Optimi
Audit, Strategy, Identity Design, Visual Language.
The brief
Established in December 2012, FutureLearn is a digital education platform and is jointly owned by The Open University and SEEK Ltd.
By May 2018, the organisation consisted of 143 partners including a South African presence. Within South Africa, FutureLearn is majority owned by PSG Private Equity and provides accessible learning solutions across a range of education market segments. Brands owned and operated by FutureLearn within the South African market include Impaq, Media Works, CAMI, Quanta, Tuta-Me, Teach360 and ITSI. In August 2019, FutureLearn acquired vocational education provider CollegeSA broadening its offering to distance learning.
Explore Possibilities
In late 2018, FutureLearn South Africa uncoupled from the FutureLearn Group with the local operation now being a subsidiary of the PSG stable. Considering the uncoupling, an agreement was entered between FutureLearn and PSG that required the rebranding of the South African operation. The rebrand would consist of a new name for the group, an enabling brand strategy and lastly an empowering corporate identity and visual expression.
Leverage Partnerships
ThinkLeverage partnered with Valora to rebrand FutureLearn South Africa; including a market relevant name, a future-fit brand strategy that contributed to a growth accelerating positioning. ThinkLeverage led the audit and strategy phases with Valora being responsible for the creative component of the engagement. Through its room for growth audit, ThinkLeverage established a positioning territory for the rebrand which was centred on the “how” which speaks to the unique way that the business is bringing learning solutions to the marketplace. The approved positioning territory for further exploration was “co-creating learning solutions that you every step of the way.” The proposed territory resonated well across the entire organisation and instilled confidence for a brighter future with brand contributing
Shape Tomorrow
ThinkLeverage developed an empowering strategy guided by a visionary purpose. The purpose was leveraged to align the brand with its core audience and how it would address this audience’s biggest problem. The strategy went on to unpack the brand’s role and associated functional, emotional and social benefits. The strategy deliberated the brand’s reasons to believe, values, personality and positioning.
Shape Tomorrow
FutureLearn fully identified with the shared strategy and felt that it spoke to what the organisation wanted to represent and stand for in the future. Post approval of the strategy, the naming phase was rolled out and the ThinkLeverage team would refer to it as a reference point to ensure an equity building name would be selected that spoke to the essence of what the brand would embody.
Explore Territories
Four naming territories were explored with FutureLearn, ThinkLeverage and Valora selecting Optimi to be FutureLearn’s new name. Optimi is a new coined word which is a combination of Opti (optimise, optimistic) and MI (speaks to personal journey). The selected name was more stakeholder focused with the organisation’s objective aimed at better serving its growing list of customers. Post approval of the brand strategy and name, Valora brought the brand to life through an aligned and responsive visual language. The strategy was translated into a creative big idea and the icon’s development was inspired by the first letter of the brand’s name.
Shape Tomorrow
Other elements developed through the creative process included the typeface, colour scheme (primary, secondary and divisions), collateral, physical, digital and social media representation. In addition to the strategy, the creative process was guided by context, that is where the brand would mostly be experienced (digital versus physical)
and how it would stand out when compared to existing and future competition. The finalised creative was presented to Optimi’s staff with a key response being that the brand now felt more inclusive and echoed the desired amount of warmth and excitement.