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Royal Guide Dogs: Time To Chase a New Bone?
Royal Guide Dogs Australia has been the leader of the pack, training dogs for blind people since the 1950s.
Known for cute labradors, they built a strong reputation and grew into a sizeable charity – their NSW division alone declared a huge revenue of $47M last year. Amazing!
It costs a lot to train dogs - and last year, the NSW branch only produced 42 guide dogs.
Meanwhile, trained dogs are in huge demand in other high-value applications such as diabetes detection, courtroom support, hearing for the deaf, and drug detection, military, police and customs work.
The Strategic Sniff Test
Guide Dogs faced down a classic strategic decision. Should they expand their business in dogs and woofer training to supply smart canines to booming adjacent services such as diabetes and hearing.
Or should they continue to focus on helping vision impaired people but expand their services beyond just dogs?
The Strategy Standoff
Strategy A: Double down on dogs and expand to other dog-based services.
Leaning into their expertise, skills and reputation for dog training , they could concentrate on dog training and become the go-to place for trained dishlickers in any field.
However, this might alienate some vision impaired customers and water down their reputation as the experts for the blind and vision impaired.
Strategy B: Unleash new services for the vision impaired
Not every blind person can benefit from a guide dog – sometimes other solutions might be better and able to help more people in need. By opening up new funding sources and partnerships, in services beyond guide dogs, they could slash the cost of providing care for the blind.
However, diluting focus away from dogs could affect the supply of dogs and might alienate dog-loving cash donors.
So, Which Did They Choose?
Cast your vote to find out!
Better luck next time, Strategy B was chosen!
Good Job, Strategy B was chosen!
But what did this mean for Guide Dogs...
Outcome: Facilitator Commentary
Matt Braithwaite-Young
Managing Partner
t +61 2 9002 3100
Guide Dogs Australia expanded its services beyond guide dog training to include various other support programs for individuals with low vision or blindness.
These services include orientation and mobility training, occupational therapy, assistive technology training, and much more.
This diversification strategy reflects a strategic shift to address a broader spectrum of needs within the community.
Brand Evolution Matches Strategy Change
In 2021, Guide Dogs Australia undertook a significant rebranding initiative. This included removing the dog image from their logo after long ago departing with the term "Royal" from their public name.
Above: Guide Dogs Australia have said goodbye to any dogs in their logo
(Left logo 2020. Right logo 2024)
The rebranding aimed to unify the organization's national presence and better represent the wide range of services offered beyond guide dog training.
This diversification strategy and the resulting rebranding is a bold move given their history and association with dogs, but they obviously see dogs as a small part of a much bigger portfolio of services they want to offer the blind.
They may well also be looking at the likely replacement of dog services with the improved applied use of artificial intelligence and computing power to provide breakthrough services for people with disability.
It will be interesting to see if they completely remove the word DOGS from their brand one day. I doubt it though, because surely their most powerful charity money-puller is the emotive appeal of those cute puppies.
If you've read this far and you're looking for a good charity to support, you can find out more here: GUIDE DOGS AUSTRALIA
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