Britannia

Britannia are an established and well known name in removals and haulage. Consistently coming second or third (depending on who’s figures you accept) to the UK’s market leader.

Britannia is also a franchise business with lots a stakeholders which always makes life interesting when looking to revamp a brand identity.

S2 were approached directly by the MD, Mark Tresler, to rebrand the franchise as they looked to expand their reach further into Europe.

The historic brand mark – as the name would suggest is a classic depiction of the Britannia figure, sat with a trident in hand, complete with union flag shield. It was no surprise that our research results indicated that this overtly British, and rather ‘confrontational’ Britannia depiction, was not going to be a helpful association as they looked to Europe to expand and explore new growth potential.

However, in the UK the present identity, although seen as a little dated, was still preforming relatively well. Holding these elements in tension whilst developing a brand that could capitalize on both was the challenge we faced.

We presented various ideas to Mark but the final selected approach was to retain the red, white and blue brand colours of the established brand whilst removing the overtly British union flag element and ‘soften’ the confrontational depiction of Britannia.

We reduced the full figure to much simpler, stronger and bolder icon which focused on a stylized depiction of Britannia’s head, and highly recognizable helmet. Framing this in a diamond for increased impact.

We updated the main typeface to a highly distinctive, bold font with a strong diagonal cut – which reflected the angles of the diamond housing  the brand icon.

These diamond/diagonal themes are then used throughout the brand collateral implementation – on livery, communication and advertising designs, defining a strong and recognisable brand aesthetic.

Sadly, the long confusion and delays over the Brexit negotiations meant that Britannia’s plans to push into Europe have altered. With the established branding still relatively well received in the home UK market this project has been mothballed for the time being.