Q

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A Brand Exploration is a brief video chat with Clive Connaughton, the founder of Turas Branda. It’s a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the branding process and see how it may benefit your business. This session is complimentary. Please submit the form below. We will be in touch within 72 hours to finalise a date and time that suits you.

 

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Branding

Determine emotional connections

We help our clients determine an emotional connection with their customers to drive strategic thought and verbal and visual storytelling.

Recent Brand Expeditions

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? Kernans
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Why? Passion for the people
What? Retail Group
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2022

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"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

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? ii (Inishowen Innovation)
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Why? Inspiring Imagination
What? Digital Hub
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2020

What our client said...

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

Brand Strategy, Identity & Website
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Who? Ideate Ireland
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Why? Empowering Entrepreneurs
What? Entrepreneurial Programme
Where? Dublin, Ireland
When? 2022

What our client said...
"Ideate Ireland's vision is to be the catalyst that turns brilliant ideas into thriving international businesses.

Fuelled with energy, dynamism and fresh thinking, Ideate Ireland’s mission is to capture the imagination of the brightest minds and help promising entrepreneurs to make a lasting contribution to social goals, employment and the economy.

We feel Turas Branda represented this strategic statement perfectly. Ideate Ireland creates a strong platform for entrepreneurs to flourish. The bold appearance of the letter ‘i’ represents the strength of Ideate Ireland’s enlightenment, and the bravery of their participants.

The brand icon represents pathways, showing the different avenues that arise from engaging with Ideate Ireland to achieve the participants vision. This pinpoints an entrepreneur in a certain direction, with diverse options to success — with Ideate Ireland helping them along on their journey.

The overall energetic and dynamic identity encapsulates what we are all about and communicates with our ideal customer so effectively. The applications we received for our inaugural programme were world-class. Clive and Turas Branda, we thank you and we look forward to you guiding us into the future."

Helen Fullen, Founding Member

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? RÉ NAO
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Why? Spice & Fun
What? Xi'an Bar & Restaurant
Where? Galway, Ireland
When? 2022

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"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

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? iMotors
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Why? Fearless Generation
What? Auto Sales & Service
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2022
What our client said...

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

Brand Strategy, Identity & Website
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Who? VERVANTUM
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Why? Over-sea-ing Prosperity
What? FDI Consultancy
Where? Nice, France
When? 2022

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"VERVANTUM helps researchers, start-ups, established companies, or public sector bodies who find it challenging or lack the confidence to enter their offering into export markets effectively. Furthermore, to validate their export product/service ideas or promote their offering effectively overseas.

Turas Branda devised the strategic big idea 'Over-sea-ing Prosperity'. The brand logo represents growth and branching out into overseas markets. Hence, the crest of a wave. Moreover, it has a celebratory feel, which aims to evoke a prosperous feeling. To say we were delighted with the outcome would be an understatement.

VERVANTUM's potential clients want to experience a significant and prosperous export performance and gain an advantage over similar competitors without the fear or cost of failure. Other big FDI consultancies don't focus on the access to market phase as it is not profitable enough. This was one of the outcomes of Turas Branda's competitor research, which we transformed into a brand position.

We help our clients develop and refine their value proposition for specific markets through our innovative 'access to market' tools, i.e. Health Check and Advisory Workshops. Our 'Market Access Tool' helps our clients avoid common pitfalls, thoroughly preparing them for market access. So when they begin to invest in overseas markets – they are doing so on a solid foundation of comprehensive preparation–minimising their uncertainty–maximising their confidence. Turas Branda developed 'minimising uncertainty, maximising confidence'. It's a key message as it addresses both our client's fears and desires.

The way Turas Branda has developed our brand, presented our offering in the form of a website (www.vervantum.com) and developed online media has been key to our strong start as a company. We continue to grow and are delighted and lucky to have Turas Branda by our side as we do."

Gary Fallon, Founder

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? Explorer
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Why? Learn from the best
What? Deep-tech pre-accelerator
Where? Cork, Ireland
When? 2020

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"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

Brand Identity
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Who? Buy Donegal
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Why? Shop Local
What? Support Local Initiative
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2021

What the client said...
Our clients do the talking

"#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.

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? McGill
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Why? Eloquent Narratives
What? Marquetry Artist
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2019

What our client said...
We let our clients do the talking

"As an artist, I always found it difficult to brand myself. Do artists even need a brand? When Turas Branda outlined their branding process to me, it was a no-brainer that I would hire them. They made me realise that my work is more than furniture, more than marquetry and more than art. They helped me realise that I like to take my skills on an adventure, a daring adventure of self-discovery. My talent transforms the interpretation of furniture. I empower the idea of storytelling through my work, challenging the very meaning and purpose of marquetry itself. This became my brand and what I am becoming known for. Clive at Turas Branda immersed himself in my world. I think thats his secret to great branding.

