Hearing and vision services leader NextSense has taken out gold and silver at the prestigious 2021 Transform Awards for evolving its 160-year-old brand into a dynamic new offering designed to set the organisation up for the future.

NextSense and agency partner Interbrand were judged against high-end Australian and New Zealand brands in the ANZ Transform Awards, winning gold in the ‘Best implementation of a brand development project’ category and silver in the ‘Best internal communications during a brand development project’ category. The Transform Awards are a global platform that recognises the most innovative, creative, and successful brands across the world.

“Our rebrand is nothing short of transformational for our historic organisation, which was made up of the 160-year-old Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, its research arm the Renwick Centre, its Cochlear Implant Services arm the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre and its Victorian service arm Taralye,” said NextSense Director of Marketing and Communications Nicole Smith.

“This has united us all under the one monolithic brand, better reflects who we are–and who our clients are–and was built to talk to and resonate with our vast group of audiences. Our aim is to enhance lives for people with hearing or vision loss and this brand brings that to life through its accessible AAA compliant colour palette, hyper legible bespoke font and vibrant photographic style while our tone of voice is empathetic, empowering and positively focussed on enhancing futures.”

The new NextSense brand was years in the making. It began with simplifying a complex brand architecture to a single Masterbrand that could speak to the depth and breadth of the services provided to children, adults, professionals and higher education and academia.

“We’re delighted to be recognised both for the brand execution and how we implemented a complex internal and external stakeholder engagement and transition strategy with many moving parts,” Ms Smith said.

“It’s wonderful to be the custodians of a brand that now tells our full story and delivers the same warmth and commitment that our staff display every day in working with our clients who are deaf or hard of hearing and who are blind or have low vision.”

Interbrand Executive Strategy Director Amanda Szylo-Duncan said: “People are at the heart of the NextSense story, so it was incredibly important for us to create authentic and open ways for everyone to get involved in this new era.

“Over our three-year partnership, we worked closely to define the brand’s trajectory, then bring it to life with the team in a way that honours such an iconic Australian organisation.”

This is the fifth accolade NextSense has received for the rebrand. In September, the project won the ‘Identity’ category in Interbrand’s global Iconic awards and was commended in both the ‘Name’ and the ‘Voice’ categories. The Iconic awards celebrate the work from Interbrand’s 18 studios worldwide.