Solv got in touch with us with plans to undertake a brand audit. They required an update to the established identity to keep them ahead of the curve. Solv pride themselves on offering a personal service. Engineers turn up on time, wearing smart company uniform, driving one of their spotless vans and carrying company I.D. They will always carry out work to the highest standard and they are highly experienced and qualified in their respective trades. With this in mind, we were able to create an identity refresh.

We looked at a number of areas in Solv’s brand identity when performing the audit, from their logo to their tone of voice and art direction. We wanted to retain Solv’s core audience and increase brand confidence through the refresh. There are a few brand elements that we wanted to co-exist with the new direction, the Solv red and the brand personality. The red Solv vehicles are instantly recognisable across Northern Ireland, which we did not want to lose. We recognised that the red also associated with the fantastic reputation of the engineers, service and company, so it had to stay.

We began with a logo refresh, removing the word ‘group’ from the primary logo. We typeset the new logo in Vag Rounded, a similar but more sustainable typeface to use across the brand collateral. The introduction of Vag Rounded also provided a more circular and fluid logo mark. This small incremental change immediately secured an overall consistency with the brand language, brochures and vehicle graphics all now have a set typographic style. We also found a more suitable positioning for the registered trademark logo. One of the main objectives of the Solv audit was to simplify, we kept this mind-set when approaching all brand collateral.

As well as the logo design we developed a strapline to support the new brand direction. “Energy as always,” a simple & positive piece of copy that embodies the businesses brand pillars. Energy as always now features as a core part of the brand identity appearing on all printed material and vehicle graphics. The statement immediately shapes the audience perception of what Solv is all about, Energy. Whether it’s hot energy (oil and gas), cold energy (air conditioning) or green energy Solv’s team of specialists are here to help.

We created separate colour palettes and tag lines for each of the three brand pillars of Solv: Air Temperature, Heat and Environment. Feel the heat, Easy Breezy and Go Green. These digestible tag lines breakdown the services for the customers and make communications between the business and clients much more transparent. They also reinforce the already established brand personality.

The new brand elements were placed into a brand guidelines booklet for the business moving forward. It was imperative that the new brand direction was followed and some straightforward brand guidelines for staff and marketing were an essential addition to the audit.

The first piece of work in delivering the brand audit was the design of their fleet of vehicles, the red vans. We re-designed the vans in the new style, utilising the new brand guidelines, type styles and copywriting. We have also designed a number of advertising campaigns for Solv in the new brand style, which will be rolled out to the fullest in the coming months.

This was a fantastic project to be involved in and we continue to develop our working relationship with Solv. Recognising that your brand identity may need a refresh or audit is a fantastic way of keeping your brand fresh, relevant and adaptable to market trends. Get in touch with the team at Kaizen Brand Evolution if you feel your brand needs a facelift.