UNICEF came to us with an innovative initiative called “Data Collaboratives” which creates partnerships between large companies and data research scientists in order to transform big corporate data into public good for children. The challenge? No one knows who they are and that they are under the behemoth of UNICEF. Enter Marble.

UNICEF tackles complex socio-economic issues that children face globally. Their new initiative partners with large corporations to donate their data to be analyzed by research scientists, uncovering patterns that can inform policies to improve children’s lives globally. UNICEF’s challenge was to communicate the initiative’s mission in order to get private companies, data science researchers and the public to know about and support it. Since big data held by companies is often seen as a complex maze of information, we were inspired by children’s games to create ‘Marble’ - a simple and approachable identity, custom type and data visualization system that allows big data to do even bigger things.

In order to create Marble, we immersed ourselves in the intersection of the world of NGOs and technology companies, finding a balance between creating a brand that was technology-driven and informative, but above all human and inspiring. Although the net we need to cast is wide in terms of audiences, we prioritized our message on 3 main audiences: 1) Private and public companies - our sources of data and expertise, 2) General audience - those who need to understand our initiative, support it and, through their buying power, pressure companies to donate their data to Marble, and 3) Collaborators such as universities, data scientists, government agencies and foundations - who will help analyze data and offer expertise on public policies and practices.

The brand film features animations with colorful marbles navigating through the maze, representing the journey of the many collaborators Marble brings together to solve complex issues in a simple, approachable way.

Marble was announced internally at UNICEF in February 2019 and has already captured the excitement of other teams who now want to bring their initiatives to life. The team is growing and partnering with the likes of Google, Telefonica and the Institute for Scientific Interchange (ISI) in Italy to create new partnerships that can turn corporate data into public good, advocating for policies that improve the lives of children all over the world.