Magpie studio on refreshing the Aero paint brand
Magpie Studio created a film to reposition Aero as a film-based paint alternative. The film was a hit and scooped the Refresh of an Existing Brand award at The Drum Awards for Design. Here is the award-winning case study.
Paint is killing the planet. AERO is a film-based paint alternative that provides a revolutionary solution to a huge environmental problem. They wanted to get their product in front of the world’s most innovative automotive brands, but with an out-dated brand operating in a sector awash with poor-performance films, they weren’t taken seriously. To cut through, they needed to appeal to a design-led audience and align with the innovators of today. They needed an identity as cutting edge as their product.
To help them connect, we repositioned AERO from a film-based coating maker to a sustainable material technology company with the brand idea ‘engineered from the molecule up’. The insight for this came from the fact that AERO’s material technology isn’t just a different kind of paint. It’s a completely different kind of material, with a genuinely sustainable, non-polluting production method. It has the same aesthetic quality as paint – but performs better and lasts far longer. We played into that to create a new category for the brand to play in – sustainable material technology – with a confident identity to match.
Building on this idea, we drew references from tech, data, science and racing for the new visual identity. We streamlined their existing logo, ditched the corporate blue for an electric green, developed an impactful yet accessible TOV and a suite of hi-tech brand assets. The 3D icons, amorphous text mesh, infographics, ideograms, and CGI assets support imagery and key messages in dynamic and compelling ways.
The new brand has proved instrumental in repositioning AERO in automotive, enabling them to win partnerships with major, innovation-led OEMs including Jaguar Land Rover, Rivian and Lucid. Off the back of the new identity, they’ve even launched a joint venture with PPG – the new Advanced Surface Technologies arm – to grow the paint film category even further. PPG is the world’s leading paint manufacturer – this deal is a major coup for a once-small material technology innovator and a testament to the power of brand to enhance market perception and financial equity.
With this new venture, AERO is now recognized as a leading sustainable material technology company (rather than an industrial coatings manufacturer), continuing to grow at pace.