HGV identity unifies water body

HGV has created the visual identity for Water UK, the new single trade association representing the UK water industry. The body, which went live yesterday, represents the 17 smaller drinking-water companies and the ten bigger privatised groups.

The group was given one week to do the creative work and one week to implement it, after winning a credentials pitch against four unnamed consultancies.

The name Water UK was generated in-house after an open competition, eliciting 30 entries, failed to produce a suitable tag. The body was offering 100 for the winning name (DW 13 February).

“The project was creative led and we had a good brief so keeping to the timescale was not a problem,” says HGV creative director Pierre Vermeir.

“The identity itself stands for quality of water and service, the aspirations of the trade association. The flag is purple so it won’t get mixed up with the water companies themselves,” adds Vermeir. The marque has been applied to stationery, literature and signage.

Meanwhile, Bamber Forsyth has designed a souvenir book (pictured above) to commemorate a recent conference bringing together the six Thames Water Services business units.

“The [ringbound] book doesn’t try to be too sophisticated – it simply records the essence of the conference, and hopefully tunes in to the fun and the overall motivational effect that people experienced,” says Bamber Forsyth principal Keith Bamber.

In its Green Paper on utility regulation last week, the Department of Trade and Industry proposed the merger of Ofgas and Offer, the regulatory bodies of gas and electricity respectively. A DTI spokesman confirms the resulting body would need a new identity. However, he declines to put a timescale on the design procurement process, should the proposed merger go ahead, due to the complexity of the issue.