Rebranded New Identity

 

 

 

MICCI:: FORGING A NEW IDENTITY

 

Most businesses especially in Malaysia grossly underestimate the power that branding and creative design plays in their success or failure. In Asia, branding is still not understood by the majority who see it as a "dressing over" rather than an opportunity to rethink, re-strategise and refocus the way they operate.

There is a tendency for Malaysian business owners and CEOs to simply copy what they have seen elsewhere, particularly overseas. So there is no ownership, no understanding and no appreciation of what they doing and why. Often their employees have no real understanding or idea about what is going on. Such initiatives always fail.

 

When the MICCI agreed to begin its brand transformation, a great deal of research, thought and brainstorming went into it on both our parts. How can the chamber operate more cost effectively while achieving the same or more? How can cost consuming brand assets become self supporting or even be turned into income generators and contribute positively? How can we attract new members more easily? How can we improve retention and drive the value and benefits available to existing members?

 

THE CHALLENGE & CONCEPTUALISATION OF THE NEW IDENTITY

The MICCI is a well established chamber and the oldest in Malaysia with a 173-year history, thus it was very important for us to look at trying to find a way to refresh the appeal of the chamber and visually excite anyone coming into contact with the chamber online, in person or in print; with what it has to offer. At the same time, we felt it would be risky to introduce experimental design elements that boutique creative agencies like ours are often sought out for. Instead we opted to maintain an updated corporate appeal but remove the boredom that goes with this and create excitement and interest.

 

This was especially challenging because it was also important for us to ensure the significant transformation of the chamber was translated into the design so that changes communicated would be received positively with interest and anticipation. It is human nature to be wary of what we are not familiar with but we tend to view change as less of threat when it is visually communicated in an appealing manner.

 

The key objectives of this rebranding exercise were:

(a) to reflect the huge structural and operational changes MICCI has just undergone,
(b) to impress the significance of what had transpired essentially on paper for many members into something visual so that they could appreciate and be excited or interested in what is happening,
(c) to create a level of comfort and replace hesitation with intrigue and excitement
(d) to communicate very clearly what exactly it is that the MICCI does, how it adds value to members and to showcase their work so as to attract new members and encourage existing members to more effectively utilise benefits and opportunities
(e) to Inspire confidence in existing and new members of the ongoing change, encourage prospective members and interest former members to choose the MICCI as the chamber of choice

 

A REBRANDED MICCI

While it would take many pages to discuss how this was achieved, a broad simplification of this is that we introduced a new colour to the existing identity of MICCI, established a minimalist style of design for a cleaner more focussed application that appeals to younger CEOs and entrepreneurs and refocused key brand assets – the bulletin and website in this process.

 

EXCITE WITH COLOUR

While it was important to maintain the traditional blue, silver-grey and white so as not to confuse or cause disassociation, it was at the same time important to liven the MICCI brand, make it more appealing to younger CEOs and entrepreneurs who are increasingly making their mark in business and who are important to the future of MICCI. We chose crimson pink for it's consistent appeal both in print and online, also for the fact that it is not a commonly used colour commercially and thus by colour association would establish a psychological link with the chamber and gives the organisation a fresh twist. Something everyone would appreciably notice.

 

MINIMALISM & YOUNG DESIGN

We moved away from what was done previously to create a concise, professional and structured approach to the design opting for a contemporary, clean layout and appropriate fonts reflective of this style and through which elements of a more experimental side to design can be seen, thus overall adding character to the design, which was important in distinguishing minimalist design from layout that is simply bland and uninteresting.

 

REFOCUSSING BRAND ASSETS

As discussed we have reinvented the newsletter which had a more inverted outlook into a business magazine focussed on objectives that would ultimately enhance membership recruitment and at the same time membership retention, designed to emerge over the next few issues as a standalone entity, the aim is for it to become financially self sufficing and eventually a reputable and reliable publication that is valued for its content from a business reference point of view.

More changes will follow over this year as the MICCI undergoes one of the most exciting transformations in its history. Keep an eye out for more to come