Otter Nurseries had been a successfully run family business spanning three generations, but their brand was looking a little out-dated and they wanted to grow. Our work has helped them expand the business, whilst preserving the family culture and increased footfall and customer retention.
Otter Garden Centres are an independent, family run business, with multiple sites across the South West.
The company has been growing successfully for over three generations and now has 7 retail branches and 3 large growing nurseries. However, facing increasing competition from supermarkets, DIY stores and other garden centres, they needed to shift perceptions from small garden nursery to one that reflected their expanding portfolio of garden centres and retail offering and would have broader appeal and capture a younger audience.
Extensive interviews, site visits and visual audits revealed inconsistencies and issues with the communications produced internally across multiple sites. The brand identity did not reflect the quality, ambitions for the future or the friendly team with expert knowledge and a passion for being outdoors, growing plants and connecting with nature.
We changed the name to Otter Garden Centres and redrew the otter, against the backdrop of a leaf to reflect the nature of the business, keeping it simple so it was easy to apply. The typeface was chosen to be distinctive but also because the forms and shapes looked natural. The chosen colour palette also reflected nature. The visual identity had to work across a broad range of online and offline material – from livery and labels, to signage and their e-commerce website. We delivered extensive brand guidelines and design systems for the day-to-day and one-off communications and commissioned bold new illustrations from Clover Robin – a local illustrator with a tactile, colourful, collage style and interest in flowers and nature.
The branding and visual identity has been hugely successful and very well received with both team members and customers. Internally, it has helped drive efficiencies within the business and the execution of materials are now consistent and more impactful. It has also supported increased customer recruitment and retention with a strong and consistent branding approach through all touchpoints on the customer journey.
Katherine Govier, Group Head of Marketing
Illustrations by Clover Robin
