The Drum Recommends: Commended - Born + Raised Take the Pandrol brand on a journey from new era to lasting legacy
The Drum Recommends: Commended is highlighting Born + Raised who helped The Delachaux Group unite its many rail businesses around the world under a single brand – Pandrol.
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Last year the Recommended Agency Register (RAR) was rebranded as The Drum Recommends to bring it in line with owner The Drum. It remains committed to partnering brands with the correct agency using data and unique industry expertise.
Working with Born + Raised, The Delachaux Group made the strategic business decision to unite its many rail businesses around the world under a single brand – Pandrol – making it a top 10 brand in the global rail infrastructure industry. Such a bold step would only work if it was underpinned by a strong, authentic brand capable of marrying the group’s past with its future.
When companies are merged, a common ground needs to be established so all employees and customers can still feel the values of the old brands while seeing the vision of the new, united business.
So when the Delachaux group approached us to create a new brand for their amalgamated businesses which operate in over 100 countries, we set about finding a point of difference that everyone could get behind.
Start before the beginning
Our planning team played a pivotal role in this project. They undertook research and stakeholder engagement, which informed their strategic recommendations and went on to define a new architecture, name and proposition for the brand.
A key finding of the research was the existence of a strong, previously unrecognised, cohesion across the Delachaux rail infrastructure businesses in terms of quality, innovation and approach to customer relationships. This insight allowed us to move forwards with confidence and build on the qualities the Pandrol name has represented in the industry for decades.
Design that strips away the complex
At the core of the new brand is the logo. The all caps lettering establishes the brand’s strength and boldness while the regimented spacing between letters alludes to the regulated spacing of Pandrol’s products on rail tracks across the globe, and the precision with which Pandrol engineer their products. The forward angles on the P and L give the logo a sense of movement.
The confident P can be used as a standalone icon for the brand. It is also a subtle nod to the game-changing clip made by the original Pandrol brand.
Positioned within an ownable space in the market, the colour palette captures the blues and greys of steel while the yellow reflects the welding and electrification arm of the brand. The equity is formed from crops of the P and the angle of the P and the L of the logo to give an extra dimension of strength and a sense of foundation.
Our copy team also played an essential role in the rebrand, developing internal and external propositions for Pandrol, and making sure the brand had a confident yet approachable tone to match its identity.
Off on the right tracks
To launch the new identity, we created a brand portal for employees and customers to introduce them to the new branding. We then focused on video, a range of printed products and stand designs to make sure the new brand was instantly recognisable in any environment.
To find out more about Born + Raised agency visit their The Drum Recommends profile.