Simply Better. Building a new masterbrand

Indesit are a successful pan-European white goods manufacturer, headquartered in Rome, with a portfolio comprising very well-known brands such as Hotpoint, Indesit and Ariston. When they asked for branding advice, they were still known under their original family name of Merloni Elettrodomestici. Competition was strong and they needed to consider how to develop their business and position it in the best way possible for the future.

They wanted to amalgamate their operations under one new Masterbrand that would enable them to pursue their ambitions more easily. They decided that Indesit should be the new Masterbrand as it was the most successful in its stable of brands and was best positioned in their major growth market, eastern Europe. They needed a new market positioning and identity to help them achieve their future ambitions under the Indesit name.

Philip and his team researched the European white goods market and concluded that the ‘Indesit Company’, as it was to be called, needed a fresh strategic goal that would act to unify all its operations behind the new Masterbrand. This goal is expressed in a new Brand Essence – Simply Better – representing a new way of thinking and working. It highlights the importance of making small, highly-considered improvements to each of its products over time, to deliver its ambition of ‘helping make people’s homes better’.

It expresses a highly appealing honesty – not ‘promising the earth’ (then not being able to deliver it), but stating the importance of simply making many small, continuous, incremental improvements that deliver better results for its customers day after day. Philip and his team also developed five new desired attributes – ways in which the business wanted to be thought about in the future by customers and other key stakeholders: Innovative, Respectful, Ambitious, In Touch and Genuine.

The Indesit Company now have a new logotype and a whole new identity system containing key identity elements such as typeface, colour and graphics, and key applications including stationery, literature, online, advertising and environments.

Philip helped launch the revitalised brand when he gave a presentation of the Brand Essence, values and identity system to 600 managers at a special launch event in Italy. Today Indesit Company is thriving by applying its mantra of being ‘Simply Better’ every day.