North West design agency StudioLWD has been appointed to undertake a brand refresh and develop a new brand strategy for British adventure gear retailer Aquapac. The UK’s leading provider of waterproof cases and bags, Aquapac selected the Lancashire brand specialist following a five-way pitch.
Established in London in 1983 by three windsurfing friends who wanted to listen to music while riding the waves, Aquapac now has products listed with major online and outdoor retailers in the UK and USA, and supplies businesses and military organisations around the world, thanks to the development of a vast range of waterproof-guaranteed products.
Building on its existing leisure and professional market and making the most of the UK’s growing love affair with the outdoors, a pastime which has increased significantly during 2020, Aquapac is now gearing up for its own growth. Key to this is the development of a new brand strategy and consolidating its marketing collateral.
StudioLWD has been appointed to handle brand development and creative concepts, designing a new strategy and brand guidelines which will ensure consistency across the firm’s website, advertising, products and packaging.
Laura Weldon, managing director of StudioLWD, said: “Aquapac’s unofficial strapline is that they provide ‘genuinely useful products’, and the quality of those products is what makes Aquapac the go-to provider for walkers, campers, watersports enthusiasts, rescue services, marine workers, and even the military.
“The success of the products mean there is a fantastic and loyal customer base which comes back time and again. But there is also a growing market, as interest in outdoor pursuits increases, which is not yet familiar with the brand and which presents an exciting opportunity for the company.
“As the business has grown over the last three decades, the brand and marketing have developed organically and have served it well to this point. Now Aquapac is looking to the future and the brand will benefit from a review and a refresh. Our role will be to build on its heritage and establish a new strategy for growth, to evolve the visual elements for today’s marketplace, and provide a pathway for the implementation of that strategy to take the business forward.”
Due to current social distancing restrictions, StudioLWD will host a series of video brand workshops with the Aquapac team to establish the key values, audience and aspirations, before the creative team devises an evolved brand identity to be rolled out across all touch points, from website, catalogues and advertising, to in-store retail displays and packaging.
Max Malavasi from Aquapac is pleased to have Laura and the team on board. He said: “We know the guaranteed quality of our products make them loved and appreciated by all who use them, but we are also aware that Aquapac is yet to be a truly recognisable brand outside our specialist market. Our products are, however, genuinely useful for all sorts of people in all sorts of situations and we need to start telling that story to a much wider audience.
“We’ve chosen to work with StudioLWD on refreshing the brand and implementing a new marketing strategy across the business, because of the confident and creative approach the team demonstrated in their pitch. We like to work with partners who really get what we are trying to achieve with our products and understand our customers. We are excited about exploring our strategy with StudioLWD and taking our brand to the next level.”