The brief

Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation was established in 1974 as a buying consortium for local government and educational establishments, helping to get better deals for members on items they were purchasing.

In 2012, they embarked on an ambitious three-year business strategy with the aim of becoming the UK’s number one public sector buying organisation. A core element in achieving this was addressing how branding could and should help them get there.

Our brief was to develop the branding to help the team:

• Raise the profile of YPO nationally, supporting UK-wide growth.
• Engage with internal audiences to help improve their customer service.
• Help deliver growth and increase the level of dividend paid to the public sector.

Public value champions

We found that YPO needed to focus less on education, and more on raising the profile of other supplies and services. And to look more modern. The new strategy was articulated into the brand platform, including a vision, mission, values and personality. At the heart of the brand, we defined an external facing proposition of ‘Public value champions’.

To create a more contemporary national brand, we recommended stripping things back a little. Renamed simply YPO, the identity turned out to be confident and proud, leading by example. We injected a touch of modernity with a bespoke type solution for the logo and supported the brand with a new strapline: ‘Better Value, Delivered’.

Results

The result is a bold, simple brand built on a meaningful purpose. Since the rebrand, YPO has developed new national partnerships from 13 in 2012 to 63 in 2016, experienced a 384% increase in associate members, and employee engagement saw a 58% increase.

“Our work with ThreeTenSeven (formerly Thompson) has transformed YPO from a local primary school supplies business into a leading national procurement partner.”

Paul Smith, Executive Director.