Design Consultancy
Lewis Moberly
Robert Moberly
020 7580 9252
robert.moberly@lewismoberly.com
www.lewismoberly.com
The Challenge Maximuscle, established in 1995, had grown to become the UK’s leading sports nutrition company with a 40% value share. Its premium priced products help people improve their physique and sporting performance. By June 2004 the company had a turnover of £8.7million (Eiro12.9million) and was sold to new management backed by Piper Private Equity. Their growth strategy was to widen Maximuscle’s appeal beyond sports people and body builders and into the wider market. But the existing corporate and brand identity lacked clarity, packs were difficult to understand and some retailers found them off-putting.
The Brief
Lewis Moberly was commissioned to create an appealing corporate/brand identity that would work across every aspect of the company, from signage and stationery to packaging, and could be adapted for direct mail, the website, point of sale and even sports sponsorship and clothing. It would need broad appeal, to communicate to all active men and to women. The new brand would relaunch Maximuscle, and aimed to increase sales by 20% in year one and maintain similar growth in year two.
The Design The Maximuscle logo has been simplified into a bespoke black, regular-shaped font whose curves suggest well-toned muscles. Silver as a background colour communicates quality, and the company’s ‘star’ icon now stands out as the only bright red and white element. A brand hierarchy was developed for the packaging with a logical flow of information: the brand name at the top of the pack, accompanied by clearer graphics and strong colour coding. Another star appears as an endorsing watermark. A new brand positioning was developed: ‘euphoric personal performance’, which encapsulates the buzz that gym users and sports people experience
The Results The new brand launched in May 2005. Maximuscle hit its ambitious 20% increase in sales in year one and over two years sales increased by 74%. In the same time profits have increased by 79% and since the redesign of Maximuscle, sales have grown by 70%. Maximuscle has now been listed by Tesco and Boots and the design costs of the new brand have been paid back from the profits of just six days of sales.
Judges Comments ‘It’s cleaned up beautifully and with very good results’ said the judges who added that the design ‘had clearly been the catalyst for success’. ‘It’s a much cleaner, clearer brand,’ said Robert Quarshie, Operations Director at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. ‘It’s a crowded market and the decision to move from a body builders’ product to a healthy lifestyle product was a good one.’
Gold Corporate / Brand Identity – Design and implementation costs under £100,000
