Which?, Europe’s largest consumer organisation, is to begin rolling out a new logo and visual identity system, developed by Identica.

Identica were tasked with creating a visual identity which spans across the many activities Which? deliver for all consumers, helping to bring the organisation together in one brand identity. This diverse set of activities includes anything from expert product testing and campaigning right through to publishing and personalised advice services. The brief was to create a stronger and more modern visual identity that increases Which?’s brand stature but is also flexible and adaptable enough for them to present their many products and services both online and offline, now and in the future.

In a world where consumers are overwhelmed by choice and where so much ‘helpful’ information can actually be biased or misleading Which? has never been more relevant. Working with Which? Identica’s aim was to create a visual identity system that shows Which? can rise above a constant torrent of information and through its publications, advice services and campaigns can deliver information and guidance that make consumers lives easier and better, both now and in the future.

This work follows on from brand language guidelines developed by Quietroom in 2011 which defined a new tone of voice and communications style for Which?. By combining the language guidelines with the new visual identity Which? hopes to build a stronger, more impactful voice with consumers, colleagues and key opinion formers.

Chris Gardner, Commercial Director at Which?, said: “Which? already has a strong brand, but we need to keep it fresh and relevant for all our audiences. It’s important to have a coherent visual identity across all our communications, whether it’s to our members, members of the public, politicians, or businesses.”

Sam Stone, Creative Director at Identica, said: “Our approach was to add impact, modernity and relevance to the Which? brand by creating a visual identity system that helps distinguish the organisation from the torrent of information available and strengthen their position as the consumer champion, committed to unbiased advice”

Philip Clarke, Tesco’s chief executive, has already drawn up plans for bringing the shoppers back.  Clarke’s vision is a Tesco that offers value, friendlier, more attentive service and an enjoyable shopping environment. “It’s when you go into the store and it’s got very clear pricing, a great range and good presentation. It should make you feel warmer,” said Clarke.

Tesco’s new look store at Tooley Street, near London Bridge

Leading branding agency Identica has launched a new website for the innovative cleaning and household products company Ecozone.

Ecozone was born of a desire to help reduce consumption of environmentally damaging products by promoting more earth-friendly alternatives.  Its product portfolio includes a full range of washing and drying consumables, cleaning products and other quirky and innovative household gadgets.

The new design and build of the website capture’s the brands positioning of ‘Make your home an Ecozone’ and the overall effect combines utilitarian style and a playful attitude. Identica wanted to create a website that is friendly, challenges the category norms and perceptions of Eco-FMCG and tells the Ecozone story, whilst at the same time be intuitive, informative and helpful on a functional level.

This work follows the recent brand overhaul by Identica that included positioning, visual identity and design of a sustainable packaging solution across a range of 28 SKU’s.

The new website launches this week.

Sam Stone, Creative Director at Identica, said: “We have really enjoyed working with our Ecozone team. They have been bold and brave in pushing for a change in perception in this category. Our approach breaks with the traditional cues of green leafs and craft paper and proves that you can be eco-friendly and stylish”.

Simeon Van der Molen, Managing Director, Ecozone, said: “Our plan was to carry over the synergy of the iconic brand design and ‘make it happen’ on the website. Following our success with Identica on the brand packaging, we reunited with the team to create a stylish and modern site that visually translates the Ecozone tone of voice. We are delighted with the result.”

A remedy for January blues and a New Year’s Resolution

A recent design industry survey suggested that many agencies feel their clients not only want more work for less money but perhaps more concerning for us creative types is that they also appear to want much safer design solutions as well. These are solutions that won’t cause too many difficult conversations within the business nor do they result in additional challenges over and above those dealt with day to day. We all know that safer solutions will not enhance, our own or indeed our client’s reputations and that ‘safe’ will ultimately not make the world a more interesting place to live.

It all seems a little depressing but it is against this backdrop that I can’t help thinking we all need to dig deeper and push ourselves to create braver, more perception changing work. This in turn will open all of our minds to possibilities, to encourage bravery, freedom of expression and wonder in our everyday work.

