Buying a business is daunting enough. Doing it in a new country where you don’t yet speak the language is a Netflix series.
You have to take a lot of people you don’t know – and can’t really understand – at their word.
Fortunately Liu Ping, the new owner of Royal Oak’s Salon Amici, got lucky. Helping her navigate the ownership transition – plus a significant rebrand and renovation – were the two former owners, now the Salon’s senior stylists.
The chemistry and camaraderie between these 3 ladies lies at the heart of this rebrand.
THE SPIRIT OF AMICI
Maggie Mackay and Praveena Charan opened the Salon’s doors in 1998. They named it Amici (friend in Italian) as a tribute to their own friendship. But twenty years owning a business can be a grind and they were only too happy when Liu Ping bought their company. In the spirit of friendship, they have been with Ping every step of the way as the Salon has undergone a comprehensive refresh.
Brand Intervention was engaged to provide a clear strategic direction and a fresh face (the Salon’s face, not mine!), and line up the team that would transform the interior.
A Brand Workshop with the Salon staff kicked off the process and pointed us in the right direction: We needed to more fully embrace Amici, and warm up the environment.
Doing online surveys gave us a clear sense of visitor expectations, and told us how far people would travel to see their stylist, which helped us nail down our marketing territory as well.
A FRESH NEW STYLE
Graphic designer Megan Munro provided a stellar refreshing of the logo and brought a signature colour palette into play.
OLD LOOK
NEW LOOK
We soon had our physical brand ready to roll with a new website, business cards, brochures and social media pages.
Enter interior designer Marika Beise of Rock Paper Square. She took in the brand essence and responded with a design upgrade that brought a visually warm welcome to complement the human one. Strong Construction provided the building savvy.
OLD INTERIOR
NEW INTERIOR
Urban Sign transformed the exterior of the Salon with overhead signage and sandwich boards.
EXTERIOR SIGNAGE BEFORE/AFTER
The final touch was bringing in Derek Ford to capture the newly branded salon – and it’s re-emphasized spirit – in photos, many of which you see in this post.
I’ve worked on a lot of rebrands, but never before one where the spirit of the team was ultimately the brand strategy. Talk about living your brand. Thank you ladies of Salon Amici!