Rusty Quill are internationally recognised for their popular, multi-award-winning fiction podcasts. They specialise in creating original, free-to-consume content whilst providing a platform for new and interesting voices and talent. And their show’s like The Magnus Archives, Stellar Firma and Outliers have huge international audiences of devoted fans.
At the beginning of 2021, Rusty Quill head, Alex Newall and his team found themselves in demand and on the cusp of a new and exciting chapter in their story… an ambitious plan to move into new mediums and expand beyond podcast content.
First on their agenda was a brand identity that reflected the quality of their product and their standing in the industry, communicated their strongly held values and projected the confidence and self belief of their world-leading team… and that’s where we enter the story.
Rusty Quill COO Hannah Brankin got in touch with the Guerilla team initially because they liked the work we had done for the Bafta winning JamJar Cinema and, following chemistry meetings between both teams, by February we had been appointed as their brand agency.
The relationship worked well from the get-go and a series of informal but productive workshops quickly led to the development of a solid brand platform and a dynamic, innovative identity based on their existing quirky, steampunk aesthetic to create a ‘story engine’.
Guerilla Creative Director, Geoff Foots said; “It’s fantastic to be working with the team at Rusty Quill on this rebrand, it’s such an exciting challenge, they’re world leaders in their field, so all eyes will be on us and we need to get it just right. We’re very conscious of how important Rusty Quill is to their audience, so want to bring the die-hard fans with us while delivering a brand identity that will help to drive the organisation forward and realise their vision for the future. We want this rebrand to mark the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the Rusty Quill story.”
It was key that we really brought our identity to life on screen, So animator and model-maker Chloe Rodham was brought in to work with Geoff on a series of animated sequences and on-screen idents. “I loved the idea that the brand suggests a narrative through the styling of it. This was great to explore and enhance through the motion design. It’s quite unusual to have logo with a vintage mechanical feel – it’s right up my street as I love stop motion animation and model making, although this is a digital approach it feels like it could be a real world object coming to life which is always quite magical.”
The results are breathtaking, a dynamic and cohesive brand identity that has already caused quite a stir in the industry, Hannah Brankin, COO Rusty Quill commented “Geoff, James and the Guerilla team have been instrumental in helping us all at Rusty Quill achieve our vision for a new and exciting brand story that keeps true to who we are and where we came from. Guerilla have been such a pleasure to work with through this process and I look forward to working with them again in the future. We’ve been recommending them left and right!”
We’re looking forward to working closely with Alex, Hannah and the Rusty Quill team to help to roll out their new brand over the next few months… watch this space!
