Case Study

Aeris Resources

A new future needs a new name

When you’re looking to start afresh, how do you stand out?

Straits Resources was an Australian mining house, with operations across multiple commodities in Australia and Indonesia.

After several years of restructures and asset divestments, Straits Resources engaged Purple as part of a refinancing plan to develop a new brand for the company.

The challenge

Straits Resources was first listed in 1994 and over the years explored and operated many projects in many jurisdictions. Over the years, there were also a number of key management changes that altered the trajectory of the company. With this level of history, there were a number of shareholders that had made money out of Straits — and some who didn’t.

When the decision was made to refinance existing debt and a focus on maximising value from the Tritton copper operations in New South Wales, the company wanted to relaunch to existing and new shareholders, highlighting the value proposition.

The challenge was to develop a new corporate brand that highlighted a positive future, while also bringing along existing shareholders of Straits Resources.

Our approach

A simplification of the project portfolio and a planned restructuring of debt meant the ‘new’ Straits Resources would look significantly different from the old one. The company therefore wanted a way for investors to recognise the new entity and not get bogged down with the history of the past.

We worked closely with management to develop a brand name that was synonymous with the company’s activities and aspirations. The name Aeris Resources is derived from a Latin term for copper and was proposed by one of the company’s team.

Once the name was selected, our design team worked towards new branding to complement the name. The colours reflect the etymology of the company and operations; with the blue reflecting the sky just before dawn, and the pastel brown is derived from polished copper. The logo combines this inspiration with imagery designed to mimic air currents passing over the coppery earth.

Our results

Investors, media and shareholders embraced the new vision

The rebranding, coupled with the restructuring of the company’s debt, has seen focus shift to Aeris as an Australian copper producer. In the period since the rebranding occurred, there has been a noticeable increase in brand recognition with brokers and analysts. Today, the share price is roughly four times what it was immediately before rebranding.