OCT Group Brand refresh
| Fact |
Value |
| Contact |
Hong Kong |
| Client |
OCT Group |
| Project |
Brand refresh |
| Industry |
Consumer Services |
| Timeline |
42 Months
Jul 04 - Dec 07 |
| Services |
Leadership Engagement and Team Dynamics
Brand Architecture
Brand Naming
Brand Identity
Brand Positioning
|
| Team size |
15 The Brand Union
10 Client |
The new brand strategy and visual identity was launched internally in March 2006. With the belief that each and every staff member can become ambassadors who bring the brand to life, and in support of one of their brand values – people-oriented – OCT’s initial focus has been to gain internal staff understanding and engagement of the new brand before the official launch at the end of May 2006. The Brand Union helped to introduce the new brand, the brand book and guidelines through introductory workshops where participants showed enthusiasm towards the new positioning and the revolutionary identity.
OCT Group is a state-owned enterprise based in Shenzhen China with core businesses in the tourism, property, and hospitality sectors. They own four theme parks - Splendid China, China Folk Culture Village, Window of the World and Happy Valley. They also own Venice Hotel, the first themed 5-star hotel in China. It is currently managed by Inter-Continental. In addition and quite separate from their property-related offerings, OCT also has controlling interest in a well-established electronics business called Konka.
OCT enjoys an exceptional reputation for profitability coupled with a social conscience. Its leadership and its accomplishments in Southern China over the past 20 years are held in high regard by the Chinese Central government. As such, the company has been encouraged to expand.
With a business strategy now unfolding that is taking the organization beyond its comfort zone and established base in Shenzhen, OCT wanted assistance in developing a brand strategy that would support its business aspirations. The organization is now embarking upon large-scale developments in Tier One cities creating OCT districts in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, each of which will comprise a theme park, a hotel as well as residential and commercial premises.
Our task was to uncover the compelling truth – arriving at a promise/positioning that would enable the company to translate their past success into future successes in new regions throughout the country.
We crafted a brand positioning that reflects OCT’s innovative and creative approach to its projects, which can be seen in their themed properties, parks and hotels. The compelling truth uncovered has been articulated in this short phrase: Imaginators for providing quality living.
The word 'imaginators' is an invented one, stumbled upon in our own brainstorming sessions – when the client kept referring to their ability and desire to innovate with our realization that they were a very imaginative organization. As a result, innovation met imagination in a new word that fit their aspirations. It's a brand essence that provides for an extremely differentiated platform in China and something that OCT can really own in the marketplace. Imagination is not an attribute that one normally associates with a China-based company, but it holds true for them. It also puts OCT right in the middle of a global discussion that is taking place regarding the level of creativity that companies are seeking as a means to achieving competitive advantage.
TK Wong and his team then developed a visual identity to support the new promise/positioning, one that would express the group’s appetite to use its collective imagination in pursuit of its projects. In English, the letters O and C are linked creating the mathematical symbol of infinity and signifying OCT’s boundless imagination. To complement the regularity of the treatment of the English wordmark, traditional calligraphy is used for the Chinese characters. A refreshing palette of green and blue was used liberally throughout the visual system to signify the harmonious interaction of the land and sky. Images used on applications were selected to express or stimulate the imagination.
Brave New Identity
This was a gutsy essence and visual identity solution to put forward to even this more enlightened state-owned enterprise. It appealed to them – and they saw that it would help them raise the bar internally as they asked their own employees to continue to broaden their thinking and use their imagination to help create a better standard of living for Chinese citizens.
When OCT embarked upon this project, they were not anticipating, nor did they have any desire to change their visual identity system. A compelling brand strategy encouraged them, and in the end sparked their imagination. Furthermore and of critical importance, the identity began from their English name or the acronym for their name: OCT. For a Chinese company to use the English name to inform its visual identity solution was brave and incredibly forward-thinking.
