New brand claim & identity restyle
Corporate communication - Brand identity strategy - Benchmark
BACKGROUND:
EAFIT is one of the most prestigious private Universities in Medellin and Colombia. Established in 1960, their visual brand and seal had a pinion with a triangle on it, as a symbol of their contribution with the knowledge to the development of the local industry. Abierta al Mundo (Open to the world) has been their slogan since 2001.
REQUIREMENT:
In 2014 Universidad EAFIT hired TBWA for a Disruption® creative process for about 1 Million USD, looking to give a refresh to its visual identity and define its brand claim, making it more competitive in the international market.
DEVELOPMENT/EXECUTION:
I executed the creative research, the benchmark analysis and facilitated the visual tools for the process, trying to persuade the conservative client to simplify its visual identity and use a fresher language and visual style. After all the investigation, we performed a brainstorming, where randomly I ended up in a divided in the same workshop with Juan Luis Mejia Arango the Rector and final decision taker. Then I have to "guide" him to the point the agency wanted the brand to be.
RESULT:
Inspire - Create - Transform, was the selected claim to refresh the brand, as an infinite cycle of knowledge the University perform; Inspire to create, create to transform, and transform to inspire again. I suggested take out the pinion from the visual brand, and use it as a seal only in some formal communication elements like the flag, as a differential historical element, cleaning up the brand, establishing the words Universidad, EAFIT, and the curved line at the bottom, was differential enough and have sufficient distinguishment to have a good performance as a visual brand.
