What is the Skills for Life rebrand deadline and how should you prepare for it?

In 2018, The Scouts announced their plan for launching a Skills for Life rebrand to modernise their overall brand identity.

A year has passed with hundreds of Scout Groups, Districts, Counties and Activity Centres adopting the new brand. However, the deadline for the national rebrand has been extended to May 2021 which might seem daunting, which is why we’ve gathered everything you need to know about the deadline.

What is the Skills for Life May 2021 deadline?

In simple terms, the May 2021 deadline is the last chance for all Scouts UK branding to be transitioned over to fit the new Skills for Life guidelines. The Skills for Life initiative was launched in May 2018 and is due to be implemented until (at least) 2023.

Research carried out by The Scouts found that the nation had outdated perceptions of Scouting in the UK. More so, that Scouting is no longer relevant. For example, the previous logo was created over 17 years ago! The Skills for Life branding was launched to quash these outdated opinions, and make the brand a household name again.

The Scouts hope that this new direction will increase recruitment of both young members as well as reducing the shortage of adult volunteers, along with making The Scouts more appealing to young people.

The change doesn’t affect any uniform but will include Scouts merchandise, printed materials and signage and anything containing the font or logo.

What needs to be done and when?

According to The Scouts’ Activation Guide, there are a few steps to falling in line with the new guidelines.

Downloading the brand guidelines, reviewing printed materials and using the new templates should already have been completed or started. However, things such as updating vehicles, banners and recruitment materials, as well as updating websites should be completed by 2021.

We completely redesigned all of our websites in the Skills for Life branding, complete with the new fonts, colours and elements, so this should be one huge step made easier for you. Get a quote here to quickly and easily upgrade your website ready for May 2021.

What happens if we don’t change our branding to fit with the Skills for Life brand?

Ultimately, the main goal of the Skills for Life branding is to create a presence both online and offline that’s easily identifiable and more powerful than any advertising campaign.

By not keeping up to date with the branding, this hinders the national movement to modernise and improve The Scouts, and might make your Group, District or County appear outdated to potential members and volunteers.