XXL came to us at a time of immense change in the sports retail category. For nearly 20 years, the company’s offering of ‘a large selection of sports gear — at the best prices — in large-sized stores’ has served them well. XXL has been a true Nordic retail success story and, financially, has appeared unstoppable.
But over the years, the market has changed. Competition has become tougher. Online has grown at the expense of bricks-and-mortar stores. And pure players have entered the market, pushing prices and margins down. In parallel, customers have developed new preferences — more than ever the focus is on quality, well-known brands and expert advice. And the Covid-19 pandemic has only served to exacerbate these trends.
Our collective challenge was to fundamentally shift brand perceptions in order to shed XXL’s ‘generalist discounter’ image through a commitment to values focussed on customer-centricity, expertise and passion for the uniting power of sport. We brought the emotional benefit of the brand into focus, alongside product, through the organizing idea of ‘empowering enthusiasm’ and, in doing so, modernized the brand experience to adapt to the new market conditions and provide a foundation for XXL’s omnichannel ambitions.
The result was the first major update to XXL’s brand identity across all touchpoints since the company’s inception in Oslo in 2001. A large, dedicated team was needed to deliver this wide-ranging project and we enjoyed excellent collaboration from XXL’s internal teams, as well as other members of the extended ARC group to whom we would like to extend our thanks for their tireless support in making this work a reality.
