MaerskA vision of innovation

Leopards can’t change their spots, but ships can change tack.

Maersk, a global integrated logistics company, understood that many of its target audiences still thought of it as a marine transport and ship-operating company. They weren’t aware of its technology-enabled, digital supply chain capabilities or its new initiative, the Maersk Innovation Center.

The Innovation Center’s team of supply chain experts assess emerging technologies, uncovering new ways of improving productivity and efficiency. It offers deep global warehousing and supply chain insights to reduce waste, support sustainability and develop new solutions to transform the logistics industry.

Maersk asked The Frameworks to develop an engaging digital experience that would convey the Innovation Center’s unique reach and capabilities to an audience of startups and venture capital funds, vendors and suppliers, supply chain research and innovation bodies, government agencies and customers.

Be part of the next big idea

We started by conducting a series of research interviews with stakeholders to understand the current perception of the brand and business. We confirmed that, while Maersk was a global brand with a long-standing reputation, the Innovation Center so far had little to no exposure.

The new identity and website needed to showcase Maersk’s creativity and speed. Known during the 20th century as a giant and stalwart of the global shipping industry, Maersk customers today engage digitally and expect rapid, innovative solutions for handling their goods. Innovation at Maersk is focused on finding margins, creating better jobs, reducing waste and emissions and improving efficiency across warehousing and logistics.

We developed a strategy based on customer and audience empathy research and user experience mapping to put current projects, case studies and examples at the centre of the digital experience. Our insights formed a foundation for our creative thinking on how to excite, inspire and encourage audiences to engage with Maersk in a new way, and have confidence in its proven track record of getting innovations to market.

Blueprint for innovation

We searched for ways to elevate the experience within Maersk’s existing brand guidelines. Drawing on the Innovation Center’s role as an incubator for new ideas, we came up with the concept of a “blueprint for innovation”.

We brought this together with a distinct and creative illustration approach, which was inspired by the sharp edges of the star and the blocky, chunky presence of the logotype in the Maersk logo. We built this into a visual identity that resonated with and enhanced the parent brand.

For launch, we designed an interactive landing page spotlighting five key innovation areas: autonomous vehicles and drones, computer vision, machine learning and predictive data analytics, education and robotics. We animated each area to convey the concept with motion and help users navigate intuitively.

The result is a dynamic new identity for the Innovation Center that immediately positions Maersk as the collaborative partner of choice for revolutionising the logistics industry.