Showchoir Canada were interested in a name change for their event. 2011 was their inaugural year and they learned a lot from their experience. Show Choir management were surer of themselves and certain of some changes they needed for 2012.
In 2011 and for lack of a specific branded approach they initially called their live show the ‘National Championships’. But early in 2012 the CEO and Executive Producer, Peter DaCosta wanted to solidify at least a name that could focus and encompass all the excitement that is their event.
Throughout many conversations it was realized that throughout the year most performers and vendors were simply referring to their time at the Showchoir Canada National Championships 2011 as the ‘Nationals’. So we decided not to confuse the momentum that had already been built and decided on a sub-branded approach that would see ‘Nationals’ fall under the larger umbrella of ‘Show choir Canada’.
The new ‘Nationals’ logo would have to tie into ‘Showchoir Canada’ and be understood under the same brand umbrella, perhaps not equally but closely associated. The attributes for Nationals would be official, vigorous, musical, dynamic, easily recognizable, bright and ultimately Canadian (we know generally what this means).
During the development time frame of the visual identity the clients kept seeing logos that showed off a ‘bling’ type approach, examples being the new television series SMASH or GCB. After seeing about 4 of these logos within the span of only two weeks I persuaded Mr. da Costa not to approximate this all too common fad. We didn’t want their logo to be passé, or mistaken for someone else’s when it launched. However it did need to have the flexibility to be embellished for different situations and still be easily recognizable.
We went through several iterations, and finally came out with a logo based on Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Super with modified characters including a treble clef for the ending ‘s’. It ended up being exactly what they needed, clean, easily recognizable, unique, musical, Canadian and official.