Project Overview
An automotive sector research institute was facing the end of its government funding due to disruption in the automotive industry and, as a result, needed to rebrand itself with a new name to reflect a new identity and appeal to new markets.
AutoCRC Ltd was a not-for-profit company established in 2005 that was part of the government-funded Cooperative Research Centre program focused on developing new automotive-related technology.
They needed to pivot their expertise and reputation in the automotive sector to manufacturers in the food, prefab construction, transport manufacturing and auto-aftermarket sectors.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Strategists: Darren Taylor & Rebecca Siobhan Austin
Creative Director: Michelle Eden
Identity Design: Sheila Papp
Publication Design & Web Development: Simon Taylor
Qualatative Research: Elinor Graham
Project Brief
Deep-dive research, the creation of a new name and the development of a new brand identity for application across all physical and digital mediums.
Project Innovation/Need
The need here was existential, as the disruption to the Australian automotive industry meant ‘auto’ could no longer be a part of their name.
Design Challenge
Since we were rebranding an organisation in the midst of a pivot, we had no market to anchor the brand to. Furthermore, they wanted to target separate sectors, such as food and prefab construction, that had little in common with each other. We had to position them as experts in those fields without denoting those fields, and be forward-looking despite being untested in those waters.
We chose to play on the word ‘accelerate’ to reference the automotive business while also serving as a metaphor for innovation. Combining this with ‘excel’ connoted their institutional expertise and ambition.
Based around the concept of moving forward, the new Excellerate Australia branding is a symbol for guidance and direction. This is achieved by combining the stylised capital E and A which come together to form an abstract arrow. This arrow indicates clear decision making and it has a commanding presence. This is balanced out by the use of softer edges and a gender-neutral colours. Used as deconstructed pieces throughout the collateral items creates interesting patterns, which evoke the feeling of technology in a creative and innovative manner.
Effectiveness
The CEO of Excellerate Australia loved both the name and design and has rolled it out across all platforms, to highly positive feedback.
He says the new branding was significant in helping to win more than $55 million of funding for another, new Cooperative Research Centre.
The CEO also referred us to another research organisation undergoing transformation that has since become one of our valued clients.
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding - Corporate
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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