in the marketplace. We kept the friendliness of the mark, while giving it more authority.

To illustrate how the simplicity of the mark clarifies the message and makes it more legible, we created mockups to show how the visual territory and directions would work on existing touch points.  

We wanted to give Allergy Standards a brand positioning and visual direction that would guide them while considering future decisions, whether it is for briefing a creative agency, assessing a new partnership, or even simply introducing who they are and what they stand for to other stakeholders. 

What we learned

Successful brands of any kind do one very important thing right: they are unified under the same vision and apply their positioning to maintain a consistent and authentic voice across all touch points in a way that amplifies that vision. People come to rely on a consistent message in order to trust a company or brand enough to remain loyal.  

Allergy Standards came to us with a desire to increase the trust of the certification mark with their audiences. By simplifying the message of the certification mark, we gave them a people friendly brand positioning that can be trusted by loyal audiences for years to come.

This project was in collaboration with Josee Nahkle, Miguele Issa, Carina Sandoval, and Jae Young Kim.