The Roy­al Auto­mo­bile Club

Restor­ing an icon­ic club for a new generation

  • Rebrand
  • Brand Strategy
  • Brand Identity
  • Design
  • Messaging
  • Tone of Voice
  • Photography

Found­ed in 1897, The Roy­al Auto­mo­bile Club was built on progress. Pio­neers, engi­neers and adven­tur­ers gath­ered not sim­ply to dri­ve, but to define what came next.

Over time, per­cep­tion nar­rowed. The Club became asso­ci­at­ed with motor­ing alone. A revered insti­tu­tion, yes, but one increas­ing­ly seen through a sin­gle lens.

The spir­it, how­ev­er, had nev­er stalled.

Our task was to reawak­en that found­ing ener­gy and re-estab­lish the RAC as a com­pelling mod­ern mem­bers’ club for a new gen­er­a­tion. Not by rewrit­ing his­to­ry, but by recon­nect­ing the Club to its orig­i­nal momentum.

ALWAYS MOV­ING FORWARD

The Roy­al Auto­mo­bile Club was found­ed on progress.

Since 1897, it has been shaped by curios­i­ty, ambi­tion and a belief in for­ward motion. Tra­di­tion here is not about stand­ing still. It is about car­ry­ing momen­tum from one gen­er­a­tion to the next.

“ODA took some con­sid­er­able time to research and under­stand the cul­ture of the Club and ensure that the rich her­itage was sus­tained in a cre­ative way”

Miles Wade, Club Secretary, The Royal Automobile Club

REIN­STAT­ING THE WHEEL

At the heart of the strat­e­gy was a pow­er­ful truth. The RAC was nev­er about cars. It was about for­ward motion.

We restored the orig­i­nal car badge logo, plac­ing the wheel back at the cen­tre. A sym­bol not of nos­tal­gia, but of progress. A mark that sig­nals move­ment, ambi­tion and continuity.

FOR­WARD MOTION

We root­ed the iden­ti­ty in the Club’s motor­ing her­itage, but expressed it through craft rather than cliché.

Pre­ci­sion. Tex­ture. Detail.

The tyre tread from the Monte Car­lo ral­ly-win­ning Mini was dis­tilled into a refined pat­tern, uni­fy­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tions with sub­tle con­fi­dence. A nod to his­to­ry, and mean­ing and ren­dered with restraint.

DRI­VING ASPIRATION

Pho­tog­ra­phy shift­ed from doc­u­ment­ing place to cap­tur­ing atmos­phere. Moments of occa­sion that cap­tured tex­ture of place and anticipation.

The RAC became less about facil­i­ties and more about feel­ing. A club peo­ple want­ed to belong to, not sim­ply attend.

“Demon­strat­ing uncom­mon intel­lect and shrewd per­cep­tion, ODA cre­at­ed a mod­ern brand iden­ti­ty sys­tem with a real spark of ingenuity.”

Miles Wade, Club Secretary, The Royal Automobile Club

CHAR­AC­TER­FUL COPY

We helped The Club find its voice again. Con­fi­dent. Wry. Effort­less­ly com­posed. A tone that bal­ances tra­di­tion with light­ness of touch. Wel­com­ing with­out try­ing too hard. Intel­li­gent with­out being imposing.

It speaks as the Club does, with qui­et author­i­ty and a glint in the eye.

HON­OUR­ING HERITAGE

The radi­a­tor grille of a vin­tage Rolls-Royce inspired an own­able fram­ing device. A shape defined by sym­me­try and strength.

Applied spar­ing­ly, it brought struc­ture and ele­gance to Club com­mu­ni­ca­tions. A sub­tle nod to motor­ing prove­nance, ele­vat­ed into a mark of distinction.

MEAN­ING ENGINEERED

Every ele­ment of the iden­ti­ty had a pur­pose. We drew from the Club’s sto­ries and motor­ing prove­nance to build a sys­tem root­ed in authen­tic­i­ty and craft. Clear design and behav­iour­al prin­ci­ples ensured consistency. 

Work­shops embed­ded belief across the team. The brand moved beyond the page into EVP and val­ues work, events, envi­ron­ments and mer­chan­dis­ing, shap­ing how the Club looked, sound­ed and behaved.

IMPACT

  • Received the highest number of member applications for 16 years

  • Year on year, total revenues increased by 9.5%

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