|
|
|
Texenergo
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
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 a Texas oil industry (or even 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.
|
|
|
