Task 1
For my rebrand I have chosen Virgin. This is because there are so many branches to it that I could explore and endless possibilities to discover. I think I may go into the branch of rebranding Virgin trains as this one for me is the most lacking of the branches, and I think it would do well with a rebrand.
Part 1: Primary Research.
Part 2: Secondary Research.
How they generated a visual identity
Virgin generated their logo that they had today through a certain process. Their first logo featured two twins sitting together, with a dragon and the word “virgin” was written in the centre. Richard Branson said that this logo was fitting for the time Virgin came around, and was even designed by a famous designer Roger Dean. But when it got to 1979, Richard decided that it was time for a change, as he thought that it was ‘outdated’ and too confusing to look at, too much going on for a normal logo.
Old Virgin logo from – https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/virgin-logo
As you can see, the logo was way too complicated, not anything like the logos that exist now, it was too much and too detailed. And Richard wanted something much more simple, and more ‘edgy’ or ‘punk’ so he began looking to make a new logo, finding designers and trying to find the perfect logo to carry the company forward so that they could branch into other things. Richard Branson said himself that he was on his ‘houseboat’ and he met a young designer, who showed him an idea he had on a napkin. Richard said he loved it, that he thought it was “in-your-face-simplistic”. He knew that that was the logo that he wanted to use for the many years to come.
Image from – https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/virgin-logo
Although, that was not the end of it. They needed to think of a colour, any further enhancements that they could add to the logo. When thinking of the colour, they found out that red produced the strongest reaction in humans, so they of course made the logo red. He knew he had the new face of Virgin, but he did need it to look a little more professional. So he began to adapt it even more, to digitally generate it on a program like illustrator. But of course that wasn’t around then due to illustrator being more modern. He of course had a team who did this, and he wanted it to look the best possible way before being released. Finally, after all the work he set the team to, he said that he wanted to keep up with the culture and the technological trends, so after having the logo all made, he wanted to “Blob it out” , making it more wavy than it was, therefore fitting it with the culture of the time, and that was therefore the new face of Virgin from 1980 onwards.
Image from – https://www.virgin.com/news/the-evolution-of-the-virgin-logo
The logo didn’t end there though. One time it was spray painted onto a piece of wood by someone, giving it a new effect that fitted with the modern cultures we have today, and then it was shown to people in the company, and they all made that the new logo as they preferred it to the older ones and thought it had a better feel to it due to the letter spacing and the lines being clearer.
Image from – https://www.virgin.com/news/the-evolution-of-the-virgin-logo
Of course, virgin trains was produced in 1997, as I have mentioned earlier they were planning to branch into other things as early as 1979, and that is one of the reasons they wanted a new logo that could go with anything. So they then created Virgin trains and the logo was made around the original Virgin logo. It is rather simple, with what seems as a train track coming from the original logo, with the word ‘trains’ written there in black. It is simplistic but works well and is easy to figure out.
Image from – https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/virgintrains/tag/fun-stuff
I think the process of which the logo came to be is very interesting to look through. It was very long and the logo was generated through little steps. Which in my opinion, is the best way that it could come to be. As it has had a lot of thought invested in it.
As far as the fonts go, the original virgin logo does not use any font, it is more of an art-brush process that has been used to write the word. Therefore does not have an assigned font. The word “Trains” is written in a rather basic font, with no capitalisation in any of the letters. The thing that makes this part interesting though is the fact that the word is written in italics, showing movement as it is a train company.
Image from – https://www.tssa.org.uk/en/campaigns/older-campaigns/stop-virgin/
Above shows a letter from Virgin. The contents of it does not matter. I am looking to the visual identity of the letter. The design is rather simple. It has The logo in the top right and some diagonal stripes to the left of it. This was possibly produced on a digital creation program like Photoshop or Illustrator. Then added to the top as a png file. The bottom also has a red block of colour and some writing there. And what looks to be a sponsor also. I like how this looks. The simplistic feel coming into effect once again. And the use of only one colour looks good too. But it is also rather boring as there is not too much going on. Although simple can be good sometimes I think this letterhead is way too simplistic and could be made more exciting or have more added to it.
