NPR Verbal Identity
Background: A New Era for Public Radio
NPR is America at the microphone. Over the past 50 years, the humble idea of listener-supported radio has grown into a federation of 200+ independent Member Stations across the country, in communities big and small, delivering the best in news and entertainment to the millions of listeners who rely on it.
Now, NPR is undergoing another brand evolution: The NPR team engaged GrandArmy as their creative partner to launch the NPR Network, an initiative to bring together all of its Member Stations under one banner and reach a wider, younger, more diverse audience with the breadth and depth of the Network’s content.
Over the course of a year, that brief took us from Member Stations across America—to urban horse stables and rocket launches, big productions and Tiny Desks—all resulting in a verbal identity, visual system, and campaign designed to withstand the changing media landscape.
As we detail the process behind this work, I’m reminded of a quote from NPR’s 1970 founding documents, where we started our exploration: “[NPR] would speak with many voices and many dialects. The editorial attitude would be that of inquiry, curiosity, concern for the quality of life, critical problem-solving, and life loving.”
That quote became our goal post. Any new statement we made had to honor NPR’s origins, with a spirit of curiosity that looked ahead to its future.
Strategy: What is “Radio” In a World of Screens?
It’s a branding project for the radio. Naturally, we knew our process should start with listening.
Before we ever wrote a word, we interviewed everyone—from marketing and editorial at NPR HQ, up to CEO John Lansing, and out to a panel of Member Stations from across the country, telling us what really drives support from their local listeners. In the parlance of the design industry, NPR’s model makes it even broader than a ‘house of brands’; every Member Station is an independent organization with its own fundraising goals, history, and identity. But at the same time, they’re the arms and legs of NPR; this was a conceptual challenge throughout the project, as we aimed to balance the interconnectedness of a network with the autonomy of each station.
The insights from that interview roadshow led us to our first conclusion: in the modern world, “radio” can mean anything. Rather than a device with dials or bunny ears, radio now stands for a broad, audio-first storytelling medium that’s ownable by NPR, with endless points of discovery for its audience. The beauty of NPR is that it’s equal parts hard news and quiz shows, finance and jazz, but we learned that the model presents unique communication challenges, too. The younger, social-first audience didn’t know that Tiny Desk or Planet Money were NPR franchises at all, and many terrestrial radio listeners didn’t know their local stations were connected to a larger ecosystem of great digital content. We knew we needed to find solutions that linked all these properties in a cohesive way, and we got particularly inspired by Droga5’s work on the Paramount Plus launch campaign, “A Mountain of Entertainment''—seemingly disparate content, for a wide range of audiences, all under one banner with real heart and wit. We’re always trying to learn from our peers, and while our end results were totally different, the thoughtfulness and strategy of that campaign became a benchmark.
Another salient insight we heard throughout our discovery was instrumental in our creative. Unlike other national media organizations, NPR isn’t a “top down” perspective from one coastal city. The NPR Network is everywhere. Even in one broadcast of Morning Edition, you can hear the synergy between local reporting, coming from the ground up, and programming from HQ that’s disseminated out to the country. Like our previous work on NPR Podcasts so aptly sums up, the product is truly “more voices”—every station in the Network strengthens NPR’s value proposition of “making the local national and the national local.”
Connected but independent. “Radio” is everything. The Network is everywhere. After unearthing those ideas, we got to work developing creative that could tell that story, proving just how relevant NPR is today.
Identity: More Voices, More Range
In developing the verbal identity for this new initiative, we started by leaning into hard numbers to communicate scale and diversity of perspective. Lines like "Over 200 local newsrooms. Over 3,600 journalists. A community of 300 million Americans." are also written to involve the reader, suggesting that the public is already an integral part of the Network.
Every copy choice was made to reinforce the idea that content doesn’t just trickle down from NPR headquarters to stations. It’s a real, mutual conversation, but we also wanted to be deliberate about maintaining the “independent” label that these Member Stations are so proud of. From a strategic perspective, independence also reinforces each station’s journalistic integrity, a value that really matters in today’s world, when audiences are thinking harder about where to bring their readership and their donor dollars.
