Peace Force debuts at PeaceCon 2023, and the first shirts sell out
Peace finally has a recruiting office. The Peace Force, built by Buena with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, launched at PeaceCon in Washington, and the shirts flew out the door.
Hate recruits better than peace does. So we gave peace a recruiting office.
- Client
- Alliance for Peacebuilding
- Year
- 2022–2023
- What we did
- Campaign, Production, Strategy, Branding, Website
- Result
- Launched at PeaceCon 2023; first T-shirts sold out
Americans think peace is boring, unrealistic and weak, according to a three-year FrameWorks Institute study commissioned by the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a network of 150+ peacebuilding groups. AfP asked Buena to rebrand peace. We answered with the Peace Force: a non-violent, non-partisan force for peace that borrows every tool the military uses to recruit.
Americans think peace is boring, unrealistic and weak
The Alliance for Peacebuilding is a network of more than 150 peacebuilding groups. A three-year FrameWorks Institute study it commissioned found that Americans see peace as boring, unrealistic and weak.
Meanwhile conflict has a recruiting office, uniforms, parades and a budget. Peace has a dove and a bumper sticker.
The stakes were rising: polls cited in our pitch found 43% of Americans thought a civil war was likely within ten years. AfP asked Buena to rebrand peace.
A non-violent force for peace that recruits like the military
Turn the tools of conflict into tools of peace. The Peace Force is a non-violent, non-partisan force boldly fighting for peace in America.
It borrows every move the military uses to recruit. You enlist, you get gear, and you get deployed on monthly acts of peace.
The call to action is simple: Commit an act of peace. The brief set the goal at 100,000 Americans enlisted.
Enlist
Sign up as a recruit in a non-partisan force for peace.
Get your gear
Tees, bombers, patches and a Peace Force 1 sneaker.
Deploy
A new act of peace to carry out every month.
Green and gold, stencil type and a wing-and-chevron badge
We gave peace the look of a service branch. It got a wing-and-chevron mark, a military-stencil typeface and a palette of green and gold.
The system ran across a recruiting site, a promo film, posters and billboards. A full line of swag followed: tees, bombers, patches and the Peace Force 1 sneaker.
Then came the missions, provocative acts of peace designed to get people talking. Each one turns a symbol of conflict into something you can't ignore.
Peace Pills
A mock supplement sold as the cure for the side effects of hate.
The Smell of Hate
A perfume that bottles what hate smells like, so nobody wants to wear it.
Taco Tank
A decommissioned tank turned into a taco truck.
Launched at PeaceCon 2023, where the first T-shirts sold out
The Alliance for Peacebuilding presented the Peace Force at PeaceCon 2023, its annual conference. The first T-shirts sold out quickly.
The work is documented in Rebranding Peace, a feature documentary by CJ Crim. It follows AfP board chair Julia Roig and Buena founder Doug Burnett as they build the campaign.
The 100,000-recruit goal and a full public launch are still ahead. The brand is built and ready to recruit.
Conflict has a recruiting office, uniforms and a budget. Peace had a dove. Commit an act of peace.
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In the news
New client: the Alliance for Peacebuilding asks Buena to rebrand peace
Three years of research found Americans see peace as passive and out of reach. The Alliance for Peacebuilding asked us to change that. The work became the Peace Force.
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