18th March 2010
Virgin launches new F1 team with dynamic, distinctive branding by FITCH
FITCH has recently been working with Virgin to create the branding for the launch of a new F1 racing team, Virgin Racing. The new Virgin Racing car, the VR-01 was revealed on the Virgin Racing website on 3rd of February 2010.
Fitch was appointed to work alongside the Virgin in-house team to create the branding elements for the Virgin Racing team, leveraging the consultancy’s extensive experience in this sector, having previously created all communications for BAR Honda for several race seasons. Specific design deliverables included an identity pack comprising:
- Logo
- Colour Palette
- Font/Typography
- Graphic Devices/Style
- Photography/Illustrations
- Tone of Voice
- Guidelines;
Creating a uniquely Virgin brand
The challenge for FITCH was not only to capture the Virgin personality in the F1 brand, but also to ensure that it looked compelling to target audiences. Our insights and trends research revealed that the F1 consumer experience had become quite functional, remote and clinical, a far cry from F1’s heyday in the 1970s and Virgin has always positioned itself as an accessible, straight-talking, open brand.
True to its belief in offering and representing ‘value for money’, the new team has also been borne out of F1’s new economic dawn and will operate to the sport’s new resource restriction agreement.
Leveraging Virgin’s ‘everyman’ brand personality, Fitch and Virgin have created a bold and accessible brand that is full of energy and attitude, capturing not only the spirit of F1 in a unique way, but also the essence of the Virgin brand itself. The core creative idea of the Virgin Racing brand was defined as “free spirit”, turning the focus back on the thrills, glamour and ‘rock and roll’ of F1, challenging the current branding conventions in the sport.
A brand with excitement and impact
The logo utilises a racetrack graphic with a colour palette of Virgin red, black and grey, always with the parent logo lockup. The racetrack device is used throughout all communications to ensure a consistent sense of vibrancy and movement. The photographic and illustrative elements are inspired by an urban/comic-book graphic style, and use simple embellishments to embroider the identity with a youthful and exciting visual language.
The car itself was designed by Nick Wirth and the Virgin Racing team will conduct the systematic testing and development of all car parts and on-car systems for the VR-01 before the first race in Bahrain on March 14th.
Fitch has been working with Virgin to prepare specific presentations to potential sponsors about the brand, to create the look and feel of co-branded collateral.
Jim Wright, Marketing Director of Virgin Racing, said: “From the first meeting, Fitch was completely in tune with us about the kind of brand we wanted to create for Virgin Racing. The creative strategy and brand toolkit they developed for us is a perfect representation of everything we wanted the Virgin Racing brand experience to be – passionate, thrilling, adventurous, fun.”
Lucy Unger, Managing Director of Fitch’s London studio, said: “The world of Formula One branding is like no other, it’s a balancing act between the needs of the fans, the sponsors and the team itself. Fitch has worked extensively in the sport, so we were excited to be asked by Virgin to help them create a new, completely unique brand experience for Virgin Racing.”