Designworks sprinkles magic dust over Tait as new global identity unveiled
Tait Communications is one of New Zealand’s best under-the-radar business success stories and is a great example of a local tech company finding its niche and selling its wares in the international market. And, in an effort to better reflect the company’s transformation into a “world-leading solutions provider” rather than just a radio manufacturer, Designworks Wellington has given it a spiffy new visual identity, slogan and website.
New
Old
Tait Electronics was formed by Sir Angus Tait in 1969 in Christchurch and it focused on designing and assembling mobile radios. And while radio remains a core element of the company’s offerings, James Kyd, Tait’s chief marketing officer, says the solutions today include much more than just radios, which is why it made the decision to change the name from Tait Radio Communications to Tait Communications.
“This signals the beginning of a very exciting time for Tait and our global customers,” says Kyd. “The new identity represents an ongoing business transformation that we have been involved in for the past two years, and better reflects the business we are now in and the ways we are delivering value to our customers around the world…Today, our customers turn to us for the complete communications system, sourced, deployed, supported and managed in a fully integrated way.”
In 2011, Tait’s revenue exceeded US$150 million, of which 95 percent was earned in the 150 countries it exports to (recent successes include cutting a deal with the emergency services in New South Wales and ongoing work with the London bus network after securing a $19 million contract to install a communications system a couple of years back) and the company has seen record revenues and profits in the last three years, perhaps partly because it invests more than 14 percent of its revenue in R&D.
“The new identity captures the very essence of Tait’s culture—our customers—who at the heart of everything we do as a company,” Kyd says. “Our customers’ needs drive every decision, and this is reflected in Tait’s new brand statement: ‘Devoted to your cause’.”
Company spokesman James Richardson says the internal and external rollouts of the new brand, which was almost a year in the making, have been hugely successful so far and there’s been lots of positive feedback about it.
The new brand will continue to be rolled out gradually so that all the other aspects of the business align with the new visual identity.
Thirsty work
February 3, 2012
Certainly an improvement and sure it will work well for them, however it is a real shame a ChCh based company didn't use a ChCh based design agency given what ChCh businesses have faced in the last year.
Jimi the Tulip
February 3, 2012
Agreed! It should have been designed by a Christchurch agency. Shame on you TAIT.
Auckland GAD
February 3, 2012
After years spent in the Christchurch industry it’s still disappointing to see clients still haven’t changed; why they think/feel creativity and innovation is exclusive to Auckland or Wellington agencies has always been perplexing to me.
Jacqui
February 4, 2012
As a brand manager I would always go with the agency who can demonstrate creative and business success in identity transformation. Nice work DW!
Tom
February 7, 2012
The Designworks CHCH office was destroyed in the earthquake.
sven baker
February 7, 2012
A point of clarification. As Tom has quite rightly said, Designworks did have a Christchurch office when we began working Tait. Unfortunately our office was lost in the Feb earthquake and operations had to be temporarily suspended. We are now delighted to be in the process of reestablishing a permanent presence in Christchurch having recently been successful in securing a number of significant new assignments. We have continued to service our Christchurch clients while waiting for the right moment to resume on-the-ground operations. These clients have been very understanding of the situation and supportive of our plan. We are currently recruiting in-market for a number of key roles and look forward to making an announcement shortly on these. We remain totally committed to our long term involvement in Christchurch and continuing to contribut to the rebuilding of the local economy.
Observing from a distance
February 7, 2012
Thirsty work, Jimi the Tulip, Auckland GAD, have a read of this. http://www.designworks.co.nz/christchurch-quake.html and maybe think again before you jump online to knock someone without knowing all of the facts. You're not the first, and you won't be the last; it's just a sad sign of the digital times where it's so easy to type your opinion on a keyboard and publish it. As for Sven Baker, what a dignified response.