Case Study: Brand Transformation
Repositioning a 100-year-old engineering body for land, sea, air and emerging tech
With Australia’s auto industry in decline, the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE-A) saw an opportunity to evolve and support engineers across the broader mobility sector.
A new organisational strategy, brand position and brand identity, developed by a team of independent consultants, enabled SAE-A’s transition to become the Society of Mobility Engineers Australasia (SME-A).
The challenge
-
Nearly 100 years supporting engineers across Australia
Since 1927, SME-A had been supporting automotive engineers. But the sector looked vastly different in Australia over the past decade.
-
With ambition to serve a broader sector for 100 more
An automotive-centred identity didn’t represent the sectors, technologies and engineers it had begun to serve across land, sea, air and emerging technologies.
-
And members navigating their own skills transitions
Engineers and their employers were navigating rapid technological change, with professionals upskilling and moving frequently across the mobility sector.
The Approach:
Three Consultants, One Team
-
organisational strategy
Consultant Phil Doyle worked with SME-A to define its purpose, scope and operating plan to match its new ambition, exploring facets like what mobility meant in practice and which programs would best serve its members.
-
brand strategy
Consultant Jennifer Weber used the new strategy to litmus test language around the agreed definition of the mobility sector; how SME-A would serve the sector and what made them uniquely positioned to lead.
-
brand identity
Consultant Jamie Rhys (Clifford) translated the brand positioning into a new visual identity that was distinctive and practical for a small team to embed, reflected the new broader remit, and modernised the long-unchanged brand.
what i did:
brand strategy & messaging
From the foundation of the agreed strategy, I led SME-A leaders through a nuanced debate around:
what they desired to change in the mobility sector;
their non-negotiables in how they’d serve the sector; and,
what made them uniquely positioned to lead the sector’s evolution.
We explored varied stakeholder groups, their needs, and how SME-A would support them, landing key organisational values. A competitor analysis and continued debate sharpened language choices further.
From the richness of these conversations, I translated the agreed strategy into a new brand position, UVP and narrative.
The result: SME-A received a foundational narrative for its public story that offered:
A clear account of the Society’s role
Its value to members and industry
The case for its transition
Plus, a toolkit of key messages
This approach ensured that the team had a compelling, internally consistent and credible story to tell about what SME-A could deliver, and the team was equipped to tell it.
the result
from initial ambition to organisational PLATFORM
SME-A got a new strategy, new name, new position and new visual identity to explain:
Why it exists
Who it serves
Where it would focus
How it will create value
“Philip, Jennifer and Jamie made it feel easy, working seamlessly as one team and making efficient, effective use of our small team’s time.”
Angela Krepcik, General Manager, Society of Mobility Engineers Australasia