Merima is introducing a renewed brand as we enter the next chapter of our growth. But when we brought our people together to introduce it, we didn’t start with a logo.
We started with Merima DNA. Where we came from. What we have learned along the way. What we want to hold on to as we grow. And where we still need to become better.
“The goal was never simply to create a new visual identity. We wanted to look at Merima as a whole: what we want to preserve as we grow, where we need to raise our ambition, and how that should eventually be experienced by our customers, partners and people.
The brand gives this ambition an identity and a language. The real work is turning it into everyday choices, behaviours, ways of working and interactions.”
Teija Sipilä
CCO, Brand Renewal Project Lead
Building on what is already here
Our work around culture and values started years before the brand renewal. This project has given us an opportunity to connect that work more closely with our brand and the wider Merima Experience. We are also open about the fact that we are not there yet. There are things in our leadership, tools and ways of working that we want to improve – and strengths in our people and culture that we want to hold on to as Merima grows.
“Over the years, we have spent a lot of time listening to our people and discussing what matters to us, what we want to hold on to and what needs to evolve. Bringing this work together with the renewed brand and the Merima Experience helps us make it increasingly visible in everyday life – in how we lead, work together and develop Merima.”
Minna Mäkiranta-Blyth, CAO & Legal Counsel and Annika Eihola, CHRO
Giving the next chapter a new expression
Merima’s identity has evolved as the company has grown. The renewed visual identity continues that evolution – respecting where we came from while creating a more distinctive, consistent and flexible expression for where we are going next.
Starting the next chapter together
The renewed brand was introduced internally at the Merima Experience Day. We looked at where Merima came from, what is changing around us, what we want to carry forward and where we need to raise our ambition. Equally important was giving people room to react, ask questions and discuss openly. The Merima Experience cannot be created by a brand project and handed to an organisation as a finished answer. It becomes real through the people who create it every day.
In one of the day’s activities, our people added their thoughts, experiences and individual marks to a graffiti wall. The renewed Merima symbol was then painted across it.
Many individual marks. One Merima.
Growth also means letting go
As Merima has grown, the way the company is led has had to evolve too. For CEO Mikko Mäkiranta, that has also meant learning to trust people enough not to be involved in everything.
“One thing I have had to learn as Merima has grown is to let go. You can’t know everything, make every decision or be involved in everything anymore – and you shouldn’t.
I haven’t known every detail of this renewal or everything the team has been building. Seeing it come together has been a good reminder of what growth also means for me as a leader: trusting capable people, giving them responsibility and sometimes allowing yourself not to know exactly what comes next.”
Mikko Mäkiranta
CEO, Merima
The same applies to what happens after the launch. A renewed brand can provide direction, but making it real cannot belong to one project team, function or leader. It is built over time by many people, through the choices they make and the actions they take every day.
A renewal designed to happen responsibly
The renewed Merima identity will gradually become visible across our locations, digital environments, customer and partner touchpoints, workwear and other materials. The full rollout is expected to take approximately two years – intentionally.
A new logo is not a reason to throw away something that still works. Existing materials and equipment will continue to be used where it makes sense. Safety and workwear, for example, will be renewed as actual replacement needs arise, rather than simply because they carry the previous identity. The same principle will guide the wider rollout: making thoughtful use of what we already have and avoiding unnecessary waste.
Made together
Bringing the renewed brand and the Merima Experience Day to life took many people and partners.
A warm thank you to 358 for partnering with us on the brand renewal, Moodis for creating the Merima Experience Day with us, Koskenranta for the setting, Aki Rask for photography and video, Graphic Room and Susanna Muurman for the inspirational event materials, and Painotalo Trinket for bringing the designs to life.
Thank you also to every supplier and partner who contributed materials, expertise and work – and to the Merima team behind the planning and organisation.
Most importantly, thank you to everyone who participated, shared their thoughts, asked questions and made the day their own.
The renewed Merima identity is now beginning to become visible. The Merima Experience behind it will take longer to develop. We are not presenting a finished version of Merima. We are becoming clearer about what we want to hold on to, where we want to become better and the experience we want to create as we grow.