Image from – http://www.lescopland.co.uk/brand-identity-corporate-literature/virgin-unite,-bcoe-corporate-literature.aspx
I could not find a business card sample from Virgin Trains. So I looked to another virgin company and found Virgin Holidays’ business card as an alternative to analyse. I think this one was made on a digital program also. As it has that feel to it. Almost everything like this is normally digitally generated to give it a good look. Once again, the main part of the card is using that solid red colour, but this time there is a pattern on the left hand side, giving the card a rather calming feel to it. It has logos in the bottom right. But these are well placed and you can easily see what is going on on the card. As for the other side. A palm tree is cleverly placed on the left of it. This is good because it is a holiday company, so it gives the card a good tropical feel to it. It still sticks to the colour scheme of red and it also looks a bit like it is using negative space in the design. Then as always they have the contact details on the card. I like this card as it uses processes like negative space as I said. And uses the pattern effects to give the card a good soothing feel to it and calms whoever is looking at it which is good details to have on a business card.
How they brand their products
Image from – http://www.conference-news.co.uk/2016/09/are-you-eligible-for-a-virgin-trains-discount/
The biggest product that Virgin Trains have made is of course the trains. They are branded rather simply really. They have the theme colour of red running from the front going over the roof on every carriage. They also use the yellow just for a short streak onto the roof on the front carriage. And then there is just grey on the rest of the whole train. This is a rather boring way to brand their trains colour wise, as it is basically a long grey train with a red roof. It is not really the most aesthetically pleasing product. But other than that, they use their logo to brand the trains by putting it on the left and on the right of the front carriage. Rather basic but I feel it is all they really need to do with the logo. Although, they don’t even use the virgin trains logo, just the basic logo. They then also have a crest at the front. Although the train looks rather boring overall, I think that it is branded well, with the logo in the right place and not exactly looking bad, just boring.
Image from – https://www.altro.co.uk/Case-studies/Virgin-Trains
Inside the train you will find a shop, where they sell food and drink. The main part of the shop keeps the red theme of virgin. Seeming like they do not like to venture far from their theme colour but it is definitely good, as it means they are sticking to their brand colour for good and always using it in everything they do. One thing, though, is that they do not use the virgin logo on the stall in the shop. This is a very great thing. It shows that they don’t even need their logo to brand what they make or what they use, they just need the colour red and people will instantly know that it is virgin who made it.
Slogan
I could not find a specific slogan but from looking at their website I found the saying “Unbeatable Prices. Guaranteed.” This is a slogan used on their home page quite a bit. This is obviously a way that they advertise the prices of their trains, saying they are cheaper than any other train service. This is a good slogan as it makes you know that their prices are better than any other company, so if a new customer was looking at the website before others, or if they came after considering another train line, they would see this slogan and know that virgin is the company to go with. Although, there could be other slogans, maybe relating to the time their trains take to get to destinations, the comfortableness of the trains, or how much you feel at home etc. This opens up more options for my brief.
Fonts
The fonts that Virgin trains use in their websites and their general type is very modern. If I was to say what font it is I would probably say it is corbel. As they both look exactly the same and are both very modern styles.
Continuity
I think there is a large continuity between the way virgin do everything with their brand and everything else. First of all, in everything they always use the colour red no matter what. And by doing this they have managed to create the picture that when someone sees the colour red and are to think of a company, they think virgin. Or even if they see the colour red, virgin comes to mind instantly. Also the fact that they always use the original virgin logo in everything they do, even in the virgin trains logo they just add something onto the basic logo. They always use the colour red and their basic logo for everything they do. I think this is good because they have successfully created a brand identity that is globally known by using the same colour and logo over and over. Even though this is fantastic and they shouldn’t stop doing this, sometimes the way they do it comes across as very boring. But they could still make it exciting by maybe changing it up a bit, making the products, the stationary, and other things different and have more soul about them, but still keeping the colour red and their logo. This should be my job to fulfil. So from this I have now got some ideas to begin my process with. I know that I should try to do what virgin already do, keeping the basic logo and the colour red, but changing other things around, like the other part of the virgin trains logo, the business stationary, and the visual and brand identity of virgin trains. I could do this by maybe using a different colour on a low scale along with the red, or maybe adding some patterns to everything to make it exciting. Having a character or a mascot to add to designs may be a possibility. It is all early stages and I have more time to come up with more designs. But these are just my first ideas.
