Capital One Brand Corps and the District of Columbia College Access Program (DC-CAP)

The Project

Capital One's Brand Marketing team helped reinvigorate the District of Columbia College Access Program's (DC-CAP) brand to elevate the organization's profile among competing nonprofits. To help achieve these goals, Capital One's Brand Marketing team consulted with DC-CAP on visual identity and collateral development.

The Opportunity

The DC-CAP, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging and enabling D.C. public high school students to enroll in and graduate from college, was struggling to establish its brand in a crowded issue space. The organization's marketing materials which used an inconsistent color palette and a simple clip art style logo did little to help DC-CAP differentiate itself.

Capital One's Pro Bono Investment

Capital One's Brand Corps members updated DC-CAP's logo to help raise its prominence in a competitive market, and introduced design standards, such as a specified color palette, to help DC-CAP communicate its brand consistently. Additionally, Capital One donated the production of many of the marketing materials DC-CAP needed to raise money.

The Impact

Thanks to the help of the Capital One Brand Corps team, DC-CAP had a new portfolio of marketing materials including a brochure for DC-CAP's workplace giving program, business cards and letterhead, a direct mail invite for spring fundraiser and donor outreach materials. DC-CAP was able to immediately incorporate the new branding to create a consistent look and feel for all their materials.

About the Client

The District of Columbia College Access Program (DC-CAP), is a non-profit organization funded by Washington-area companies and foundations, encourages and enables DC public high school students to enter and graduate from college. With corporate and foundation support, DC-CAP provides assistance to those students who might otherwise never have the opportunity to attend and graduate from college

About the Company

In 2002, the Brand Marketing department at Capital One created the Brand Corps - an initiative to provide in-kind creative services that deliver new and sustainable branding and marketing capabilities to nonprofit partners. Since the program's inception, Corps members have contributed 9,733 associate hours - valued at $875,000 - and have provided $472,969 in donated goods (e.g. printing).

Capital One Financial Corporation is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries collectively had $83.0 billion in deposits and $151.4 billion in managed loans outstanding as of December 31, 2007. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Capital One has 742 locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas and Louisiana. It is a diversified financial services company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A., Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., and Capital One Auto Finance, Inc., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index. Learn more about the company and its commitment to the community at www.capitalone.com.