Innovate UK: Helping ideas to shine with a brand refresh for the UK's innovation agency

Brexit, climate change, rising automation, the UK faces a challenging, dynamic future. Innovate UK, leads the UK’s investment in innovation. This has never been more vital, yet the organisation’s brand awareness remained disproportionately low until a brand refresh shone a new light on the organisation. Insight We began by working with internal stakeholders, reviewing previous research and talking to current customers to get under the skin of this complex organisation and its unique set of audiences. It became clear that the organisation’s current vision, mission and messaging were facing in the wrong direction. They were originally designed to talk to key stakeholders within the Government, explaining the value they add to UK Plc. But in reality Innovate UK also needed to talk to potential users/customers about the practical help they provide and the instant impact their support can bring. Ideas This informed our approach, allowing us to take a complex brand with a seemingly unconnected set of brand elements and arbitrary rules, and rebuild it from the ground up around a clear set of principles. We created one unified, flexible brand language encompassing every element of the brand from messaging to imagery. Impact As this was a brand refresh, the core logo remained. However, we started by augmenting it with a new graphic language including a brand device – an abstract expression of the Fibonacci curve – forever linking Innovate UK with visionary innovation and the ripples of growth it creates. The end result is a more recognisable brand that’s easy to work with and provides more creative freedom. Demonstrated by delivering 100% ROI from increased efficiencies in just 18 months, and increasing unprompted brand awareness by 33% in a year.