The power of music

ABRSM | The Power of Music | Non-profit

Bringing the power of music to the heart of global music education.

ABRSM (The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is the world’s leading provider of graded music exams and assessments, with over 600,000 candidates in more than 90 countries. As an educational charity, it also publishes music, supports teachers, and influences music education policy around the world. After more than a century of growth, ABRSM had outgrown its identity as simply an exam board. It needed a unified brand that could reflect its full role in global music education, a brand that celebrated both its authority and its emotional impact.

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Details

Insight The organisation’s fragmented structure had led to inconsistent communication across its divisions, sub-brands and international markets. Research with more than a thousand stakeholders, including teachers, examiners, representatives, students and parents, revealed a need for a simpler, more inspiring story. The brand needed to capture not only what ABRSM does, but why it matters.

Story Through workshops and detailed analysis, a new brand blueprint was created. At its heart was a simple truth: the power of music. This became the brand’s core, the emotional thread running through every message, image and experience. Supporting it was a new vision, motivating musical achievement, and a set of values that balanced tradition with ambition: rigorous, open, passionate, and bold.

The strategy also defined a clearer brand architecture, bringing together all parts of the organisation, exams, publishing and professional development, under one cohesive identity. A new tone of voice was introduced to humanise the brand: confident, direct and inclusive, built on the idea of expecting intelligence but not expertise.

Engage The new identity united ABRSM’s royal heritage with its musical purpose. The logo combined a crown and music stave to create a symbol of both authority and creativity. A flexible design system, adaptable for local markets, ensured global consistency without losing character. The launch materials and brand book made the brand tangible for staff worldwide, while a comprehensive set of guidelines ensured every communication, from exam certificates to social campaigns, spoke with one clear voice.

Clarity The rebrand gave ABRSM a renewed sense of purpose and cohesion. It helped every department, from publishing to teaching support, align under one vision and one voice. The brand is now part of every new employee’s induction, embedded in culture as well as communication. More than a new identity, it marked a change in how the organisation saw itself: not just as an examiner of musicians, but as a champion of music’s power to inspire and connect people everywhere.

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Activities

The power behind the power of music

Why the best brands evolve, not reinvent.

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The rebrand created a greater sense of corporate cohesion, including the development of an internal communications strategy to ensure greater understanding across the organisation. We now have a unified visual identity for all products and services, and greater consistency across disparate territories.

Ben Selby Business Development Director ABRSM

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