SeaLink
A timely refresh for the SeaLink brand.
Background
SeaLink have been a lifeline to the Hauraki Gulf islands for over 60 years. A vehicle, passenger and freight ferry service departing Auckland to Waiheke, Great Barrier, Rakino and a commuter service to Pine Harbour. But the brand had seen better days so it was time for a comprehensive refresh.
The challenge
With a brand in need of some love and a new Sales & Marketing team on board, SeaLink reached out to D&Co to redefine its brand strategy, to work closely with its people across the business on new and authentic values, and develop a comprehensive refresh of the brand and a range of associated brand experiences.
“I’ve worked with Russ since he first established D&Co and when I made the move to SeaLink I reached out to D&Co when I needed a safe pair of hands for our brand strategy, story and design system refresh.
The SeaLink brand had become tired and Russ and his team have injected an energy, passion and creativity that’s got the whole business buzzing. It also helps that he’s a genuinely decent bloke and fun to work with.”
— Teresa Smyth, Sales and Marketing Manager, SeaLink
“When Teresa reached out to us to help refresh the SeaLink brand we couldn’t have been happier. I’ve worked with T since the inception of D&Co and have had a blast working with her over the years.
The SeaLink brand was in serious need of some love and working alongside T and her new team we have relished the opportunity to make a real difference to what brand means at SeaLink and to bring it to life in a way that’s authentic to the business and the amazing people that work for SeaLink.”
— Russ Douglas, Founder & Principal Consultant: Brand, Experience & Innovate, D&Co
The unrivalled gateway to the Hauraki Gulf.
Our solution
People are at the heart of any business and no more so than at SeaLink with an incredibly tight knit team - so that’s where we started. Through numerous workshops with almost everyone across the business we explored what being at SeaLink meant to its people. The invaluable outputs from these sessions inspired the team as we developed a new set of truly authentic values and the broader brand strategy.
From there it was onto refining the visual language and whilst tinkering with the wordmark was off limits we found a way to make it feel far more contemporary across all comms from business cards and timetables, advertising to social.
One of the more fun aspects of working with a brand like Sealink is the physicality of the brand. From terminals, a new head office in the making and a fleet of ferries. So when the team asked us to rebrand the interior experience for SeaQuest, a new vessel entering the fleet, we jumped at the chance and had so much fun in the process. A specific case study is in the workings.
We've since developed a robust brand guidelines toolkit to assist the business as it tackles various applications and continues to develop the brand across multiple touch-points. We continue to support the development of the SeaLink brand across multiple projects and love the enthusiasm the new brand has seen across the business from the Waiheke depot to Kennedy Bay customer care, skippers out on the ocean to the team at Head Office. It's been so much fun.
Deliverables:
Values workshops, Brand strategy, Brand story, Identity development, Brand Comms, Recruitment Comms, Internal Comms, Ferry Exterior & Interior Livery, Video shoot, New Terminal and Head Office spacial design.
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