Client
Bridgestone Americas
Services
Corporate Branding
Year
2023
Bridgestone Americas, Inc. built a network of support called Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) – an employee-led group of teammates who join together based on shared characteristics or life experiences.
Teammates initiate ERGs to provide connection, community service opportunities, and leadership development.
Bridgestone sought to create a visual system to unify and professionalize ERG branding. Our task was to present a solution that maintained the individuality of each ERG while complying with the Corporate brand.
In partnership with Crayons & Marketers, we met with every ERG to understand what symbols and colors were important to each group.
We studied Bridgestone’s Brand Guide and identified the circle, 16-degree angle (internally referred to as “The Bridge” and individuality as three crucial elements.
This was the ERG Branding before Apple & Anchor was hired:
Since there was no brand guide, the marks lacked a unifying element and appeared to be part of different companies versus a system of marks under a larger brand umbrella.
We conducted focus groups with each ERG to learn the ideals most important to each group. After the listening phase, we presented the following concepts:
Concept 1 was chosen during the initial logo presentation and rolled out to presentations, merch, college recruiting materials, corporate events, and tradeshows.
We created a comprehensive Brand Guide so their internal design team had the exact specifications in order to create logos for any future resource groups.
Following the completion of the branding project, Elizabeth A. Lewis Executive Director, Brand & Marketing Strategy for Bridgestone Americas, said:
“What an incredible kick-off project for what I believe will be the start of a meaningful relationship between our organizations. Thank you for bringing every ounce of passion, creativity and professionalism to this project. We are so impressed with Crayons & Marketers and Apple & Anchor, and look forward to opportunities to come.”
