Introduction
Apart from being one of the world’s best known sports brands, Manchester United are also the most valuable sports brand in the world – their brand value is the envy of their peers, worldwide.
As part of an ongoing relationship, Manchester United Merchandise asked us to create a set of retail brand guidelines that would ensure consistent design standards across a string of new retail outlets that they were opening across South East Asia and the Indian sub-continent.
We knew it was vital that such guidelines leveraged the core brand experience to properly explain what was happening at a retail level and why.
Strategy
Our strategy was to centre the guidelines around the five key Manchester United brand values – Innovative, Inspiring, Pride, Respect and Passion - creating a consistent brand experience that came from essential brand truths. This allowed every design standard (no matter how small) to have a meaning and context, rather than be an arbitrary rule or regulation.
The Guidelines
The guidelines themselves were a comprehensive but fully integrated document that flowed from essential brand identity all the way through to fixturisation, dressing and wayfinding.
The Results
The guidelines have been universally well-received and the club now has a workable standards manual that allows the value of the Manchester United brand to take centre stage in all retail environments, regardless of their location.