'Eloquent Narratives' was the strategic big idea developed by Turas Branda. They represented this big idea exquisitely through my new visual brand identity. The circular motion of the logo portrays fluency and evolution. The brand graphic device also portrays fluency and evolution. Furthermore, portraying the emotional connection between human and art."

Ciaran McGill, Marquetry Artist

Brand Identity & Website
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Who? Donegal Digital
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Why? Facilitating your perfect work/life balance
What? Co-building a digital hub network
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2021
What the client said...
Our clients do the talking

"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.

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? Ambition
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Why? Propelling female entrepreneurship
What? Female pre-accelerator
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2020

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"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

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? SCALE-X
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Why? Propelling entrepreneurship
What? Entrepreneurship Accelerator
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2020

What our client said...
We let our clients do the talking

"SCALE-X is an exciting opportunity for start-up entrepreneurs to accelerate their business growth. The programme focuses on giving participants a deep understanding of the metrics that can drive business success, the skills to build financial models that stand up to investor scrutiny, and industry engagement and mentorship that give the participants valuable insights to adapt their business model.

When we developed the Ambition programme, we wanted another follow on programme which would go deeper into the entrepreneurial metrics. Clive at Turas Branda advised that the look and feel of the Ambition brand should be continued through into the SCALE-X programme to portray a family of programmes with one vision. As a family, the Ambition and SCALE-X programmes depict the same personality in their visual identity. They're bold, audacious, and empowering. They represent diversity coming together in a collaborative environment to create a more remarkable outcome. They resemble the building blocks the LEO will provide for entrepreneurs to succeed. The futuristic letter shapes illustrate innovation and future technologies.

The programmes attract exciting and talented 'future-preneurs' every year."

Brenda Hegarty Head of Enterprise, LEO Donegal

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? RÉ TEA
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Why? For Bubbly People
What? Xi'an Café Bar
Where? Galway, Ireland
When? 2022

What our client said...
Our clients do the talking:

"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)

Brand Campaign Identity
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Who? #LoveDonegal Day
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Why? Showcase Donegal
What? Worldwide Recognition Day
Where? Donegal, Ireland
When? 2021

What the client said...
Our clients do the talking

"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.

Brand Strategy & Identity
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Who? Q3
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Why? Securing Peace of Mind
What? Security Systems
Where? Limerick, Ireland
When? 2012

What our client said...
We let our clients do the talking

"We provide turnkey systems like CCTV, intruder alarms, access controls and perimeter protection to high-end commercial and industrial clients. We started in 2012 after I left the family business to pursue my venture. Clive was only a young designer when I approached him; this was well before he founded Turas Branda. I approached him to create a logo for my business, and he replied, "What you need are a brand strategy and identity." He sold it to me within 10 minutes. We were Clive's first branding client.

Marking our early success, Limerick Chamber awarded the company 'Best New Startup' in the midwest. Six years later, we were employing 40 people; it expanded by at least 10 per cent yearly. In 2018 sales were already 34 per cent up on the previous year. We have recently scaled and won new contracts in the UK, Europe, and Latin America. Our clients generally come from the education sector, manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceuticals, venues, and select private individual contracts.

Without Clive and Turas Branda's original genius and ongoing support, we wouldn't be as successful as we are now. Turas Branda are business partners - I would highly recommend any other business to make them theirs."

Sean Mullally Founder & CEO

Start your transformative journey. Book a complimentary Brand Exploration.
Q

Book Now

A Brand Exploration is a brief video chat with Clive Connaughton, the founder of Turas Branda. It’s a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the branding process and see how it may benefit your business. This session is complimentary. Please submit the form below. We will be in touch within 72 hours to finalise a date and time that suits you.

 

5 + 4 =

The Founder

Clive Connaughton
Clive Connaughton
Clive doesn’t take himself too seriously, he goes with the flow of life, but he takes his work very seriously. Passionate about branding and helping businesses realise their potential through branding, he has helped build brands across Ireland, the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

Clive’s an original thinker, brand storyteller and is dedicated to the craft we call graphic design. He is driven by every business’s core meaning and purpose. He expresses this philosophy through effective brand strategies that empower visuals for a strong and unique brand identity.

Chinwag

If you have general enquiries about how we can work together, get in touch.

Phone: +353 83 367 1211
Email: info@turasbranda.com

Address:
The HUB,
Castlerea,
Co. Roscommon,
F45 AC96 – Ireland.

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