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Challenge: Founded in 1939, Reliance is the largest metal supplier in the industry. Essentially a holding company, they have over 85 affiliates nationwide, with annual sales totaling $1.73 billion. Although they have a rock-solid financial foundation, they felt that their stock was not valued as it should be, largely because of the perception that they were in a "dinosaur industry." In order to allow them to more easily compete with the tech stocks that were dominating the marketplace, we needed to find ways to modernize their identity and appeal to a broader base of investors without alienating their loyal, largely un-technical customer base. They also wanted to project a unified presence by associating the Reliance Steel & Aluminum name with every affiliate branch, while still maintaining the individual identity and autonomy of the subsidiary companies. Solution: We used a two-pronged approach. On one side we went to work rethinking the corporate identity. At the same time, we tried to figure out a corporate site design that would appeal to both investors and customers and create a template that every affiliate could use to build their own site, co-branded with the Reliance name. In order to create a new identity, we focused our efforts on defining the brand name of Reliance Steel & Aluminum. We realized that the identity needed to communicate the ideas of modernity, financial stability, and tradition. It also had to be somewhat of an evolution from their current identity, so as not to seem entirely unfamiliar to their existing client base. Their existing palette used two colors, a royal blue and a pea green, that, when used together in the logo, looked heavily dated. However, both blue and green had strong associations to the company-‹their fleet of trucks was green, for example. We began by choosing a similar, but darker, blue for the corporate identity and adding a silver metallic to the palette to reference their product. We decided that an updated version of the green would be used exclusively as an accent color in the materials. We decided that the primary logo should be a very traditional and timeless mark, like a financial institution. We chose a traditional typeface, Garamond, and incorporated the small caps and a silver metallic ink in the ampersand to complete the mark. We also updated their "R" logo and continued to use it as a secondary mark on all collateral material. The website was a more complex undertaking. In an effort to communicate a modern image, the client was anxious to use the most current technology, while keen to not alienate any users with older, less capable systems. We decided to build an html site that had a few flash modules where they could show off their technical sophistication while still making the site accessible to anyone with a 3.0 browser. We also created a flexible template that allowed any affiliate to create their own web page under the RSAC umbrella by uploading their logo, information, and graphics. The result was a robust and sophisticated site that allowed visitors to find local affiliates, request price quotes, review financial information, and browse products‹a perfect, union of investor and customer services.
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