Texenergo

New:  Logo  and visual system

Launched:  February, 2011
(Previewed 14 December, 2010, at the HiBrand conference in Moscow)

Story in brief:
To American ears, "Texenergo" might suggest a Texas-based energy company. But to a Russian, in Cyrillic, it suggests "tech" plus "power," making it an appropriate name for this distributor of electric equipment (like switches and control systems) to Russian industrial and construction markets.

Texenergo was founded in 1989, a year of perestroika,  in the first wave of Russia's privatization. There were no branding agencies in Moscow as yet, and its logo was a home-made patchwork of ideas (a containing shape, a symbol, one distinctive red letterform and an incorporated tagline).  It was hard to apply, and unprofessional in appearance.  In 2010 Mikhail Arzhaev, representing new investors (and with a personal background in media) understood this, and set out to reposition and rebrand the company. He found guidance at Identityworks.com, and sought our advice; we then proposed to team with designers Jerry Kuyper and Bob Wolf, working in tandem, and Arzhaev invited our help.

As a distributor, Texenergo represents such global brands as Schneider Electric, ABB and GE, and with its private label line it also competes with them. Our positioning goal was to raise the Texenergo brand to global brand equivalency, in terms of expected quality and professionalism. Our client team felt strongly that to Russian audiences, the use of Latin letterforms (rather than Cyrillic) would help to communicate this promise. How, then, could we prevent English-speakers from assuming an oil industry or textiles connection? The solution:   incorporate the universal symbol of electric power, a lightning bolt, in design of the name itself.  The resulting "X-bolt" places Texenergo immediately, unambiguously into the electricity arena. We looked at a range of symbol ideas, too, but this wordmark-centered solution was clearly superior for its unique, direct impact and visual efficiency. We then added orange, a visual-system anchor that could be owned in the category.

The result is a more professional, assertive, and confidence-building presence in Russia's electrical products market.

Credits:
Client leaders - Mikhail Arzhaev, CEO Igor Ryabkin and CCO Kirill Egerov
Identity counsel & design - Tony Spaeth / Identity,
with designers Bob Wolf and Jerry Kuyper
 

Corporate Brand Matrix ratings:  
0% structural,  70% strategic,  30% functional