Havas London rebrands supermarket giant ASDA

Asda has today revealed its new brand identity designed by Havas London, coinciding with the launch of the brand's summer campaign titled 'Serious About Summer'.

The retailer intended the new brand identity to be a visual and audible expression of its brand purpose and values. Havas London worked across all areas of Asda's brand, from colour and tone of voice to typography.

Havas London chief design officer Lorenzo Fruzza says: "When developing identities for brands like Asda, it's important to remember that the channels they live in have evolved so much in recent years – they no longer just show up in traditional media channels."

"We have worked with Asda to create a new brand identity that stands out in the market and can flex across multiple channels, ensuring it's relevant and meaningful to its customers. It's been fantastic to partner with Asda on this project and push the boundaries of building the brand."

Extensive customer research went into the project, as both the retailer and creative agency sought to understand how customers see Asda, what they love about it, and how the supermarket positions itself as a relevant entity in the market. In response, the new identity seeks to set the retailer apart from its competitors while retaining its distinctive elements and appealing to both present and future customers.

According to Havas London, Asda's "uncompromising value" is a key driver in the new dynamic design system. A notable change is the colour palette, which pairs Asda's iconic green with a new dark green hue.

Havas London believes that its new colour palette results in "a harmonious yet bold aesthetic, which flexes across the whole brand identity".

The agency partnered with Colophon Foundry to devise a new typography treatment for the retail conglomerate. The new treatment is described as "a characterful and playful unicase style" that conveys Asda's personality through its copy, projecting a "simultaneously bold yet conversational tone."

Paying homage to Asda's grocery heritage in a contemporary way, Havas London also opted for a curved placement of text.

Graphic stickers were incorporated into the new design system to bring flexibility to the brand while also showcasing Asda's offers and ranges in "a creatively consistent way, with added personality", says Havas London.   

Havas London creative partner Nathalie Gordon explains how Asda's brand and proposition have evolved over the last two decades, with this year being no exception. "We utilised strategy, creative and design, to optimise Asda's brand landscape under a clear, single-minded design to ensure a cohesive brand experience", says Gordon, adding that creating a "consistent design system that expressed Asda's true personality and purpose across all touchpoints" was key to the project.

"To do this, we stress-tested every facet of Asda's brand world to allow versatility across all branding applications. Not only that, but we've created a world with longevity and that stand-outs – moving Asda apart from its competitors", says Gordon.

Asda's new identity will debut in the brand's summer campaign, Serious About Summer, directed by Freddie Waters at Pulse. The integrated campaign features a series of tongue-in-cheek TV ads that each give unique takes on family summer experiences.

The new campaign is the latest to be led by Chief Customer Officer David Hills and VP of Marketing Adam Zavalis, who joined Asda last year.

Hills describes the launch of the new brand identity as "a milestone moment in the evolution of Asda's strategy". He believes the brand has "tremendous heritage and is much loved by the Great British public" and hopes that the new identity will help it "stand out in the grocery market" and foster connections with customers.

Asda's identity will be rolled out further into stores, vehicles and colleague uniforms in the coming months.