The work
Branding • Stationery
The brief
Create a western suite of brands for AHC starting with the AHC logo and then create a new brand identity for two of their major retail brands, namely Escape and Evenings. The brands were traditionally Arabic in their feel and the organisation wanted to move towards a more aspirational, contemporary Western feel for their suite of brands in order to keep up with recent trends in the Middle East.
The solution
Firedog carried out significant research into the Middle Eastern retail environment, and in particular, we identified current consumer triggers for high fashion retail. The research offered significant insight and direction on how the brands should be developed.
Al Hama Co.
A move away from the Arabic font was the final recommendation of the qualitative research, and the more refined font gave a more elegant appearance. The brand stayed true to its corporate audience by keeping a bold typeface and Arabic look. By linking all of the letters together in capitals it gives a confident yet unusual Western finish. The strap-line ‘Fashion forward’ ensures those who do not know Al Hama Co understand they are a retail brand.
Evenings Couture
AHC’s Evenings Couture brand offers high fashion labels such as Alexander Mc Queen, Vera Wang, Julien McDonald and Stella McCartney to their Middle Eastern clientele. The brand needed to ooze class and sensuality and basically reflect the type of brands that they represent. Our logotype offers a handcrafted typeface which represents sophistication.
Escape
Escape is AHC’s fashion chain aimed at the affluent 18-35 male/female market across the Middle East. Our research offered significant insight and direction on how the brand should be developed.
The results
A move towards a younger, funkier mark was the direction stipulated by the qualitative research. Our target audience is the MTV generation and had more Western values than were originally anticipated. Firedog produced the strap-line ‘To The Edge’ to offer an urban feel and to create a call-to-action by working the name and strap-line together. At the time of writing, Firedog is busy planning the development of the visual identities for the suite of brands.
