Who or what are you?
Northgate Vehicle Hire is the UK’s largest commercial vehicle hire company. It boasts a national network of more than 60 branches across the UK and Ireland, most of which incorporate purpose-built workshops to undertake servicing, maintenance and repairs.
The company operates a fleet of over 60,000 vehicles, available for short and long-term hire.
What was the problem?
The decision to rebrand was taken in order to build on our reputation and leverage further value from our industry-leading position as the pioneer of flexible vehicle hire. We decided it was time to move from several regional brands to one national brand, with a single powerful identity to increase awareness of the size of the organisation and our the services.
What was the ‘big idea’?
The big idea was to move the Northgate brand from a network of 20 local brands to one powerful national brand that represented the scale and scope of our offering.
We also needed to rebrand our products to identify them as clear sub-brands and to portray one clear and concise message to our customers at all times.
When and how?
Before pressing the button on the rebrand, research was conducted with our customers to obtain their views about Northgate as a national identity. The findings showed that we have the highest awareness in the van hire sector. We are valued as being specialists in our field, forward thinking and professional in our approach.
It was clear that branding the whole business as Northgate would deliver distinct benefits that could be utilised to our competitive advantage.
Manifest Communications was the agency responsible for the brand refresh. The Manifest team created designs for all of our marketing collateral, from literature to signage, work wear to stationery and brand guidelines to vehicle livery.
The rebranding of the business to Northgate Vehicle Hire is now complete, with new signage across all 60 sites, new livery on thousands of vehicles and the development and launch of a single website – www.northgatevehiclehire.co.uk – with online booking facilities.
The rebrand began in May 2010 and a large part of our 60,000 strong fleet now carries the Northgate Vehicle Hire branding, giving the company maximum impact nationwide. The remaining part of the fleet is typically branded by long-term hirers with their own corporate livery.
Did it work?
Since the roll-out in mid 2010, the rebrand has been phenomenally successful on all levels. The Northgate brand is now highly visible with increased recognition across the UK. Our unified focus has also led to the introduction of new and more efficient systems and processes, including an electronic planning system to streamline bookings and the launch of our very own Vehicle Branding Awards.
