It was more than product innovation and technical highlights which were on offer to the professional visitor at the Solarlux stand at the BAU 2007 exhibition. For the first time, the leading system developer and manufacturer of folding façades, wintergardens and balcony glazing presented to the industry its new brand image. It is an important element of the company´s new and global market strategy, and the outcome and fruit of an intensive brand strategy orientation exercise.

Due to the ever increasing export business and growing internationalisation, the “global brand” theme became our focus in 2006. At first our own perception of the Solarlux brand as well as that of outsiders had to be put on record together with its essential identity - the brand core. This was followed by the challenge of finding a way in which to position the Solarlux brand nationally and internationally in a unified way. A particularly big challenge was the issue of how to arrive at an unified brand appearance in all markets, given the worldwide network of licensees, co-operation and joint venture partners. How can you ensure this, bearing in mind the multitude of prevailing conditions in different countries?

Core values of the Solarlux brand
After a thorough review of our core competences, the quality and value aspects of the company, the most characteristic features of the Solarlux brand were defined. They re-appear in the definition of the brand core which represents the essence of the Solarlux brand. They can be expressed in one phrase, explaining why a consumer should decide to go for the products of this brand. The brand core was worded and fixed as follows: “Solarlux is the brand for glass extensions and folding glass facades which fulfils the longing for light and space and achieves this with high class products and solution-orientated consultation. “

This brand core lays the foundation for the strategy and actions of the company since it reflects not only the current product portfolio and new developments but also our approach to all of our communication.  The claim “Glas in Bewegung – glass in motion“ puts Solarlux´s core competence in a nutshell, i.e. the folding glass façades  with their transparency and technical sophistication which form the basis for all the essential business domains of the company.

The brand in its international context
As a result of the work carried out regarding the Solarlux brand, it will be  managed as corporate brand in an internationally consistent way. The global brand strategy as worked out will be applicable to all markets even if they prove to be extremely heterogeneous. All countries in which Solarlux is represented by its products, yet in which it is not  present as a corporate brand, will be subjected to a thorough examination. If the profile of the brand which already exists in the market is lower than Solarlux´s profile, it will be absorbed and integrated into the Solarlux umbrella brand.

However, our company also sees itself as a partner to its representatives. If therefore, a strong corporate brand is already present in the market which distributes premium products, Solarlux will support this brand with Solarlux´s own values. This means that Solarlux will appear as an integrated brand and give these markets a quality mark in the form of the “Solarlux technology“ label from 2007 onward. Integrated into the business partner´s existing communication framework, it ensures the naming of the origin of the products and the transfer of the strengths and values that go with the brand. Thus the company ensures worldwide consistency of the brand  quality and its recognition. 

The re-resigned  new brand image
Having examined the brand and brand core issue at great length we have re-modeled our communication tools. The brand core we had come up with was to be translated into a uniquely identifiable brand image, and a corporate design was to be created which would be applicable internationally. Light, space and transparency were equally important as was the human factor which is of great significance to Solarlux both on the customer side as well as on the enterprise side. The power of innovation, creativity and a lean management structure which favours community spirit, make Solarlux a company which, in spite of all the home-grown relaxed attitude of its people, has a touch of “Rock’n’Roll“ which is not only persuasive but also inspires and creates enthusiasm. Thus the revised corporate design contains features which take into account in a visual way the flexibility and wealth of ideas of its team and customers in addition to a clear and functional typography and a photo style of architectural quality. Drawings “illustrate“ people and opinions. To convey such communication into the new corporate design will be an ongoing process which will accompany our entrepreneurial activities in 2007.