Inmarsat brings in design expertise for BGAN launch

Global mobile satellite operator Inmarsat is ramping up its work with designers and is set to launch a clutch of projects promoting its forthcoming broadband network service BGAN.

Undertaking one of its most significant design-led pushes yet, Inmarsat has drafted in ‘new blood’ and appointed five consultancies – Camouflage, Oyster Partners, Hot Dog and Mustard, Fuel and Player Three – to work on BGAN projects, ranging from brand and film design through to interior work.

The BGAN service, a major product development for the company, will provide a comprehensive portable office communications system for users, delivering high-speed voice and data capabilities across the globe.

Inmarsat’s customer base includes the Ministry of Defence, Shell, BBC, CNN and British Airways.

Camouflage has been appointed to develop the visual identity and all off-line marketing and promotional material for the service, including brochures and specification sheets. The identity will be unveiled at a series of trade fairs this month.

‘The collateral is more consumer-friendly and not so technically driven [as previous Inmarsat work]. It is engaging and makes bold design statements,’ explains Alex Keane, director at Camouflage.

The consultancy is also drawing up interiors for a training ‘lab’ at the Inmarsat headquarters in London. This will be an area where BGAN is demonstrated to potential users. The space, injected with ‘colour and dynamism’, will be a friendly, flexible zone, according to Keane. Digital design group Oyster Partners – which is being rebranded as Framfab UK after its acquisition by Swedish consultancy Framfab in May – is implementing Inmarsat’s on-line strategy. It will carry out a two-year rolling programme and has the immediate task of creating a BGAN microsite. It will also redesign Inmarsat’s global website: www.inmarsat.com.

Hot Dog and Mustard is designing film material to promote BGAN, while Fuel is developing an e-learning on-line system to help consumers operate BGAN. Player Three has been tasked with designing the system’s user interface.

BGAN marketing manager Helen Pickance is overseeing all of the projects. The product is expected to launch before the end of the year.

INMARSAT BACKGROUND

• Created by United Nations in 1979 to increase safety at sea

• Over half of revenue derived from providing phone, fax and Internet services to sea customers

• Provides services where existing networks are under threat, such as after Asian tsunami and in war zones

• Floated on London Stock Exchange in June