Asda Gets Serious About Summer for New Brand Identity Launch

Today, Asda has revealed its new brand identity, launched by the brand’s summer campaign, ‘Serious About Summer’.

The retailer’s new brand identity serves as a visual and audible expression of its brand purpose and values. The new branding encompasses all key areas of the existing ASDA brand, from colour to tone of voice and typography - bringing to life Asda’s promise of uncompromising value and quality. 

The new brand identity is informed by extensive customer research and understanding of how customers see Asda, what they love, and how the supermarket articulates its relevancy and individuality in the market. As a result, the new identity sets the retailer apart from its competitors, whilst staying distinctly and clearly Asda - appealing to both loyal and new customers.

The new campaign is the latest to be led by chief customer officer David Hills and VP Marketing Adam Zavalis, who joined Asda last year and is live from the 16th of May across TV, social media, press executions, CRM and asda.com. 

Designed and executed by Havas London, the identity introduces a new dynamic design system, reflecting Asda’s uncompromising value. A notable change in the brand identity can be seen within the colour, with ASDA’s iconic green being paired with a new dark green – resulting in a harmonious yet bold aesthetic, which flexes across the whole brand identity. 

The new typography treatment and font have been designed in collaboration with Colophon Foundry. The treatment uses a characterful and playful unicase style, to carry ASDA’s personality across all copy, allowing a simultaneously bold yet conversational tone. The curved placement of text within the new identity also serves as a contemporary take on ASDA’s grocery heritage.

The introduction of graphic stickers within the identity creates a newfound flex for the brand; making a maximalist design feature of ASDA’s bountiful range and offers. The stickers also help the supermarket to showcase its range of offers and ranges in a creatively consistent way – with added personality.    

Customers will get a first-look at the new identity through the brand’s summer campaign, ‘Serious About Summer’, which sees Asda jump feet first into Summer 2024. The playful campaign brings to life the serious business that is making the most of the Summer months, demonstrating that customers can continue to trust Asda to deliver uncompromising value when it comes to making the most of the warmer weather, from food to clothing and homes to gardens.  

The fully integrated campaign, directed by Freddie Waters at Pulse, features a series of tongue-in-cheek TV ads that each give their own unique take on family summer experiences. The campaign kicks off with a BBQ themed creative, complete with a ‘beach dad buckaroo’. He has all the gear and a very good idea of where he wants to pitch his family on the beach to enjoy BBQ favourites taste matched to M&S – so much so he has them traipsing through the sand for miles in the morning sun. Competitive mums and trampolining grans follow as each creative is anchored in the amusing human truths that play out in the lives of millions of families during the summer months, whilst showcasing the breadth of Asda’s offer to ensure families have everything they need to live their best life this Summer – bringing to life the strapline “Asda, that’s more like it.”    

David Hills, chief customer officer at Asda, said, “The launch of our new brand identity is a milestone moment in the evolution of our strategy. Our brand has tremendous heritage and is much loved by the Great British public. We hope this new look and feel will help us stand out in the grocery market - bringing to life our personality and reigniting the strong emotional connection customers have for the Asda brand. 

“Our Summer campaign is light-hearted, fun and highlights the uncompromising value promise we make to our customers whenever they shop with us, so we believe it’s the perfect platform to launch our new brand.”       

Lorenzo Fruzza, chief design officer at Havas London added, ‘’When developing identities for brands like Asda, it’s important to remember that the channels they live in have evolved so much in recent years – they no longer just show up in traditional media channels. We have worked with Asda to create a new brand identity which stands out in the market and can flex across multiple channels – ensuring it’s relevant and meaningful to its customers. It’s been fantastic to partner with Asda on this project and push the boundaries of building the brand.”

Nathalie Gordon, creative dartner at Havas London remarked, “Over the last 20 years, the Asda brand and proposition has evolved and adapted to consumer needs and the cultural landscape. This year is no different, as we utilised strategy, creative and design, to optimise Asda’s brand landscape under a clear, single-minded design to ensure a cohesive brand experience. It was paramount we created a consistent design system that expressed Asda’s true personality and purpose across all touchpoints. To do this, we stress-tested every facet of the Asda’s brand world to allow for versatility across all branding applications. Not only that, but we’ve created a world with longevity and that stand-outs – moving Asda apart from its competitors.”

Asda’s new brand identity has been developed using Havas London’s new ‘Brandex ‘design discipline, which is focused on delivering through-the-line Brand Ex(pressions). Driven by a four-step methodology (Discover, Distil, Develop and Deliver), Brandex enables Havas London’s Design team to create holistic designs systems which seamlessly connect identities with integrated comms and beyond.

Asda’s new brand creative features in the execution of its summer campaign across TV, social media, press executions, CRM and asda.com, and will be rolled out further into stores, vehicles and colleague uniform as part of the ongoing investment in Asda’s estate and assets in the coming months.