Northern Ballet Theatre performs for more people than any other ballet company in the UK with a string of huge national successes to its name. After working with Northern Ballet Theatre for several years on ongoing marketing materials, we were approached to help the award-winning ballet company develop a new brand.

Northern Ballet Theatre's previous identity had been in existence since 1989 and it was felt that the identity no longer accurately represented them. It was an exciting and productive time for the company, with new Artistic Director David Nixon adding five new productions to the repertoire and work commencing on a new £9m headquarters in Leeds city centre. All these factors presented them with a real opportunity to re-launch and re-brand the company and to convey a strong, revitalised image that more accurately reflects the company as it is today.

One of the first things we looked at was the name – the company has been known as NBT internally and we challenged the assumption that ballet goers knew the company by this name. Research showed in fact the company was known more widely as Northern Ballet Theatre and not its acronym.

We devised a brand identity that reflected the current values of the company and crucially reflected closely the vision of the artistic director. The branding process was very inclusive and this worked particularly well with an arts organisation of this type – where all of its activity is underpinned by a strong creative ethos.