At Identica we have recently taken the view that laughter may be the call to action that we all need and of course a really good remedy for our January blues. We recently hosted an Improvised Comedy training session with a well-known scriptwriter and comedian. Improvised Comedy can simply be about making someone laugh, smile, or to stop and notice the world around them. Done well, it can move an audience and change your life.

Our host showed us how to transform daily experiences into amazing stories. Very quickly we were all firing off a rapid series of one-liners that built into totally unpredictable stories with hilarious results. He reminded us how to open our minds and allow the creativity of thought to flow, to think laterally not literally and to say ‘Yes And’ to each other rather than ‘Yes But’. We were encouraged to use our natural intuitive thinking, to listen, to trust and to allow our imagination to wonder. Most importantly it taught us not to ‘block’. When you censor yourself and others, fresh ideas struggle to happen.

In short, it was brilliant and it was just what we all needed – an enlightening session on communication and ideas through comedy where the original, the stimulating and the memorable happened spontaneously with no constraint or judgment.

And so to our own New Years Resolution, despite the doom and gloom and against the backdrop of uncertain times and decreasing budgets we will continue to push ourselves and challenge our clients to be braver this year, to improvise with our ideas and thinking and make sure we can all having some fun whilst doing it.

So when you next sit down at your Mac remember these wise words from Jean Houston .… ‘At the height of laughter, the universe is flung in to a kaleidoscope of new possibilities’ ….. and boldly go forth into a colourful and fresh 2012.

17 October 2011| Franco Bonadio

It’s official. The banking revolution’s underway. George Osborne has said so. The angry mob (us) smell blood and this time we want justice and nothing short of a revolution will do.  Deep down however, we fear we’ve heard it all before. Sure the banks and bankers get a ‘public’ slap but as changes to banking practices become drawn out, the ‘big idea’ is inevitably watered down and when (finally) put into practice, we (still the angry mob) won’t feel or notice a thing.

To their credit, they have tried hard to change the way they present themselves.  We have banks promising to be more helpful, banks trying to be warm and wise and banks trying to be funny (ish), but are they fundamentally changing? Great brands are built on truth and trust and we can be forgiven for not trusting and believing the banks right now as no matter how good the promise, if it is not born out of the behaviour of the organisation, it is worth nothing.

So why don’t we switch banks? We know why we don’t (and they know too).  Because it’s too much hassle and we think there is very little to differentiate them anyway. Which is a terrible indictment for banks to have labelled against them.  Same banks, different logos.

So we stick to the devil we know and spread negativity at every opportunity.  Hardly brand building stuff.

Is there another way (to paraphrase one bank’s promise)?   Of course there is.  First Direct proved that 20 years ago when they launched and they continue to be the bank that inspires genuine, emotional loyalty. I count myself as one of their fans.  I actually hear myself occasionally telling complete strangers that ‘I love my bank’.   I love First Direct because it tries to look at the world from my point of view.   I want simplicity and I get an online interface that is beautifully simple, plenty of white space, no shouty messages or annoying graphics trying to up-sell and no fiddly device to stick your card in.  The customer service is equally good.  There is no automated menu, you speak to a real person (hooray!) who is always delightful and will go out of their way to sort out your problem.   And they’ve kept it up for 20 years.  No clever reinventions, just a clear vision and a commitment to the customer.  Easy to say, hard to do.  Well done First Direct you deserve all the brand loyalty you get.

