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December 12^th, 2017 - After announcing Workplace Hub, an innovative new enterprise IT solution that unifies all of an organisation’s technology via a single centralised platform, earlier this year, Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) has received four awards for its brand communication and activation approach. In accordance with its corporate strategy, SHINKA 2019, to become a leading IT services and IoT provider, these accolades confirm the technology giant is indeed having positive impact in transforming its brand reputation.

The new brand communication strategy for Workplace Hub was recognised at the Transform Awards Asia last week. Konica Minolta, alongside their strategic communications and brand agency, Frank, Bright & Abel (FB&A), were awarded:

• Gold Prize – ‘Best development of a new brand within an existing brand portfolio’
• Gold Prize – ‘Best visual identity in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector’
• Bronze Prize – ‘Best use of copy style / tone of voice’

The disruptive new brand was also highly commended by Transform Magazine for ‘Best use of a visual property’.

“We’re delighted to have created a brand identity for Workplace Hub that stands out in a highly competitive market, and are thankful that Transform Magazine have recognised this across a range of categories,” said Stacey Sujeebun, Director of Marketing Communications for Workplace Hub. “The new brand has been highly successful in signalling a real step-change for Konica Minolta, whilst still adhering to our global guidelines. By creatively exploring where the incumbent brand could be stretched, without breaking it, FB&A have developed a solution that is being heralded by all and is helping reposition us for the future.”

Konica Minolta partnered with FB&A to understand the brand challenges they faced in bringing the new and disruptive Workplace Hub product portfolio to market. Global stakeholder and customer research revealed that the bold ambition for the Workplace Hub brand needed to be tempered by the credibility of the master brand. Yet it needed to connect and engage with CEOs globally and knowledgeable IT leaders, reshaping their expectation of Konica Minolta. As such, the team devised ‘IT on Your Terms’, a new strapline for the category in tune with the master-brand positioning of ‘Giving Shape to Ideas’, to infer Konica Minolta’s intended market leadership with the category. To bring this positioning to life, the team created a new brand identity for Workplace Hub. Adhering to the corporate brand, it pushes the boundaries, breathing new life through its unique creative ecosystem made of a distinctive graphic approach / logo, rich imagery and human tone of voice.

Norihisa Takayama, General Manager of the Workplace Hub Business Unit, Konica Minolta added, “By having a strong strategic communications approach, the Workplace Hub brand has enabled us to reflect a game-changing moment supporting our corporate vision”.

Supporting this market engagement, Konica Minolta partnered with the leading brand experience agency, Jack Morton Worldwide to develop a multi-channel, content led campaign – Spotlight – to address the challenges and opportunities IT decision-makers associate with the future workplace.

As part of the campaign, Konica Minolta hosted a press preview of Workplace Hub in Berlin (March 2017). Known as Spotlight Live, a TED-style event for a global audience attending in-person and online, the event was headlined by Douglas Coupland, and included a dramatic reveal of Workplace Hub to the world for the first time. A well-received event, with around 170 members of the press and IT influencers present, it positioned Workplace Hub and Konica Minolta as a leading innovator across the workplace of the future. The campaign and event has gone on to receive the ‘B2B experiential brand campaign / event of the year’ at The Drum UK Event Awards.

“The Workplace Hub platform represents an exciting point in Konica Minolta’s history, paving the way for more future of work technologies. It goes without saying that having a strong brand and communications approach is important to help transform our organisation to become a leading digital company,” stated Dennis Curry, Executive Director and Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Konica Minolta. “We’re delighted that our work is being positively recognised and awarded by external bodies.”

For more information about Workplace Hub and how these activities have come to life, please visit: workplacehub.konicaminolta.com.

About Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta, Inc. is a global technology company that provides innovative solutions to businesses and society. With its strengths in the combination of its core technologies in advanced imaging, optics, sensing, materials and nano-processing, Konica Minolta is committed to create new values that help customers address challenges in their operations and work processes. Advancing its expertise in digital technologies, the company has been going through business transformation into a digital company with insight into implicit challenges across the board as One Konica Minolta in the era of Internet of the Things (IoT). Konica Minolta is also active in open innovation through various collaborations and alliances with academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Konica Minolta has its Group companies in 50 countries with over 43,000 employees and offers products and services in 150 countries around the world.