Rebranding the PPA

Who are the PPA?

The PPA has represented the magazine publishing industry for over 100 years

Why rebrand?

Under new leadership, it was important that the message and the brand could support Saj's innovative new strategy and vision.It had also been highlighted that the current brand didn't showcase the value it offered to members as well as it should.It was important to balance the old with defining a bold new direction to create deeper relationships with all members.

What was the ambition for the rebrand?

Revitalise a long-standing brand under new leadership

Maintain relevance and future-proof

Ensure the new brand was representative and inclusive of all team and external members

How did we approach it?

1) Reposition

We ran a workshop with the team to dig into what the value of PPA membership truly is, and what we could unlock by creating a new story.

Rather than focusing on a particular format which could become outdated quickly (e.g. magazines or digital publishing), we built a bank of messaging around "content that unites people over shared interests" ... which opens up new doors to champion and celebrate diverse voices in the industry.

This also allowed us to bring the hard-working team behind the scenes more into the forefront, and celebrate the people that inspire the medium.

2) Rebrand

In any rebrand project, the right design talent is crucial, so we brought Harriet Beesley/Ferguson on board to take the new positioning and translate it into a fresh and exciting visual identity.

The new logo is the Pilcrow symbol (reversed), which has been used to start a new train of thought for centuries.

And that’s exactly what this project was about, starting a new train of thought for a much-loved and established organisation.

We added a fresh and vibrant colour palette to represent the team's personality and also appeal to a younger generation than before. For the next generation of people working in publishing, we wanted to make the brand not only inclusive… but inviting.

This involved considerations around accessibility on typeface and colours as well as diverse photography and identifying what different members would find valuable at different stages of their careers.

We're really pleased with the finished work, a real collaboration between the whole team.

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Check out the new website here: https://ppa.co.uk/

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