advancing island connections
Island Advance is an Island-wide initiative of the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce designed to advance PEI’s economy by creating a supportive environment where entrepreneurs can grow a business and celebrate success. Advancing Island Connections is an annual business showcase and networking forum to connect the PEI business community with newcomer entrepreneurs and investors. Island Advance seeks to foster economic development in Prince Edward Island by encouraging entrepreneurship, improving access to capital, and supporting efforts to retain entrepreneurial immigrants.
Challenge
Island Advance invited us to create a logo design and slogan, and develop a new brand identity for their Advancing Island Connections events. The challenge was to create branding that would speak to both the PEI and newcomer business communities and compel or invite them to attend the event. The goal was to create a modern, powerful and simple sign with a marketing message that reflects the essence of Island Advance events, namely creating new connections by exporting marketing ideas, providing opportunities, and bringing new possibilities to the province with immigrants, and the international business community. This is a two-way communication effort.
Idea
We created a graphic design concept that represents “expanding”. The bright orange colour in four centrifugal arrows oriented on different sides creates a powerful and dynamic sign. In the inverted point of view, four white centripetal arrows can be seen. This double effect of the arrows represents the idea of the events developing two-way connections, external and internal. The logo design is simple and meaningful and delivers the signature idea of the Island Advance initiative. The contrasting combination of the dark blue and orange colours helps create an intelligent and modern visual style for business event identification purposes. The slogan “Expand Your Business World” compliments the logo design and converts the visual sign into a strong marketing message.
Results
With new branding, Advancing Island Connections received a modern and powerful brand identity design for marketing communication. The four-arrows logo design became the signature sign and identification for the professional presentation of this Island Advance initiative. It helps convey the event's purpose in a memorable and attractive style for marketing purposes and positioning. The slogan became a strong call to action for the target audience. “Here at the Chamber, we had been struggling to describe in words succinctly, let alone a visual, the opportunity this event represents to the target audiences: the local business community, the newcomer business community, policymakers, business support organizations, and the broader Prince Edward Island community." — says Patti Devine, Project Director at Island Advance. "Not only did Elena and her team create an arresting visual, but the tagline – Expand Your Business World – helped clarify our thinking about the ultimate goal of this event. We are inviting newcomers into our business community – diversifying our business world, and making international connections to potential markets, talent and suppliers. Art Fresh provides beautiful creative, but so much more.”