ABOUT

“TYC has done for rail freight what Supreme did for Skateboarding.”
Seema Kotecha, Head of Communications & Marketing

BACKGROUND

Fuelled by ambitious growth plans, GB Railfreight have been expanding their rail freight and logistics business since 1999. In 2020, they needed to up the ante to meet key strategic objectives. We gave the GB Railfreight brand a complete overhaul to engage new customers and staff – from the brand proposition through to merchandise.

Although GB Railfreight are the third largest provider of rail freight services in the UK, they are the most profitable in their sector. This is a reflection of their excellent record of reliability and customer service. However, their brand was dated, and they lacked standout and recognition in an industry that is considered dull and esoteric.

Working with elements of the existing brand, it was critical to embody the spirit of GB Railfreight and their offering. The challenge was to find innovative ways to create a flexible identity system that would boost brand recognition, stand the test of time, and enable the business to achieve market leader position.

The Ultimate Sidekick

Following a detailed research and strategy phase, it became clear that their people are what separates them from their competitors. Both individually and as a business, they work with their clients to ensure success. Regardless of the challenge, employees go to great lengths to ensure their customers are satisfied and their products are delivered on time. This formed a solid foundation for their brand purpose: The ultimate sidekick, for people and businesses going places.

Once the strategy was defined, we turned our attention towards photography and art direction, knowing that people needed to be at the forefront of the brand. Our proposed new photographic style championed employees, inspiring a new generation of recruits and instilling the family ethos embedded within GB Railfreight.

We updated and unified their logo, which became the foundation for our grid system and linear language. We also modernised their colour palette for the digital age, adding distinct new colours to maximise impact across visual communications.

Due to its bold, blocky characteristics, we chose Halisa Narrow by The Designers’ Foundry as the primary typeface. This was paired with PT Sans for its clean, universal properties. PT Sans was the perfect choice to reflect their updated messaging and tone of voice – ‘straight up, with no riddles’.

The new website showcases GB Railfreight's rich heritage, wealth of services and expertise. With a focus on modern UI and UX principles and a rejuvenated brand identity, the new site highlights the importance of both their people and sustainability values.

The brand appointed celebrated social media influencer Francis Bourgeois just months before Gucci and The North Face. This helped to increase the average number of likes per post from 400 to 1,300 (+225%).

The new brand has since been rolled out across corporate literature, external communications, merchandise and recruitment campaigns.

KPIs since brand launch include:
Over 1m views of Tik Tok posts
Featured in the Telegraph, Times and Rolling Stone publications
Employed over 200 people