Yusen Logistics

Using brand as the catalyst for change

A good logistics brand delivers on its promises. But a great logistics brand delivers on its customers’ promises. Yusen Logistics had built its business exporting Japan’s industrial might all over the world. But to continue its growth and become a world-leading logistics partner capable of competing with the US and European behemoths, it needed to shift its customer base from 70% Japanese to 70% global.

Keen for an international partner to take the business on the journey, we were appointed to help develop the brand and use it as a catalyst for change.

Moving its customers’ businesses as well as its own

To take the step from good to great, Yusen Logistics needed a deep understanding of its customers’ businesses and what they were trying to achieve.

Insights from its key accounts, senior business leaders and its 20,000 people around the world drove our development of the brand positioning, drawing on Yusen’s Japanese heritage to define a clear, defendable space in the crowded global supply chain market.

An outward-looking brand

Building the brand from the inside out, we developed an inspiring but easy-to-translate brand promise and values which empowered Yusen’s people to get closer to their customers. We defined employee as well as customer value propositions and rationalised the brand architecture to make selling both simpler and more compelling. And we created a confident new brand identity (while retaining the existing logo), allowing the business to communicate expertise across markets with its ‘kaizen’-driven approach to customer centricity.

As Yusen Logistics’ branding partner, we also created numerous internal and external communications campaigns, developed new approaches for sales and marketing by working closely with leadership teams around the world to overcome local challenges and create ownership of the brand. We also launched a new colleague engagement platform – YusenConnected – to ensure the business could collaborate securely and easily, and share best practice around the world.

Over the past five years we’ve helped Yusen Logistics transform its business globally, ensuring the brand has been at the forefront of this change.

“It’s hard to understate the fundamental change our company has undergone over the past few years. We’ve moved from a cautious and disorganized brand to an energetic global team – this is in large part down to the incredible work from The Clearing. I’ve worked with strategy, brand, and design agencies in London, New York, and Tokyo, and The Clearing are bounds ahead. Love them, their work, and the whole team. It’s hard to believe we’ve been on calls weekly for the past few years and it still doesn’t feel old.”

Dean Weston, Head of Global Brand Strategy, Yusen Logistics