Real progress
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Real Progress was a strapline, brand and theme of the Green Party of England and Wales in the 2004 European Parliament election and the 2005 UK general election. It was the subject of a Guardian editorial simply entitled "Real progress".
Origins
[edit]It was conceived by the Publications Co-ordinator on the Green Party of England and Wales#Executive 25-year-old Matt Wootton in late Summer 2003. It was first used in a leaflet at the Green Party's Autumn Conference in Lancaster in 2003. The Real Progress phrase was based on a theme initiated by External Communications Co-ordinator 2000–2004 Dr Spencer Fitz-Gibbon. By the end of the year Wootton had employed graphic designer Jim Killock to unify the words Green Party and Real Progress in a single "badge" and the "lozenge" was born, inspired as a homage to the European Green Party's "rhomb" which Wootton and Killock considered clunky (see Wootton's homepage).
Stylistic changes
[edit]The Real Progress rebrand was also a house style change, using a new set of colours, according to Wootton's website, inspired by the colours used on the website of the Swedish Green Party.
The rebrand utilised a designer typeface - the first time the Green Party had used one - which was chosen to be the modern-looking FF Profile which was chosen for its progressive, clean and slightly quirky qualities.
Impact and significance
[edit]The rebrand was first launched to the media at the Spring Conference 2004 and made was covered by the BBC [1] and The Times. The Times article[1] demonstrates the importance of the rebrand to the Green Party at that time, with the party apparently eschewing "beards, sandals and nut cutlets" for "sharp suits, a new colour scheme, a corporate logo and an “upbeat” range of “commonsense” policies."
Although not an essentially research-based rebrand created using qualitative feedback, Wootton and Killock (Killock joined the Executive the next year) went on to become the party's two leading advocates of research and demographics.[citation needed]
A series of Guardian articles are below, demonstrating the impact of the rebranding.
References
[edit]- Greens push towards June elections
- Green Day
- Guardian editorial Leader
- Greens rebranding to attract June votes
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