Refreshing an iconic brand

We were commissioned to review the existing brand materials, and develop a style guide and assets in order to make Lambretta brand licensing-ready.

Lambretta is synonymous with 1960s Mod culture and Italian style. However, production of its scooters was interrupted from the 1970s up until 2017. Since 2017, it has been wooing urban consumers with its V-Special range.

Global Trademark Licensing recently started to represent Lambretta globally in its brand licensing activities. The challenge for its brand licensing campaign was how to appeal to the fans of Mod culture and the 60s era scooters, as well as its younger urban audience who buy the scooters today.

The solution

The core Lambretta brand is very strong, with its badges, bold red brand colour and roundel device. In order to maintain strong brand recognition and reference its heritage, we focussed on a limited number of these brand elements which form the core of the brand.

A custom ethos

Delving into Lambretta’s heritage was a real treat. Its many fans across the world have made the brand their own through customising their scooters with extra wing mirrors, custom paint as well as customising their clothing with badges and artwork. We have represented this spirit through a set of modular graphics inspired by badges, which can be reconfigured in many ways. The intention is for this custom ethos to be built into Lambretta’s licensed products, as a way for people to make the brand their own.

Contemporary Mod and Urban Style

Informed by our research, we recommended that the tastes of the younger and older audiences required two different approaches. We developed an Urban Style look for the younger audience, which taps into taps into Lambretta’s timeless appeal and upmarket styling, with an urban edge inspired by street art and bold road markings. For the older audience, we developed the Contemporary Mod style, which combines 1960s Mod styling with a modern twist.

We compiled a new licensing style guide which included core branding plus the two styles for the different audiences. It features product and packaging concepts, and information on the brand’s heritage to inspire licensees. And it distils the key information from a previous set of corporate brand guidelines, to clearly set out how the brand should be used on licensed products.

The result

Lambretta were very pleased with the approach for the brand and the end result.

Global Trademark Licensing will now use these materials to help them to secure new licensees and retailers for the brand. Chris Tague, Global Trademark Licensing’s Director of New Business Development, was instrumental in steering the project, here’s his view on the project:

“Sharp Sharp assessed Lambretta’s existing materials, and developed positioning, assets and a licensing style guide for the brand’s two key customer segments. We enjoyed working with them, and they developed a deep understanding of the brand. We believe that these materials will enable Lambretta to connect with new audiences as well as to reconnect with older ones.”
Chris Tague
Director of New Business Development
Global Trademark Licensing