Die Stadtwerke Aurich liefern Strom und Gas in ganz Ostfriesland.

Stadtwerke Aurich

Ecological, sustainable, fair ... and new to the market

  • Corporate Design
  • Corporate Identity
  • Digital Media
  • Film Design
  • Photography
  • Development of Ideas and Identities
  • Campaign
  • Logo Design
  • Advertising

East Frisia – the weather here is a little rougher than elsewhere and the people have a dry and direct attitude. In addition to tree-lined streets and black-and-white cows, historic windmills shape the landscape around the district town of Aurich. There are still about 80 of these impressive old wind converters in East Frisia. The use of the wind as a regenerative energy source has a long tradition in the far north.

 

Energy in the north

Since 2016, Aurich has been having its own utility company for electricity and gas with municipal participation: Stadtwerke Aurich. For the market entry, we were entrusted with the design of the brand and all of the media, and it is not surprising that the four-leaf mill with the A was used as basis for the logo designs.

Logo, corporate design, campaign, internet presence (www.stadtwerke-aurich.de), and even the customer centre: everything was designed as a complete package in close creative cooperation with the contact partners in Aurich. For Heike Witzel, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Aurich, it was important to remain faithful to the characteristic features of East Frisia and to put the harsh charm of the weather with wind, clouds, and rain in the centre of advertising for the guaranteed ecological energy offers.

Method acting with fish

Speaking of wind and weather: a special highlight was the shooting of a film sequence that is now used on the homepage and deliberately breaks the expectation of a warm, cuddly consumer world. We proudly present a two-meter tall East Frisian man-mountain, a fire-breathing grill, the largest barbecue-compatible Frisian river fish to be found at Bremen fish market, and an Airstream: an American caravan serving Aurich as a rolling customer centre and mobile branding. Our colleague Hayat was the director, Marten and Simon were in charge of the lights and the remote-controlled gas grill. A film in the spirit of the Coen brothers: Unfortunately, it did not end as a half-hour directors cut version of the waiting East Frisian with his fish – darkness and rain came faster than the technical equipment could handle.

Brand in space

The design of the customer centre in the heart of Aurich was quite different from the shooting in wind and weather. Timo and Ulrike took it into their own hands to rouse the abandoned building, that had been somehow forgotten in the city, from its slumber. Today, bright colors, clear lines, and lots of wood determine the interior of the building. The redesigned façade stands out at the downtown traffic junction, and it turns out that the customer centre is ideally located at this place that nobody had thought of at the beginning of the year.

Of the many people involved the following colleagues earn a special mention: Sean and Sabrina, who developed the design of the brand logo and the corporate design, and Tom, who translated the short briefing »Cow Bum«into action and returned with wonderful pictures of East Frisia full of wind and clouds.

All in all, this project had its surprises and moments of recognition – for example the experience that the East Frisians are a rather humorous species. And that in the far north, just behind the coast, there is a landscape of incredible natural beauty. Simply East Frisia.