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Aptech announces revamped brand identity
With a new logo and tagline, the 25-year old career education and training company aims to sport a more youthful and contemporary identity, supported by a campaign that is directed at extensive engagement with the consumer.
Aptech, the career education and training company plans to get more contemporary and build a stronger connect with its customers. It has unveiled its new corporate identity with a new logo that sports a tiger paw with a human imprint, along with the tagline 'Unleash Your Potential'. With this move, the 25-year old company is looking to re-connect with stakeholders and consumers, and further attract its global audience.
The company, however, has left out its two brands in the area of multi-media training - Arena Multimedia, and the recently acquired Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) untouched, saying that it intends to continue with a two-brand strategy in this field, and that both Arena Multimedia and MAAC have strong individual brand identities themselves.
Karpe further tells afaqs! that the need to give the brand a new avatar also stemmed from the fact that the perception about Aptech being just a computer education company needed to change, with the various other services that the company offers.
The new logo has been designed by Chlorophyll. Aptech's creative duties are handled by Quadrum Solutions for all its brands except MAAC, which is taken care of by ELEVEN Brandworks.
While not very aggressive on the mainstream media, Aptech's re-branding exercise will be supported by a campaign that the company claims to be among the country's first customer approved project on the digital medium.
Betting big on engagement, a microsite (www.unleashyourpotential.in) has been designed, wherein users can post their own accounts of how they have unleashed their potential in their career. Also, a part of the campaign is a revamped website where consumers can express their views on the changed identity. Karpe says that Aptech is even willing to change the revamped look if it is not approved by consumers.
"Our target group is the youth and they want stronger engagement. That, we believe will be our key to success," he says.
"When we engage the consumers, they understand our brand philosophy better," adds Ram Warrier, head corporate marketing, Aptech, and head, MAAK.
Digital remains the primary medium for the re-branding campaign. Besides the microsite and the revamped website, virals, blogs and a lot of user generated content are also on the anvil.
Vikram Sood, chief executive officer and founder of And Then Digital Arts that is handling the activation project for the exercise, along with Tivre Business Solutions tells afaqs! that engagement is going to be crucial because when a company decides to go in for an image change after such a long time, it is very important to know if the change is being welcomed, and receive positive consumer feedback.
Karpe says that while Aptech has not been very aggressive on the ATL (above the line) front, the company is considering more communication on the mainstream front to ensure a stronger leverage opportunity for the brand.
Aptech, which is present in 40 countries across five continents, is planning to further strengthen its global presence, which the changed brand identity expects to boost.
"The demand for career education and specialised courses has been steadily on the rise due to the growing emphasis on professional and skill-based knowledge. The cluttered market, cacophonous brand messages and the need to engage the new world students, encouraged us to take a re-look at our corporate identity and overall branding strategy. This places the brand in our target group's consciousness, and eventually helps us to unleash its potential," says Karpe.