Since mid-July 2019 ESA has formally become Euroseeds and launched the new Euroseeds website: www.euroseeds.eu(same url as before). Such decisions are not take lightly, so European Seed wanted to find out more and asked Valentina Garoia, Manager Communications of Euroseeds for her take on the rebranding exercise.
European Seed (ES): Valentina, why did Euroseeds feel it was necessary to change the name & logo?
Valentina Garoia (VG): The era of acronyms has passed, and many actors in Brussels were already calling us “Euroseeds” to avoid confusions with the many other ESAs that are present in the EU bubble. Hence, Euroseeds is the natural evolution to represent the European seed sector. By the way, many might have noticed that our email addresses have already got a ‘Euroseeds’ domain and so has our website! For these reasons, we felt it was time to change the name and the logo, and together with these also to revamp our website.
ES: What is involved in this rebranding as I guess it is more than just a logo on a website?
VG: Every rebranding exercise involves more than just a new logo on a website. Together with a new name, symbol, or logo, there is always the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, competitors, and other stakeholders.
In our case, the goal is to present Euroseeds as refreshed and with a more consistent name, better aligning all the projects and services that we developed so far under the same look and feel. We also aim to update the website technologies and integrate all the content management systems in one easy-to-use platform.
A main pillar of this exercise is the full integration of the #EmbracingNature campaign in the new Euroseeds universe, both in terms of visuals, tone and messaging. That is why the tagline Embracing Nature is included in the new logo. ‘’We want to firmly establish “#EmbracingNature” as Euroseeds’ trademark and as the European seed sector’s vision for an innovative future of plant breeding and farming!’’ says Garlich von Essen, Secretary-General of Euroseeds.
[tweetshareinline tweet=”We want to firmly establish “#EmbracingNature” as Euroseeds’ trademark & as the European seed sector’s vision for an innovative future of plant breeding and farming!’” username=”EuropeanSeed”]
By navigating the new website, you will realise that the content is definitively better targeting our external stakeholders. We believe that revamping our visual identity and making our name more self-explanatory is a great opportunity to strengthen the sector’s presence and image in the eyes of policy makers, agri-food chain stakeholders and other relevant audiences, especially now, after the EU elections, a very crucial moment of the European politics.
ES: What framework and advice did you give to the designer about the new logo?
VG: The Euroseeds Board formally approved this change in autumn 2018 and since then the secretariat has worked on the project together with two agencies: the first one laid out the graphic charter and the second took care of the design and technical development. The Euroseeds logo was therefore the first step, after which we established the new layout of the website.
It took some time to finetune the logo, but the creation of the first ideas went quite fast. First of all, we wanted to integrate the leaf of the #EmbracingNature campaign. The agency then used the background image of the campaign as basis for the new colour palette, keeping our usual light green and adding the elegant eggplant colour. Of course, seeds couldn’t miss from the symbol, hence the new logo was born!
We got very excited about the contemporary, elegant and simple touch of our logo. We hope that the new look and feel will resonate with the whole Euroseeds membership and that we will be even more visible in front of our stakeholders at EU level.
ES: How do you ensure that other parts of the Euroseeds activities [that previously fell outside of the ‘Embracing Nature’ field] receive sufficient attention?
VG: The aim of the new website is actually to better include and promote all the activities carried out by the association under the Euroseeds umbrella: the databases ESTA and PINTO, the Euroseeds Congress website, the Voluntary Benefit Sharing projects (now called ‘Seeding Benefits’), and ABS regulations website. The new homepage offers a better showcase of all these activities, which are also easier to find within other sections of the website. Their visual identity has also been refreshed based on the new logo. We are convinced that Embracing Nature is actually a slogan that encompasses all the aspects of plant breeding; hence all our initiatives are like satellites orbiting #EmbracingNature.
[tweetshareinline tweet=”Embracing Nature is actually a slogan that encompasses all the aspects of plant breeding; hence all our initiatives are like satellites orbiting this slogan.” username=”EuropeanSeed”]
Presenting Euroseeds as refreshed brand, including all services and with #EmbracingNature as snappy and effective tagline, is our priority for the months to come.
ES: Is the job done, or is there more to come?
VG: There is always more to come! The new website is there, but as you can imagine we are still updating few minor items and in the course of the coming weeks we will implement a few more updates.
Last but not least, we are also working on a new Members Area, that will be developed during the summer months. Our aim is to have it ready for the Euroseeds Congress in October. Euroseeds members can still access the old members area just by clicking on the “MEMBERS AREA” button on the top right of the new website. We are working hard to ensure that the transition will be as smooth as possible.
