Truly Useful: TU brand launch

We worked with Telefónica Digital to launch new brand TU

Telefónica Digital has unveiled TU, a new brand, developed in conjunction with SomeOne, that will become an umbrella for a range of innovative communications services.

These will be made available both direct to consumer and through Telefónica’s operating businesses (O2, Movistar, Vivo). And for the first time, TU will enable Telefónica to launch services in countries where it has no network operations.

The first product to launch under the TU brand is TU Me, a free all-in-one global communications app, putting all calls, texts, shared photos and more into one simple timeline. TU Me allows easy search, viewing and navigating of entire relationships and communications. Simply.

TU Me (www.tumeapp.com) is now available to download for free via the Apple App Store.

The brand, the name, positioning and identity was developed in collaboration with SomeOne, What If and VCCP.

SomeOne is helping develop an entire brand world for TU, including graphics, iconography as well as working with the talented digital user experience team at Telefónica Digital.

Gary Holt, Creative Director from SomeOne added “as befits the brand and the product, this has been a hugely collaborative and creative process, from all agencies involved, and the passion and insight provided by Telefónica. As OTT services become a clear future for mobile, this is an exciting product that is intuitive and simple to use. The identity bucks the trend of simply iconographic logos, and is as rich in colour and texture as it is in experience”.

“In less than 100 days we have created and launched not only a new brand, but an entirely new product. This is a huge testament to the hard work of the teams here and in our agencies,” said Paul Dervan, Brand Director for TU at Telefónica Digital. “TU gives us the flexibility to launch innovative services across all aspects of communications, and has a simplicity which we believe will have global appeal.”

SomeOne created an entirely new BrandWorld for the product. Bespoke typefaces, pictograms, applications and colour system that enables new products to be added while remaining firmly within the TU world.

* * * UPDATE * * *

Mark Wilson at FastCompany called it ‘The First Logo Based on Touch-Screen Gestures’

‘“TU” appears to be drawn with your own fingers on a screen. And in this regard, it’s incredibly fresh-feeling.

It could be the first web 3.0 logo, if you will, drawing upon the perspective of a more electronically worldly user, one who understands the swipe as intrinsically as a web 2.0 user understood the intricacies of typography (for the past 10 years, creating a unique logo was no more difficult than choosing the right font).

It’s a logo that looks at the Internet, not as a destination, but as an experience. TU Me is a pretty remarkable example just what the New Aesthetic’s new set of paints can do.

There’s no reason branding needs to be a word when it can now be a gesture, or an icon when it can be a filter or glitch, or anything needs to be one single stagnant thing when crowdsourcing can add an array of every-shifting facets to any idea.

For the first time in a long time, we don’t need to look at Nike as the quintessential best-case scenario in branding’

Which was nice.

http://www.someoneinlondon.com/category/projects/truly-useful-tu-brand-launch