Redefining an identity
Malta's principal marketing communications agency, BPC, which has been responsible for branding, and re-banding several companies, products and services, both in Malta and in other markets, has now re-designed its own corporate identity. Why did such a long-established agency feel the need to re-present itself and does a company in the services sector really require branding? David Brockdorff, BPC's managing director looks to the future and takes us through the thinking and strategy behind BPC's new bright colours, contemporary design and fresh approach.
The impetus for innovation
"The things that got us here will not necessarily take us there". I first came across this particular piece of distilled wisdom at an international marketing conference some years ago, and it's been with me ever since. It is almost a slogan promoting innovation and change and a stark challenge to complacency.
The 'not necessarily' aspect also bears thinking about. The things that got us here are not all to be discarded ‒ they may somehow be useful, or at least some of them might. Perhaps the true meaning of this dictum is that we should not take things for granted, that the factors that led to our success in the past may not, by themselves, be enough to propel us forward.
What we must do, therefore, is adapt and innovate while keeping, and even developing, the elements of our past that remain relevant to the future.
BPC was set up in 1958 so you could say 2008 is a watershed year for us, a good time to face up to the issue of adaptation and change. To some degree, the issue is also relevant within a broader context, for us as Maltese, as Mediterranean Europeans in a rapidly changing world. If the one thing we can be sure of is change, then the courage to innovate, create and recreate will surely be among our critical success factors.
A brand that reflects our values and beliefs
I would say, as a company in the services sector, providing what is many times an "intangible", branding is even more relevant to us; the BPC brand is a reflection of our agency's values and beliefs, represented graphically in our corporate identity. In a new dynamic way, the brand reinforces who we are and also defines our agency's personality and the value that we provide our key audiences.
With our well-established base, we are very forward looking and committed to providing inspiring and inspired marketing communications solutions for our clients.
Essentially, this remains very much a business that is all about people. BPC has always managed to attract and retain very good people of the right calibre, we are fortunate that our people share our commitment and understand where we are going. Looking ahead, it is also very encouraging that, with the international quality of work we produce, there is exciting potential as borders are not necessarily Malta's coastline.
The new graphic presentation of the BPC "brand" reflects this reality and underlines our determination to forge ahead. The typeface we have selected belongs to the realist sans-serif typeface family. Used in Europe since the early part of the 20th century, it came to the fore at around the time our agency was born, remains highly relevant today and is a dynamic and resilient enough design platform to forge a bright future for itself. It had our name on, we thought.
Interestingly, this sort of typeface is applied in technical as well as business design environments.
We also liked its no-nonsense, "what you see is what you get" frankness and its clear, design-led lines. Perfect fit, when you think about it, for the BPC brand.
Nailing our colours to the mast
True to our belief that we should keep the right elements of our past while introducing new elements, we have kept some elements from our old identity. So the traditional aquamarine blue green is still there on the right of our logo, to remind us where we have come from, the DNA that is part of BPC's heritage.
We have introduced gold, at the centre of our logo. Balancing the past and the future, gold is the celebration colour element for 50th anniversaries.
To keep our minds focused on where we are going and how we need to get there, we have introduced a new colour, a complex and deep reddish purple. This colour symbolises the critical success factors for the future; passion, commitment, thinking outside the box. It certainly is bold and striking and we have used it right at the start of our identity.
Past, present and future, we are nailing our colours to the mast, you could say. We have also taken great care to ensure that our new identity will work well in digital media and for web applications.
Looking ahead
To state that the world is a different place today than it was 50 years ago seems a bit of an understatement. The whole marketing process has changed considerably; consumers are much more savvy and will become increasingly so. Enlightened organisations are moving towards real dialogue now, and the old model of communicating to a target audience has evolved to one of engaging with an interested and more vocal one.
The media sector is also changing. To take just one example ‒ the internet is now growing six times faster than traditional media, and by 2009 will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising investment in many EU countries. We expect Malta to catch up shortly thereafter. Looking even a bit further ahead, some predictions indicate that large European firms will be spending almost 20 per cent of their media budgets on online marketing by 2012. If such drastic change is in store just four years from now, to hazard a guess at what the world might be like by 2058 takes us to the realms of science fiction.
The courage to anticipate the future was fundamental to our success when we started in 1958; we think that a forward-looking approach is still very relevant. So, even if we do need to tread with a great deal of caution, it is to the future that we must look for guidance to assess not only what innovation and change we need to embrace but also what elements of the past to retain.
Some tried-and-tested elements that we would do well to take with us would surely include a healthy dose of self-belief, the conviction that we can indeed make a difference. The tenacity to persevere through thick and thin will doubtless also continue to come in useful. I believe that a genuine team spirit, and developing relationships with each other and our business partners based on a sense of fairness and respect will prevail, whatever tomorrow holds.
