A new mobile experience
Kingfisher set out to make traditional device insurance obsolete. Founded by some of the telco industry’s most experienced operators, the business is focused on rethinking device ownership, giving carriers the ability to offer greater freedom and flexibility to their subscribers.
This model is referred to as the mobile experience (MX) economy, delivered through two distinct products: FLIP and Nexus. FLIP reimagines the device ownership journey for consumers, while Nexus supports enterprise procurement teams with access to the latest devices.
Following the development of an ambitious brand strategy, the next step was to bring it to life through a cohesive identity and digital experience. The goal was to position Kingfisher as a next-generation leader in the mobile experience space.
The scope included a new brand identity, a flexible visual toolkit, comprehensive brand guidelines and the design and development of a marketing website. Bringing these elements together as a unified programme ensured a consistent, considered outcome from concept through to launch.
Connecting the dots
Brand identity is, at its core, an exercise in clarity. It starts with immersion, reviewing strategic inputs, interrogating existing materials and asking the right questions until a clear link emerges between the current state and the intended future.
That direction is then formalised into a brand brief, creating a shared point of alignment and a practical foundation for what follows.
For Kingfisher, three initial challenges shaped the work:
- Defining a tagline that could clearly articulate the value of a business built on a fundamentally new model
- Establishing a distinct visual identity within a competitive landscape of peers and similarly named brands
- Creating a brand architecture that could express the breadth of the offering in a way that felt simple and coherent
Taking a similarly exploratory approach, a broad range of tagline options and six distinct visual territories were developed, each grounded in a clear strategy for differentiation from competitors and similarly named businesses.
Once a direction was selected, the focus shifted to shaping both the visual and verbal identity. This included:
- A unifying graphic idea or core concept
- Colour palettes
- Graphic devices
- Illustration and iconography
- Photography and art direction
- Layout principles
- Key messages and brand writing
On the horizon
The identity centres on a wordmark set in Söhne Breit, a wide display typeface with a confident, forward-looking character suited to a next-generation brand. Its extended forms echo the horizon motif, introducing a sense of openness and scale across headline treatments. A subtle horizon line within the ‘GF’ ligature reinforces the idea of freedom at the core of the offering.
On closer inspection, a plus symbol emerges within the mark, signalling optimism and the added value the product brings to its users.
FLIP and Nexus both adopt the Söhne Breit typeface, while introducing their own ligatures and colour palettes to establish distinction within the system.
As the masterbrand, Kingfisher draws on a palette of blues and cooler tones to convey experience, technical credibility and authority. FLIP builds from secondary tones, including royal blue and citrus green, to create a more energetic and youthful expression. Nexus shifts towards forest and sage greens, establishing a grounded and considered identity. Each brand stands on its own, yet remains clearly connected through a shared visual language.
The tagline, Own Device Freedom, is both a clear value proposition and a call to action. It defines the shift away from restrictive ownership models towards flexibility, control and choice. For carriers, it signals a more compelling offer to market. For end users, it reframes the relationship with their device as something simpler, more transparent and ultimately in their hands.
In space
The marketing website was designed to reflect a principle of elegant simplicity, while clearly articulating the relationship between Kingfisher and its products, FLIP and Nexus. The identity carries through the experience, expressed in layouts that feel open, considered and visually engaging.
A tab-based device was introduced as a distinctive image container, offering a subtle departure from the standard rectangle and adding rhythm and movement across headers and modular layouts.
Both written and visual content were developed as part of the programme, establishing a clear, cohesive foundation for the brand to launch, scale and evolve with consistency over time.
Brand architecture, B2B to B2C
The strategy repositioned Kingfisher from a single, unclear brand into a more considered network of sub-brands. The resulting architecture provides the flexibility to support a growing portfolio, allowing distinct products and audiences to be addressed with clarity while remaining connected under a cohesive system.
This approach creates the conditions for scale, with a structure designed to accommodate future offerings without diluting the core brand.
While the Kingfisher masterbrand moves beyond the conventions of the B2B category, a different approach was required for FLIP. As a customer-facing product, it needed to be framed in a way that carriers could confidently take to market. This meant adopting a more dynamic, B2C-led expression, balancing commercial clarity with consumer appeal.
Speed and security
The website was developed using a CMS with a headless front end, supporting performance, security and long-term flexibility. This approach allows either the front end or CMS to be evolved independently as the platform grows.
Development focused on a small set of highly flexible, modular templates. This gives internal teams the ability to build and manage new pages with ease, without compromising consistency.
A key feature of the build was the dedicated template for FLIP. While it introduces its own colour palette and visual styling, it remains fully aligned with the core system, reusing the same modular framework to balance distinction with efficiency.
Going live
The new Kingfisher brand and website launched in early 2022, marking a clear step forward for the business. The refreshed identity and digital experience were met with strong internal engagement, giving the team renewed confidence in how the brand presents to market.
Explore the Kingfisher experience online.
“An incredible job of bringing the evolved Kingfisher brand to life. We presented it to the entire business, globally, and it was universally loved, from the wordmark and visual identity, to the copy and the website. The design 100% represents who Kingfisher is today and who it will be tomorrow. It’s truly fantastic work, and it’s a testament to the team’s collective skills.”
