Transform Awards recognises best in rebranding, brand development and brand repositioning in Asia-Pacific region

Repositioning a brand while changing the reputation of a product from something near-reviled to an object of luxury requires well-defined objectives and a cohesive visual and verbal identity. Transform Asia Pacific Awards’ Grand Prix winner, purveyor of civet coffee Sijahtra, met those challenges head on. It took what was once difficult-to-impossible to sell and transformed it, through packaging, design and brand language, into a desired luxury item. Not only did that earn it the most valued title of the night, but three other gold awards as well.

The Transform Awards Asia Pacific and conference recognised the best in brand repositioning, brand development and brand transformation in the region. The conference featured an examination of the sensory brand experience – including sight and sound – as well as the importance of a coherent strategy and brand name before comparing brand strategy in Asia versus Europe and the US.

The awards, which earlier this year celebrated excellence in rebranding in Europe and in the MENA region with events in London and Dubai, bestowed honours upon brands from across the Asia-Pacific region in a number of sectors, largely from the travel and tourism, financial services and retail sectors.

Andrew Thomas, founder of Cravenhill Publishing, says, “This year’s inaugural Transform Awards Asia Pacific has been about celebrating the journeys that brands have made. In some cases those journeys have been extreme, a complete rebrand or repositioning of an organisation, a 180-degree shift in direction. In others, it has been less of a change of direction, and more of a planned slow and steady climb. This book tells the narrative of the journeys that were honoured. That narrative needed telling and Transform magazine is proud to be the storyteller of those brand’s journeys. We’re delighted also to provide the stage from which we have recognised the excellence of those changing narratives, and to all companies, shortlisted or winning, we congratulate you.”

Other big winners on the night were HSBC Now Asia and MerchantCantos, which revolutionised the way the HSBC brand was perceived by the internal audience, and VIV and Landor, which refocused service stations to cater to the way people interact socially with each other and with their local environments.

For more information about the Transform Awards Asia-Pacific, or to enter your work into the Transform Awards Europe programme, visit www.transformmagazine.net/awards or email lfoggitt@transformmagazine.net.

The full list of winners is as follows:

CONTENT

Best use of a visual property

Gold – Swire Properties and Brand Union
Silver – HSBC Now Asia and MerchantCantos
Bronze – Gottex and Living Group
Highly commended – Murata and Living Group
Highly commended – Stevenson Wong & Co. and Living Group

Best brand architecture solution

Gold – Legrand and Labbrand

Best use of copy style/tone of voice

Gold – Sijahtra and MADE
Silver – FWD Hong Kong and Macau and Jack Morton Worldwide
Bronze – Bluewater and Rocket Content Marketing

Best brand experience

Gold – Harbour City Estates Limited
Silver – Fossil Group and StartJG
Bronze – Asian Paints and FITCH

Best use of packaging

Gold – Sijahtra and MADE
Silver – Nestlé and Elmwood
Bronze – Evorie and Labbrand

PROCESS

Best external stakeholder relations during a brand development project

Gold – Bluewater and Rocket Content Marketing

Best internal communication during a brand development project

Gold – HSBC Now Asia and MerchantCantos
Silver – Swire Properties and Brand Union

Best implementation of brand development

Gold – VIV and Landor
Silver – Winning Appliances
Bronze – Dr Geoff Wilcsek The Oculoplastics Centre and Synsation Brand

Best implementation of brand development across multiple markets

Gold – Vietnam Airlines and JWT
Silver – Bluewater and Rocket Content Marketing

STRATEGY

Best creative strategy

Gold – Fossil Group and StartJG
Silver – Winning Appliances
Bronze – Suning and StartJG

Best brand evolution

Gold – Winning Appliances
Silver – Fossil Group and StartJG
Silver – Suning and StartJG
Bronze – Anchor Beer and ComZone (Cambodia)
Highly commended – UNSW Arts & Social Sciences and Synsation Brand

Best strategic/creative development of a new brand

Gold – Sijahtra and MADE
Silver – Hotel Jen and fluid
Bronze – Coles and Elmwood
Highly commended – Club Med and Labbrand
Highly commended – Latitude Brokers and Unison

TYPE

Best corporate rebrand following a merger or acquisition

Gold – Zuellig Pharma and StartJG
Silver – Bluewater and Rocket Content Marketing
Bronze – VIV and Landor

Best brand development project to reflect changed mission/values/positioning

Gold – HSBC Now Asia and MerchantCantos
Silver – Swire Properties and Brand Union
Bronze – Bank of Queensland and BWM

Best rebrand of a digital property

Gold – Li & Fung and Sedgwick Richardson
Silver – Anglo Chinese Group and Sedgwick Richardson
Highly commended – MovePlan Group and 400

SECTOR

Best visual identity from a charity, NFP or NGO

Gold – Plastic Free Seas and Brand Union
Silver – Kely Support Group and StartJG

Best visual identity from the energy & extractives sector
Gold – VIV and Landor

Best visual identity from the financial services sector