Turas Branda

“Our retail spaces act as a meeting point for people from all walks of life. Our purpose is to make everyone in our community feel like they belong. Our family have been involved in retailing since the 1920s. We are now in third-generation ownership under me, Anthony Kernan, and we now have ten stores In Ireland.

2022 was our 100th year, so it was time for an identity refresh. We wanted to be 100% sure that what we had in terms of a brand would stand for us in the future. Branding wasn’t something that we considered before, to be quite honest.

Turas Branda came recommended to us by another trusted local company. Once we met Clive from Turas Branda and he explained the whole process, we knew it was the right way to go.

The workshops were intense but satisfying, and it was evident that we were painting a picture of who we are, what we stand for and why we are here. Clive asked many questions about our history and drew some fascinating similarities between how we conducted our business in the 1920s to how we do business today. For example, we started with selling bicycles which in their own right helped connect communities of times gone by, particularly in rural Ireland. Today, we connect communities through our retail environments. The common denominator was the double meaning of the word ‘hub’. One meaning is the centrepiece of a bicycle wheel which allows it to move. The other meaning is the effective centre of an activity, region, or network. So, respecting our heritage, the bicycle hub became our brand driver and metaphor.

What I love about Turas Branda’s process is how the visual identity is connected to the narrative of the brand strategy. It makes us unique and makes me very proud of our brand.”

Anthony Kernan, Director

Our clients do the talking

“The ii aims to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem that continually enables technological businesses to thrive on their own footing. Day by day, we aim to build a strong community of entrepreneurs that collaborate to innovate, assisting and challenging them to ensure their prosperity in a supportive, honest, knowledgeable and fun way—instilling confidence, so their ideas can flourish. First and foremost, Turas Branda helped us to define our purpose and foundation just outlined.

Turas Branda developed our brand name, and the logo stands for the brand’s strategic big idea, ‘inspiring imagination’ – ii. It also represents ‘inishowen innovation’. The key differentiator that sets ii apart from our competitors is that we become our client’s right-hand person, a real business partner. Turas Branda devised this unique position in comparison to other co-working spaces. Consequently, the two-letter i’s in the logo represent this position; it resembles two people collaborating.

The detail Turas Branda put into the brand identity is unparalleled to anything I have experienced. The connection between the brand strategy and brand identity is so powerful. For example, the shape and form of the brand pattern derive from the human figure evident in the brand logo. This human figure is multiplied to create a pattern representing people ‘locking their heads together’, as we would say in Donegal. Furthermore, creating a network of digital entrepreneurs to create something bigger and better by working collectively.”

Kevin McShane, ii Innovation Manager

“The Chinese seal script (洛岸) used in the brand icon translates to Luo An, which means ‘the bay of Luo River’. The Luo River plays a significant role in the stories of ancient Shaanxi, the province where Xi’an is located.

One such story is the ‘Ode to the nymph of the Luo River’. The icon celebrates her journey as she voyaged the windswept river waves, taking a breath of the people before her—with her grace, elegance and natural beauty.

A fitting metaphor, the story of the ‘Ode to the nymph of the Luo River’ portrays the feeling of RÈ NAO. If something is ‘RÈ NAO’, you want to be there. A place of excitement, spirit, pride and passion. A position that Turas Branda help us to identify through their strategic brand workshops. This feeling is perfectly depicted through the shape and form of the energetic calligraphy icon. Turas Branda taught us the importance of storytelling and their visual representations of our story is exquisite.

In ancient China, they had methods to ensure they lived their life to its full potential. One such method was Bagua, which today is used to influence Feng Shui. Bagua is a set of symbols with meanings in ancient China. For example, “—” stands for yang while “- -” stands for yin. Three such symbols can be arranged into Eight Trigrams, called Bagua. Turas Branda use the Bagua to create a grid to form our unique brand letterforms. The imperfect lines of the Bagua symbols represent how they would have been first visualised using ink or paint. Turas Branda kept this style to portray the brand’s authenticity.

My team and I loved Turas Branda’s approach to branding, they taught us a lot. The brand workshops allowed to discuss out loud what we wanted to achieve. Turas Branda used the information they gathered to create a solid brand foundation for us, which empowered the visual references throughout our new brand identity. We love our brand. We will be forever grateful.”

