The importance of a strong brand
Phoenix Natural Gas’ Marketing Manager Nicola Faulkner highlights the importance of brand evolution.
Since the introduction of natural gas into Northern Ireland over 16 years ago, the Phoenix Natural Gas identity has become one of the most established and immediately recognisable brands in Northern Ireland, achieving an impressive, unprompted 96 per cent recognition.
The strength of the brand has played a key role in helping to firmly establish natural gas as the fuel of choice for both businesses and homeowners. It is important, in the fast-paced energy sector that the brand logo and positioning continues to reflect the company’s ideals and position within the marketplace.
In recent years, the company had undergone a huge amount of change, particularly with the sale of the gas supply business to SSE Airtricity in 2012. This created a fully competitive gas supply market and repositioned the role that Phoenix played in continuing to develop the industry. It was time for the brand to evolve in order to adapt to these changing business needs.
Building upon the strength of the existing brand, one of the key objectives was to breathe freshness and life into the new identity whilst preserving the essence of the strong brand name. Every brand must walk the fine line between nostalgia and modernity, so remaining true to the brand whilst staying current needs to be managed with care. Therefore a radical name change or fundamental shift in business must be resisted and a solution found which is more an evolution rather than a revolution.
It all started with a fresh colour palette that was bright, clean and contemporary and when applied to, for example, the Phoenix website, it was clear that the existing navy logo didn’t align. After conducting research, the new ‘Phoenix Blue’ emerged – a subtle but distinct update.
Interestingly, research by Leeds University has found that blue is the most popular corporate logo colour, with 49 per cent of FTSE 100 companies since 1987 using it for their logos. Just nine companies have stayed in the FTSE 100 constantly over the last 20 years, and seven of these have blue logos, including Unilever, Royal Bank of Scotland and ICI.
Since the introduction of the ‘Phoenix Blue’, the identity has permeated throughout the business from the corporate signage to the livery on the company vehicles, website, uniforms and stationery. The theme has systematically been implemented to portray a strong and consistent brand message.
At the start of 2014, Phoenix embarked on a new marketing campaign that would see the company’s communications take a new direction. The illustrative approach has provided a platform to create messages that are fun, memorable and create talkability. The addition of the ‘Phoenix Blue’ frame means that the campaign is unmistakeably Phoenix, helping to drive instant brand recognition as the campaign evolves.
As the business needs continue to change, so will the evolution of the Phoenix brand.
Phoenix Natural Gas
197 Airport Road West
Belfast, BT3 9ED
Tel: 03454 55 55 55
Web: www.phoenixnaturalgas.com