Interestingly this trend towards simplicity, plain speaking and giving the customer what they need is starting to manifest itself in a more graphic way.  Recently I bought a book called ‘Information is Beautiful’.  It followed an inspiring programme I watched on BBC 4 called The Joy of Stats by a Swedish chap called Hans Rosling. He’s sold his business to Google, I believe. Anyway, what it did was transform the way I think about numbers. It made them tangible and visible and articulated them beyond the spreadsheet which is a no brainer really. And I realised that this could transform the way we think about our money. Lloyds TSB has gone someway to exploring this notion with their online Money Manager tool. The idea being that if we can visualise money in simpler more meaningful ways, we will be in more control rather than the other way around. Taking this one step further, imagine a graphic diagram of a table with a variety of food on it symbolising the different things we spend our money on. Then imagine a hotdog representing the amount of food spent on eating out and an apple representing the money we spend on healthy food.  Big hot dog, small apple? I made that up obviously but I think we can see how data and information could be made more accessible, understandable and ultimately more manageable.   But maybe it’s all a bit too creative for some.   I admit I may not be your average banking consumer.. maybe I’m a bit too niche or arty?   They said that about Apple users of course. They said just nerdy designers use Macs and it would never catch on. I haven’t forgotten that.

So what about the mass market consumer? A mass brand like Tesco?  We know that £1 in every £8 is spent in their stores so that’s a lot of customers and I reckon they know a thing or two as to what the average consumer wants.  There has been much in the press recently about Tesco Bank and I can tell you I have seen the future of banking.   Here is an organisation that is built around the idea of ‘Every Little Helps’.  And while some may despair over Tesco’s taking over the world, the reality is they know what their customers want and customers appreciate it back with their loyalty.

So with Tesco Bank, what can you expect? Expect a bank that’s great with deals, expect convenience and expect Clubcard rewards. Expect to see simple information, friendly and helpful staff that knows the difference between the customer (you) and the service (them) they provide for us.  And expect them to be sticking to good old customer service and value.  It’s a quiet revolution and it might take a little while to get going.  But in a few years we will notice the rest of the banks have changed because of what Tesco’s did to their world.  For sure you know there will be no investment arm with champagne drinking-bankers to tarnish their image and take all our money and I don’t think they’ll need the government support to bale them out of trouble either.  Instead they have an enormous pool of customers whose trust they’ve already won and as long as they are adding value, expect the changes to reverberate around and change the banking industry for good.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to truly change the system.

The human tribe is a collective of storytellers – capturing experience through myth, legend, fireside tales or paintings on the cave wall. We communicate, empathise and find historical continuity and meaning through tales told, stories heard and images experienced and remembered.

In the commercial world, companies too have their stories to tell. The challenge is, not many know what makes a good story or how to present their story in a way that will really engage their audience.

That’s where good brand designers come in. We may be called designers, but we like to think of ourselves as storytellers. With each new challenge, we address a blank sheet of paper and a story in need of writing and telling. In a sense, creating a persuasive design message is similar to writing a play, poem or story. It’s the brand as narrative – punctuated for sense and meaning, phrased for effect – a story that takes the brand and the consumer on a structured journey that is at once both logical and emotional.

The story needs believable characters who spark an emotion, negatively or positively. It has to be elegantly simple and memorable – something iconic, iconoclastic even. Something that people can communicate to each other with passion and fidelity through the ages. Something that never fails to surprise and inspire, no matter how often told.

We start, as we always do, by defining the character and personality of the brand, we call it an archetype. If the brand is to be a hero to the consumer, then we need to understand its strengths, weaknesses, habits, values and attitudes: all of which are interpreted uniquely by different audiences; all of which evolve and mature with time.

With the principal character defined, we are able to predict how the brand’s personality would find expression in any given scenario. At this stage, we have a personality so fully formed and minutely explored that we know what it would wear, eat, spend, go, say, or write if it were a living, breathing person. We can finish sentences, working within a bespoke vocabulary, and be confident of where, when and how to punctuate the story and the message.

Next we start to think about locations for our story. We create an environment in which our character truly belongs and is seen to best advantage. The environment, the spirit of place, can make or break a character and render any story unbelievable or confusing.

Along the way, we consider the challenges our heroes must face and overcome and the villains they might encounter. We search and explore all the chapters of visual history to inform and illuminate every twist and turn in the story. We devise imaginative plots and add fresh chapters to keep our readers turning the pages.

Only when these elements are in place do we put pen to paper, using symbols, typography, images, words, colour and form to create our narrative and bring our stories to life.

