CASE STUDY
AEG
A brand refresh to help AEG challenge the expected
Challenge
For many brands, staying distinctive and competitive in an ever-changing market is a constant challenge. AEG, part of the Electrolux Group, has trusted Prophet as a longstanding partner to help evolve its brand expression while staying true to its rich heritage. Since its initial brand refresh in 2014, our focus has been on helping AEG maintain its modern edge, build on its strengths and ensure its brand resonates throughout its diverse, multi-faceted consumer journey.
Solution
AEG tasked our team with a major visual brand identity (VBI) refresh. Our creative process began with a deep dive into its business and brand strategy, ensuring we were aligned with the future direction. A key focus was redefining AEG’s strategic positioning around the core idea of “Challenge the Expected.” This involved close collaboration with the CMO to reshape the brand’s meaning and values before translating them into creative expressions.
We worked alongside AEG’s marketing, social, web, sales and product teams to understand the evolving consumer journey. Through surveys, stakeholder workshops and extensive collaboration, we identified both the brand’s strengths and areas for growth. By testing creative assets, we refined our approach, ensuring the final expression resonated with consumers while staying within defined creative boundaries.
Prioritizing flexibility and consistency across touchpoints, we ensured that product detail pages, demo videos and retail assets felt cohesive and part of the same brand. By examining successful elements of the visual identity, such as logo and color, we could make strategic decisions that reinforced the brand’s strength.
Example visual
Key Creative Elements: Introducing the ‘AEG World’
Color: Red has been central to AEG’s identity since its founding in 1887. While other brands in the market also use shades of red, we saw an opportunity to create greater distinction. To honor this legacy, we expanded the red palette to include darker hues, enhancing visual impact and allowing the brand to stand out more effectively. This ‘Red World’ is now applied consistently across AEG’s diverse product range and the stories they tell.
“The new VBI has been exceptionally well received across our markets, aligning strongly with our brand positioning and resonating clearly with our target audience. It’s setting us apart from the competition in a meaningful way, and early campaign results already show that the premium cues are coming through exactly as intended. Thank you for your partnership in shaping such a powerful strategic and creative foundation.”
Maria Sandström
Global AEG Senior Brand Manager
Characters
While it’s common to see people featured in appliance brand campaigns, they often lack depth or fall into clichés. We wanted to break away from this norm by carefully crafting characters that gave voice to the products and told their stories. Each character, individually styled, reflected AEG’s diverse consumer base and their desire to stand out and do things differently.
For example, a glamorous cat, playfully appearing in an ad for AEG’s robotic vacuum cleaner became a key muse for the brand’s expression, adding wit and personality. By connecting visual and verbal cues, we injected more humanity into a category often seen as dry, making the brand feel more relatable and engaging.
Impact
The refreshed identity successfully reinforces AEG’s premium positioning, establishing a bolder and progressive brand expression. This transformation has resonated strongly with consumers and been widely embraced by retail partners. The culmination of these efforts was marked by a major launch at IFA 2024 in Berlin, AEG’s original home, where the brand spotlighted its transformative cooking innovations. Alongside the unveiling of new kitchen products, a fresh sonic identity was introduced, delivering a comprehensive 360° brand experience that reflects AEG’s evolving vision and market leadership.
“The distinctiveness of the VBI not only sets us apart from our competition but has successfully positioned us as a brand associated with a premium position. Stakeholders have responded positively, also including our important community of licensees as they receive stronger go-to-market collateral. Additionally, we now have a great platform to communicate our brand values, and especially within the design space as a thought leader and champion of sophisticated expression.”
Tom Astin
Global AEG Brand and Marketing Strategy Director