NEW STANDARD.S gives climate journalism critic Brandmelder an identity

Brandmelder observes climate reporting in German media and puts it in context, pointing out the patterns that keep recurring. It is an editorial project of Netzwerk Klimajournalismus Deutschland e.V., a network that brings climate knowledge into newsrooms. Berlin-based sustainability consultancy and creative studio NEW STANDARD.S was commissioned to create the brand strategy, identity and website in a month, with social media assets, merchandise and a custom image tool alongside. “We came in with a specific problem: Brandmelder had to be taken seriously as a critic by the very newsrooms it analyses, which meant it couldn’t read as activism,” Brandmelder’s Communication Manager Inga Mücke tells us. “The brief was to make credibility visible and speak to an audience beyond the green bubble.” Brandmelder launched in March 2026 with an identity of its own rather than under the Netzwerk Klimajournalismus name. Its strapline is Klima braucht Kontext, or climate needs context. “For us, it was important to give it a more neutral face – a distinct identity that speaks to the mainstream,” Mücke explains. NEW STANDARD.S worked up three routes, presented two and settled on the final one quickly.