25 Nov NEW BRANDING FOR CSSC SPORTS AND LEISURE

Welcome to our first blog under the new guise; PureCreative!

PureCreative have been working with CSSC Sports and Leisure since 2011. We design the bi-annual lifestyle magazine in close partnership with the magazines’ editor; Louisa Richards. We also work closely with CSSC’s design team and provide creative ideas and design for various marketing collateral. PureCreative have hosted staff training days, and photographed events including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Challenge at Battersea Park, and the CSSC Annual General Meeting to name but a few.

Earlier this year we were invited by Janice Moller, the Marketing Manager at CSSC to pitch for the CSSC Sports and Leisure re-branding and marketing collateral styles and templates. Given that the management team were unhappy with a previous pitch submitted by a London agency, the pressure was on for PureCreative to come up with the goods.

Janice kindly provided us with a fully loaded and very informative brief. Given our existing professional relationship we already had a good insight into CSSC, and the demographics they appeal to. That said, the brief threw up some interesting facts too. We knew CSSC has a rich heritage, but we didn’t realise it stretched all the way back to 1921 … wow! CSSC have approximately 118,000 members, a large proportion of which have been members for over 10 years with an average age of 48. From reading the brief, it became apparent that the aim of this project was to attract younger members, whilst trying not to alienate existing ones.

Hmmm, that old chestnut.

So, after reclaiming my sketch pad from the children, I picked up a blunt HB pencil and started scribbling. I quickly got into character and started to produce some very broad and very unacceptable ideas. At PureCreative we do not neglect anything, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. We believe that every idea has value, the critical selection process is saved for later. After sharpening my pencil (several times) i started to translate my scribbles into the first concept phase (below):

RESULT! The management team loved the direction we took with the branding and officially chose PureCreative over the other agencies to create their new brand!

In our experience, it is very normal for the client to combine elements of one design and incorporate them into another. The old CSSC logo featured a heart graphic to symbolise health and well being, as did the top left logo from the above concepts. With this in mind, Janice asked us to develop the bottom left design, but incorporate a heart graphic somewhere within it. At PureCreative we believe that the ability to keep a concept looking great, no matter what is thrown at us is probably just as big a task as the concept creation itself. We take enormous pride in the finished concept!

So, here we have it, concept phase 2. My personal favourite is using the negative space on the first ‘s’, and mirroring it to form a heart. Again, the management team loved the designs. Now all that was left was to present these ideas to the Board.

The results from the board meeting were in, and… WHOOPS! Back to the drawing board.

Although the CSSC board appreciated the logo concepts, they felt that elements of the old logo had to be combined somehow with our new modern CSSC logo and preserve the visual recognition for the more established members.

PureCreative’s creative skills were put under the microscope once more. We enthusiastically tweaked and fiddled with the existing heart symbol to the nth degree, but ever mindful of the fundamental look and feel of it. The main issue was to marry the original heart and the new typography. Once we were happy that we achieved this, we presented the logo once more.

HURRAH! Both the management team and board gave us their approval.

Now it was time to create the new CSSC Brand Identity document, and apply the new logo to marketing collateral templates, banners, and the new look lifestyle magazine, the Leisure Scene!