Advantages/Disadvantages
Now I have decided my course of action is to do something similar to what they do already but make it more exciting, I need to look at the advantages and disadvantages of doing this. Firstly, a disadvantage is that I could fall into the trap of making it boring like virgin trains sometimes have, but I will try my hardest not to. An advantage with a company as big as virgin trains, is that I will be keeping it’s visual identity intact, and will make it even stronger. Another advantage is that I will have a baseline to fall back on in Virgin’s logo and colour, I will always have it to work with if I get stuck, but I need to try my hardest to make it exciting and not fall into the trap of it being boring like I said.
Part 3: Target Markets
There are certain things to look at when determining a target market for a company. I will go through each sector in a target market and then decide mine. Firstly, there is working geographically. This means that you single out certain areas through countries, counties, cities or towns. There is also working Demographically, which means looking at age, income, gender, dependence, hobbies, race, religion, occupation, or education. Thirdly, you can work Psychographically, meaning you look at what drives people to consume and what they think about when doing so. You could be pushing them to think in the moment. This is more to do with attitudes, emotions, and belief. Finally, you see behaviouristically, which is when you look at how people consume the product. It could be how loyal they are to the brand, how much the item is, and how much they purchase the item. When working this way you also look at the time of year you want to sell the product. So overall there are four things to look at when determining a target market, and I will do the same when deciding mine.
Now, after taking everything into mind that I have looked at, I can pinpoint the companies target market.
Georaphics
Firstly, they will be living in England of course, as that is where Virgin Trains is focused. And they will be living in the center of London, which is where most people would get trains from as most people in London don’t own cars, so if they are wanting to go to anywhere else in England, they could easily just go to the closest station and catch a train to wherever they want to be.
Demographics
They will be in between 24-32 years of age as this is the normal age of someone busy with work and very inspired and wanting to improve. They will be making around £20,000 – £30,000 a year as Virgin Trains is not really a very expensive company and suits anyone. They will be either gender, as getting a train doesn’t really suit only one gender. They will be dependent and living alone, making a life for themselves as they travel a lot. They work in the business sector meaning they will need to travel around a lot hence needing to get trains.
Psychographics
The person will always be driven to use Virgin Trains and book them in advance when wanting to travel and needing to get across the country. They will also get excited from offers that you can maybe make pop up on the website. Possibly if you book a train in normal class you get business class back. Or possibly if business men get 70% off. The person will be easily ‘manipulated’ with offers like this though, and will enjoy travelling.
Behaviouristics
The person will be very loyal to Virgin Trains, and will always choose them whenever travelling around the UK with no second thought. They will of course travel a lot working in business needing to go to meetings, so they will use the trains maybe 4-5 times every month. The general time that they would use the trains would be all year round, as meetings never really happen at any certain point in time.
The above is no exact persona but just a general target market for Virgin Trains. Now that I have figured out my target market though I can create a mood board relating to it. It will contain what the target market may wear or use, also where they may live and what hobbies they might have.
Mood board
This is the mood board I created for someone who related to my chosen target market. I did this because it helps me know what the type of person who goes to Virgin Trains is like so that I can create a persona of the target market.
Persona
The persona is as follows:
David, who is 27, is a working individual who works in the business sector at HSBC bank in London. He usually attends meetings all over the UK and is a very important member at the company making about £32,000 a year. He lives in an average sized apartment in the center of London. David is fond of travelling, whether it is to go on meetings or to go on holiday, he loves travelling and whenever travelling anywhere in the UK he chooses Virgin Trains as he is very loyal to them. David does not own a car as it is too much to own one in the center of London and he likes to save money. Meaning he is always looking for good deals wherever he goes. As far as hobbies go, David likes reading and writing in his spare time as he feels he gets more knowledgeable the more he reads. With his clothing, he doesn’t care for brands and usually wears Polo Shirts and jeans most of the time. He likes to stay away from brands and tends to opt towards buying the smarter clothing items. Also, David is single and does not really want to settle down with anyone until he feels he has made his way up the ranks in the world of work. He is not any religion and doesn’t believe in gods.
Part 4: Name, Slogan, and Logo Exploration
https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/virgin-logo
https://www.virgin.com/news/the-evolution-of-the-virgin-logo
Andrew Gibson Graphics 