Bluebridge Brand Campaign Evolution

Bluebridge is one of New Zealand's key passenger ferry services sailing the Cook Straight since 2002. Typically known as the more ‘budget friendly’ ferry service compared to their competitors, Bluebridge are on a mission to close that gap and transition their brand from 'cheap & basic' to 'better value'. To help with this transition Special Ad Service and James Media created a campaign strategy and messaging to help highlight areas where the Bluebridge on-board experience actually gives a bit more. The key campaign messaging was “New Zealand’s Crossing Over” which created a sense of momentum – implying ‘Kiwi’s like us’ are making a change, due to an ever-growing range of reasons. We stepped in to help visually communicate this sense of change across a new campaign. Working with the Bluebridge existing brand we helped to elevate their look and feel with a new set of brand fonts, gradient backgrounds and visual devices to enhance the way they can use their brand. It was important to keep key brand elements including their logo, colour palette and ‘ship prow’ device so this updated brand still felt ‘Bluebridge’ while setting them apart from their competitors and helping to communicate the sense of momentum and change. We used an oval device to frame images so we could represent the multifaceted experience of a trip with Bluebridge across their marketing material. This was accompanied by transparent oval shapes that we animated to cross over each other helping to mimic the fluid movement of the ocean and emphasise the idea of crossing over. The new look and feel was rolled out across digital HTML banners, TV endframes, Youtube bumper ads, billboards and other brand collateral.