CASE STUDY
Building a brand identity that embraces culture and sparks connection.
HOLA Carolina had grown into a trusted news source and cultural connector for Western North Carolina’s Latino community. Formation PR & Brand combined intentional listening, research and strategic design to create a brand identity that better reflected who HOLA had become — and the many cultures and voices it brings together.
Client
HOLA Carolina
A trusted voice and cultural connector in Western North Carolina.
HOLA Carolina is a regional news outlet and cultural connector serving more than 85,000 people across Western North Carolina’s Latino and Hispanic communities. Through journalism, storytelling and community engagement, HOLA amplifies diverse voices, fosters dialogue and strengthens connections across the region.
As the organization’s reach and role grew, its brand needed to communicate that same vibrancy, credibility and sense of connection.
The brand wasn’t capturing the full story of HOLA Carolina.
HOLA Carolina’s work had outgrown its existing identity. The organization had become a trusted cultural connector for a fast-growing community, but its brand did not yet reflect the full story — the breadth of its reporting, the vibrancy of the cultures it served or the connections it helped create.
HOLA needed an identity as dynamic as the community it represented. Creating one would require more than a visual refresh. It would require a partner willing to listen first, understand the organization and its audiences, and build the brand from that understanding.
Authentic connection starts with curiosity, not assumptions.
Even though Formation had worked with Latino organizations in the past, we left our assumptions behind and researched leading national and state Spanish-language news providers and cultural organizations for lessons to apply regionally. We immersed ourselves in HOLA Carolina to understand their unique mission, regional context, what they were navigating as a cultural beacon and as a bridge between the region’s Anglo and Latino communities.
Designing a rebrand to bring cultures and communities together.
HOLA Carolina’s rebrand demanded an approach that authentically and joyfully embraced a full range of Latino and Hispanic cultures. Formation’s research and our conversations with HOLA informed a vivid, energetic visual direction that reflected the spirit of the organization and the many cultures represented within its community.
We went all-in on dynamic colors and fonts to put culture front and center. The overlapping letters in the new logo showed the interconnectedness between all of the countries and cultures that make up HOLA’s constituency. Upbeat talking points and messaging intertwined with the visual identity on a new website, print collateral and an impossible-to-miss van wrap — each one an extension of the same brand, telling the same story.
A brand HOLA can carry everywhere it connects.
The rebrand gave HOLA Carolina a brand identity as bold and compelling as its mission — one that reflects the full breadth of the cultures it connects. It’s a brand HOLA can carry across every touchpoint, from the community to the newsroom, as a clear signal of who they are and who they serve.
