Veronika Elsener, Chief Marketing Officer
After Brandpulse’s first comprehensive revision of the brand design in 2008, we were commissioned again in 2019 with a rebranding project for Victorinox. As part of this project by Brandpulse, the comprehensively revised brand design, with a distinctive “Touch of Red”, is based on a modular and flexible structure, representing the innovative mindset of the brand. Subsequently, the new design was meticulously implemented across all touchpoints in 120 countries.
The rebranding project began with a comprehensive assessment and analysis of the communication at relevant touchpoints at the time. As a result, the brand design was revised in order to position Victorinox competitively in the international market. “It was important for us to find the perfect balance, to showcase the heritage of this traditional Swiss brand on one hand, while simultaneously enriching its appearance with an innovative design featuring the recognizable Victorinox red,” explains Thomas Ramseier from Brandpulse.
The appearance developed by Brandpulse for Victorinox as part of this project stood for innovative thinking in harmony with the brand’s well-known and reliable values, evident at every touchpoint. The Victorinox red, made famous by the Swiss Army Knife, remains a defining element of the overall look and feel. The brand design evolution is still most strikingly embodied by the red logo box. In order to simplify the layout, the previous design was replaced by a structure that meets the demands of cross-channel and 360-degree marketing.
As part of the global launch, all implementations were realized in the corresponding font and language versions (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic). A particular challenge in this complex project was the conceptual development of a digital platform: Brandpulse structured and designed the Brand Design Guideline Tool, defined and created the content and developed corresponding guidelines.
2023: Imagery & Verbal Identity
The range of products from Switzerland’s largest knife producer includes not only pocket knives, household and professional knives but also watches, luggage and perfumes. The positioning derived from a brand strategy redefined by Victorinox includes newly defined brand attributes along with the “Touch of Red” developed by Brandpulse. On this basis, Brandpulse developed a fundamentally new imagery and verbal identity in 2023. Insights from workshops and desk research provided Brandpulse with the foundation for defining the new imagery, including guidelines and a completely revised verbal identity, in line with the new brand strategy. The aim of the verbal identity sub-project was to create a consistent, memorable and authentic language for Victorinox that reflects the new positioning. Both the verbal identity and the imagery were developed as guidelines for Victorinox’s internal Brand Design Guideline Tool.
With the new imagery and verbal identity, Victorinox strengthens its brand perception and represents the brand’s innovative mindset in line with its new brand strategy and brand positioning.
2024: Brand Showcase and Brand Movie
In order to make the brand’s identity and personality understandable and visible both internally and externally, Victorinox management commissioned Brandpulse with another project: to showcase the brand strategy further developed by Victorinox in an impressive and emotional way in a Brand Showcase and Brand Movie.
Victorinox’s management desired a brand presentation that could be used flexibly, whether as a standalone brand introduction or as part of a corporate presentation. The goal of the project was to create a fundamental understanding of the Victorinox brand among both internal and external audiences and to strengthen the emotional connection to the brand.
Based on Victorinox’s new brand strategy, Brandpulse developed a visual and content-driven Brand Showcase and an emotional Brand Movie that highlight Victorinox’s authentic character. The implementation spanned from the concept phase and storyboard creation to the programming of the brand presentation and the final film production, including sound and editing.