We look to create a story that is as simple and memorable as it is compelling. This is how tales are handed down, how a brand endures and evolves with each new interpretation and delivery of the story.

For us, brand communications is about so much more than design. We craft stories that communicate the core values and personality of the brand. Our mission is to set the mood, distil emotions and tell a story in the most imaginative, compelling and memorable way possible.

Leigh brings with her over 10 years branding experience specialising in identity, brand world creation and evolution, as well packaging and retail design.

Leigh joins from Fitch where she was the Associate Design Director across London, New York and Columbus. She led brand programmes for International clients such as Vodafone, Sony, Molton Brown and Dixons, winning numerous awards including Design Week Best Retail Interior for the car care centre, Hi-Q.

Leigh will report into Sam Stone who was recently appointed as Creative Director at Identica in November 2010.

Leigh Chandler Design Director, Identica says: “I’m so pleased to be joining a company that I have held in such high regard throughout my career.  Identica creates iconic brands but is an equally legendary brand in it’s own right.  I’m super excited to be here at a time of amazing growth and incredible potential.”

Franco Bonadio, CEO at Identica, says: “Leigh’s joining as Design Director further strengthens our creative team’s offer to our clients. She has a great flair for design and I am sure she will do great things for our agency.’’

Identica has revealed the new visual identity of international cinema group, Cinema City International (CCI).  The agency, who won the business following a competitive pitch, has refreshed the company’s brand identity, for the first time in 15 years when it launched its first multiplex in Europe, as part of major investment in the brand.

The branding process included thorough audits in all the territories where CCI is operating in Central and Eastern Europe, definition of the company’s brand positioning, launch of new visual identity and the presentation of a new logo to the chain.

Following the audits it was agreed that the new design should reflect the innovative and progressive nature of the company together with its warm atmosphere and welcoming approach. Thus the brand essence of ‘Enjoyment’ was created and articulated through the evolution of the brand identity.

The new logo is being implemented across the company and we believe that its audience will find the new visual identity representative of the brand that they already know and appreciate.

Franco Bonadio, CEO at Identica, said: “Cinema City is a world class business with big aspirations. They are unparalleled in service and quality standards and all that was lacking was a corporate identity that matched their ambition. The new identity brings a new sense of clarity, confidence and stature and positions Cinema City International for growth and global expansion.”

Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cinema City International, said: “We always believed that our real goal is not only to attract the people to visit us for the first time and when there are huge movies in the cinemas but that we should give our visitors the best service with the most comfortable and advanced facilities so they will enjoy their time in the cinema and will want to come again and again. I was happy to read the results of the audit presented to us by Identica and I am sure that the new logo will complete our brand identity and represent what our company is offering to each of our millions of visitors”

Cinema City rebrand from Identica Video on Vimeo.

30 March 2011 | By Rachel Donachie

As Tesco launches its first branded yoghurt range ’Yoo’, and boasts its ability to undercut ’popular brands’ by 20%, we ask the branding and design industry why the retailer is choosing not to market predominantly under its own brand name?

Ease of product distribution, negotiating best prices; all are a given if you’re one of the leading supermarket retailers. So introducing sub-brands seems like a win-win, if, of course you’re holding the retail-reins. But could it lead to consumer confusion – ’is this product made by Tesco’s or not’? And why would such a big brand name, hide its credentials behind ’Yoo’?

Richard Morris, managing director, Identica

Retailers owning and promoting a separate brand to the one that adorns the shop fascia is nothing new. Be it Matsui at Dixons, St Michael at Marks and Spencer or – more recently – the purchase of Duchy Originals by Waitrose. When a retailer sees there is a consumer need to be filled and no brand occupying that space, it’s a natural response – and good business sense – to exploit the gap yourself. After all, who better then the retailer to identify where there is – literally or metaphorically – a gap on their shelves? Tesco’s decision to launch Yoo is no different.

