ON-GOING PERFORMANCE
Brand Situation
Romanian sport-related brands have often reached beyond the country’s borders. Top sportive performance has also been one of the few positive associations triggered worldwide by Romania over the years, but rarely has this image capital been exploited. The Romanian athlete Gabi (Gabriela) Szabo is one of the names that made history at the Olympics and World Championships and she counts amongst the greatest athletes of the last decades. Recently retired from the sport career, Gabi Szabo remains a symbol of overpassing one’s limits as she continues to be a fighter both for her own goals and the community’s. Whilst she became aware of the need to retain the excellent image built by her sport career and to transfer this competitive advantage outside the running track, Brandient was commissioned to provide consulting and to shape the personality brand.
Brandient’s Approach & Solutions
The results of the brand audit made by Brandient and D&D Research revealed an image perception highly consistent with what Gabi Szabo believed about herself. Also, the associations were very positive: ambition, hard work, high performance, overachievement. Gabi is perceived as an accomplished athlete with outstanding worldwide performances. Her honesty, ambition and success inspired her positioning as a world-class athlete, always capable to aim higher, to achieve more and to exceed her own limits.
“Good is the enemy of the best” is the concept that sustains the positioning and that inspired the visual identity of the brand: a powerful logo that stylizes her handwritten signature, memorable due to the friendly yet firm shapes, fitted just like the athlete’s posture during the moments of maximum effort. The intense red, extended in the graphic program of the web application, communicates Gabriela’s determination and energy, transmitting vigor and energy to the brand.
Gabriela Szabo’s website plays a major role in the process of building a personality brand, as it aims to be not only a place where she can meet her fans but also a starting point for her activities, which could bring her more opportunities for further development. Brandient conceived the athlete’s web site as a stand-alone product, having a tone-of-voice inspired by Gabriela’s honest and straightforward personality, with an energetic design standing for ambition and performance.
Gabriela Szabo’s outstanding sport career is over, but she wants to demonstrate that she can do even more and achieve performance in fields other than sports. At the same time she has a huge responsibility, as an exemplary athlete and spokesperson for Romania. The personality brand would make it easier to achieve all these goals.
