For any small to medium enterprise to be successful it is vital that they can ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’ in terms of their offer.
And when your business needs to – a. communicate with consumers; b. demonstrate a business case to corporates and; c. highlight social, health, environmental and financial benefits to community-based organisations it is important to strike the right tone-of-voice with every communication.
We helped Walk England do just that by finding their voice with their three target audiences – 1. consumers, ie. recreational and commuting walkers; 2. corporates, ie. businesses interested in a fit, inspired and more productive workforce; 3. the community, ie. local authorities, central government, schools, health professionals and environmental organisations seeking a healthier society.
We did this by re-articulating their offer in a straight-forward, easy to grasp manner and then we created a brand platform and a brand visual identity sophisticated enough to be able to resonate coherently with all their stakeholders.
The process and brand platform
First we defined their three audience types (as mentioned above) and considered the benefits of Walk England’s offer to each of them. We followed this by revisiting their brand hierarchy so that the Walk brand could not only work on a national and local basis but also be understandable to their stakeholders.
We then considered their brand platform and included necessary nuances in order to accommodate the different audience types. This is best illustrated – in the interest of brevity and for the purposes of this case study – when the platform is distilled down to the brand essence – invigorating.
Consumer
invigorating me
The three leaflets below demonstrate how some of the brand visual elements can be employed to target consumers (walkers) to communicate the brand essence invigorate (me).
The consumer brand visual identity toolkit includes photography centred around the walker and the experiences they gather during their walk. The graphic elements use typography and simple graphics to describe walks through emotional and sensory experiences (click image to enlarge). The font chosen as a display font is Theorum – a kind of slab-serifed script font. Script fonts are friendly and allude to human qualities and emotions due to their handwritten qualities. The slab-serif echoed the styling of the Walk logotype while adding gravitas (see below).
Theorum: Walk England display font for consumer and community communications.
Corporate
invigorating employees and performance
A fitter workforce is a more productive workforce. Statistics show that a person who walks regularly has improved health and wellbeing. This makes them more productive – both physically and mentally – at work and means they are likely to take a third less sick days than someone who doesn’t exercise. Walking is also a low-risk exercise causing very few injuries, so those who kept fit through walking took less time off work than those who chose to get fit through other types of exercise.
Plus, encouraging staff to chose walking over other forms of transport for the daily commute to work has the added benefit of reducing congestion in and around the premises and reduces demand on expensive car parking spaces.
Above: A Keynote™ presentation document is aimed at business and corporates. It is used as a projected and printed presentation.
The corporate brand visual identity toolkit uses photography, language and graphic elements that centred around staff health and wellbeing and how this has a positive effect on productivity and, in turn, profits. The display font for the corporate brand – Museo – is not a script font like Theorum which is used in the consumer and community brands. Instead we chose a more professional slab-serif with an italicised styling that alludes to improved performance (see below). The slab-serif is also a nod to the Walk England logo.
Museo: Walk England display font for consumer and community communications.
Community
invigorating communities
The advantages of walking are not just improved individual health and wellbeing, it benefits the community as a whole. It saves money and improves the environment.
It improves the environment by helping to relieve congestion which reduces pollution and creates a safer, healthier environment for everyone. This, in turn, reduces the need for public investment in expensive transport projects and helps preserve precious healthcare resources. Also, walking projects help regenerate what were once run-down areas making them more enjoyable to frequent and allowing wildlife to return.
Above: A Keynote™ presentation document is aimed at local authorities, government, healthcare professionals and environmental agencies. It is used as a projected and printed presentation.
The community brand visual identity toolkit shares elements found in both the consumer and corporate toolkits. Its photography, language and graphic elements are all based around individuals and the community while the statistical information used to back up the social benefits are presented in a similar style to those in the corporate toolkit.
Other branded items
As well as the above we also designed stationary for the brand launch. The business cards are shown here. They include the card owners favourite “round-trip” walk on the reverse described through emotional and sensory experiences.
