Ariston sure brand facelift will wash with the public

Europe’s number two built-in white goods brand Ariston receives a six-figure identity facelift this month by Wolff Olins, as owner, Italian domestic appliance giant Merloni Elettrodomestici, chases consistent positioning across the Continent.

Wolff Olins, hired a year ago on the basis of its work for Merloni’s Indesit brand, has refreshed Ariston’s logo and created design guidelines for implementation across catalogues, signage, vehicles and point-of-sale materials.

Guidelines and the refreshed identity will be used on a pan-European basis, apart from in the UK where the brand has been replaced by newly acquired Hotpoint.

Ariston brand manager Laura Lomiento says that the brand, second only in Europe to rival Siemens, suffers from fragmented positioning due to staggered introduction in different territories.

‘Ariston’s lifecycle has been different in different markets, prompting varied consumer perceptions,’ she explains.

The revised logo maintains the original house outline, but tidies it up by dispensing with the plug and flame graphics, says Wolff Olins senior consultant and project leader Marina Leopardi.

The work also focuses on injecting more warmth into a brand type traditionally given the ‘sterile’ treatment. According to Leopardi, this meant shelving Ariston’s blue, grey and white colour palette and introducing a more ‘Mediterranean’ colour palette.

‘Where Indesit is aimed at younger, clubbier customers, the Ariston brand will be positioned at families with children. We tried to use colours you would find in the home – linen, stone and wood,’ she explains.

The updated identity gets its first airing later this month in Italy in a series of print ads placed in home improvement magazines. It will roll out across the rest of Europe in a phased programme over the summer.

The project follows a five-year period of European growth for Ariston, whose products, such as its built-in washing machines, have a presence in markets spanning the Continent.

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