Rebranding

“A true rebrand starts with values and ends with identity”

Npimedia had something of a makeover in 2014. However, when thinking about it, I realised that while our identity was changed last summer, it was the culmination of a rebrand that was several years in the making.

But let’s talk identity to begin with, as it is the simplest part. At NPI, we wanted a stamp and label that would be a reflection of our mantra of ‘Quality, Audience and Transparency’ (QAT). These are the brand values that make our media what it is – exclusive and standout in a competitive market place.

Our previous logo was red and white and simply said NPI. Our new logo is gold and reflects our heritage of being born in the UAE and in Arabic reads as the word “time”. Our business cards are shaped like a label. They have a black background and on one side bear the gold logo, on the other our company details arranged in an ‘X’ pattern to reflect the “exclusive” aspect of our identity, yet in a subtle way.

We also changed our official name. We are still NPI but the full name is npimedia rather than Nicholas Publishing International, which reflected the family-run business that has its roots in print. These days we have one hand in the inkwell and the other is only virtually there, so “media” was a better word to use rather than publishing. Many companies also have the word “international” in them but operate only in a handful of markets – this was true of us and in keeping with our transparency mantra, we dropped this and simply went with npimedia. Each of our products now bear the stamp “Exclusive media by NPI” so our clients know that they will stand out from first glance.

So, that’s the identity part. But a name and a look does not make a company any more than it does a person. Great brands have heritage and are crafted over time. Ours certainly was, but our quest for product perfection had led us to forget the umbrella.

We have leading media portfolios and had been working for several years on the delivery of our corporate mantra (QAT). We had moved to audit every one of our consumer titles and were working towards a new digital strategy. This needed to be reflected in our outward identity to do justice to everything that had taken place behind the curtain.

So, what is a rebrand? It is more than a new name or logo – this is just window dressing that only matters before you are able to see behind the curtain. A true rebrand starts with values and ends with identity.