Ancient Spark New Fires for 1000 year old Abbey
Waverley Abbey is a 1000 year old Abbey, House and Estate situated in the Surrey Hills. As the team looked to the future and a new chapter for Waverley Abbey RAW Brothers brought strategic insight to help guide through the brand process including a new partnership with global charity 24-7 Prayer.
THE CHALLENGE
Waverley Abbey was looking to modernise and bring a number of sub-brands back into one brand family. A new leadership had been appointed and they had also formed a strategic new partnership with global charity 24-7 Prayer. Part of the brief was to work with the leadership teams to help them explore how these two brands could come together and operate on this amazing 1000 year old site and operate successfully in a digital culture.
THE INSPIRATION
Waverley Abbey ruins, house and estate have a special atmosphere, you can feel the sense of 1000 years of spirituality in the place. We wanted to see if we could capture this as part of the next chapter for Waverley Abbey and represent this both in the physical and digital environments. RAW Brothers led a number of leadership sessions to develop the brand strategy that ultimately delivered a clear brand narrative story, creative vision and new brand roadmap.
THE RESULTS
We needed to help frame the tension between the ancient and the modern and this new partnership between a 1000 year old abbey and a modern global charity. “Ancient spark new fires” seemed like a fitting essence to this new day. We developed a brand compass that easily communicated to the design delivery team the brand journey we had been on. The results are a fresh, contemporary new brand that gives a nod to history but primarily looks to reach a new younger audience.
Building brand essence and vision – Ancient Spark New Fires
We hear the whisper of a thousand years of Christianity echoing through time. On these foundations, we will build for our generation and the next. The ancient spark of Waverley Abbey is setting new fires in lives today through our Abbey Life, College, Enterprise and amazing House and Estate.
I can’t recommend the RAW Brothers highly enough. They understood our brief from the get-go. They brought exceptional and market-driven creativity, commercial brand expertise and insight to our entire project, which was delivered on-time and on-budget. Exceeding our expectations at every step of the way, both Rich and Andy added huge value to our brand proposition and thinking as they led us in partnership through the entire creative process.
Dave Wesson – CEO
Full brand guidelines
Brand story
Brand environment ready
Digital design ready
This isn’t just about looking backwards, although historically Waverley Abbey is a place of extraordinary prayer. This is about the future – a new abbey for a new generation. Our vision for this site is to revive the heart of the abbey by establishing here a house of prayer for all nations, a new Christian university and a hive of gospel endeavour.
Pete Greig – CEO 24-7 Prayer
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