An Post is planning a €5 million refresh of its brand to make it more relevant in the digital age.
The wavy lines – which represent a franking mark on a letter – that have featured since the An Post brand first appeared in 1984 have gone and been replaced with a mobius symbol incorporated into the “o” in the name, which is supposed to represent “ongoing change and connectedness”.
An Post is also adopting a more modern shade of green for its refreshed corporate identity, which it hopes will stand out more in the "physical and digital environments and reflects how sustainability is core to the company," according to company material seen by The Irish Times.
The State-owned company will now use the full An Post name in its brand, as opposed to the Post name that it has used for many years. As it "competes and wins global ecommerce business, having the full An Post name aids in brand recognition outside of Ireland, " the materials state.
An Post has undergone significant transformation in the past few years under chief executive David McRedmond. This has involved a pivot away from its reliance on traditional mail deliveries to a more comprehensive parcels service, delivering goods to households from a variety of big-name online retailers.
As part of the brand changes, An Post has also changed the fonts it uses on its various materials and its fleet of delivery vans and staff uniforms will be replaced with the new look as part of a phased programme over the next three years. Shop fascias will also be replaced over time.
“The contemporary heritage-style font has been uniquely developed for An Post: clear, confident and distinctively Irish,” the branding materials state. .
Alongside the brand refresh, the State-owned company has established two new sub-brands, An Post Money, which will involve a suite of digital financial services products, and An Post Commerce, a business-to-business unit, delivering e-commerce, mails and mail-media solutions.
An Post returned to growth and profit in 2017 following a restructuring of the business and an increase in the price of a stamp to €1. Revenue rose by 1.2 per cent to €840 million while it produced a profit of €8.4 million a loss a year earlier of €12.4 million. Its relaunched parcel service unit recorded a 30 per cent increase in volumes on the prior year.