If we tread carefully, the future will be an exciting place. That is what BPC's new corporate identity is really communicating.
"The things that got us here will not necessarily take us there". I first came across this particular piece of distilled wisdom at an international marketing conference some years ago, and it's been with me ever since. It is almost a slogan promoting innovation and change and a stark challenge to complacency.
The 'not necessarily' aspect also bears thinking about. The things that got us here are not all to be discarded ‒ they may somehow be useful, or at least some of them might. Perhaps the true meaning of this dictum is that we should not take things for granted, that the factors that led to our success in the past may not, by themselves, be enough to propel us forward.
What we must do, therefore, is adapt and innovate while keeping, and even developing, the elements of our past that remain relevant to the future.
BPC was set up in 1958 so you could say 2008 is a watershed year for us, a good time to face up to the issue of adaptation and change. To some degree, the issue is also relevant within a broader context, for us as Maltese, as Mediterranean Europeans in a rapidly changing world. If the one thing we can be sure of is change, then the courage to innovate, create and recreate will surely be among our critical success factors.
A brand that reflects our values and beliefs
I would say, as a company in the services sector, providing what is many times an "intangible", branding is even more relevant to us; the BPC brand is a reflection of our agency's values and beliefs, represented graphically in our corporate identity. In a new dynamic way, the brand reinforces who we are and also defines our agency's personality and the value that we provide our key audiences.
With our well-established base, we are very forward looking and committed to providing inspiring and inspired marketing communications solutions for our clients.
Essentially, this remains very much a business that is all about people. BPC has always managed to attract and retain very good people of the right calibre, we are fortunate that our people share our commitment and understand where we are going. Looking ahead, it is also very encouraging that, with the international quality of work we produce, there is exciting potential as borders are not necessarily Malta's coastline.
The new graphic presentation of the BPC "brand" reflects this reality and underlines our determination to forge ahead. The typeface we have selected belongs to the realist sans-serif typeface family. Used in Europe since the early part of the 20th century, it came to the fore at around the time our agency was born, remains highly relevant today and is a dynamic and resilient enough design platform to forge a bright future for itself. It had our name on, we thought.
Interestingly, this sort of typeface is applied in technical as well as business design environments.
We also liked its no-nonsense, "what you see is what you get" frankness and its clear, design-led lines. Perfect fit, when you think about it, for the BPC brand.
Nailing our colours to the mast
True to our belief that we should keep the right elements of our past while introducing new elements, we have kept some elements from our old identity. So the traditional aquamarine blue green is still there on the right of our logo, to remind us where we have come from, the DNA that is part of BPC's heritage.
We have introduced gold, at the centre of our logo. Balancing the past and the future, gold is the celebration colour element for 50th anniversaries.
To keep our minds focused on where we are going and how we need to get there, we have introduced a new colour, a complex and deep reddish purple. This colour symbolises the critical success factors for the future; passion, commitment, thinking outside the box. It certainly is bold and striking and we have used it right at the start of our identity.
Past, present and future, we are nailing our colours to the mast, you could say. We have also taken great care to ensure that our new identity will work well in digital media and for web applications.
Looking ahead
To state that the world is a different place today than it was 50 years ago seems a bit of an understatement. The whole marketing process has changed considerably; consumers are much more savvy and will become increasingly so. Enlightened organisations are moving towards real dialogue now, and the old model of communicating to a target audience has evolved to one of engaging with an interested and more vocal one.
The media sector is also changing. To take just one example ‒ the internet is now growing six times faster than traditional media, and by 2009 will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising investment in many EU countries. We expect Malta to catch up shortly thereafter. Looking even a bit further ahead, some predictions indicate that large European firms will be spending almost 20 per cent of their media budgets on online marketing by 2012. If such drastic change is in store just four years from now, to hazard a guess at what the world might be like by 2058 takes us to the realms of science fiction.
The courage to anticipate the future was fundamental to our success when we started in 1958; we think that a forward-looking approach is still very relevant. So, even if we do need to tread with a great deal of caution, it is to the future that we must look for guidance to assess not only what innovation and change we need to embrace but also what elements of the past to retain.
Some tried-and-tested elements that we would do well to take with us would surely include a healthy dose of self-belief, the conviction that we can indeed make a difference. The tenacity to persevere through thick and thin will doubtless also continue to come in useful. I believe that a genuine team spirit, and developing relationships with each other and our business partners based on a sense of fairness and respect will prevail, whatever tomorrow holds.
If we tread carefully, the future will be an exciting place. That is what BPC's new corporate identity is really communicating.