The idea to change the brand name in the Russian market belongs to KIKA franchise holders. KIKA is one of the largest European furniture retailers and the brand is widely known in the Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian, and Israeli markets. The unique business model uniting under a single brand the offers of a great number of high-quality furniture and household goods manufacturers enjoys a good reputation in Russia. Nonetheless, localisation of the brand in the Russian market was required, which implied changing the dissonant name and updating the visual style that initially was at odds with its positioning in Russia.
To define the degree of all necessary changes, taking into account the change of the name and many other features of the brand, as well as the continuity degree, all weak and strong points of the current brand have been carefully analysed and a detailed platform for the new brand has been developed.

The most challenging and interesting part of the project was to find a simple and, at the same time, exact name which needed to be harmonious, short, easy to read and remember. Also, the new brand name had to convey such brand’s advantages as the European quality of the furniture and the level of related services. Hoff was recognised as a name, which exactly answered the said objectives.

All the strong points of the new brand name have been reinforced and multiplied in its visual identity. The expressly simple and laconic forms of the logo have been balanced by the necessary portion of emotionality which is expressed in the form of the unique letter F united with the exclamation mark. The “open” red colour does not only underline laconism and emotionality but is that very element of continuity, which links the old and new brands. It should also be noted that it was the uniform red colour that formed the basis of a specially developed brand change programme, which enabled us to provide our buyers with easy-to-understand information on all the changes.

The communication block made by the form of the full stop together with the exclamation mark, visually successive to the logo, has become an important element of the brand. The simplicity of the forms of the communication block enables its flexible use: it is convenient in branding identification media as well as in the integration of different information elements such as slogans, headings, marks, etc.

The brand is growing in sales areas on a number of things: price lists, marks, signs, staff uniform, complicated price-flag system, on numerous advertising and information hoardings. The basis of a great number of elements of the brand is the visual motives and communication block. These two visually simple and clear tools have proved effective not only for the creation of the unique interior space of hypermarkets, but also for the design of the façades of shops, advertising campaign principles, brand-name transport. Constructive solutions and technological standards of signboards and other volume and light elements of the brand have been developed within the limits of the project and systematised in an album of technical standards.

The new brand Hoff has already proved that the solutions developed in MILDBERRY were correct and effective. This is a rare example of a brand change being acclaimed both by the company staff and loyal consumers of all the six existing hypermarkets.