NBG rebrands to Network Group
Posted by Richard Strange on Sun, Jan 16, 2011 @ 06:56 AM
NBG, now known as Network Group, are kicking off 2011 with a clear message to the industry that this will be a landmark year for the UK’s premier IT buying group, with an exciting rebrand.
The rebrand not only encompasses a more modern and stylish visual identity, but clearly shows how the group has moved on, developed and is planning to ensure that they continue to lead the way for successful VARs and independent retailers in the IT channel.
The strapline ‘Strength in Numbers’ is explained by Network Group Chairman, Wayne Cockerill: ‘It reflects not only the Group’s heritage in the channel, but also demonstrates our commitment to working together in a collaborative way to drive sales and profit for our members, as well as ensuring we give our resellers a strong voice in the channel.’
The rebrand was the first step in a new marketing strategy, introduced by new Head of Marketing for the group, Gemma Telford, who joined in November from UK distribution giant, Ingram Micro. She explained ‘We wanted to not just update the corporate identity, but ensure that it reflected the value the group brings to the channel and our members. The strapline and ‘huddle’ of circles demonstrates that by working together to innovate and collaborate, we can accelerate the growth of our members and the group, which also benefits our vendor and distributor partners. We also wanted to develop an identity which could extend out to end users and eventually form a national, end user focused brand.’
Group MD, Phylip Morgan explained the name change, saying ‘By dropping the ‘Buying’ from the group name, we are making it clear that we are emphasising the range of support that we give to members, across marketing, sales and collaboration in addition to our key strength of purchasing for the group. Although of course this remains a core focus for us, we now also have a range of business tools to support our members and a strategy in place that delivers results.’
As well as quarterly campaigns and incentives that are in place with key vendors, Network Group members now have the ability to get access to their own branded e-commerce website that takes in live feeds from Network Group’s distributors, giving the latest stock information, and live pricing and deals, and an email tool which can send out marketing messages to resellers’ databases from vendors or from the resellers themselves.
Phylip Morgan went on to say ‘We have more innovation in key areas such as Cloud also coming to members this year, and 2011 will see our membership grow to 100 of the country’s top resellers and retailers. We want to attract the best of the IT channel to our Group to ensure our proposition is not weakened and that we can deliver the best results for our members and channel partners. We’re conscious that there are other groups out there with a wider membership base, but we, and our vendors are interested in quality, not quantity.’
About Network Group
Network Group is the UK’s Premier IT Buying Group for IT Resellers and Retailers. The group provides purchasing, sales, marketing and networking services to its members. The group currently has over 50 resellers in key geographical areas of the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. Group turnover is now approaching £200m. For more details visit www.nbg.co.uk