Elmwood re-brands the B2B division of The Carphone Warehouse Group

12 November 2008

Opal, the business-to-business division of The Carphone Warehouse Group which provides business-focussed communication solutions to over 100,000 UK businesses, launched a re-brand last week with help from Elmwood.

Opal has grown organically and by acquisition, to be a major telco provider with a turnover in excess of £360m with sites at key locations in Portsmouth, Oxford, Newbury, Northampton and Warrington. It is in the process of transforming its culture from a sales-oriented approach to being much more consultative, and the re-brand is a key ingredient.

Elmwood was appointed following a thorough agency selection process and was given a brief to develop a distinctive brand positioning, advise on the brand name and to create a new identity and guidelines.  This would then be supported by the development of a series of internal and external communications.

The process involved an extensive consultation exercise, including various Step ChangeTM workshops and one-to-one stakeholder interviews, which helped to define the brand’s blueprint, what Opal stands for and what makes it distinctive.

Having made the decision not to change the already very successful ‘Opal’ name, Elmwood created a new identity which forms the word ‘Opal’ from a number of elements. This brings the new brand cause (We make the technologies of the 21st Century networks fit for you) to life and reflects the transformation of the business into one, unified Opal, bringing the company and customers’ needs together under one single banner. The identity is bold, contemporary and clear, to reflect the new brand’s personality.

In addition to the identity and communicating the new positioning, Elmwood has helped with naming (of the company, products and channels), a distinctive tone of voice and brand guidelines, as well as signage, websites, intranet, direct marketing templates and the material for the internal launch.

Tamsin MacCormack, Opal’s Head of Central Marketing, is delighted with the re-brand:
“The feedback we have had from everyone throughout Opal has been superb and the whole company feels like it is standing together behind our new flag.”

Nick Ramshaw, MD of Elmwood Leeds has also thoroughly enjoyed the project:
“It has been great working with everyone at Opal. Their enthusiasm is infectious, the new branding is bringing them together and we are all looking forward to the continuing transformation of the business.”