The idea of a national conversation is also what inspired the brand’s hero tagline, "What You Hear Changes Everything." It’s no secret that, even as it consolidates, the news media space is crowded—what can a tagline really say to pull a brand away from the pack? Together with the creative minds at NPR, we set out to imbue the idea of being a “listener” with a deeper meaning. In a polarized country, to really “hear” each other becomes a commitment to empathy, to de-centering yourself, and to learning. In the perspective of the NPR Network, when we really hear each other, we open totally new possibilities for progress. On its surface, the line solidifies the brand’s position as the leader in audio, but that greater ethos is what it’s designed to capture.
In adopting the perspective of a modern digital brand, the NPR Network identity gave way to some interesting executions of copy in motion. A core headline like “Where the News Lives” became a container for many more ideas; we see lines like “Where [Tiny Desk] Lives” or “Where [Gaming] Lives,” all interlocking to accomplish the breadth of the Network.
Lastly, we had to nail a consistent tone of voice and the guidelines to maintain it. The NPR Network offers a wider range of content than most of its competitors, so its tone needed to flex and accomplish the Network’s value as a serious journalistic voice and playful curator of entertainment, all while driving home urgent calls to action that generate donations. The brand guidelines we developed reflect that challenge, and we think the most cogent proof of concept for the brand’s TOV lives in our manifesto.
Campaign: “The 300 Million Person Network”
A project of this scale, that needs the buy-in of so many stakeholders, can often be united by one rallying piece of rhetoric. The vision of the NPR Network as a home for every American inspired our writing of the brand’s new manifesto, “The 300 Million Person Network,” which ultimately became the script for our hero campaign spot:
Why is bluegrass growing in the desert?
Where do bridges rise to cross borders?
How do old streets turn new corners?
When do 300 million people know the same loss?
When can we share the same victory?
It’s when we commit to listen.
The NPR Network is listener-supported, independent journalism in communities around the country.
It amplifies more voices, more journalists, more movements, more Americas—
And takes all of us on new journeys.
It takes all of us closer to home.
It takes all of us.
In this manifesto, we were particularly inspired by questions, paradoxes, and wordplay that are so endemic to the curious personality of the NPR brand. In the campaign, each line took on even deeper meaning, by being tied to real stories from across the NPR Network. After “Why is bluegrass growing in the desert?,” we sound up on a clip of twanging banjos from West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Over “How do old streets turn new corners?,” we see riders at Los Angeles-based equine riding club Urban Saddles, as we hear a clip from the founder’s interview on Morning Edition. We had so much fun imagining all the corners of this country we could explore, visualizing the potent idea that, today, we live in “more Americas” than one.
As proven by so much of the great writing of the past, when you want your narrative to say something universal, it’s turning to specifics that really gives it color. Through all the regional quirks, individual heroes, and clashing tempos, we think the NPR Network struck an expression of the desire for belonging that we all share. That emotional build culminates in a poetic call to action, now driving the Network’s messaging to donors: It takes all of us.
Results: What We Heard Changed Everything
Today, the NPR Network’s verbal, visual, and sonic identity can be seen and heard across NPR Network broadcasts, podcasts, and digital content, and this project will help to guide the Network’s consumer fundraising strategy in the long term. Through our collaboration, we developed an identity that not only addresses the strategic challenges of the brand—to reach a new generation of listeners with a full universe of content—but one that carries NPR’s values forward as part of a fresh, imaginative, durable system.
As a lifelong NPR fan, this was a dream project for me personally, and GrandArmy is so incredibly proud to support an American institution as they re-found themselves for the next 50 years and beyond. Look out for the NPR Network identity in the world around, and the next time you turn on NPR, listen closer. See GrandArmy’s full case study on the NPR Network here.
