Musto

Musto was established by British Olympic sailing medallist Keith Musto in 1965. The company has become a world leading sailing, shooting and equestrian sports brand. Musto engineer performance products for the most extreme conditions including the Volvo Ocean and Vendee Globe sailing races.

Apropos- was commissioned to carry out a comprehensive brand re-positioning exercise. Our brief was to support Musto as a premium technical clothing brand who wished to extend their lifestyle product offer and town centre retail presence. We looked at every element of the existing identity and produced a series of options which were evaluated through focus groups. Our new brand identity was applied to all communication, product, packaging, trade shows, advertising, catalogues, store designs and website.

Facebook

Twitter

Re-drawn word marque

New 'Musto Block' logotype

As part of our research we thought about what sort of personality the brand should communicate. Musto needed to become the brand that appealed to country, sailing and lifestyle markets – what do they all have in common? What cultural and creative trends could help Musto reach the broader market without alienating it’s existing client base? How do companies appealing to the same demographic present themselves? We looked at direct competitors but also sectors like technology and telecoms, financial services, healthcare, supermarkets, furniture and interior design, media and broadcast brands, etc. Five key brand values were identified – Quality, Technical, Innovative, Reliable and Genuine. These words describe the brand. Everything they do should support these values – product design, communication, store interiors, trade stands and how they interact with their customers.

Portrait of Keith Musto by Richard Legge

'Performance Anywear' tag line

Brand Book introducing the new visual identity

The Performance Anywear tag line was chosen for it’s broad relevance to sailers, riders, field sports enthusiasts and lifestyle consumers. It alludes to the quality of the product and presents Musto as an enabling partner for outdoor people.

Trade Stand, London Boat Show

RPA:Media interpreted the visual language to produce a modular trade show system which was used at METS and the London Boat Show. The stand was built by Paul Budden.

Technical product swing-tickets

Sailing product range logotypes

Technical product branding

Apropos worked with event management specialists HWJ Solutionsand AV production company Crystal Clear Productions to dress venues for seasonal go to market meetings. The Musto brand was applied to catwalk shows and stage graphics, presentations, display panels, merchandising equipment, delegate packs and signage.

"I worked with Gareth to create a brand visual language at Helly Hansen, Reebok (football) and Musto. This language was used to create a distinctive, powerful and consistent identity across all marketing and product communications. Gareth demonstrated a remarkable ability to interpret graphic and visual trends to find relevant and creative solutions which, at times, were going to market 18 months into the future."
Andy Towne - Strategic Consultant Consumer Brands (CEO Musto 2008-09)

Lifestyle product branding

Apropos- briefed RPA:Media to design a new retail system in line with the visual language. This was first applied to new stores in Brighton and Exeter, then the existing Musto outlets.

Lifestyle shoot and catalogue design - photography Richard Legge

Photographer Richard Legge created a library of rural and coastal landscapes using a medium format film camera which gave the scenes greater depth and atmosphere. The higher image resolution also meant that the images could be used at large scale in stores without loss of quality. Richard also photographed a lifestyle campaign in Dorset and produced a series of images capturing Musto’s product workshop for the ‘Brand Book’, used to re-launch the new visual identity.

Library of landscape images by Richard Legge

Sailing lifestyle test shoot, introducing a documentary style. We used friends rather than agency models to create a more realistic and accessible photo-story. Photography Richard Legge.