‘Buddhability‘
Soka Gakkai International
Sokka Gakkai looks towards a younger generation of buddhists.
Soka Gakkai is a Japanese Buddhist movement based on teachings of 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren’s interpretation of the Lotus Sutra. The religion promotes its goals as supporting “peace, culture, and education”, and is rooted in the belief that all life has dignity with infinite inherent potential; an immanent “Buddhahood” exists in every person and can be awakened.
The brief was to create a new sub brand and digital ecosystem that lives under SGI, that can speak and relate to younger existing and future members of the practice.
Role: Creative Direction, Strategy
Media: Branding, Brand Overhaul
Coming up with the brand.
We started with creating the brand by coming up with the name, followed by the logo and then the brand playbook to bring the brand to life.
Buddhability
is the ability we all have within ourselves to change our lives. it’s an all-encompassing word that summarizes that we believe. It’s linked to our practice, the value we bestiary on every human, the lifestyle of our members and the motivation that drives our work.
The logo
The logo mark was derived entirely from the existing parent company SGI’s lotus emblem. The negative spaces were extracted to form a more distinctive, modernized iteration, while keeping the recognizability intact.
Social Media
We considered rolling out social content on SGI's main Instagram page (50k followers) but ultimately decided to launch a new platform from scratch to maintain a consistent brand identity and organic editorial calendar.
Brand following saw a steady growth of 80% YOY. No paid media was involved, just good copy and SEO.
Buddhability Podcast
Based on the research that show 93% of Gen Z and Millennials hope to improve their mental health. We worked with SGI to digitize their sessions and create a weekly podcast to make content more accessible to the public and bring awareness to the practice.
Credits
Creative Direction Lead:
Benjamin Loh
Designer:
Nolan Constantino
Creative Oversight:
Jamie P
Brand Strategy:
John Winterkorn
Experience Design:
Colin Walsh
Digital Strategist:
Jaimie Thimmesh Rachie, Benjamin Loh