French travel group sports rebrand

Vario has designed an identity for French sports travel company Groupe Couleur, which is aiming to strengthen its position in the UK and expand into the corporate incentive market.

Groupe Couleur competes with the likes of Gulliver Sports and Burton Travel, offering teambuilding trips and incentive packages organised around sports events to corporate clients. It operates five sub-brands, all of which have previously traded under different names and logos.

The lack of a cohesive identity was hampering the company’s expansion, says Edward Jospé, director at Groupe Couleur’s London office. Vario’s branding work has harmonised the look of these sub-brands.

‘Our identity evolved over time. There were different logos in use across the company and it made everything we published very messy. Now that we are targeting the corporate incentive market, coupled with the fact that we are not so well known in the UK, we have an urgent need for a slicker image,’ explains Jospé.

Launching this week, the design work will be applied across stationery, signage, a website and a range of clothing. The first stage of the project has been worth more than £20 000 in fees to the consultancy.

Vario will also create marketing literature over the next year to coincide with major events in the 2003 sporting calendar.

The identity system is designed to accommodate the travel company’s planned growth. Vario director Brem Bremner says, ‘We have provided a disciplined visual platform to work from, which also leaves room for the individual expression of each Groupe Couleur member.’

The consultancy was appointed in July following a referral from another client.