Creat­ing a Brand Strat­egy for an Inte­grated Mobil­ity Brand: HSR

The basic precept to Inte­grated Mobil­ity is derived from a set of beliefs to provide seam­less connec­tiv­ity all the way from the first mile to the last mile of a jour­ney. This set of beliefs, percep­tions and asso­ci­a­tions are expressed and commu­ni­cated in a Brand Strat­egy which acts as an organization’s DNA, it is expressed through the name, visual iden­tity and all prod­ucts, services and behav­iours. By consis­tently rein­forc­ing the brand strat­egy to all touch­points through market­ing and commu­ni­ca­tions initia­tives, an orga­ni­za­tion has the abil­ity to emotion­ally connect and build a profile with riders.

Devel­op­ing an Inte­grated Mobil­ity Brand requires an under­stand­ing of the goals, percep­tions, and aspi­ra­tions of the client, their customer base and target market. The objec­tive is to envi­sion and artic­u­late the emotional needs of riders across all segments, and what riders expec­ta­tions are in terms of mobil­ity choices. HSR is in the process of devel­op­ing a brand that will signal a shift from a tran­sit agency to an Inte­grated Mobil­ity System.

To this end, a broad range of city and tran­sit staff were inter­viewed by Entro Commu­ni­ca­tions along with a wide rang­ing set of citi­zens, thought lead­ers and busi­ness lead­ers, to envi­sion the value propo­si­tion, its brand posi­tion­ing, brand archi­tec­ture and key message strat­egy for the evolv­ing HSR system. Through this rigor­ous engage­ment process a brand strat­egy was formu­lated that was tested with Customer Expe­ri­ence Labs and a qual­i­ta­tive survey. Six hundred riders were engaged across all key market segments.

Through a unique posi­tion­ing, the emotional needs of riders across all segments, in terms of inte­grated mobil­ity were artic­u­lated. With the brand strat­egy complete, the next step will be the creation of the name, visual iden­tity and language, and market­ing strat­egy.