Written by Garrett Mireles, Senior Copywriter + Strategist, GrandArmy
NPR Verbal Identity
Background: A New Era for Public Radio
NPR is America at the microphone. Over the past 50 years, the humble idea of listener-supported radio has grown into a federation of 200+ independent Member Stations across the country, in communities big and small, delivering the best in news and entertainment to the millions of listeners who rely on it.
Now, NPR is undergoing another brand evolution: The NPR team engaged GrandArmy as their creative partner to launch the NPR Network, an initiative to bring together all of its Member Stations under one banner and reach a wider, younger, more diverse audience with the breadth and depth of the Network’s content.
Over the course of a year, that brief took us from Member Stations across America—to urban horse stables and rocket launches, big productions and Tiny Desks—all resulting in a verbal identity, visual system, and campaign designed to withstand the changing media landscape.
As we detail the process behind this work, I’m reminded of a quote from NPR’s 1970 founding documents, where we started our exploration: “[NPR] would speak with many voices and many dialects. The editorial attitude would be that of inquiry, curiosity, concern for the quality of life, critical problem-solving, and life loving.”
That quote became our goal post. Any new statement we made had to honor NPR’s origins, with a spirit of curiosity that looked ahead to its future.
Strategy: What is “Radio” In a World of Screens?
It’s a branding project for the radio. Naturally, we knew our process should start with listening.
Before we ever wrote a word, we interviewed everyone—from marketing and editorial at NPR HQ, up to CEO John Lansing, and out to a panel of Member Stations from across the country, telling us what really drives support from their local listeners. In the parlance of the design industry, NPR’s model makes it even broader than a ‘house of brands’; every Member Station is an independent organization with its own fundraising goals, history, and identity. But at the same time, they’re the arms and legs of NPR; this was a conceptual challenge throughout the project, as we aimed to balance the interconnectedness of a network with the autonomy of each station.
The insights from that interview roadshow led us to our first conclusion: in the modern world, “radio” can mean anything. Rather than a device with dials or bunny ears, radio now stands for a broad, audio-first storytelling medium that’s ownable by NPR, with endless points of discovery for its audience. The beauty of NPR is that it’s equal parts hard news and quiz shows, finance and jazz, but we learned that the model presents unique communication challenges, too. The younger, social-first audience didn’t know that Tiny Desk or Planet Money were NPR franchises at all, and many terrestrial radio listeners didn’t know their local stations were connected to a larger ecosystem of great digital content. We knew we needed to find solutions that linked all these properties in a cohesive way, and we got particularly inspired by Droga5’s work on the Paramount Plus launch campaign, “A Mountain of Entertainment''—seemingly disparate content, for a wide range of audiences, all under one banner with real heart and wit. We’re always trying to learn from our peers, and while our end results were totally different, the thoughtfulness and strategy of that campaign became a benchmark.
Another salient insight we heard throughout our discovery was instrumental in our creative. Unlike other national media organizations, NPR isn’t a “top down” perspective from one coastal city. The NPR Network is everywhere. Even in one broadcast of Morning Edition, you can hear the synergy between local reporting, coming from the ground up, and programming from HQ that’s disseminated out to the country. Like our previous work on NPR Podcasts so aptly sums up, the product is truly “more voices”—every station in the Network strengthens NPR’s value proposition of “making the local national and the national local.”
Connected but independent. “Radio” is everything. The Network is everywhere. After unearthing those ideas, we got to work developing creative that could tell that story, proving just how relevant NPR is today.
Identity: More Voices, More Range
In developing the verbal identity for this new initiative, we started by leaning into hard numbers to communicate scale and diversity of perspective. Lines like "Over 200 local newsrooms. Over 3,600 journalists. A community of 300 million Americans." are also written to involve the reader, suggesting that the public is already an integral part of the Network.
Every copy choice was made to reinforce the idea that content doesn’t just trickle down from NPR headquarters to stations. It’s a real, mutual conversation, but we also wanted to be deliberate about maintaining the “independent” label that these Member Stations are so proud of. From a strategic perspective, independence also reinforces each station’s journalistic integrity, a value that really matters in today’s world, when audiences are thinking harder about where to bring their readership and their donor dollars.
