Życie rebrand signals new dawn for Corporate Identity
Beyond the immediate shakeup to the news media market that is expected, the event is a benchmark that sets a standard for the way that Corporate Identity (CI) is created in this country, setting the scene for a year of new arrivals on the local branding market in the form of big international media players.
The overhaul of the Życie brand was vital in securing the zł.14 million (€3 million) investment from AIB Financial Investments, the British sole shareholder, and a loan from Barclays bank. The principle shareholder is Allan Parrish, an independent British businessman, and the main supporter is Taki Theodoracopulos, the British journalist who owns American Conservative magazine and writes for The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph.
"The only similarity between the old and the new title is the logo, and Tomasz Wołek as editor in chief," says Nicholas Robinson, himself a veteran of The Times and The Financial Times of London. "The finance was secured only thanks to our investors' belief in the new brand strategy for Życie."
"New Życie is the first product to completely undergo self examination of the most intimate nature," says Stephen Whittle of Phoenix Media, the Warsaw-based company behind the new brand. "It is the first domestic product and particularly the first media product which set out its first objective to be a brand aimed at a specific market segment."
The old Życie product was analyzed by Phoenix, based on a year's worth of consumer data indicating who the old Życie readers were, based on social and economic status, their lifestyles and opinions. "Once we identified who the readers of the old Życie were," says Whittle, "...we could re-brand the paper around the strongest and most attractive brand loyal elements of the old paper."
According to Whittle, Phoenix was able to build a very clear picture of who the old Życie readers were, but in creating a new product, faced the problem of not knowing what these readers required. "We didn't know what they wanted in a newspaper, what their political thoughts were or their thoughts on traditionalism and other hot political subjects for a product like a newspaper," he added.
This required yet more market research, interviewing thousands of individuals in the eight largest towns in Poland. Whittle says that this is "...the first time consumers in Poland created their own brand with its own values they already hold dear to themselves - albeit unwittingly." The research has formed the brief for the Życie communications strategy, its editorial stance, the design of the paper and the creative work and media planning of the zł.5 million launch campaign.
The content is also determined by consumer preference. The editorial department at Życie has access to Phoenix's data and uses it to style articles to the audience. Unlike most current publications, the new Życie's direction is market driven, rather than inspired by journalistic or political goals.
The brand's creators claim that it has been positioned away from the rest of the market, targeting only its own audience, whose cause it champions. This audience is identified as the Polish middle class who do not have a viable center-right representation in politics, and represent three million potential readers.
In the rest of the design and corporate identity sector, specialists agree with Whittle's assessment that the sub-sector is underdeveloped, and that this now looks set to change fast. "There is still a certain lack of understanding of what corporate identity stands for and of its importance as a marketing tool," says Marysia Eska of branding company Your Design. "As a result, some companies don't give enough attention to how CI can work for their brand."
"One of our clients, Energis Polska, is concerned about every aspect of their marketing activities responding to their brand strategy reflected in the CI, continues Eska. "As creative partners in more than just the design areas are we able to assure optimal brand equity."
Sławek Kluziak, Senior Consulting Director at branding company Lothar Boehm, says that because the Polish market is younger, it is more fragmented and has been more divided into the separate disciplines of brand design and corporate identity, whereas the advanced international model sees a fusion of the two.
Kluziak argues that at the moment, much of the design market is dominated by two key players, his company which also has an office in Hamburg, and Dragon Rouge from France. "The international agencies such as Landor, Futurebrand and Interbrand are not here yet," says Boehm. "I am expecting them to arrive this year, however, we will have an advantage."
Kluziak says that in Lothar Boehm's five years in Poland, the company has grown 20 percent every year. The success rate is based on "...our local people who think like people working in the business in the West." The argument goes that only Polish branders and designers who have grown up in Poland (and have experienced the same onslaught of consumerism that took place after 1989) can really create design and brands for the Polish consumer.
