Al Nooh. Digital

Slick, minimal and contemporary digital brand presence for one of Bahrain's oldest trading firms.

Posted by Ahmad Taha

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

Elder Uchtdorf

Industry Context

Al Nooh digital brand design is set to provide a wholly new face for a family business steeped in tradition and history. The firm has been in business since 1967 and recently, the reigns of the firm have been passed from the founding father to his sons. The company had grown from its core competency in wood design to a broader capability covering other core areas of construction. Now the business handles steel, fencing, fabrication, wood working and general construction materials. As well as its competencies in materials handling and craft it has a growing building supplies business including the sale and maintenance of building tools.

The construction and building supplies sector has need rapid growth in the Kingdom. Fuelled by a burgeoning real estate industry, the sector has spawned many new entrants in the business. The competition for Al Nooh has seen the market grow but the firm’s market share decline. This is due to many factors and the family has also had internal tensions which has prevented a unified brand voice from being presented to the market.

Challenges

Al Nooh’s digital brand design is set to become a key part of their communication arsenal. Up until the rebrand, the digital brand had been left to its own devices. The web site was none existent or in a constant state of ‘under construction’ while the social media channels were not yet in place. Unisono’s brief, as part of the multi-phase roll out of the brand, was to create a modern, slick and minimal digital presence to house the brand on line.

Whilst the business has grown, it has added more and more logos to its collection which created a more difficult to manage brand identity. While all the units were united in some part by visual and literal properties such as the Al Nooh name and signature Teal Green colour, there was little else to support integration of the business units. The firm also lacked a strategy for the brand, hence the strategic rebrand briefing.

The naming of business units was done by the leaders of each firm. As the units grew so the names became more and more adrift form the core competency of the brand. Names like ‘Wood Design’ didn’t actually tell you what the unit did – this was left to the imagination.

The company had grown in sophistication but little attention was paid to the brand. The firm had no strategic brand strategy and no visual identity principles or guidelines to control the application of the identity or to create uniquely branded communications. The brand’s messaging was mostly left to the will of individuals who often worked in isolation of the other business units and leaders. Unity of messaging and the building of a singular perception was left to chance.

Strategic Rebrand

Market research into investor, family and customer perception. One to one interviews with directors, business unit managers, the board of directors and key family members. Creation of a new strategic framework including a new vision, values, positioning and essence. Creation of a simplified brand architecture and group nomenclature.

Al Nooh Results

Al Nooh’s digital brand design helped the company to win Gold and Silver at Dubai’s Transform awards show in 2017. As well as winning some international awards, the family have united around a new brand persona and rallied to the new vision. Brand perception has also increased amongst employees, suppliers and customers alike. Al Nooh’s digital brand design has been rolled out online and the rest of the brand has begun its roll out a few internal communication tools and the flagship retail interior design scheme.