Refreshing a 1970’s brand

A full brand refresh for ColorCote, a company that’s been around since the seventies, required a celebration of its Origin Story and a modernisation of its profile. It was a challenge we were tasked with when ColorCote, leading the way in pre-painted aluminium, steel roofing and cladding products in New Zealand since 1973, approached us.

What we discovered

While the ColorCote offering remained steadfast, their image did not. With a story rooted in heritage and steeped in invention, ColorCote should’ve been on the top of their game with a lasting legacy – but they weren’t. Customers weren’t buying it because they weren’t selling it. It all came down to their brand emanating lack-lustre qualities. They needed a brand refresh – their logo was rigid, their messaging was uninspiring, and their graphics were a bit 2002. We also discovered that ColorCote’s largest competitor’s strength was their above-the-line digital marketing efforts – they were owning the space and we needed to fight back.

What we did about it

First, we needed to recolour the brand in a way that was more than just cosmetic.

We merged their Origin Story with their Innovation Story to create pure magic, making the brand feel modern but still recognisable and iconic.

This involved:

  • A full brand refresh to engender the spirit of warmth and approachability.
  • Creating a product range guide, designing a new website and vehicle/building signage, product brochures, stationary and promotional gear.
  • Developing bespoke, branded product names (AlumiGard, MagnaFlow and ZinaCore) to replace their confusing alpha-numeric predecessors.
  • Improving their online visibility against their top competitor by adopting a piggy-back strategy (If customers were searching online for a competitor’s product they would come across the ColorCote brand instead)!

And the result?

Following this work ColorCote took home the Marketing Leadership Award at the TVNZ National Marketing Awards, and their market share has increased by 10% since the launch of their ‘Origin Meets Innovation’ brand story.

TESTIMONIAL: Steve Haines, NZ sales & marketing manager, ColorCote:
“We’ve had a really successful partnership with Steve, Nicqui and the team over the last six years. They have worked with us on a brand transformation project that has touched every aspect of our business from product naming, through to print collateral, trade stands, content marketing and digital. The results have been phenomenal. Significant growth in market share, record sales and a Marketing Leadership award at the TVNZ Marketing Awards.”