ABOUT

SETTING THE SCENE
Emerging Comms is an agency and consultancy that assists Westernbased brands to enter the consumer market in China. A big and often misunderstood challenge. Principal competition for Emerging Comms comes from three arenas: Agencies based themselves in China, Global ad agencies and digital agencies based in the UK. What makes Emerging Comms different is their unique perspective on China. With resources in China, but based in the UK, they understand western brands, but also what it takes to penetrate the Chinese market and achieve sales success.

GENUINELY DIFFERENTIATED BUT NOT DISTINCT
Research conducted by Emerging Comms showed that despite being the most distinct in operation, they were seen as the least distinct in terms of brand identity. Most of their competitors emphasised their digital credentials and none (not even Emerging Comms) emphasised their focus on winning sales. So Emerging Comms approached The Pull Agency asking us to develop a more distinct brand and redefine their proposition and messaging.

THE MARQUE
Can a logo marque tell a story? We think so.

Our Brand Blueprint™ process simplifies and extracts core positive truths about the brand that can then inform the design approach. In this instance two key scenarios inspired the Emerging Comms symbol:

The first is the underpinning function of the agency; to help organisations understand and navigate an unfamiliar eastern culture. This can essentially be represented through a horizontal movement to and fro.

The second is Emerging Comms’ ability to take what is often a confusing and distorted view of Chinese culture and apply clarity through their expertise.

LOGOTYPE
Emerging Comms open their clients’ eyes to how advanced and vibrant the region is.

Together with Emerging Comms we identified a wealth of unique and richly creative design and marketing that permeates Chinese culture. Most of this would not even be familiar to their clients. These were used to inform the new identity.

An example of this was identifying common characteristics within the contemporary Chinese typography we discovered, and weaving it into our logotype design.

DISTINCTIVE ILLUSTRATION
In modern China, consumers enjoy a highly individual and vibrant creative design unfamiliar to the west.

Bold, playful graphic imagery is everywhere you look, with an unbridalled and joyous approach to communications. This is often unexpected and misunderstood within western markets, therefore company propositions centred around the Chinese market or culture are often patronising and/or utilise stereotypical symbolism in an unimaginative way.

To embrace a more vibrant approach not only bucks the trend of unremarkable design systems with superficial oriental overtones, it also symbolically projects a deep and authentic understanding of the Chinese market.

We developed our own illustrative interpretation, utilising a mix of styles to create a new distinctive creative, from readily available components that could be built upon by in-house teams. This sits at the heart of the new identity.

The result is an unapollogetic burst of colour and energy with a positive and spirited character that is as memorable as it is individual.

PHOTOGRAPHY
A technique was applied to photography to communicate an idea without the need for words. Using the circular ‘lens’ from the logo story, the simple contrast between an obstructed or distorted view of a scene and the framed clear focus within the circle reinforces the sense of ‘demystifying the landscape’.

DISPLAY
The benefit of such a distinctive brand toolkit is its ability to add huge impact to presentation or display formats. From simple day-to-day powerpoint decks through to exhibition stands, the colour impact and graphic energy packs a real punch and demands attention. The character it projects adheres to the brand, the company and the team communicating that Emerging Comms are as dynamic as their identity.

PROMOTIONAL
Our design scheme presents opportunities to be playful and disrupt the norms, whether that be using our illustrative components to add life to materials, or to deliver data in surprising or more impactful ways.

DESIGN SYSTEM
With a toolkit that is full of energy and colour, it was important to implement a design system that allowed it to be delivered in a way that preserved its impact, but not to the detriment of the message or information being shared. A flexible cellular design system was instigated that creates specific spaces for words and images.

TESTIMONIAL
“We worked with The Pull Agency in 2022/23 on our brand strategy. When we approached Pull, we had no consistent branding. Our typography was very ‘1997’. Nobody really knew who we were and we didn’t have a clear story.

After working with Pull, not just on a brand workshop, but also on pulling together our branding, our brand identity and brand toolkit, we are now recognisable. We have a clear positioning, it has helped us win a lot of business, and continues to help us win business, through our marketing efforts across social media, video, website, paid and organic search.

I’m absolutely delighted. I’m totally behind this award submission, and I just wanted to say that I really think these guys did an amazing and incredible job in what is a very complex industry.”

Domenica Lieto / CEO / Emerging Comms