The REC.


A new brand identity transforming The REC and future proofing their organisation

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation

Being a leader of best practice in recruitment, The REC needs to be ahead of the curve promoting what good recruitment can do.

However, despite the influx in recruitment agencies, their membership numbers were hitting a plateau.  The business needed to shift with the times to make it more modern, attractive & accessible to a new breed of recruitment firms.

The REC identified that a total rebrand was necessary to allow them to fulfill their potential, which is where Rawnet came in.


 

The REC's objectives

The REC wanted a total rebrand, followed by a new website, to meet the following key objectives

  • Increase membership renewals
  • Increase new membership sign ups
  • Better connect with their members
  • Increase knowledge and understanding of users (both members and non-members)
Image 1770x1226
The REC Gallery
Mockup3
Mockup4

The starting point



The REC brand was dated, complex and hadn’t scaled with the business. Different teams across the organisation would use the brand in different ways, which over time led to it being diluted. The brand wasn’t resonating with the target audience, which was reflected by a lack of new memberships.

To come up with the new identity, we ran through a brand critique with the REC team to understand what elements of the brand they wanted to keep and what they wanted to get rid of. Starting with a blank canvas was agreed to be the most creative and non-restrictive approach.

The only element we retained was the circular form as, for The REC team, it represented constant progress. Other than that, we were working with a blank canvas.

REC microsite

Brand strategy

Working alongside several stakeholders, internal teams and the core project team, we ran a number of interactive workshops. These workshops were designed to immerse the Rawnet team within The REC and truly understand the business and its purpose.

We had access to a cross section of employees to help identify how the brand and website project will affect their roles and used that insight to help validate our decisions. 

REC workshops

Brand workshops


  • Competitor analysis, competitor quadrant: to understand the competitor landscape and identify potential opportunities for differentiation
  • Product & service exploration: to map out all the products and services offered by The REC
  • Customer segments: to understand how customers were segemented
  • Vision statement / northern star: to develop a working vision statement to inform the brand direction Business model: to understand objectives, KPIs and core sources of revenue
  • Products & services: list all key products & services, identify which are the strongest / weakest areas of expertise, highlight the products & services competitors offer and their level of competence, identify the key products & services that should help form the proposition
  • User personas: a deep dive into all the users who interact with the brand, grouping and identifying patterns based on need and mapping them against the products & services offered
  • Key stakeholder insight: to help us define the new brand values, which were then validated with customer interviews

Brand values

As the voice of the recruitment industry, it’s The REC's responsibility to champion high standards; speaking up for great recruiters and helping them grow.


Vision

To mature the recruitment industry into a respected, trusted and dynamic vocation.

Mission

Raising industry standards and empowering recruiters to exceed expectations by creating an ecosystem of learning and support.

Brand Tagline

The voice of recruitment. Championing standards. Promoting growth.

Value Proposition

We are the voice of the recruitment industry. We are here to drive standards and support recruitment businesses - striving to ensure that every candidate is given the opportunity to succeed.

REC logo sketch

Future-proofing The REC

We ran a number of workshops with the team to understand what the current perception of their visual brand was vs what they wanted the perception to be. 


It became clear that the current visual brand wasn’t cohesive, with each team placing its values, specifically complexity and vibrance, in markedly different places on the chart.

The proposed direction is far clearer, with the teams putting their markers in similar spots which in turn created our core design values, which were:

Accessible
Modern
Vibrant
Bold
Progressive
Simple

Visual identity

With the new values defined, the team moved onto crafting The REC's visual identity. We went through a number of iterations, guided by competitor analysis & inspirational brands, and created something visual that truly resonated with The REC's new values.

REC brand assets
Image2 2740x1848
Image4 1340x1570
Image3 1340x1570

Next stages

The next stage of our partnership with The REC is to launch a new website, coming in April! In the meantime, take a look at the microsite we launched with the new brand.

Seeing the sign in reception this morning put a massive smile on my face. I felt so proud of the new brand and it’s been an absolute pleasure working with Rawnet on it.

Shazia Ejaz Head of Communications REC