Kee Q Chen, Founder of RÉ NAO

Our clients do the talking

“We approached Turas Branda with plans to grow our business outside County Donegal, aiming to sell vehicles all over Ireland. Turas Branda conducted brand workshops with our key stakeholders and developed a brand strategy following intense research. From this foundation, the re-brand from Inishowen Motors to iMotors took place, and a new tagline was born: Fearless Generation. What we love about this is that it brings us back to where we started.

We take our fearlessness from our father, John McLaughlin. In 1953, he left the family business to start an apprenticeship as a mechanic. Then, in 1971, himself and our mother Susan had the courage and vision to purchase Inishowen Motors (now iMotors, of course) in Malin, a plantation town with a triangular market centre. As you will see, the new brand logo shape depicts this town. Also, if you tilt your head to the left, you will see it reads ’71. Together, our mother and father created a powerful community spirit immersed in human loyalty. Sean and I (their sons) now carry the baton.

Today, in a world of choice, fast information and constant change through digitalised channels, one thing that will always be constant is iMotors values: honesty, bravery, trust and innovation. We have already witnessed dramatic changes in the last 50 years. We have grown into two locations, and our trusted reputation has served the people of the North West with great pride and excellent service, providing our customers with confidence and peace of mind. This will always be our foundation. However, we never defined this before meeting Clive from Turas Branda. Furthermore, it was Clive who empowered our vision for the future.

With solid foundations in place, the next chapter in our history is the need to create an eco-friendly environment for future families, ensuring this region of the world has access to the next generation of automobiles and the infrastructure to service. We have always been a fearless generation that moved with the times and will continue to do so.

We understand our customer’s every need and are adaptable to innovative changes. Turas Branda has helped us put the pillars in place to grow our location catalogue throughout the nation for generations.”

Seamus McLaughlin, Director

“The Tyndall Institute teamed up with IPIC to create a deep-tech pre-accelerator programme. We wanted to create a unique programme where people with a deep-tech start-up idea could just give it a go! People didn’t necessarily need a full-fledging idea – just an idea. This program allows people to experiment, learn and grow. It’s where you can test your idea to see if it’s viable before you invest or quit your current job. The worst thing that can happen if you do this programme is that you find out your idea will not work and learn for the next idea you may devise. So it’s a win/win programme, with nothing to lose.

So, first and foremost, we needed a brand. Turas Branda came highly recommended, we were told they had a profound process, so it proved. First, Turas Branda studied our target audience thoroughly, considering their desires and fears and what makes them tick. Then, they performed an archetypal exercise and matched our target audience with an Explorer archetype. Fittingly, John Tyndall (whom the Tyndall Institute is named after) was also an explorer by nature. An Irish physicist, his scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air, proving the connection between atmospheric CO2 and what is now known as the greenhouse effect in 1859.

The visual identity represents something not quite finished, the unknown – space to keep exploring. For example, there are little visual gaps in our brand logo. There is a feeling of evolution when you look at our brand identity. Evolution is what our programme is all about. It is these fine details that Turas Branda had down to a tee. Also, it was important that the new identity complemented the existing IPIC and Tyndall brands – it does so according to the colour choices made.

The programme’s first two years were a huge success and attracted talent from all over Ireland. We look forward to the years ahead as we look to empower the next John Tyndall! Thank you, Clive and Turas Branda.”

Dr David McGovern, Senior Business Development Manager

“#BuyDonegal provides an opportunity for businesses across Donegal to highlight their exciting and innovative range of products and services and most importantly encourage people to buy them. We, Donegal County Council, developed the initiative. It starts from early November and runs right up until the end of December each year, providing ample opportunity for festive stocking fillers.

We commissioned Turas Branda to develop a campaign identity, which would be easily applied to various print and online collaterals. The outcome was simplicity at its very best. The letter ‘B’ placed within the letter ‘D’, represents the campaign’s purpose, to buy ‘within’ Donegal. The campaign scooped a national Excellence in Local Government Award for promoting economic development in 2021. We are sure that Turas Branda’s contribution helped us achieve this. We regularly commission Clive from Turas Branda for various projects and we are always delighted by his strategic knowledge and how he applies this to his design work.”

Steven Perry, Donegal CoCo.

