Waddington`s Auction House, a Canadian fixture since

Waddington’ s
CASE STUDY
Waddington’s Auction House, a Canadian fixture since
1850, had a well-established brand – in furniture and
rugs. Since the 1980’s, however, Waddington’s focus had
increasingly shifted to fine art. A rebranding was needed
to reflect this newer reality.
identity. These were incorporated into a new website –
the first to segment Waddington’s offerings by specialty.
Klaus suggested personalizing these departmental identities
to appeal to a younger demographic. Department heads –
mostly Generation Y – became the faces of Contemporary,
Canadian, Inuit and Asian Art. To this end, uhlig.ca art-directed
the photographic efforts to provide a consistent look that
aligned with this branding. Each department received a
representative pictograph to cement the relationship of
each person with their discipline. These images and icons
were used consistently with all media, social media and
for internal communications.
Klaus Uhlig was brought in as Creative Director. He worked
with both the external consulting team undertaking this
challenge from a strategic standpoint, and the internal
Waddington’s staff who had been tasked with developing
creative and communications.
The first challenge was rebranding. To reinforce a move
to real-time online auctions, Waddington’s Auction House
became Waddingtons.ca, with a bold new colour palette
and sleek, modern wordmark design with a strong sans
serif font. Working with Clearwater Communications and
Growth Path, the collective decision was made to build
department identities – each with a distinctive visual
Coinciding with this visual facelift, the company moved
from their old warehouse-style building to a brand new
multi-use highrise in Toronto’s design district. uhlig.ca
ensured that the overall look of new location aligned
with Waddingtons.ca’s rebrand. Working closely with the
interior designer, Klaus helped to fashion the space –
from selection of materials to signage design.
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416.366.8804
info@uhlig.ca
The end result A company with more than 160 years
of history auctioning furniture was transformed into an
internet-savvy team of young, modern art experts. In the
process, Waddingtons.ca has become Canada’s leader in
online art auctions.
“With the unifying presence of Klaus as Creative Director,
all the many moving parts – website, photography, design,
colors, even elements of the new building – meshed
seamlessly. We could not have accomplished a rebranding
of this magnitude without Klaus and the uhlig.ca team.”
Kevin Maynard – Growth Path Strategic Marketing,
project lead for Waddingtons.ca
3
416.847.618
00 x6183
tons.ca
416.504.91
an@wadding
duncan.mcle
Anthony Wu
Specialist
Asian Art
a
ddingtons.c
AsianArt.Wa
Toronto,
Street East,
275 King
a M5V 2R1
Ontario, Canad
3
416.847.618
416
00 x1234
ns.ca
416.504.91
@waddingto
anthony.wu
Diamond/Platinum Ring
Moorcroft, Flambé Hazeldene Lamp Base
Creative Services provided:
• Rebranding conceptualization
• Logo and wordmark design
• Typography design
• Corporate identity guidelines
• Icon/pictograph design
• Website design and coordination
• Advertising design and layout
• Photography coordination and management
• Interior design collaboration
• Communications strategy
• Creative direction
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