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To American ears, "Texenergo" might suggest a Texas-based energy company. But to a Russian, in Cyrillic, it suggests "tech" plus "power," making it an appropriate name for this distributor of electric equipment (like switches and control systems) to Russian industrial and construction markets.

Texenergo was founded in 1989, a year of perestroika, in the first wave of Russia's privatization. There were no branding agencies in Moscow as yet, and its logo was a home-made patchwork of ideas (a containing shape, a symbol, one distinctive red letterform and an incorporated tagline).  It was hard to apply, and unprofessional in appearance.  In 2010 Mikhail Arzhaev, representing new investors (and with a personal background in media) understood this, and set out to reposition and rebrand the company.

As a distributor, Texenergo represents such global brands as Schneider Electric, ABB and GE, and with its private label line it also competes with them. The company's positioning goal was to raise the Texenergo brand from "made in Russia" to global brand equivalency, in terms of expected quality and professionalism. Management felt strongly that to Russian audiences, the use of Latin letterforms (rather than Cyrillic) would help to communicate this promise.

How, then, could English-speakers be steered away from assuming an oil industry or textiles connection? The design solution:  incorporate the universal symbol of electric power, a lightning bolt, in the name itself.  The resulting "X-bolt" places Texenergo immediately, unambiguously into the electricity arena. The designers looked at a range of freestanding symbol ideas, too, but this wordmark-centered solution was clearly superior for its unique, direct impact and visual efficiency. The designers recommended orange, a power-appropriate color that could be owned in the category, and orange and gray color palette, and controlled use of the X-bolt device as a  super-graphic.

The result is a more professional, assertive, and confidence-building presence in Russia's electrical products market.

In sum, the logo change (to a wordmark incorporating a distinctive element), reinforced by a new visual system, had five purposes of roughly equal importance -- four strategic and one functional.

25% to look bigger, more important
20% to become a more visible public presence
25% to build employee pride and confidence
15% to look more Western in personality (and quality impression)
15% to replace a functionally weak mark 

Launch of the new identity was gradual and modest, with a protracted period of co-existing .ru (old logo)and .com (new logo) websites. 

Tony Spaeth / Identity, with Bob Wolf and Jerry Kuyper

Submitted by: Tony Spaeth, 1/03/2011
Status: Confirmed by M. Arzhaev, 4 March 2011
Category: Electronic & Electrical Equipment
Country (HQ): Russia