Tesco believes passionately in acting as the champion for its customers – they live and breathe this stuff. So if they spot a sector ripe for invigoration and no-one is sitting in front of their buyers giving them a product and a brand to do the job, they’re not going to let the grass grow – they’ll get on with it. And if launching a new brand gives them a better chance of making it work – then of course that’s what they’ll do.

There’s nothing nefarious or secretive about this – plenty of FMCG brand owners decline to write their corporate brand large on their products. Why should a retail brand be treated any differently? It’s just good brand management.

So with positive signs of growth, questions like ‘where do we look’ and ‘what should we do’ become an ever more pressing issue to get your head around. If the former glory days are returning, what’s the right way to go? Big or small? General or niche?

I hope one or two of these following thoughts might be useful as you ponder your own growth challenge.

Let’s start with the easy one.

Number 1. Persist. Keep in touch with your old clients. Its obvious but surprising how we forget to do it. So, be pushy but keep it always on the jolly side of annoying, as all you’re trying to do is to keep on their radar. My colleague Richard Morris has been pestering (nicely) with a potential client for nearly 2 years and we finally had a meeting with them last week with a brief for a proposal.

2. Copy. Do you like what your competitors are doing? Then do the same kind of thing. I am often looking at our competitors work and thinking ‘wish I had done that’. Well what are you waiting for? Might seem strange but its exactly what our clients do with their products and services when they see their competitor’s launching something new.

3. Specialise. Be master of one thing, every agency tends to be stereotyped so accept it and focus. Do it brilliantly and aim for clients that only fit your approach. Becoming famous for one thing might take years but eventually you will have a solid portfolio of work and (hopefully) a credible reputation that clients will want to rely on for your experience and peace of mind.

Or you could do the exact opposite of course and…

4. Generalise. Add more strings to your bow, spreading your risk instead of finding yourself in a specialist area that nobody wants anymore, do lots of different things. For some this makes life interesting as you swing from say a retail store to a corporate website. In theory it’s a good way to spread the money too. Can make recruitment a bit tricky and of course the moniker ‘master of none’ is potentially a problem.

5. Hunt … and target your future clients. Don’t go for stuff you can never possibly win, (or even deliver) and be sure its what you want. A mate told me that he made one of the big supermarket brands a target and it took him nearly 2 years to get the opportunity but then discovered there wasn’t any money to be made in that particular line of design. So be careful with what you wish for.

6. Farm. By far the easiest and safest growth strategy. They say it takes around 7 times as much effort to find a new client than to service an existing one: so wrap your arms around that client of yours and show that you love them. Innovate and look at other parts of their business to see how you can help, clients love agencies thinking about them.

7. Publish. Is this vanity publishing or a necessary tool of the trade? The brochure is a virtual thing of the past and equally blogging isn’t for everyone. Maybe you have a special view on a sector that can be used to target potential clients or perhaps some research giving you an insight into emerging consumer needs. As long as it’s relevant it might give you a way into future client work.

8. Adapt. Some agencies are completely changing their business model. The digital revolution is transforming our lives, and it’s even led me to write this on my I-pad. From web sites to interactive apps, to animated shorts; design agencies have adapted and evolved into completely new versions of their former selves. Digital is still the daddy so get stuck in and find your niche that applies to your business and evolve.

9. Export. Ok, so this is easier said than done as our industry has been exporting for years. Yet, many foreign clients still like to buy internationally as it gives them reassurance (and a bit of cache) within their own business.  There is a perceived higher value in choosing an international agency so it can provide a valuable stream of work for your agency. We’ve done a lot of Russian work over the years and you really need to take time to understand their ways of working. But personally I love it and find each new client culture interesting.

And finally, last but not least, number 10. Invest. It’s critical to your agencies growth as you cant grow unless you hire or develop your team. Give people the time to evolve and take on the work that you did and when it works out it will be one of the better decisions you will have made.

So if we assume that growth will come, a lot will boil down to how personally motivated you are to this growing change.  If you are happy with what you are doing then that’s absolutely fine of course or alternatively like Micheal Palin always did, after finishing the plate of food, he thanked his hosts and with a cheerful wave was on his way to find a new adventure.