Why branding is important

Branding is more than a logo and a colour palette. It is creating a strong identity through consistent messaging. That messaging will include how you present your business on social media and in real life. It makes you recognisable to your marketplace.

Your colour scheme, font, tone of voice, images, graphics, website –all form part of your branding and needs to be consistent in everything you put out there.

Branding in the road haulage industry

Branding has always been important in the road haulage industry. Recognising trucks on the road through their colours, and having gimmicks such as names on trucks has always been present.

Now truck haulage needs to be aware of how else their brand can be communicated. It’s no longer about just seeing a vehicle on a road, but about social media and staff reputation.

History

Magnus Group Ltd has been around for nearly 50 years. When Olly Magnus took over as CEO in 2019, he was keen to retain that history and heritage. He enhanced and refreshed the colour scheme and logo to build on the brand. “I wanted to take on Magnus Group Ltd because it had been my Dad’s business so it was important to me to keep elements of those beginnings” explains Olly. “Along with the Magnus name, I wanted to keep a logo and colour scheme that paid respect to my Dad, but would also reflect the new life and growth that was being introduced”.

Values and Culture

Magnus is about family, trust, and excellent customer service. Those values are the building blocks of the brand image.

Magnus has created that brand and enforced that culture through:

Social Media – the messages on LI are consistently on teamwork. “Team” meaning working for Magnus, and with Magnus.
Recruitment – the management structure encourages empowerment, independent thinking and personal growth. Experts lead each division and work together as a team.
Strategy – is of growth and development.
Logo – visually the use of green in a logo reflects growth, trust and being dependable. The lorries have striking livery, even down to the bright green straps. The use of black illustrates power and strength. By retaining the “M”, based on the original logo, the logo gives a nod to the history and roots of the group.

Services

The opportunity to use the livery as a mobile advertising board has been taken with the trucks stating that global forwarding, warehousing and transport are services provided.

The website shows the divisions and the Heads of each division to improve customer service, and clarity.

The strong brand image that Magnus has is building its reputation as a warehousing, freight forwarding and road haulage company illustrating the growth of the past two years.

“Our brand needs to reflect all of our services. Whether a client is looking for an overseas forwarder, a road haulage company in Suffolk, or a bulk warehousing provider, our brand should be recognisable as the trusted provider”, says Olly.

People

When people are at the heart of your business, and your brand, it is important that they are portrayed appropriately. After seeing some of Mark Coventry’s work on LI, Olly contacted him about doing a new set of headshots for the senior team. “I liked Mark’s style. The headshots I saw looked a great mix of fun yet professional – perfect for the Magnus senior team,” laughs Olly.

“The Magnus team were fun to work with. We laughed a lot during the session, I managed to put them all at ease, and they had a good selection of images to choose from at the end of the session, with a range of clothing options, including branded polo shirts”, says Mark. Having a range of photos, in suits through to polo shirts, allow the photos to be used in different forums whilst maintaining a strong brand image.

Genuine Fun

With Olly, what you see is what you get. His behaviour is the same whether in the Boardroom, on the golf course or in the pub. He treats everyone with the same respect and lives by #bekind. He also believes in having fun. “In the past, I have felt sick on a Sunday evening and suffered real anxiety with the thought of the week starting. I don’t ever want to go back to that,” says Olly, “Nor do I ever want anyone who works with me to feel like that. We work hard but we have a laugh at the same time. My team are my best mates.”

This is illustrated in Olly’s LI banner being a cartoon caricature and his LI post content. The company has installed an outdoor “bar” area for staff breaks and evening staff social functions. The branding is that Magnus is a company you can trust built on a team who trust each other and enjoy working with each other.

If you want to know more about the branding refresh undertaken in 2019 by Olly and his team you can read more here: https://magnusgroup.co.uk/making-others-black-and-green-with-envy/

Magnus Group, a haulage, warehousing and freight forwarding logistics company, is based just outside Ipswich, Suffolk, ideally placed to serve the Port of Felixstowe with direct road links to the Midlands, the North and London. If you would like to know more about our warehousing, transport or global forwarding teams call us on +44 (0) 1473836600 or email on commercial@magnusgroup.com. We advertise our driver jobs on our company website: if you would like to join our team, follow our LinkedIn company page and check out our website.

Tags: freight forwarding Suffolk, haulagesuffolk, Team Magnus, UK transport and haulage services in Ipswich, warehousingsuffolk

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