For example, Kluziak says, "Polish consumers are relatively suspicious of being tricked by manufacturers, they do not respond well to representations of products, such as drawings, because they feel that they are not being presented with the real thing."
The overhaul of the Życie brand was vital in securing the zł.14 million (€3 million) investment from AIB Financial Investments, the British sole shareholder, and a loan from Barclays bank. The principle shareholder is Allan Parrish, an independent British businessman, and the main supporter is Taki Theodoracopulos, the British journalist who owns American Conservative magazine and writes for The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph.
"The only similarity between the old and the new title is the logo, and Tomasz Wołek as editor in chief," says Nicholas Robinson, himself a veteran of The Times and The Financial Times of London. "The finance was secured only thanks to our investors' belief in the new brand strategy for Życie."
"New Życie is the first product to completely undergo self examination of the most intimate nature," says Stephen Whittle of Phoenix Media, the Warsaw-based company behind the new brand. "It is the first domestic product and particularly the first media product which set out its first objective to be a brand aimed at a specific market segment."
The old Życie product was analyzed by Phoenix, based on a year's worth of consumer data indicating who the old Życie readers were, based on social and economic status, their lifestyles and opinions. "Once we identified who the readers of the old Życie were," says Whittle, "...we could re-brand the paper around the strongest and most attractive brand loyal elements of the old paper."
According to Whittle, Phoenix was able to build a very clear picture of who the old Życie readers were, but in creating a new product, faced the problem of not knowing what these readers required. "We didn't know what they wanted in a newspaper, what their political thoughts were or their thoughts on traditionalism and other hot political subjects for a product like a newspaper," he added.
This required yet more market research, interviewing thousands of individuals in the eight largest towns in Poland. Whittle says that this is "...the first time consumers in Poland created their own brand with its own values they already hold dear to themselves - albeit unwittingly." The research has formed the brief for the Życie communications strategy, its editorial stance, the design of the paper and the creative work and media planning of the zł.5 million launch campaign.
The content is also determined by consumer preference. The editorial department at Życie has access to Phoenix's data and uses it to style articles to the audience. Unlike most current publications, the new Życie's direction is market driven, rather than inspired by journalistic or political goals.
The brand's creators claim that it has been positioned away from the rest of the market, targeting only its own audience, whose cause it champions. This audience is identified as the Polish middle class who do not have a viable center-right representation in politics, and represent three million potential readers.
In the rest of the design and corporate identity sector, specialists agree with Whittle's assessment that the sub-sector is underdeveloped, and that this now looks set to change fast. "There is still a certain lack of understanding of what corporate identity stands for and of its importance as a marketing tool," says Marysia Eska of branding company Your Design. "As a result, some companies don't give enough attention to how CI can work for their brand."
"One of our clients, Energis Polska, is concerned about every aspect of their marketing activities responding to their brand strategy reflected in the CI, continues Eska. "As creative partners in more than just the design areas are we able to assure optimal brand equity."
Sławek Kluziak, Senior Consulting Director at branding company Lothar Boehm, says that because the Polish market is younger, it is more fragmented and has been more divided into the separate disciplines of brand design and corporate identity, whereas the advanced international model sees a fusion of the two.
Kluziak argues that at the moment, much of the design market is dominated by two key players, his company which also has an office in Hamburg, and Dragon Rouge from France. "The international agencies such as Landor, Futurebrand and Interbrand are not here yet," says Boehm. "I am expecting them to arrive this year, however, we will have an advantage."
Kluziak says that in Lothar Boehm's five years in Poland, the company has grown 20 percent every year. The success rate is based on "...our local people who think like people working in the business in the West." The argument goes that only Polish branders and designers who have grown up in Poland (and have experienced the same onslaught of consumerism that took place after 1989) can really create design and brands for the Polish consumer.
For example, Kluziak says, "Polish consumers are relatively suspicious of being tricked by manufacturers, they do not respond well to representations of products, such as drawings, because they feel that they are not being presented with the real thing."
