The rebranding of Ubeeqo: beyond a logo change
Eva Andrés
Social Media Specialist
Our coworkers at Ubeeqo, a leading carsharing and corporate vehicle startup in Europe, have redesigned their brand, adapting it to their new positioning. This rebranding comes at a key moment for the company, which is in full growth and needed its new identity to reflect this evolution. In this post, we tell you everything that a brand redesign entails, and Beatriz Alberti, Head of Design at Ubeeqo, explains how they have worked on this brand development.
The beginnings of Ubeeqo in Barcelona
The Ubeeqo team arrived at Aticco two years ago with 6 employees. Most of them belonged to Bluemove, a startup from Madrid that in 2008 launched a car rental service by the hour. Its founders, Gabriel Herrero-Beaumont and Jorge González, saw an unmet need in the market and decided to try their luck with four cars in the capital. In a few months, they expanded their fleet to 10 and developed an app that allowed users to use the service easily.
The project continued to grow, until Europcar, an international company and leader in car rental, saw that its traditional offer in mobility products needed to be expanded and decided to acquire startups that were working on new mobility products. This is how they bought Ubeeqo, a French carsharing company focused on companies, and Bluemove, aimed more at individuals.
This is how this synergy between two different worlds begins. After living with two brands and two products at the same time, they decided that it was time to propose an identity that encompassed everything in order to position themselves in a clearer and more direct way in the market. We wanted to interview Beatriz Albert because she was present from the beginning, and has been responsible for the redesign project.
What was your story when you joined Ubeeqo?
I had been a freelancer for 5 years with different clients and one of them was Bluemove, a Madrid-based car rental company by the hour, which started in 2008. Through a mutual contact with one of the founders, I started making the first website, in WordPress, and the first app.
When working with them on projects, there was a good relationship between us and Gabo, who was one of the founders, contacted me one day to tell me that Europcar had acquired them and offered me to be part of this great project.
Why was there a need to redesign the brand?
Both Ubeeqo and Bluemove initially outsourced their technical development providers. When the two companies merged, it was decided to make a product from scratch and this technological hub was created in Barcelona, creating the project called Phoenix, with an in-house technical team.
The decision was made to continue with the name Ubeeqo and say goodbye to Bluemove, and we began to work on defining our values. Our goal: to provide an alternative to the private car and have different target profiles, from companies to individuals.
How was the workflow in the redesign of the brand?
The redesign began when we hired a designer to help me with the brand development part, Raul Sualdea, a genius. For the values and brand definition part we worked with two consultants.
We specified what values we could promise our users: diversity of car models that can be used, diversity of culture, type of user, uses of the product, etc.
What inspired you to give Ubeeqo this new image?
In the values of diversity and mobility. From the beginning, the idea was to represent the user's journey, their experience. A journey that tells a story, a story that leaves a mark, a memory, hence "the stroke" as the basis of our brand. Each story is different because each person is different and has their own path.
Do changes in visual identity lead to internal changes in the company?
Especially in creating processes to align with the different countries, so that they understand the brand and apply it correctly, in terms of team structure and process definition.
What were the objectives of the new branding?
The objectives of the new branding were to redirect Ubeeqo as a lifestyle brand, marked by a new era of growth and commitment. An expressive brand identity that responds to users' interests beyond the purely transactional.
What response has the brand change received from new users?
Users have had positive feedback, and the change has also been positive internally; our colleagues are very happy with the new brand.
What is the secret to achieving good design?
That you like it, that you love the detail, that it adds value, that it transmits and communicates.
In the case of our team, we have two types of designers: product and branding designers. The former work to ensure that the user experience is the best possible, the branding designers to transmit that experience. We always seek that what we do contributes a value, not just something aesthetic.
What are the next steps?
Continue with the brand strategy and the global strategy, continuing with the evolution of the brand.
We thank Bea for explaining the entire change process to us. It makes us aware of the need to have brands that identify us and that adapt to the evolution of our business.
