Twelfthman Reveals Fei Rebrand
The Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), the world governing body for horse sport, has revitalised its identity with a new re-positioning by creative agency TwelfthMan.
The re-positioning is part of a wider strategy to recognise the individuality of each of its equestrian disciplines.
The FEI, which represents seven different horse sports, asked the agency to give each sport its own position underneath a central umbrella as it pushes forwards with increasing growth, fan engagement and participation and developing new revenue streams.
The undertaking saw TwelfthMan, shortlisted for Young Agency of the Year at the BT Sport Industry Awards 2018, to stage workshops across five different countries. According to the agency, the team spoke to dozens of stakeholders from Spain to Slovakia including the world’s most successful equestrian athlete, dressage world champion Isabell Werth and seven times world champion, Boyd Exell.
By recognising and celebrating the qualities of each of the seven sports, the FEI hopes it will be better placed to engage with fans and attract new sponsors.
TwelfthMan has now assigned each sport its own photographic style and a specific colour code while keeping the seven sports under the FEI name. The agency also developed a modern brand logo, typeface and graphic language to run across all disciplines.
“The scale of the project was immense,” said creative director Mark Pidgeon. “Most jobs are about positioning just one brand. This was about positioning seven.”
“None of us were equestrian experts at the start. So it was exciting to get the opportunity to go around Europe, learn about all the different disciplines and in turn become the experts. There are over 4,500 equestrian events every year in over 130 countries – the scale of the sport is enormous.”
“To give you an idea, vaulting is a sport where competitors are doing acrobatics on horseback. It’s fun and youthful, so the colour turquoise was chosen to reflect this energy.”
“A big thank you to TwelfthMan team for flexibility and hard work on the project. I truly believe we are making a step change in the equestrian world and their creativity and dedication has been instrumental to that,” said FEI commercial director Ralph Straus.
“On top of the brand and positioning, we’ve made significant changes to the FEI digital landscape, content production and commercial model, which is already having a strong impact on discussions with commercial partners.”
