Here’s how we helped Elcor with their new brand identity

Here’s how we helped Elcor with their new brand identity

Bringing together multiple companies under a single new identity is not just a matter of legalities—it’s about people. So, when Elcor, a group of leading electrical panel manufacturers across the Nordics, approached us to help them come up with a communication strategy after they merged, we set out to develop an identity that would resonate across teams and reflect the values of the new company both internally and externally. 

“When you introduce a new name and identity, it creates a fundamental change in the lives of the people who make up the company,” says Lone Poulsen, COO and senior project manager. “It’s not just a change in the name and logo of the place they go to work each day—on a deeper level, it affects how people identify with their workplace and the sense of belonging that they feel within their organisation.”

“When you introduce a new name and identity, it creates a fundamental change in the lives of the people who make up the company.”

– Lone Poulsen, COO & Senior Project Manager 

“For that reason, we carried out interviews across each organisation to understand what’s important to the people that would be most affected by this change. We wanted to learn what really matters to them, not just when it comes to the products they sell and the services they provide, but also in terms of how they interact with one another and what values they uphold in the workplace.”

Chris Calvert, copywriter and concept developer on the project, shares that these discussions were a crucial starting point for developing a new storytelling framework for Elcor. “We have a saying here at Advance that ‘true brand value is born out of rediscovery, not reinvention.’ When we ask people questions about their business, what we’re truly trying to understand is how they talk about it. This helps us identify the elements and attitudes of the people that make up the business and creates a foundation for building an identity that truly resonates.”

“When we ask people questions about their business, what we’re truly trying to understand is how they talk about it.”

– Chris Calvert, Copywriter & Concept Developer 

Through pinpointing shared values between the companies, the team rolled out a new core story and messaging hierarchy for both internal and external communications under the new name, Elcor. Janne Pajulahti, art director and concept developer, took the lead on developing a corporate visual identity to match, including logos, brand colours, fonts, templates, and social media activations. “The visual changes that Janne made reinforced the forward-looking ambition of the new company while honouring the equity of the existing companies,” says Chris.

Lone adds that introducing the new identity to the companies’ teams was just as important as the rebranding itself. “With the launch date set for the end of August, we wanted to bring the news to employees in a way that would make them feel represented from the start. We did this through creating a launch video in which the CEO reveals the new identity and organising in-person events to create excitement around the new name and logo.”

For Chris, seeing that the launch was so well received across the companies was the most rewarding part of the project. “Through our work with Elcor, we were able to create a brand that people recognise themselves in by bringing out the values that were already felt intuitively, but not yet articulated. When we hear that people are excited about the work that we’ve done, that they feel it represents who they are and that they look forward to the future, that’s the best sort of reward there is.”

About our work

Our teams at Advance bring to life the attitudes and values that distinguish brands through three core deliveries: distinctive identities, insightful concepts and impactful campaigns. If you want to learn how we can help you identify the single, inherent proposition that is unique to your brand and translate it into a distinctive narrative and identity, get in touch.