SECC becomes SEC as Glasgow venue rebrands
The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), Glasgow's world famous sector for venues that has hosted the likes of Beyoncé, Take That, Adele and countless other music legends over the decades, is set to rebrand as the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).
SEC homepage
The new branding, by design agency Freytag Anderson, has been created to incorporate the three major venues housed on the site, including the Armadillo and the SSE Hydro, in order to draw them all together under one overarching brand for the business.
The process began under head of marketing Sean Murray following the realisation that visitors to the venues were not aware that the three buildings were connected. With over a million visitors having attended the venues last year alone, it was decided that now was the time to ensure their relationship with each other was clear.
"We started by incorporating our company vision, mission and values into a creative brief for a design pitch, outlining the sectors in which we work; Conferences and Meetings, Exhibitions and Live Entertainment, and the iconic architecture we have on our campus," explains Murray. "We took into consideration our position within the civic and national landscape, our standing within the events industry and the need to complement the city’s brand; 'People Make Glasgow.'"
Following a pitch process, Freytag Anderson was hired and responded to the brief with the creation of a subtle but clever SEC brand which incorporated the architecture of the three buildings into the lettering.
"Their response exceeded our expectations and they delivered a logo and identity system which is contemporary and cleverly executed," Murray enthused.
"The logo focuses on people coming together in one space and containment, taking inspiration from the outline architecture of SEC Centre, SEC Armadillo and The SSE Hydro to form the Scottish Event Campus (SEC). With the logo locked down, further assets were required to take the brand to market across each sector. A layered pattern of each campus building was created and each sales sector given a bespoke colour to overlay and interact across merchandise, online assets and other collateral," he continued.
The future of the SEC is very bright for the campus it seems, with over 100 conferences booked to be held within the centre over the next five years, 47 taking place during 2017 alone. These will include political parties, medical research, life sciences, technology, engineering, the voluntary sector, FMCG, veterinary medicine, lifestyle and retail events.
Meanwhile, last year the SSE Hydro brought 826, 400 visitors through its doors during 77 events and 107 performances.
"It has been a privilege to lead the brand direction, marketing and brand rollout across the business and I am incredibly proud of all the hard work and support from my colleagues and the marketing team specifically in bringing the SEC brand to life. Our passion for the brand matches the dedication of the company to deliver at the highest standard for our clients, delegates and visitors, in my home town – one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Glasgow," concludes Murray who has been with the business for nearly nine years, joining from the bid team for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. He was previously the marketing manager for the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau for over five years.
Last year the SEC was named as Large Venue of the Year at The Drum's UK Event Awards.