TMCnet News
Brands made in the shade [National, The (United Arab Emirates)](National, The (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) At the end of the summer, Southwest Airlines, a US airline based in Dallas, unveiled a new look. The planes retained their dominant blue colour but the hue was a couple of shades darker, while the red and yellow stripes across the tail became brighter. The revamp occurred as Southwest began flying internationally for the first time in its 43-year history and represented a "bold, updated" look, according to the chief executive Gary Kelly. Overhauling a corporate colour scheme can require enormous amounts of money and time. Southwest not only has to repaint its fleet, a process that will take as long as seven years, but will have to introduce new uniforms and airport signs. Fortunately for Southwest, the new colours have been well received. "The rebrand has been a huge success," says Nicholas Griffin, regional director for the Middle East, Africa and India at Allen International, a consultancy. "The design celebrates the end of an agreement limiting the company to flying to a handful of states. To mark this change, the brand went through what we call a refresh. The result– a bold statement to the world that Southwest [is] here and open for business. Fine-tuning colour in this case has had a dramatic and positive effect on the brand." Corporate colours are an integral part of any company's brand and they spend thousands of dollars conducting research before adopting or tinkering with a scheme. The most successful companies are those that achieve what is known in the marketing industry as "colour ownership". Mr Griffin explains: "What does colour ownership mean? Well, if I was to say to you: 'name me a brand that is red', you would probably answer Emirates, or Coca-Cola. If I was to say: 'name me a brand that is green', you may say Dubai Islamic Bank. Brands invest millions of dollars in building this kind of brand awareness." Colours fall into two main categories – warm and cold, according to marketing expert Adrian Bell, the executive director of Action Impact, a brand experience agency in Dubai. Warm colours such as red, orange and yellow – are energetic and stimulating. Cooler colours – blue, green and purple – are smooth and relaxing. "Blue delivers a trustworthiness, a reliability, a loyalty and integrity," says Mr Bell, who adds that banks traditionally opt for blue branding. "Green, which has been a colour of trend, tends to deliver a perception of nature, prosperity, nurturing, harmony, life, newness." Black is often associated with luxury and sophistication. This is something Alanoud Tahlawi, the founder of the luxury concierge company Ember, discovered when she hired a designer to create her website. "The designer said: 'You have to use black'," she recalls. "And I said: 'No, I want other colours'. He said: 'No. Even if we use other colours, we have to put black there because it's just a symbol of luxury'." The company finally settled on an unfussy black and maroon colour scheme in keeping with another trend Mr Bell has noticed – "a move towards simplicity". Emirates Islamic also adopted simpler branding this year, dropping its wheatsheaf logo and changing its colour scheme to purple from blue. The rebrand coincided with a name change to Emirates Islamic from Emirates Islamic Bank and a more aggressive expansion strategy. "In an overbanked market like the UAE, it is important for businesses to differentiate themselves," Mr Griffin says. "The management team have chosen a colour that they can 'own'. Purple is a young and vibrant colour that has cultural and social relevancy in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see how this brand and business evolves over the coming months and if the combination of purple and white, along with other innovations in brand and service, will help the bank to vault the competition." The UAE shopping and leisure group Majid Al Futtaim last year gave its brand a comprehensive makeover, ditching its black and red colour scheme for a new deep brown and gold logo. The colours were intended to reflect MAF's heritage as a UAE company as it expanded into new markets in Egypt and Lebanon. "Heritage and culture played a role and we used the desert for inspiration," says MAF's corporate brand director Tanita Sandhu. The primary aim of the make- over was to get customers and staff to associate all the various brands owed by the group – Vox Cinemas, Carrefour supermarket and Mall of the Emirates – with the MAF company. We wanted "to create a strong distinction so that every time a consumer would see the 'M' they would associate with a Majid Al Futtaim offering", Ms Sandhu says. Mr Griffin adds: "Again, a change in strategy has driven the organisation to launch a vibrant living brand that cannot be missed around the Middle East." [email protected] (c) 2014 s Abu Dhabi Media Company, All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |