easyGroup
Between 1999 and 2011 I worked at the heart of one of Europe's best loved travel brands, easyGroup – the founders of easyJet. Established in 1995 by serial entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyGroup owned the 'easy' brand and was the incubator for the numerous new ventures launched in the wake of easyJet's success.
As Head of Design at easyGroup I was responsible for the creation and execution of the online presence and the advertising campaigns for the majority of the new ventures we brought to market. Additionally I played a leading role in creating easyGroup's Brand Manual and became one of the chief guardians of the 'easy' brand ensuring that our visual identity was consistent across the comms produced by all our ever-growing number of franchisees and licensees.
The sections below showcase some of my work supporting just a selection of our 'easy' ventures...
easyEverything (later easyInternetCafé)
easyGroup launched the world's largest Internet cafés in 1999 to a media storm, with hundreds of customers hungry to get online queuing at every store opening across Europe and the US. My team and I were responsible for producing all the online and marketing comms to support each location. In 2000 we entered the Guinness Book of records having open the largest Internet café in the world, boasting 800 PCs and subsequently won the Retail Week award for Launch Of The Year.
easyCruise
easyCruise first launched in 2006, offering tourists the opportunity to visit the French and Italian Riviera at low cost. However, the business initially struggled with no-frills brand connotations working against us. As such, the following season the route relocated to the Greek islands and Stelios briefed me to rebrand the livery, toning down the orange (once unthinkable) in favour of a more premium look and feel.The same styling was then applied to our marketing communications.
easyHotel
easyHotel first opened it’s doors in 2005 with a number of Central London locations, offering great value, low cost accommodation.The model proved popular and easyHotel became the first easy venture to expand through franchising, throughout Europe and to locations as far flung as Dubai. I was responsible for supporting all aspects of easyHotel’s design – from interior decoration to advertising. Latterly, as easyHotel’s franchisees launched elsewhere, I provided brand consultancy to ensure their visual design was executed to meet our standards.
easyBus
easyBus was a natural brand extension for Stelios, offering low cost transfers to-and-from the airports easyJet flew to. I was responsible not only for the design of our press and outdoor advertising but also the livery of the buses themselves. I distinctly remember Stelios remarking that my work now officially ‘looked like the back end of a bus!’ ...I never quite lived that down.
easy4men
One of easyGroup’s most innovative ventures was our 2008 adventure into the world of men’s toiletries with the development of easy4men. Necessity breeds invention as they say and, following restrictions brought in following 9/11 meaning that only limited liquids could be brought onboard aircraft, Stelios hit upon the idea of creating a sachet pack containing shaving foam, hair and body wash, that would be permitted in hand luggage. I was firstly briefed to design the packaging and then my first e-commerce website as the product was to be sold online and at Boots.
easyOffice
Another of easyGroup’s successfully franchised businesses was easyOffice.co.uk, offering serviced office space throughout the UK. To support the launch in 2009 my team and I were briefed with creating an ongoing B2B campaign, advertising the brand not only to clients but also to potential franchisees.
easyCinema
Taking on the multiplexes, Stelios launched easyCinema in 2003 offering tickets from just 20p a seat at our flagship theatre in Milton Keynes and I was responsible for designing all the marketing materials to support the launch. In 2007, partnering with LoveFilm, easyCinema pivoted to pioneer online ordering for DVD rentals. In addition to redesigning the easyCinema.com website, I provided ongoing design support for digital marketing campaigns including display advertising and regular e-shots to our customer base.
easyWatch
In 2005 easyGroup ventured into fast fashion with the launch of easyWatch - intended as a direct competitor to Swatch offering low cost watches for leisure wear. Teaming up with manufacturers Zeon, I initially consulted to develop the watch designs themselves before designing the e-commerce website from which customers could directly purchase their easyWatches.
easyMoney
easyMoney.com started life in 2003 as a revolutionary credit card designed by our customers to suit their needs, permitting to set their own APR, fees and cashback. The business evolved to later become an online portal brokering financial services, powered by MoneySupermarket.com. At all stages I led the design and execution of all our online and marketing communications across all media.
easyGym
Latterly, easyGroup became more active in brand licensing – with startups often seeking to leverage the ‘easy’ name and our reputation for great value to energise their business. Such was the case with easyGym which launched in 2011. As easyGroup’s Head of Design, I was tasked with overseeing our licensees’ visual representation of the business, ensuring that their communications met our standards.
easy.com
easy.com was originally launched as a free web-based email service in the early 2000s before being relaunched in 2005 as the portal for the easyGroup family of brands. Alongside publishing the easyGroup brand manual I was tasked with leading the design of the new portal site. Five years after the launch I was again briefed to redesign the portal site to accommodate new sections and functionality for shareholder news and brand protection.
easyGroup brand manual
As easyGroup’s business model pivoted towards growth through franchisees and licensees, one of my core projects was to develop, publish and maintain the easyGroup brand manual and the easy.com website – the portal for the brand. The easyGroup brand manual was first published in 2005 and afforded me in-depth experience in developing the values and components that visually and thematically represent a brand.
