J:COM Corporate branding

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J:COM is the biggest cable communications company in Japan. With a forthcoming flotation on the stock market, and to broaden their appeal to customers, they decided to renew their entire branding strategy.

The client's goals for this branding project were as follows: Obtain a clear image of the brand's perception amongst consumers; establish the brand positioning in the consumer's mind before the TV market becomes diversified by other devices, such as the internet and mobile devices; become the number one choice for multi-channel TV.

Phase 1 involved developing the brand strategy and visual devices to express J:Com's brand promise. this included:

• Refine its brand strategy, which is different and strong enough in its market.
• Check their brand communication- strength and weakness.
• Develop effective communication design elements & develop brand guidelines.
• Check employee brand understanding level.

Phase 2 consisted of the development of further branding devices besides graphic materials. This included:

• Develop brand character
• Develop on screen (TV channel) branding materials

Developing effective communication design elements and brand guidelines

We used a : (colon) between J and COM, to represent face to face communication, connection, linkage between customer and the company, as well as a merger between communication technologies. From the : (colon) idea we went on to create a window concept. The Window is a way to look into the J:COM world of knowledge, curiosity and fun. We used this idea for all applications.

Developing brand character

We then went on to create a morphing character called ‘u:go’, who’s body and shape are based on the : (colon). U:go can change into every possible shape to surprise and bring fun to the J:COM brand.This character is used as J:COM’s corporate ambassador to promote J:COM to both young and to elder viewers.

Developing on screen branding materials

We developed TV branding materials, which including an animated logo, entitled 'Bloom'. The identity was created in a hyper-real 3D animation style, depicting the organic lifecycle of flowers from seeds to blossoming; the seeds representing the colon in the J:COM logo. The vibrant 'Bloom' sequences of stalks and petals are a graphic representation of the channel and celebrate its core brand values, being bold and confident with a family/community image. The floral theme resonates with the broad J:COM audience, as blossoming flowers are a powerful image in Japanese culture.

The brand launch was a success, with the impact exceeding our and the client's expectations.

Hiroyuki Nakatani, Senior Vice President, Marketing of J:COM, said “We positioned a series of the channel identities as a culmination of various channel branding activities we have been working on since last year. We will make best use of this channel identity to unite the brand images of the J:COM community channel."