Imagine yourself walking through the streets of Monrovia on a bright and sunny day. A beautiful cobalt blue electric kekeh approaches you, glinting in the sunlight. You quickly take off your sunglasses as you get in. While you were escaping the warm rays of the sun, you now welcome it as it quietly but steadily powers you forward to your destination. 

This is the vision that we at Emergi want to share with you. As our electric kekehs are set to make their maiden trips through the streets of Liberia, we reflect on the message communicated through our branding. Branding is more than just a new logo, it is the feeling that we as a company inspire in our users and partners. People’s associations with a brand can be practical, ‘this is soap that is sustainable for the environment’, or emotional, like a soda company promoting their drink as a “hip and fun beverage to unwind after work”. Branding can be powerful, but also deceptive. Earlier this year, two ad campaigns from Shell and Landrover were banned after deceptive messaging that they were “planet-saving” by European watchdogs. We believe branding should reflect our activities and aspirations honestly.

To reimagine our new branding we decided to analyze our old look and feel. An inspection of our messaging evoked the words, ‘clean’ but also ‘inconsistent’, ‘complex’ and ‘combative’. This raised some interesting questions: We are excited to bring the “Energy Revolution” to Monrovia, so do we want to present this new and exciting path as an upward struggle? Or do we want to present our solutions as the obvious choice for our future on the planet? 

We prefer the latter and we are making a conscious choice to center our branding on happy and joyful, bright and sunny, simple and easy, futuristic and moving forward. Yes, this was indeed the path we wanted to follow and we started creating a variety of mood boards. We chose a collection of images which reflected these feelings visually and that also gave us a clear understanding of what we did not want.

Branding is a way for Emergi to stand out. An assessment of our competitors indicated that the visual language around mobility was often somber and masculine. At Emergi, we aim to design more than just the mobility platform, but rather also design the system around the mobility platform: an integrated sustainable transportation system which also includes supporting our amazing women drivers. We aim to create a vibe that is welcoming and joyful.

We want Emergi’s branding to emulate resilience and empowerment, without perpetuating stereotypes of developing markets. We want to inspire and activate our partners and customers! With this in mind, we would like to share with you a sneak preview of our new look along with our updated logo design. 

Follow the sun with Emergi’s electric kekehs and let’s get rolling into the new year!