Today, we are delighted to unveil a new-look brand and website for East Midlands Chamber.
It marks a big step forward for how we present ourselves publicly and we are confident the updated website will have significant benefits for members, which have been a vital part of this rebranding journey.
Here, we explain what’s new, why we’ve done it and how you have helped us.
A modern logo for a modern Chamber
You will notice a new, simple wordmark has replaced the logo that has represented us ever since Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce merged with their Leicestershire counterpart in 2013 to form today’s organisation – the UK Chamber of the Year, no less.
A subtle change within this new logo is we have reordered the counties alphabetically. The merger is just a milestone in our long history and it’s important to reflect the even split in how we represent each of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire in everything we do.
Our core purple colour is formed from the three county colours of the original logo and we have retained those colours – red, green and blue – in our secondary palette.
Look closely and you will notice the leaf of the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) brand identity, which represents the concept of growth that is fundamental to businesses, remains within the typeface by rounding off edges in individual letters.
This is a nod to our heritage and the role of the BCC in amplifying the voice of East Midlands businesses in Westminster and Whitehall. As one of 53 accredited chambers of commerce, we are the link for our members in influencing representational and lobbying activity at national level.
The lower-cased lettering in our logo, which will be used across all our activities, publications and marketing assets going forward, also reflects a modern outlook for the Chamber.
Who knew a logo could be stripped back so far and yet say so much?
East Midlands Chamber members help develop new brand identity
It’s important at this stage to explain how we arrived here.
You may have heard the story about how, in 1971, graphic designer Carolyn Davidson invoiced Nike $35 for drawing the famous swoosh that has become one of the world’s most iconic emblems. In reality, this isn’t an overnight job for us mere mortals and we didn’t simply task our marketing team with putting together a new logo on Photoshop.
Throughout 2022, we held six virtual focus groups comprising more than 50 members across the three counties to determine where our priorities should lie.
Six other member organisations – Six Degrees, Think3, The Brand Strategy, Bright Owl, Ashton Court and Matthew Jones Photography – have supported the project delivery and we also engaged members of the Chamber’s 150-strong team to influence direction.
After all, we exist for our business members and our organisation is driven by our team members, so it made absolute sense to bring you on our journey.
What we learned from this consultation process was that heritage is important to the Chamber but it was also vital to modernise our brand to keep up with changing business needs.
Focus groups also identified three core reasons for why our stakeholders interact with us – for themselves, their business and their local area – as well as how they use and navigate our services.
Improved user-friendly website
This also helped us with designing our new-look website, which aims to showcase what we do more clearly. You can now browse our services via a single drop-down menu, while there are separate tabs for international, events and training, and a members’ area.
The website is more user-friendly across multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets, and pages are streamlined to include all the necessary information in one place.
Our new website launches today and further enhancements will be rolled out throughout 2023, along with the new branding in our communications from January onwards.
We believe this new-look Chamber identity positions us well for a modern, digital world in which the way business support is delivered will continue to evolve.
Not all is changing, however. We remain committed to being the same organisation that welcomes more than 4,000 members to take advantage of our vast range of benefits, works with 12,000-plus businesses more broadly each year, and champions our three counties on a national and international platform.
