Focus on people and innovations
SBA’s transformation will be embodied by the entire group’s new mission – “Invent Everyday, for the Better” which implies the commitment and the invitation to create a healthier and friendlier world by making use of innovations. As part of the changes, SBA’s official name will abandon the concept of ’concern’.
“We are changing our official name to SBA Grupė, while on the international markets we will use SBA Group. We are making these changes as we enter a new stage of maturity, during which we will focus all our energy on international expansion. We are also fundamentally reviewing our own and our other businesses’ identity. Our goal is ‘one group, one culture.’ encompassing the “Invent Everyday” philosophy, which, at its core revolves around beginning every working day wondering what you could improve or invent to make the world healthier, more advanced, and friendlier. We are directing our business ideology away from the priority of “business to business” to the axis of “human to human” not only to better understand our end clients but also to offer ideas and solutions that lead to positive change in people’s lives,” says SBA president Arūnas Martinkevičius.
The SBA brand and visual identity evolution was created over the past few years alongside one of the biggest marketing and branding companies in the world, LANDOR & FITCH. Its clients include such companies as Apple, Barclays, BP, Microsoft, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Huawei, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, and Lego among other global enterprises.
New names and visual identity
While implementing the changes alongside the aforementioned global company’s French division, the SBA’s logo has been revamped, and the recognisable SBA symbol has been brought forward and visually reinforced. The old logo font has also been changed to a more modern one.
“We renewed the group’s logo by inserting more lightness and smoothness into it, which creates an impression of closeness, and reflects a shift in the group’s identity, and bringing forward the recognisable symbol serves to emphasise the value indication. We kept the well-known colours used in the logo, maintaining links to responsible innovations. The branding of our other businesses sees changes in both colour and shape, as well as wording,” says SBA strategic marketing director Nerijus Kalinauskas.
When distilling and constructing the architecture for the other SBA company brands, three core principles were employed. Firstly, the aim was to strengthen the individual businesses’ ties to the group, and so their names now feature a unifying sign and inscription SBA. Secondly, the following part of the name is to reflect the essence of the business in question and the area of a person’s life, which the product or service targets. Thirdly, the name must be recognisable and understandable in foreign markets.
In accordance with these principles, SBA Baldų Kompanija, which manages furniture manufacturing companies, has been renamed to SBA Home. The new name will reflect the core of the company’s function – better understanding the end user’s needs and offering advanced ideas and solutions for sustainable and more friendly homes. The names of the furniture manufacturing companies managed by SBA Home will remain unchanged, but to maintain links to the group, their logos will be visually unified and will have a reference to SBA Home. The green colour chosen for the branch of business will emphasise dynamics, sustainability, and the human to human approach.
The real estate development company Urban Inventors is changing name to SBA Urban, referencing the creation of better urban spaces for people. To reflect the company’s dynamic and innovation-based ideas, a grapefruit-red colour was chosen.
The modular multi-storey building business direction company SBA Modular, which will strive for a breakthrough across Europe in developing healthy and environmentally-friendly buildings, is keeping the same name because it is in line with the aforementioned principles. The style for this business direction will be dominated by positive yellow colouring.
The SBA’s Utenos Trikotažas group, which operates in the textile sector, will not be changing names, but an extra brand – SBA Apparel – is to be registered and used when discussing the textile sector in the group’s context. The direction revolves around responsible and sustainable apparel production for better individual wellbeing. The style of the group’s companies Utenos Trikotažas and Šatrija, will be dominated by a blue-green turquoise, emphasising lightness and balance between sustainability, and responsibility for a positive customer experience.
SBA has already begun the procedures for registering the new names and brands with the full transition taking the next few months. At the beginning of March, SBA Group announced it had entered a stage of ambitious expansion, and over three years, there are plans to invest 300 million euros and create 800 new jobs.
