NORCO BICYCLES

FIRST COMPLETE RE-BRAND IN COMPANY HISTORY

Re-Freshed look and feel reflects the company’s Dirt First ethos and British Columbia inspiration.

Norco Bicycles is launching an entirely new brand identity today, the first time in the Canadian company’s 57-year history.

The re-brand encompasses a completely updated visual identity, logo marks, corporate colours and tone of voice that reflects Norco’s position in today’s marketplace, since vaulting from a mainstay in the Canadian cycling market to becoming a major player on the international mountain bike scene.

“Norco has evolved so much over the years, but three things have always been with us; the sense of excitement we get every time we ride bikes on dirt, the irreplaceable influence that being here in British Columbia has on what we do, and the freedom this gives us to do things the Norco way. These are things that continue to build us, and we wanted to bring them into focus,” explained Peter Falk, Norco VP of Marketing.

The new branding embraces the connection every rider has with the ride itself through a visual and emotional language that will resonate with anyone who has ever gotten dirty on two wheels.

The No Other Way brand video kicks off the re-brand launch campaign, setting the tone for an ongoing content series that highlights the mutual emotional connection between every rider and the ride itself. The series of video edits, feature stories and moments created by Norco, and by the Norco community, is designed to provide opportunity and encouragement for everyone to explore and express their own No Other Way.

The new brand identity can also be experienced today on the completely revamped norco.com, and will continue to be reflected through future media projects, new product, on-bike applications, in-store collateral, and all other industry and consumer touchpoints.

“This refreshed branding elevates the Norco brand to the level of innovative engineering and incredible passion for riding that makes our bikes what they are, setting the tone for the future of mountain biking in British Columbia and around the world,” said Falk.

“It’s not a New Norco. It’s the best, most honest expression of who we actually are, and we’re so excited to make it real today!”

To learn more, visit Norco.com

HOW MANY REVISIONS AND ATTEMPTS DID IT TAKE FOR THE NEW LOGO TO BE APPROVED?
There were 3 versions of each the word mark and icon mark we contemplated as a team – each driven by their own overall brand concept and expression. Once we landed on the brand concept, we then worked through two or three more iterations of the word mark and icon marks associated to that concept to get them just right.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN SELECTING THE FINAL DESIGN? IS IT A POPULAR OPINION VOTE OR IS THERE ONE KEY DECISION MAKER?
Landing the brand concept was a key driver in what the final design direction of our marks were going to be. This was done by popular opinion – a group of 15 individuals within the company in various departments with varying tenure. The logo refinement process was left to a smaller group of individuals, with one key decision maker to make the final decision.

WHEN EVALUATING A NEW LOGO, MANY TIMES BRANDS DIFFER VERY LITTLE FROM WHAT CAME BEFORE. DO YOU THINK THERE’S VALUE IN KEEPING SOMETHING FAMILIAR IN YOUR NEW LOGO, EVEN THOUGH YOU WANT SOMETHING NEW? WHY NOT JUST GO ALL THE WAY AND COME UP WITH SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT?
Our goal wasn’t to reinvent the brand, rather, make it a better version of itself.  With this guiding us, we believed that both marks had a rich history and some ownable characteristics that made them distinctive. The evolved marks retain the unique characteristics of previous versions, while modernizing them and redrawing them with the same precision and care that goes into engineering a bike!

WILL THE NEW BRAND IDENTITY AND LOGO CHANGE ALSO MEAN WE’LL SEE SOME CHANGES TO BIKE AESTHETICS? FOR EXAMPLE, DO YOU THINK NEW COLORS, GRAPHICS AND ACCENTS ON THE BIKES WILL COME WITH THE NEW LOGO?
For definite! The new brand identity is considered in everything we do.  At Norco we like to say “we let the ride do the talking”. That being the case, not only is performance a consideration, but also what the bike communicates aesthetically through industrial design, color, graphics and the new word and icon marks!

ABOUT NORCO.
Founded in 1964, Norco Bicycles is one of Canada’s most iconic mountain bike brands. Inspired by the mountains of British Columbia, their Dirt First philosophy ensures that every Norco bike has its origin in the supernatural landscape out their backdoor and is a product of an insatiable appetite for improvement. By imagining and creating solutions that make riding better – from innovative suspension and frame design to leading the charge in the electric era – Norco is a collection of passionate riders dedicated to putting everything they have into creating the best bikes for the riding they love.

There’s No Other Way.