When Explorer Scouts launched in 2002, most households shared a single residence laptop, if they’d one in any respect, and social media did not even exist. Greater than 20 years on, the world has modified, and the model constructed for youngsters was beginning to present its age.
So Scouts introduced in London company Purple Stone to reposition Explorer Scouts, the programme for 14–18-year-olds, and to construct it a brand new identification: one which feels extra related, inclusive, and genuine to a technology of brand-savvy digital natives who can spot a gross sales pitch a mile off.
It comes as new analysis suggests many younger individuals really feel much less ready for grownup life, with lecturers flagging worries about confidence, communication, and readiness for work. Alongside the rebrand, Scouts has refreshed the Explorers programme itself, co-designed with younger individuals, to mix sensible expertise with creativity, management, and journey.
This is not college
On the coronary heart of the work is a intentionally un-slick proposition: ‘Develop up’. It is constructed on the perception that youngsters are exhausted by the fixed strain of expectation, at college and in life, leaving little room for curiosity or development.
Slightly than overpromising, the brand new positioning frames Explorers as a spot the place the journey issues as a lot because the vacation spot – someplace anybody can belong, however no person has to suit the mould. A straight-talking model persona, “Actual curious”, carries it by.
The identification places younger individuals entrance and centre. A brand new marque impressed by the compass provides Explorers a robust visible shorthand constructed across the thought of the journey, and a set of daring supergraphics extends out from it, subtly nodding to the enduring Explorer necker. Images retains issues actual slightly than staged, capturing the friendship, power, and randomness of being a part of a membership.
Room for the person
Though consistency mattered, Purple Stone additionally constructed the model so each unit and each Explorer could make it their very own: a easy brand system and templated comms let every membership create personalised supplies that also really feel on-brand, whereas a sequence of “brand expressions” loosens issues up for merch. The company additionally illustrated 40 badges to match the revamped programme – daring, accessible, and designed so as to add a pop of color to each uniform.
“Purple Stone has helped set a brand new course for Explorers Scouts to satisfy the wants of Era Alpha, balancing real-world expertise and journey with a strong sense of belonging,” says Chris James, model and content material lead at Scouts. “The model feels recent, equally at residence on display screen and in print. It is impressed by the outside, formed by younger individuals and actually captures the enjoyable, friendship and freedom, pointing to brighter futures.”
For Purple Stone, the temporary was about difficult assumptions. “Positioning Explorers as an antidote to the extreme, always-on nature of life for youngsters immediately, we needed to construct a model that embraced individuality, curiosity and most significantly, enjoyable,” says Wealthy Corr, affiliate artistic technique director at Purple Stone. “From the technique by to the graphic belongings, the model is welcoming, eclectic, and just a bit bit irreverent.”
The brand new look rolls out as Explorers gears as much as relaunch and attain extra younger individuals than ever throughout the UK.
