In early 2008, we were approached to pitch for one of the Design Councils ‘Designing Demand’ projects. The Designing Demand Program was set up by the Government to help encourage small businesses to use design more effectively in order to accelerate business growth in the UK.

After a competitive tender, Fat Frog were appointed to work on the project which involved looking at the brand positioning for a local air conditioning business based in Sunderland called 21 Degrees.

At the time 21 Degrees, who specialise in installing and maintaining climate control systems for workplace environments, had a very low profile with potential clients and lacked differentiation from their competitors. Our challenge was to both differentiate the business and reposition the brand as a leading authority in the field of Air Conditioning.

Our response

The process started with an audit on the marketplace to assess how competitors were perceived against the 21 Degrees brand. This revealed a number of things, firstly many competitors lacked any real differentiation from each other and secondly, many used a very similar tone of voice to address potential customers. Although the existing brand was fairly weak in the marketplace, we did feel that the 21 Degrees name was very strong. It also had some meaning to the customer, 21 Degrees is the ideal temperature for a working environment.

Our design process started by looking at shapes, colours and themes that could be used to define the look and feel of the identity. The option that we chose featured a distinctive thermal colour scheme based on the temperature, 21 degrees Celsius. The numbers were also set at a 21 degree angle to create maximum impact.

The new mark was particularly effective when it came to implementing elements of it on
communication material such  as the website, literature, stationery and on the side of vans.

Measuring the result

Since the new branding has been implemented, the effects have been incredibly positive.  Firstly the client has picked up a number of new contracts, including 3 that came directly from customers that had seen the new branded vans. And secondly, the attitude of the staff has also changed, they feel much more positive and proud of the company that they work for.