“Donegal Digital represents the digital transformation which happens within the county of Donegal. We have an action plan in place, which is divided between forming and implementing digital foundations, digital innovation and a smart city & region. So that’s what we do.

Thanks to Turas Branda, we conducted some workshops which helped us pinpoint ‘why’ we do it. It was essential to put an emotional driver behind our brand. As a result, we now have a tagline, ‘Facilitating your perfect work/life balance’. Everything we do regarding digital transformation is geared towards our new tagline. For example, we now have 13 digital hubs dotted around county Donegal, one of the highest in the country. We hope this helps attract people back to Donegal, something which all divisions of the County Council are working towards.

Turas Branda also created our new brand identity and website, giving our brand a home and a platform to express what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Donegal is well-represented all over the world. We must give them a reason to return and enjoy their beautiful county again. Moreover, to keep our talented people within the county at present.”

Margaret Quinn, Donegal Digital Co-Ordinator.

“Ambition is an exciting pre-accelerator programme of Local Enterprise Office Donegal. The programme focuses on early-stage female entrepreneurs and promotes the skills and resilience needed to develop globally scalable ventures, attract investment and create jobs. Ambition helps bring ideas from concept to pitch.

We have worked on successful projects with Turas Branda before, so we knew we were in safe hands when developing a brand for the Ambition programme. Turas Branda depicted the personality of the brand perfectly through the visual identity. It’s bold; it’s audacious; it’s empowering. It represents diversity coming together in a collaborative environment to create a more remarkable outcome. It resembles the building blocks the LEO will provide for female entrepreneurs to succeed. It represents the transformation of an initial concept into a fully-fledged high-potential business. The futuristic letter shapes illustrate innovation and future technologies.

The brand and programme attracted, and continues to attract, exciting and talented female ‘future-preneurs’ every year.”

Brenda Hegarty Head of Enterprise, LEO Donegal

“From Turas Branda’s research into Chinese culture, they found that in Chinese minds, the moon is associated with gentleness and brightness, expressing the beautiful yearnings of the Chinese people. On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the moon is full and it is time to mark the Moon Festival, or the Mid-Autumn Festival. The round shape of the moon symbolises family reunion. Therefore the day is a holiday for family members to get together and enjoy the full moon – an auspicious token of abundance, harmony, and luck. Turas Branda devised our visual identity based on this fact. Within the autumn moon shape is the Chinese symbol for moon. Also, this feel-good metaphor lead to our brand tagline, “For Bubbly People”. It’s fitting, because we specialise in bubble tea.

RÉ TEA can be the facilitator of such bubbly gatherings. In Chinese culture, they reference family – however, the same applies for friends to gather and have fun whilst eating or drinking RÉ TEA products.

Café shops are places where people like to go to order tea, coffee, lunch snacks, desserts, ice-drinks, bubble tea etc. However, people also go to cafés to meet their family and friends. Whether they sit in, or they take away a drink and catch-up elsewhere. This is why Ré TEA exists, Turas Branda helped us to realise this and create a unique position in an otherwise cluttered market.”

Kee Q Chen, Founder of RÉ TEA
(Sister business to RÉ NAO)

“Love Donegal Day aims to promote Donegal to as many people as we can across the globe and tell them why Donegal is an amazing place to live, work, study, explore and invest in! It’s a social media campaign. It was a huge success in its first year reaching millions of people with the #LoveDonegal hashtag trending throughout the day. As a result, we wanted to create new iconic campaign identity which we would use going forward.

Earlier in 2021, we created a place brand for Donegal. Respecting the shape and form of the new Donegal place brand logo, Turas Branda created the new icon representing a love for Donegal. The iconic heart creates a synergy between both logos, complementing the new brand but also giving Love Donegal Day its own identity, whist staying true to our tagline, ‘Ireland’s DNA’. We were delighted with the outcome and its ease of application across multiple platforms.

Now in its third year, #LoveDonegal day is an important event in the calendar for the region as it gives everyone with a connection to Donegal an opportunity to enjoy, celebrate and love Donegal.

Together, we can share what makes Donegal special to us with families and friends in other regions throughout the globe (our diaspora) and promote the county, and its amazing offering, to the widest possible global audience. It’s brilliant that Turas Branda have created strong visual assets to complement what people upload to their social media channels.”

Elaine Whoriskey, Donegal CoCo.