Wilsafe Systems (Wilsafe) is a fire safety solutions provider with specialised operations in the Marine and Offshore industry. Coming from humble beginnings, Wilsafe was starting to make a name for itself on the world stage, clinching massive projects which have traditionally been awarded to larger, global companies. They were making big strides in the industry, but were thwarted by a lack of stakeholder confidence. Feedback from MNC representatives suggested that Wilsafe’s branding needed to be improved to give board members and key decision-makers confidence in the business.
Hence, to capture the attention of international clients and better position the brand, Wilsafe approached Superminted to clarify its brand message and improve its brand appeal.
What, how and why
While the development and creation of the brand identity was one of the key objectives, the main challenge of the project was to clarify the brand’s purpose and message. To do this, we conducted a two-part brand audit and strategy exercise to help the founders revisit the original motivations for creating the brand. This exercise encouraged Wilsafe’s founders to dig deep and articulate the reasons behind their contributions in this industry, their partnership and even their beliefs.
Through our brand strategy exercise, we found that Wilsafe had come into the market with the intention of providing simple fire safety solutions in a market that was oversaturated with complex systems. Simply put, if there was a fire, they wanted to put it out in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
Having understood their past and present goals, we worked with them on their brand positioning and message, which included the creation of their tagline — Protecting Lives, Safeguarding Businesses — which reflected the intentions of the business. Then, we moved on to the next stage, which was to develop the brand identity.
Brand identity and development
Our visual decisions were guided by the brand’s vision — to be the most resourceful and reliable fire-safety solutions provider. Wilsafe’s old logo appeared dated and out of sync with the brand’s new strategy. As such, we came up with a new logo that conveyed the brand’s tactical values, which were: professional, resourceful and solutions-driven.
The gears suggest multiple systems working in tandem, and signal the ideas of movement, connection and progress. Additionally, it forms a silhouette of a water droplet, which symbolises the nature of the fire-fighting industry and their commitment to being a solutions-driven business. The new font selected for the logo was also more uniform and symmetrical, to express the brand’s commitment to systems and protocol.
As for brand colours, we selected a vibrant, blue colour palette. Blue was chosen specifically to draw links to the sea, as their brand was in the marine engineering space. Furthermore, blue conveys feelings of trust, support and effectiveness, which were all values that Wilsafe held close to the brand. The colours were also accompanied by a secondary palette that would be implemented alongside the primary colours.
The brand uses a vibrant colour palette to sit comfortably within the marine engineering space. Blue specifically enables values such as trust, support and effectiveness. The overall colour palette is skewed towards blue tones to match the brand USP. These colours are also accompanied by a secondary palette that can be implemented into Wilsafe’s future services.
Graphic elements were further added to the brand guide to add colour and dynamism to Wilsafe’s collateral. These water emblem patterns allowed greater contrast between colours and conveyed the brand’s identity further with its clean and sleek lines. They could also be expanded into a full scale pattern to be used on various platforms.
The graphic elements are derived from the logo and come in various layouts such as cropped symbols and overall patterns. This provides versatility to the identity to create a diverse packaging range. The graphic elements are used throughout the packaging labels and marketing collateral.
Conclusion
Wilsafe underwent a remarkable transformation with SPMT and came out with a revamped brand image, backed by a solid brand strategy. From the brand logo to brand colours and graphical expressions, they are now better able to present their brand and market position to prospective clients. A cohesive and engaging brand identity now forms the bedrock of their values and appeals to their clients, showcasing the power of strategic branding for growth and success.
Sheann is a Content Writer at Superminted who shares her love for pop culture and content creation through the messages she crafts. She believes in the power of words to convince and inspire.
