Ideal Standard CEO: Rebranding and new vision "creates extra value"
It's a proud moment for any commercially-minded marketeer when the impact is felt across the board and recognised at the very top. The CEO of Ideal Standard has been bold and focused in his drive to grow and build the bathroom company, but by his own admission, the company had two years of unsatisfactory results before they appointed Uniform.
When Torsten Tuerling arrived at the Brussels-based group it was confused. It had a portfolio of brands that "seemed unrelated to each other". They began a review to understand what it stood for and how it wanted to present itself to the wider world. Initially, it proved difficult, but with a new team driving it forward internally, combined with the collaboration with Uniform, progress was made very quickly.
We had to review the brand at a group and product level and bring people with us on the journey. If this was going to work, they had to believe, but often this is still undervalued.
"Uniform had the impressive capability to listen to our story and connect the dots, but in a reconfigured way that all of a sudden gave vocabulary to the way we wanted to express meaning."
"And it was grounded in heritage... it was absolutely genuine and true to ourself", which has to be at the heart of any great brand project.
And when it comes to working in a highly competitive market battling cheaper imported products, this is what matters. You need a clear identity.
"The only way to deal with this is to keep a meaning, a purpose in the combination of the functional value, design value and the company behind the product.
"This design thinking, this strategic framing and giving meaning to things, creates extra value."