New corporate branding for Exit Fabrics: undertaking a new business stage
In 2013 we started collaborating with Exit Fabrics (formerly named Exit Solutions), creators and manufacturers of technical upholstery since 1985. The products are characterised by their timelessness and versatility. Thanks to an extended colour variety, they appeal to multiple markets and are easily adaptable to the final product.
Back then we redesigned Exit Fabrics’ corporate branding. It was however during the past year that we helped with their most substantial shift, as we conceptualised and redefined the company’s new branding strategy and created a corporate branding in line with their new market positioning.
A new branding strategy in line with the reality of the company
Exit Fabrics’ rebranding process began by the end of the year 2018. With the help of our own methodology, the NOMON Method, we conceptualised and defined an updated branding strategy, re-examined the brand values and the brand’s market positioning with the main objective of adapting it to the new reality of the company.
The project also included the reformulation of its naming, the creation of its storytelling which was later captured by a new brand value proposition and a brand tagline. And, finally, the new strategy was shaped into the company’s new corporate branding.
Following our first phase of observation, and having gotten a grasp of the brand within its business sector, we defined the attributes on which the current values of the company were built, namely: experience, timelessness, service and personalisation, a set of characteristics which best define the brand both internally and externally.
We also established that the axis of the new branding strategy would be the renaming of the company. We reckoned that the new naming would better describe the firm’s activity, as well as advance the company in its new digital marketing strategy which would assume a much more important role from that moment on. Therefore, Exit Solutions was renamed Exit Fabrics.
To close the first phase of the project, we defined and created a brand storytelling focused on communicating the company’s experience, its vocation for service, its brand values and the attributes that differentiate their product range from other competitors. And finally, we translated the discourse into a new brand value proposition and brand tagline “Upholstery for all needs“.
A corporate branding based on the new naming
In order to develop Exit Fabrics’ corporate branding, we have mainly relied on their new naming. Unlike the previous logo, we chose to separate the two terms to reinforce the relevance of the separate concepts. Moreover, by adding a final point to the company’s name it was further emphasised.
In order to symbolise the proximity of service and the personalisation of the products, we kept the logo in a lowercase typeface.
The typeface Sans Serif HK Grotesk Light was chosen to be used throughout the corporate identity. A colour palette composed of a blue colour range, which reflects the timelessness of the product, and a range of greys and ochre, which communicate the warmth and closeness of the service offered by Exit Fabrics.
Likewise, we consolidated the new identity with a series of images that put emphasis on the products, their textures and ample colour range of the fabrics. We applied the branding guidelines throughout the editorial design of the brochures and sample charts, the communication pieces such as corporate stationery and merchandising elements, the retail branding – i.e. signage – and in the digital communication pieces, such as the corporate website.
A web page that acts as a creative space
Once we finished the development of Exit Fabrics’ corporate branding, we began a new phase of the project in which we applied the branding guidelines to the company’s communication pieces, such as, among others, the corporate website.
Our main goal was to come up with a digital communication strategy that would put emphasis on the quality of the products, the textures and the ample colour range of its fabrics. For that purpose, we conceptualised the website as a creative and inspirational space where customers would easily find and discover the over 1,000 references of finishes and fabric collections that Exit Fabrics showcases for their contract projects, as well as inform on the services and facilities of the company.
In addition, our art direction approach aimed to underline the clear vocation for service, allowing the company to respond to the requests of their customers and their projects, always putting forward efficient solutions which also go beyond their standardised products.
A few months after the launch of the Exit Fabrics’ new branding, we can confirm that it is helping the company face its new business stage in which its communication, mainly digital, has been successfully incorporated into its business strategy, assuming a relevant role.
Tags: Communication, Corporate branding, Digital communication
2020