Pioneering a new brand space

The challenge

Global Trademark Licensing (GTL) are a top-20 brand licensing agency, with high end clients who include Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Racing. The brand licensing industry is changing fast, driven by changing consumer habits, the move to online retail and forthcoming developments such as the metaverse and NFTs.

GTL’s ambition is to be at the forefront of these changes, as well as to appeal to clients from beyond the automotive industry. The company’s current marketing collateral doesn’t always live up to this ambition however.

A credentials presentation is a vital brand touchpoint for potential new clients, and so Sharp Sharp were commissioned to redevelop it.

What we did

In order to achieve a memorable, resonant message, it was first necessary to clarify GTL’s brand positioning, and to conduct a visual review of both competitor brands and those of peers from other industries.

We were pleased to discover that GTL had a clear-eyed view of how they want to be perceived, and worked with them to develop this into a clear brand purpose: pioneering new opportunities in order to build brand affinity.

We developed copy and a look and feel for the credentials presentation, which build upon GTL’s existing branding, while incorporating this pioneering approach.

We looked to future-thinking automotive brands with this explorer mentality for visual inspiration, taking cues from their dashboard interfaces, advertising and tradeshow stand design. We also added a more ambitious, expansive feel to the existing GTL branding with the use of imagery of Earth (i.e. GTL’s globe) viewed from space.

This enabled us to develop a unique, ownable visual style for the document. It combines a clean 3D look for key slides, and is complemented by a similar style in 2D for slides which need to be more easily editable.

GTL’s knowledgeable team provided a clear direction for the structure and tone of voice for the document. We developed copy and visuals to answer this brief in a clean, clear style appropriate to the future-forward ambitions of the brand.

The results

GTL have bought into the updated brand positioning wholeheartedly. The credentials presentation has become a working example of how the new positioning can be conveyed visually. Elements and styling from it were developed into a presentation template as well as the makings of a kit of brand assets for use in other materials.

GTL are highly pleased with the end result, as their Director of New Business Development, Chris Tague, attests:

‘Our new materials really bring our company up to date, and show that we are at the forefront of developments within our industry and beyond. We love how Sharp Sharp have drawn upon the automotive industry for visual inspiration, they’ve achieved an understated yet high-performance style which is going down very well with the people we show it to.’

We look forward to working with GTL as the brand develops.