Greenwich Design Scoops Three Awards

Design agency Greenwich Design has won three awards in as many weeks for its rebranding work for HSBC, working as part of an international team of rebranding experts led by image management business GLIMMA.  The team has been recognised for its role in one of the world’s most effective rebrands in the 2013 REBRAND 100 Global Awards in New York.  In addition it scooped silver awards for ‘Best Brand Implementation Across Multiple Markets’ and ‘Best Brand Guidelines’ at the Transform Awards 2013 in London.

 

The GLIMMA team, with Greenwich Design working as the official design partner for the project, delivered a global design solution for the internal and external wayfinding at HSBC’s corporate and business locations, from Singapore to London and Geneva.  Greenwich Design also created the brand implementation documents which provide clear, simple guidelines that enable all stakeholders to implement watertight brand consistency for individual markets, while still exuding local flavour.

 

The design strategy from Greenwich Design had to carefully balance the retail brand with a simple, flexible and sophisticated design that would deliver an appropriate environment for HSBC staff and business visitors.  This had to take into account the wide variety of buildings HSBC occupies and the functions that each perform.  Ultimately, the design was created to attract and inform, not to advertise. It used a perfect blend of clean typography and simple graphics that combined functionality with style. A range of colours was chosen which complemented HSBC’s corporate red, white and black and was sympathetic to working environments, along with subsets for very specific functions and locations within the HSBC estate.

 

It was the combination of design and implementation expertise within GLIMMA and Greenwich Design which secured the project with HSBC.  The rebranding design and strategy was tested initially at a number of ‘prototype’ locations in the UK, Europe, US and the Far East prior to full implementation.  Following the positive response and success of this test activity, the implementation is now on-going around the world.

 

The Transform Awards, held this week in London, are the European industry benchmark for rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation.  The entries were judged by a panel of industry experts from across the design sector with the aim of celebrating best practice in rebranding.  Andrew Thomas, editor of the Transform Award founders, Communicate magazine, said, “The rebranding stories that captured our imaginations and our hearts have been tales of hard work, of fabulous creative thought and of stunning intellectual and strategic insight.”

 

The REBRAND 100 Global Awards reflect the highest recognition for excellence in brand repositioning, and are the first, only and most respected global programme of its kind. Juror Allen Adamson, Managing Director at Landor, added, “Telling a ‘sticky’ story is, and always will be, what great branding is about.  This year’s REBRAND 100 winners did so with smart, creative flare and style.”

 

Simon Wright, Managing Director at Greenwich Design, concluded, “It’s great to get recognition from industry peers and clients for this project, which was a fantastic one to work on.  Both of these award programmes represent the best in rebranding, so these wins are testament to the great creativity and hard work of the Greenwich Design team.  It was also good to work as part of a team with GLIMMA, as this enabled us to extend the reach of our business, both from a geographical and skillset point of view, working as part of a truly global team of rebranding experts.”