Halfords revamps Ripspeed brand

Auto accessories and bicycle retailer Halfords will sign off The Nest’s design guidelines next month for a revamp of Ripspeed, the company’s car modification shop-within-shop for ‘boy racers’.

The group has created templates for packaging, point-of-sale and 3D applications, in addition to modernising the sub-brand’s identity.

A Ripspeed presence can be found in most Halfords stores to ‘various degrees’ of visibility, says Paul Wylde, brand development director at The Nest. The retailer’s aim now is to give the brand greater prominence because the market is seen as a growth area.

Ripspeed currently offers ‘boy racer accessories’, such as alloy wheels and high performance exhausts, shock absorbers and stereo equipment, to a customer base primarily made up of young male drivers.

The brand is affectionately regarded as Halfords’ ‘rebellious son’, Wylde adds, with ‘a sense of independence, directness and street credibility’ needed to win over its customers.

The aspiration is that Ripspeed can evolve into a lifestyle brand in a sector that has previously paid scant attention to ‘intelligent design’ or the ‘basic principles of marketing’, Wylde explains.

‘There’s an extraordinary culture [in the current marketing approach], with magazines like Max Power that are all tits and arse,’ he says. ‘Halfords wants to take that upmarket while keeping the energy and enthusiasm.’

According to The Nest, which won the work in mid-February after a three-way creative pitch, it is now Ripspeed’s brand guardian.

Design work will be rolled out progressively over the summer. The Nest senior designer Jake Ronay worked on the project alongside Wylde.