The idea of a national conversation is also what inspired the brand’s hero tagline, "What You Hear Changes Everything." It’s no secret that, even as it consolidates, the news media space is crowded—what can a tagline really say to pull a brand away from the pack? Together with the creative minds at NPR, we set out to imbue the idea of being a “listener” with a deeper meaning. In a polarized country, to really “hear” each other becomes a commitment to empathy, to de-centering yourself, and to learning. In the perspective of the NPR Network, when we really hear each other, we open totally new possibilities for progress. On its surface, the line solidifies the brand’s position as the leader in audio, but that greater ethos is what it’s designed to capture.
In adopting the perspective of a modern digital brand, the NPR Network identity gave way to some interesting executions of copy in motion. A core headline like “Where the News Lives” became a container for many more ideas; we see lines like “Where [Tiny Desk] Lives” or “Where [Gaming] Lives,” all interlocking to accomplish the breadth of the Network.
Lastly, we had to nail a consistent tone of voice and the guidelines to maintain it. The NPR Network offers a wider range of content than most of its competitors, so its tone needed to flex and accomplish the Network’s value as a serious journalistic voice and playful curator of entertainment, all while driving home urgent calls to action that generate donations. The brand guidelines we developed reflect that challenge, and we think the most cogent proof of concept for the brand’s TOV lives in our manifesto.
Campaign: “The 300 Million Person Network”
A project of this scale, that needs the buy-in of so many stakeholders, can often be united by one rallying piece of rhetoric. The vision of the NPR Network as a home for every American inspired our writing of the brand’s new manifesto, “The 300 Million Person Network,” which ultimately became the script for our hero campaign spot:
Why is bluegrass growing in the desert?
Where do bridges rise to cross borders?
How do old streets turn new corners?
When do 300 million people know the same loss?
When can we share the same victory?
It’s when we commit to listen.
The NPR Network is listener-supported, independent journalism in communities around the country.
It amplifies more voices, more journalists, more movements, more Americas—
And takes all of us on new journeys.
It takes all of us closer to home.
It takes all of us.
In this manifesto, we were particularly inspired by questions, paradoxes, and wordplay that are so endemic to the curious personality of the NPR brand. In the campaign, each line took on even deeper meaning, by being tied to real stories from across the NPR Network. After “Why is bluegrass growing in the desert?,” we sound up on a clip of twanging banjos from West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Over “How do old streets turn new corners?,” we see riders at Los Angeles-based equine riding club Urban Saddles, as we hear a clip from the founder’s interview on Morning Edition. We had so much fun imagining all the corners of this country we could explore, visualizing the potent idea that, today, we live in “more Americas” than one.
As proven by so much of the great writing of the past, when you want your narrative to say something universal, it’s turning to specifics that really gives it color. Through all the regional quirks, individual heroes, and clashing tempos, we think the NPR Network struck an expression of the desire for belonging that we all share. That emotional build culminates in a poetic call to action, now driving the Network’s messaging to donors: It takes all of us.
Results: What We Heard Changed Everything
Today, the NPR Network’s verbal, visual, and sonic identity can be seen and heard across NPR Network broadcasts, podcasts, and digital content, and this project will help to guide the Network’s consumer fundraising strategy in the long term. Through our collaboration, we developed an identity that not only addresses the strategic challenges of the brand—to reach a new generation of listeners with a full universe of content—but one that carries NPR’s values forward as part of a fresh, imaginative, durable system.
As a lifelong NPR fan, this was a dream project for me personally, and GrandArmy is so incredibly proud to support an American institution as they re-found themselves for the next 50 years and beyond. Look out for the NPR Network identity in the world around, and the next time you turn on NPR, listen closer. See GrandArmy’s full case study on the NPR Network here.
Written by Garrett Mireles, Senior Copywriter + Strategist, GrandArmy