The Challenge
Scottish Water was created in 2002 by the merger of Scotland’s three former regional water authorities, overnight becoming an organisation with 4,000 people working in more than 100 buildings across Scotland. Scottish Water is constantly under pressure to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make some of its operations competitive in preparation for open competition. While corporate identity guidelines existed, few people knew how to access or implement them, leading to inconsistent and unprofessional-looking communications, duplicated or piecemeal work. This in turn meant higher than necessary marketing costs due to wasted effort and expense.
Information & Guidance on:
The Brief
Elmwood had £15,000 (Euro 22,200) to communicate a system for implementing consistent brand identity, with the objective of increasing awareness of brand values, understanding of the importance of brand and improving the look and feel of all communications products. The biggest challenge, however, was to change a growing mindset among staff that brand was not important and that ‘home made’ communications were acceptable.
The Design
A pocket-sized booklet, H2OW TO BUILD OUR BRAND, distributed to everyone, clarifies to all 4,000 employees what the Scottish Water brand stands for and how it should be presented. Using the colours and fonts of the organisation’s identity as a living example of the brand in practice, the booklet focuses on clear and simple messages. A straightforward graphical device playing on the chemical symbol for water, H2O, demonstrates what the organisation is all about, while the circular device in the O of H2O is used as a frame for faces, imagery and brand colours.
The Results
Staff are now so in tune with the corporate identity guidelines since the campaign that print spend across the organisation has been reduced and marketing spend has been reallocated. Fiona Templeton, Scottish Water’s Customer Marketing Manager, called it ‘a transformation’. A survey of Scottish Water employees carried out in May 2006 showed that the H2OW TO BUILD OUR BRAND campaign had also resulted in increased awareness of brand guidelines with, for example, 72% of respondents recognising which font should be used in communications with customers. Increased awareness of brand values was also demonstrated. In September 2004, only 48% of staff surveyed believed that colleagues ‘consistently demonstrated the Scottish Water values’. By 2006 73% recognised the brand value of ‘involving people’ while 90% of respondents identified ‘deliver promises’ as a one of the values of Scottish Water.
Judges’ Comments
The judges acknowledged the challenge of getting a large organisation to buy into existing brand guidelines, and commended Elmwood on its work within a limited budget. Mike Hussey, Managing Director at Land Securities, praised the campaign particularly for its ‘significant impact and huge improvement in the acknowledgement of brand values within the organisation’.
