Vattenfall has emerged as the latest energy market player who decided to make changes to its corporate identity, more specifically – visual identity, powered by mission and vision focused on clean energy future. The company announced on 26 March that it is rebranding and will start gradually employing the changes, with its logo in the spotlight, as of the end of March.
The company’s changes do not incorporate renaming, which was done by DONG Energy (now Ørsted) and Statoil (soon to become Equinor), who got rid of the oil reference in their names. Nevertheless, while their strategical reasons behind corporate identity changes may differ, the common denominator for all three companies can be found in clean energy and focus on future energy landscape.
Vattenfall has carried the same logo since 1992. During this time, the company has undergone fundamental changes. Starting out as a domestic Swedish electricity and energy company, it is now one of Europe’s largest energy groups with a clear aim of promoting a climate-smarter lifestyle, with the distinct target of becoming fossil-free within one generation.
Vatenfall, who just won at the world’s first tender for a subsidy-free offshore wind farm , said that with rebranding it is demonstrating the determination to make it possible for everyone to reach this target.
One year ago, Vattenfall embarked on an internal journey of change by defining its role and the social value that it contributes. This was formulated in the company purpose, to Power Climate Smarter Living. The rebranding is being carried out for business reasons and reflects a revived Vattenfall with new values and offerings.
The company made the final decision to change its visual identity after market surveys based on more than 3,000 respondents from four European countries had shown that its brand image (elements such as the logo, photos and colours) had failed to differentiate the company sufficiently from other energy companies.
Based on these surveys, Vattenfall has found how it can streamline its marketing by strengthening its brand. “By becoming clearer, we expect to make a greater impact and thus use each krona spent on marketing more effectively in future. Another element in this streamlining process is that we are also reducing the number of our brands, currently as many as 25, and will now replace them with one single updated Vattenfall brand,” said Karin Lepasoon , Head of Communications at Vattenfall.